Do you believe the resurrection is true?
Back in the 1990s, certain fashion trends became popular. Fashion trends are part of every decade, but for a season during that era, one of the most coveted pieces of fashion among teenagers were Starter jackets. If you aren’t familiar with them, they were basically oversized winter coats that typically featured a team from the NFL. These jackets were so popular, and so coveted, that it became relatively common to hear stories of crimes, including murder, being committed against people who owned them in an attempt to steal the jackets. I recently heard a news story that made reference to that trend.
When I hear stories like that, I’m reminded about just how common it is for most people to live for today as if there is no tomorrow. Many people treat the treasures of this earth as if they’re the greatest things that exist. I actually wonder how many people we interact with on a daily basis are giving much thought to eternity or issues of eternal consequence.
In Mark 12:18-27, Jesus interacted with a group of men who made a pattern of living for today without giving much thought for tomorrow. The group of men brought up in this passage called themselves Sadducees, and they believed many things that conflict with the teaching of Scripture.
The Sadducees were a Jewish religious and political sect that operated around the time of Christ’s earthly ministry. Concerning Scripture, they only honored the five books of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy), and they considered the remaining 34 books of the Old Testament irrelevant or uninspired. They didn’t believe in the existence of angels. They didn’t believe in the afterlife. They didn’t believe in rewards or punishments after death. Likewise, they didn’t believe in the concept of resurrection because, as far as they could tell, there was no mention of it in the books of Moses.
I get the impression that the Sadducees were often unpleasant to interact with. Their conversations and dismissive attitudes toward spiritual matters in the gospels give me the impression that they were rather smug people. As they approached Jesus in Mark 12, it appears that they did so with a haughty and condescending spirit. Knowing that to be the case, Jesus gave them a response that they didn’t anticipate.
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 must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. (Mark 12:18-19)
In preparation for the question these men were about to ask Jesus, they established the premise of their question by referring to a practice outlined by Moses in Deuteronomy 25:5-6. The practice was called levirate marriage and it required that if a married man died without having produced a son, his unmarried brother should marry his widow, and the first son produced by this marriage would be the heir of the dead man’s land. Doing this would allow the family line to continue in a legal sense. It also served as a means for caring for widows.
“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. 6 And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.” (Deut. 25:5-6)
The Sadducees were using a rhetorical tactic often used by those who have ulterior motives. They started with a premise that could be agreed upon, but then exaggerated that premise in the hopes of making their point and winning their argument. We see the Sadducees attempting that in the very next words they spoke.
“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.” (Mark 12:20-23)
When a levirate marriage took place, it wasn’t common that a woman would be widowed multiple times without bearing children, so the premise being set up by the Sadducees was intended to sound absurd. This was done on purpose because they believed it helped them illustrate how foolish the concept of resurrection happened to be. If people really are resurrected and there actually is an afterlife, they wanted to know whose wife this woman would be since she had been married to seven different men.
I don’t know how their words strike you, but as I read this passage of Scripture, I see men who don’t really understand where joy can be found. They spent their brief earthly lives pursuing status, education, power, and prestige, but they never gave themselves permission to see beyond their current circumstances into the glorious future the Lord has in store for all who are united to Him by faith.
The Lord has an inheritance in His everlasting kingdom for all who trust in Him, and that’s a joyful reality to contemplate, particularly on our lowest days. Over the course of my life, I have experienced multiple trials and tests. Some have been particularly miserable and long-lasting. I can’t imagine attempting to face those seasons without holding fast to the assurance God has given me in His word that every trial serves a purpose, and there is a day coming when I will be ushered into His presence for all eternity and all my trials will be done.
Through Jesus, we’re giving that kind of rock-solid hope for the future, but that perspective was quite foreign to the Sadducees. As they used their question to attempt to make a mockery of the concept of future resurrection, Jesus answered them boldly and plainly.
Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?” (Mark 12:24)
Throughout the gospels, Jesus spoke to different people in different ways. He always told the truth, and always sought to be helpful, but the tone He used depended on His audience and their heart condition. To the humble, downtrodden, and repentant, He spoke with compassion. To the proud and arrogant, He spoke with force and made a point to call out their hypocrisy.
Jesus didn’t waste time when responding to the Sadducees. He began His response by pointing out to them that they were dead wrong, then He elaborated further on why they lacked real wisdom and understanding. Jesus told these men that they didn’t understand the Scriptures, nor were they familiar with the power of God. They were living weak, powerless, ignorant lives, yet patting themselves on the back as if they were geniuses.
Lest we make the same mistake, let’s take Christ’s words to heart as well. We’re being given the gracious opportunity to know the Scriptures and the power of God during the course of our earthly lives. To what degree are we taking advantage of that privilege?
“For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” (Mark 12:25)
It’s interesting that Jesus begins the next portion of His rebuttal with a reference to angels. The Sadducees didn’t believe in the existence of angels, yet Jesus explained that when human beings raise from death, we will function in a similar fashion to the angels in heaven. We won’t continue to marry or have children. Our new lives are going to operate differently.
Please note that Jesus didn’t say we’ll become angels. Angels are a different group of created beings that were each individually created by God. Scripture describes them as ministering spirits who glorify God, worship God, relay instruction from God, and serve those who will inherit salvation.
“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 12:26-27)
Knowing that the Sadducees only claimed to believe in the teaching found in the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch), Jesus quoted from a prominent portion of Scripture found in that part of the Bible. Jesus reminded these men of the words found in Exodus 3:6 where God spoke to Moses in the present tense, describing Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Even though each of those men lived hundreds of years before Moses, God didn’t say He “was” their God. He spoke in the present tense and said, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
Jesus made it clear that in speaking these words, God was revealing that these men who had experienced natural deaths were all still living. Resurrection is therefore a biblical concept that has been clearly illustrated and communicated ever since the earliest pages of Scripture were inspired and penned.
How important is it that we believe in the resurrection? Is this just a theologically nuanced topic that can be relegated to a lower tier of importance when it comes to our study of the Bible, or is it more consequential than that? I would contend that it is of primary importance, and multiple passages in Scripture confirm that for us.
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” (1 Cor. 15:3-4)
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:11)
“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40)
If there is no resurrection, not even Jesus has been raised. And if He didn’t rise from death, we’re doomed. That would mean we are destined to be mastered by sin for the rest of our lives, held captive by the power of Satan, and have no hope beyond the moment when our lungs stop breathing.
Thankfully, Jesus not only taught that resurrection was a biblical concept, He demonstrated it by personally rising from the grave. Sin could not control Him. The devil couldn’t hold Him down. Death could not defeat Him.
When we trust in Jesus, submitting control of our lives over to Him, we’re assured that we too will enjoy a resurrection like His. The day is coming when the bodies of all who believed will be raised to life. All believers will be given glorified bodies that are incapable of sinning or dying. Our glorified bodies will be united with our souls, and we will live in the presence of the Lord forever.
My heart rejoices when I contemplate that truth. On your best days and on your lowest days, I hope the assurance of what Jesus has in store for all believers brings you joy as well.
© John Stange, 2024