Subscription Lists

Oh no! Not another group coming to challenge Jesus. Jesus has had nothing but opposition from the various religious leaders since he entered Jerusalem during His final week on earth prior to Calvary and all the suffering and sacrifice which He went through there. We need to learn from this so that when we face ridicule, hardship and persecution, we will have a degree of understanding what is happening. The Psalmist has much to teach us in this area too.

We are reading in Luke Chapter 20 and from verse 27. We have been reading of various groups of people coming to Jesus Christ - and most of them with wrong motives - with suspect motives - with impure motives - yes, it is possible to do that.

Sending spies to spy on Jesus Christ - what lengths some will go to - pretending.

And Jesus forgave all that. All of this was forgiven on the Cross. It allows us to see something of what Jesus had to face during these final days on the earth. God gives us an insight through His Word.

Now it is the turn of the Sadducees. They were Jews - religious leaders - at least they thought they were. But they did not believe in the Resurrection. When we hear people say this type of thing today - people who ought not to be saying this type of thing - it is not all that new! There is nothing new under the sun, we are told.

It is sad, but not new. This is one way we can remember the name of this group -

Sad you see - and the other troublesome group with closed hearts were the Pharisees. They were legalistic, but they believed in life after death - and you can remember them by FAR I SEE. (I remember working all this out at Edinburgh University over forty years ago.)

The Sadducees were the liberal theologians of the day. They did not believe that you lived on after death. They did not believe you survived death. For them there was no heaven - no hell. And of course, they would not believe Jesus. They were religious leaders - but cynical. They came to Jesus with this rather weak insipid dreamed-up question, which was irrelevant. They were trying to make Jesus appear silly.

They raise the matter of a woman who had married, and within a short while she was widowed, and she married her late husband's brother, and this continued until she had married all seven brothers of her first husband. They wanted to know - verse 33 - in the resurrection, whose wife will she be?

It is ridiculous. They do not even believe in the Resurrection. But - look back at verse 28 - "IF" - if all this happens whose wife will she be? So many confused unsure religious people ask questions beginning with "IF".

What if? If such and such a thing - if this doesn't work out - then what? If God is Love, then why does HE allow - this to happen - that to happen - with the implication - if He is Love then it is a funny way to show it - and also implying - 'if it were me I would not do things that way'.

God is not only LOVE - but HE is RIGHTEOUS and JUST.

Always remember - before we are told HE is love - we are told HE is LIGHT.

Men are sinners, and need the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ to make them clean, holy, loving, loveable. We see that so clearly in this passage.

These men thought they had concocted a clever unanswerable question, just like the people who asked about paying taxes. It is always dangerous to try and be too clever in the presence of Jesus.

They were the theological leaders of the day, but they were so wrong. They are so confused, and so critical of Jesus. They too wanted Jesus out the way - silenced.

Are you ever impressed by certain people, and somewhere down the road they disappoint you? That is reality. We meet this quite regularly.

We hear the same sort of questions asked today. I've been asked, "How can I be happy in heaven if not all my family will be there?" This is a real question, and you hear some peculiar sentiments expressed at funerals, which go right against the teaching of Jesus. The real answers to real questions lie in these verses.

There are many - very many - who automatically think they are going to heaven once this life on earth is over - many who have no commitment to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. Or - their relatives think that is their spiritual destination! "O he was a good man. He never did anyone any harm. He didn't have an enemy in the world! You couldn't even say that about Jesus.

"O he used to pray" - so did the Pharisees and the Sadducees - and Jesus was not impressed. Saul of Tarsus said prayers before he met Jesus, then we read of him in Damascus, praying, and he realised that all which he had been doing in the past meant nothing. Paul writes about that in the letters.

There is so much wishful thinking around, and it is all based upon false assumptions - false hopes - and sadly and tragically - the visible physical church has given much misleading teaching on this as men have been afraid to proclaim and declare the truth.

Jesus says in Mark Chapter 12 verse 24, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?” You have got it all wrong because you do not know the Word of God, and you have not experienced the power of God. Jesus lifts it away from arguing - from argument - to the Word of God - and to the Power of God.

Luke Chapter 20 verses 34,35. Marriage is for this world only - a relationship for this world only. One day it will no longer be part of the plan of God. Then we will be married to Jesus Christ.

The Church of Jesus Christ is the bride of Christ, and we will be like the angels.

Family relationships - marriage relationships - are only for this world - and yet it clear in the Scriptures - that if we belong to Jesus Christ - when we arrive in heaven - our relatives will all be there - ALL of them - and there will be some surprises.

Luke Chapter 8 verses 19 to 21 - all your brothers and sisters will be there - Jesus says so. Note very clearly whom He is referring to!

Jesus takes these Sadducees to The Word. They only believed the first five books of our Bible - the Books of Moses - and Jesus teaches them from that part of the Word that Moses knew there was a Resurrection. Moses called God - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - He is the God of the living.

He is the God of the living. It was D.L. Moody who said - one day you will read that D.L. Moody is dead - don't you believe it - D.L. Moody will be more alive then, than he is now!

Verse 39. Some who listened to Jesus knew that He had spoken well, and that what He had said was right. Some were coming to realise that it was rather futile to ask Jesus trick questions. Jesus could not be cornered nor trapped.

Why all this so very challenging? Well, rumours were going around Jerusalem that Jesus was the Christ - the Messiah - the long awaited Saviour - the Son of God - the King - the Lord - and all this was taking place in The Temple.

Where there is life - there will be challenge. Where there is light - there will be challenge. These religious leaders did not expect God to move in this way.

The coming of Jesus was a surprise - a shock - as was the appearance of John who prepared the way for the coming of Jesus - and a continuing battle is going on in this same Jerusalem today - and it is becoming fiercer.

"God's Words For US" from Cecelia Lester

Eucharisteo: Jesus Saved Me