Passage: Mark 12:18-27

The Big Idea

People have imagined all kinds of afterlives. The Sadducees didn’t believe in one at all, and they tried to make the resurrection look ridiculous with a riddle about a woman married to seven brothers. Jesus said they were wrong because they knew neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. In the resurrection we won’t marry, but we’ll be like the angels. We’ll still be ourselves, perfected. And God is the God of the living: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are alive to Him. Knowing the resurrection shapes our future and our present, as Christ lives His life in us now.

Many Ideas About Heaven

So many people have strange ideas about the afterlife:

The ancient Egyptians filled their tombs with provisions for the journey. A full-sized boat was buried beside the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops), possibly meant to carry the king through the afterlife.
Ancient Greeks were sometimes buried with a coin in their mouths to pay the ferryman across the River Styx into the land of the dead.
Some Native Americans were buried with bows, arrows and ponies, ready to hunt in the “happy hunting ground.”
The Vikings imagined Valhalla, where warriors fought all day, were healed every evening, feasted all night, and went out to fight again.
Islamic teaching pictures paradise largely in terms of physical pleasures and delights.
And nearly every religion and movement today holds some view of life after death.

So who’s right? Probably the One who came from there!

Let’s see what Jesus says about the resurrection and heavenly relationships.

The Sadducees (Mark 12:18)

Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him.

The Sadducees were the elite ruling class in Israel: wealthy, in control of the temple, and they liked it that way.
They didn’t believe in the resurrection, angels or spirits (Acts 23:8). They focused on the books of Moses and largely on what they could see and touch.
They lived for this life alone. No judgment, no consequences, just power now and life now. “It doesn’t matter how I live, because God won’t judge me anyway. No resurrection.”
In fact, they thought belief in the resurrection was silly, something for religious fanatics.

So these worldly men came to challenge Jesus with a question they thought would win the argument.

The Riddle (Mark 12:19-23)

“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother (Deuteronomy 25:5-6). There were seven brothers. The first married and died without children. The second married her and died, leaving no children, and the third likewise. None of the seven left children. Last of all, the woman died too. In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? All seven had her as wife.”

This is called levirate marriage.
It protected widows and kept a family’s land and name from disappearing if a man died without a son. It was very important in that world.
The Sadducees were really mocking God’s Word: “This rule makes the resurrection absurd. Whose property will she be in heaven?”

Two Reasons You’re Wrong (Mark 12:24)

Jesus said, “Isn’t this why you’re mistaken: because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God?”

Jesus is so awesome. He just shut them down. “You’re wrong, and here are two reasons why.”

1. You don’t know the Scriptures

They didn’t really read their Bibles, or they read them already convinced they weren’t true.
The truth was right there. But they wanted to live in a world where they could believe what they liked without being bothered by it.
That’s relativism.
Scripture holds the answers to our deepest questions. Dig. Search. Seek, and you’ll find. Knock, and the door will be opened.

2. You don’t know the power of God

Their other problem was that they thought God was weak, too small to raise the dead or to make a new kind of life.
They didn’t know who God is.
And knowing who God is, is our goal! Paul counted everything as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord (Philippians 3:8).

Jesus is saying that knowing God is closely connected to the resurrection. That’s true in two ways:

It’s important to understand what the resurrection life will be like in the future.
It’s important to live a resurrected life now!

The Resurrection Life (Mark 12:25-27)

“When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, haven’t you read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken.”

Jesus used the Word of God to teach, and notice He chose a passage from Moses, the part of Scripture the Sadducees accepted most.

1. Our bodies in the resurrection

We’ll be like angels. We won’t become angels, but our resurrected life will be like theirs in this way.
No marriage, no reproduction.
Only perfect relationships.
Marriage is for this life. It points to the greater marriage of Christ and His church, and in eternity, the reality replaces the picture.

2. We are eternal

There is life after death, and there is a judgment.
God spoke to Moses centuries after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob died, and He said, “I am their God,” not “I was.” They were alive to God, friends of God, even after death.
Some die as His friends; others die still opposed to Him. Either way, every person lives forever.

3. You will still be you

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were still themselves. You’ll always be you.

You’ll be known as you in heaven and keep your individuality. You’ll simply be a better, perfected, glorified you. Think of Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration: they were recognized and known (Matthew 17:3). Those who die in Jesus lose nothing of themselves; they become their best, glorified selves. You’ll know your loved ones in heaven. As one man put it, “I know you here, and I won’t be a bigger fool there than I am here.”

Living the Resurrection Life Now

Now briefly, the second point: living a resurrected life today.

Major Ian Thomas put it this way: being in Christ is redemption, but Christ being in you is sanctification.

To be saved, redeemed, we need to be in Christ: trusting that His death on the cross was what it took to forgive our sins.
To be transformed, we need Christ in us. Abide in Him. Delight in Him. Read His Word. Chew on it. Savor it.

God has given all of His Son to you. He has provided a perfect relationship with Himself, all through Jesus. There’s nothing you need to earn to get more. It’s all a free gift of grace.

This is how we’re delivered not only from the penalty of sin, but from its power in our lives. Jesus lives His life through us! We empty our hearts of self and let Him fill them.

Fill your cup by letting the finished work of the cross pour life into you. Remember what He did. Think about it. Meditate on it. Chew on it.

Our lives now, and in heaven, will be one long journey of understanding and enjoying all that Jesus has lovingly provided for us. Paul says that in the coming ages God will show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7).

Grace Takeaway

The Sadducees tried to make the resurrection look foolish, but they didn’t know the Scriptures or the power of God. Jesus did. God is the God of the living, and everyone who belongs to Him will rise, still themselves, made perfect, in relationships better than anything we know now. That same resurrection power is at work in you today as Christ lives in you. Heaven will be forever discovering the riches of His grace, and you can start right now.

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