Message

---

THE GOD OF THE LIVING

Mark 12:18-27

Key Verse: 12:27  “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken.”

  Last week Jesus taught us our basic duty to state and to church. The Pharisees and the Herodians came to Jesus in order to catch him in his words by asking whether they should pay taxes to Caesar or not. Their question was an attempt to trap Jesus because at that time the Jews who acknowledged God as the only king hated paying taxes to Caesar. But Jesus answered them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”  Jesus meant that we believers must fulfill our duties to our country as citizens and to church as the people of God. My friend Carl never missed offering tithes last year in the midst of his uneasy financial situation. More than that, he did not miss Bible study with me once a week. He wants to give to God what is God’s and to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Our young disciples are struggling to prepare for the Bible conference regardless of their busy schedules as full time workers and students. They also give to God what is God’s.

  In today’s passage, Jesus helps the Sadducees to study the Bible and to have resurrection faith. This happened just a few days before he was arrested and crucified. Jesus overcame his personal sorrow and anguish and fulfilled his duty as a servant of God. In today’s passage Jesus clearly teaches us that there is a resurrection and that our God is the living God.

First, at the resurrection whose wife will she be? (18-23) Look at verse 18. “Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection came to him with a question.” Who were the Sadducees? Unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees were a somewhat political group even though they occupied priestly positions in the temple of God. The nature and derivation of the Sadducees is not certain. But many Bible scholars believe that the word “Sadducee” was derived from the word “Zadok”, the high priest during the reign of King Solomon (1 Ki 2:35).  The Sadducees were powerful, wealthy and aristocratic people who closely related to the Roman Empire. Most of the Jewish ruling council, called “Sanhedrin” was composed of Sadducees.

At Jesus’ time there was a sharp theological disagreement between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead and in the existence of angels and spirits. But, the Sadducees did not believe in any of this. They had a narrow interpretation and application of the five books of Moses. They repudiated the notion of the resurrection because they thought that there was no word “resurrection” in the books of Moses. They would not believe what was not written in the Bible. They looked strict in keeping the law, but they were nothing but extreme literalists.

  They also thought that God was not concerned with human affairs on this earth. They meant that life is only for today and for this earth, not for tomorrow or for life after death. Since they did not believe in resurrection or the immortality of the soul, they refused to accept the concept of judgment after death. They were intellectual hedonists.  These Sadducees flourished from around BC 200 until the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. But these days there seem to remain many modern Sadducees on campuses. They deliberately refuse to believe in the resurrection of the dead or in God’s divine judgment after death. Their life motto is “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (1Co 15:32b)  Since they don’t believe in resurrection and eternal life, life is sorrowful.  To them everything is “SAD YOU SEE”.

In order to make the teaching of resurrection absurd, the Sadducees made up a very weird and grotesque story and came to Jesus. Look at verses 19-23. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”  The idea of their story came from Deuteronomy 25:5,6 which says, “If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.” We call this law ‘the Levirate law” which means “the law for brothers-in-law.” Moses wrote this law in order to protect the widow and to preserve the family line of those who died without any children. In Genesis 38 the story of Judah and Tamar shows us a good example of this law. 

But, the story which the Sadducees brought to Jesus was very unlikely and unrealistic. How could a woman marry seven times unless she was crazy? Generally marriage is a very joyful occasion. Last week, missionary Luke Yang went to London England to attend a wedding ceremony between missionary Jonathan and shepherdess Louis.  In their wedding pictures the bride and the bridegroom looked so joyful and happy. They were a joy to see. On the contrary, usually a funeral ceremony is not a joyful, but rather sorrowful occasion. Several days ago, I went up to Chicago to join the funeral ceremony for missionary Sarah Yoo. Even though we sent her to the kingdom of God ahead of us, we could not control our sorrow because of separation. Since, marriage and death are such significant occasions with much emotion, how could the woman in the story change husbands seven times as she would change her sandals every year?

Second, you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? (24-25).The purpose and intent to of this strange story was to disprove the resurrection of the dead. Then, how did Jesus answer them? Look at verse 24. “Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?”  Jesus pointed out their errors and the problems in their ignorance of the Bible. First of all, they did not know the Scriptures. The Sadducees were indeed extreme literalists. Since there was no word “resurrection” in the five books of Moses, they believed that there is no resurrection.  Second of all, they did not know the power of God. Our God is the Almighty God who created the heavens and the earth in the beginning. God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life so that he became a living being, who had body and soul. Then, God planted a beautiful garden in Eden and put the man into it to work it and to take care of it. (Ge 2:15) As we know, the picture of the Garden of Eden before the Adam’s fall was the blueprint of the kingdom of God which is to come.

Jesus continued to explain about the resurrection of the dead. Look at verse 25. “When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” Is there no marriage in heaven? One unmarried young man overheard this passage and said with dismay, “Without marriage, there is no fun in heaven.” But, spiritually speaking there is a huge wedding ceremony between the Lord Jesus and his people. Frequently the Bible compares Jesus to the bridegroom and his people to his bride. (Mt 25:6, Rev 19:7, 21:2) When we meet Jesus in the kingdom of God face to face, we will belong to him forever. Above all, we all will be like angels. At the resurrection we shall bear the likeness of the man from heaven who is our Lord Jesus Christ.  (1Co 15:49) Imagine that we all will be like angels. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain. There will be no more marriage problems; divorce, separation, broken families, sorrowful widows, lonely single men and so on. Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior will be with us and take care of us eternally in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.

Third, He is the God of the living (26,27) Now, Jesus began to teach the Sadducees who God really is. Look at verses 26. “Now about the dead rising-have you not read the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? Moses’ personal encounter with God is written in Exodus 3:1-6, one of the five books of Moses. At that time, Moses went through shepherd training in the wilderness for forty years. If he only thought about suffering and agony on this earth, he might have felt that his life was nothing but the continuation of misery and sorrow. But God led him to the holy mountain and called to him from the burning bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. From the bush God said, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”

Then, what do the words “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” mean? It means that our God is the God of resurrection. There is resurrection in God. Even though Abraham died, God raised him again. After Abraham’s death, Isaac lived more than 100 years and died (Ge 35:28). Still God raised Isaac from the dead. Jacob was the second son of Isaac. He was also raised from the dead and lives in heaven together with his forefathers.  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all resurrected and live in heaven now.

Jesus continued. Look at verse 27. “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken.” Our God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Jesus reaffirmed that there is resurrection in God and that our God is the God of the living, not of the dead. Abraham is living along with Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. They all live, now and forever. And so will we, and all who love him and believe him live now and forever. Amen. Imagine the day we walk on the golden streets in the kingdom of heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ who died in our place and rose again from the dead as the first fruits of glorious resurrection!  Forget about your sorrowful and negative marriage life and draw a picture of the beautiful and perpetual life in the kingdom of heaven with our bridegroom Jesus Christ.

Our God is the God of the living, not of the dead. This means that there is no despair or failure, or any element of death in God. When Jesus heard that a young man Lazarus had died, he did not despair. Rather he said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s son may be glorified through it.” (Jn 11:4) Then, he planted resurrection faith into the hearts of Martha and Mary, the sisters saying, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn 11:25,26) Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He is the living God. We need the spirit of the living God.  Before I wrote this message, I felt like dying because of physical tiredness and the burden of responsibilities. If I had the spirit of the dead, I might have written a very weird and sorrowful story like the Sadducees. But, while meditating Jesus’ word, suddenly the spirit of the living God began to fill my heart and enabled me to finish the message with resurrection spirit. Indeed our God is the God of the living, not of the dead. Our God likes those who live with resurrection faith. Our God is pleased with those who challenge obstacles with the spirit of the living God and become more than conquerors.

In this world, there are many spiritually dead people like the Sadducees and the Pharisees. To them everything is sad-you-see. They are spiritually blind and see their lives pessimisticly. They are like dead fish floating downstream. But, those who have the spirit of the living God are like living fish swimming upstream. To them everything is glad-to-see. Our young disciples struggle to prepare testimonies and messages for the summer Bible conference at Niagara Falls. It is easy for them to enjoy sight-seeing at the falls, but difficult to mediate on the words of God until their hearts are touched by the word of God. They need the spirit of the living God. Let us pray that God may grant them resurrection faith and the spirit of the living God the Almighty.

In today’s passage Jesus taught the Sadducees that there is resurrection and that our God is the God of the living, not of the dead. It is amazing that Jesus taught them the Bible very sincerely to the last minute before his arrest and crucifixion.  Let us pray that God may give us the spirit of Jesus, and his resurrection faith so that we may teach the word of God diligently by overcoming our personal difficulties. May God make America a kingdom of priests and holy nation and bless the coming conference with 35 attendants. Amen.

---

Attachment

• pamk12cm-2009.doc