24.177 | YOU ARE QUITE WRONG | Mark

God’s Word for Today
24 Jul 2024
18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man[e] must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. 21 And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. 22 And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
- Mark 12:18-27 ESV
YOU ARE QUITE WRONG
The Sadducees are one sect of Judaism, like the Pharisees, Essenes and Zealots. They believe that there is no resurrection. They believe in an extremely literal interpretation of the Old Testament and deny the existence of the spirit, judgment after death, or the afterlife. Without a resurrection and afterlife with God to look forward to, it's understandable that they would seek authority and wealth on earth. They are concerned that if Jesus' popularity continues to grow. If more people will start believing He is the Messiah to rescue them from Roman rule, the Sadducees will quickly lose their Roman allies.
They asked Jesus a question about levirate marriages in the Old Testament. According to this law, if a man dies, his younger brother or kinsman redeemer is required by law to marry the widow and provide an heir for the older brother (Deut 25:5-10). Not only would the older brother have a legacy, the widow would have a son to care for her.
They said, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.” [v.19-23]. Subtly, they just want to discredit Jesus, while trying to paint the idea of resurrection as absurd.
Jesus tells them they are wrong, even quite wrong. The reason is they don’t know the scriptures and the power of God. He addressed their mistake of believing that there is no resurrection or afterlife. He told them about that God told Moses that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Ex 3:6). By the time Moses was born, these patriarchs had been dead for hundreds of years. Why does God identify Himself with these men if they are dead. This just shows that these patriarchs are alive, thus proving the existence of an afterlife. God is the God of the living not dead.
If a person is not knowledgeable of the scriptures, he is gullible to believe a lie. Why? The scriptures is the truth. [John 17:17] We should learn the whole counsel of God. Partial knowledge of the scripture is dangerous like the Sadducees. James will say, "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness" (James 3:1). Anyone who teaches the Scriptures needs to know the Scriptures well.
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