1. Lesson One of the Book of Daniel, Introduction to the Book of Daniel

The Book of  Luke, The Sadducee’s Turn at Bat, Part II - Lesson 215 

Luke 20:27-39,   Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him, ²⁸Saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man’s brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. ²⁹There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children. ³⁰And the second took her to wife, and he died childless. ³¹And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and died. ³²Last of all the woman died also. ³³Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? for seven had her to wife. ³⁴And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: ³⁵But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: ³⁶Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. ³⁷Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. ³⁸For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. ³⁹Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said. ⁴⁰And after that they durst not ask him any question at all.

As we studied last week, this question of the Sadducees was posed to Christ because they wished to play their one note religion and that one note always promoted the idea that there was no resurrection.

And they chose to do this based upon the law of perpetuation of family lines as given by Moses. 

The Sadducees, believing in the five books of Moses, introduce their question based upon what Moses wrote to them in: 

Deuteronomy 25:5-6, ⁵If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her. ⁶And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. 

The purpose of this command was to assure that each family and tribe in Israel was perpetuated by the bearing of children.  

This very practical law guaranteed future generations which would then provide a family for the Messiah who was to be born of a woman from the tribe of Judah, of the line of David.  

The Sadducees were saying that since this woman had seven husbands there must not be a resurrection because if there were, the decision as to which of the seven would be her husband, would be an impossible decision to make.    

They saw the law of Moses for the perpetuation of a dead Israelite’s family line as the only immortality that there was.  

They concluded that immortality was not gained by resurrection

from the dead, but by the carrying on of an Israelite’s family line through his offspring. 

This is not a unusual position to take for most of us desire to perpetuate our name in future generations and always wish to see boys born to us and boys born to our boys and to our grandsons. 

The Sadducees concluded that since a man’s younger brother had to assume the duties of his deceased brother, Moses must not believe that men would someday be raised from the dead to reassume their position.  

Why would such provisions need to be made for the perpetuation of a man’s offspring if he were someday going to be raised from the dead and could again assume his position in the family? 

But as is in the case of many false doctrines, their premise was wrong and based upon thinking that all things will continue as they do now during the time after the resurrection. 

They did not believe in the resurrection so therefore they proposed this absurd scenario to prove their point, but Jesus Christ quickly shot down this scenario as not fitting into the economy of the kingdom. 

Luke 20:34-36,  And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: ³⁵But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: ³⁶Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. 

So here we are given the Lord Jesus Christ’s view of “this world” and “that world”, that world being the kingdom, but both views are not the same.   

The Sadducees thought of the kingdom in terms of the present, not in terms of the future.  

The kingdom to them, especially since they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, is now.  

Therefore they believed in no future age.  

It also follows that since the “kingdom” is thought of in terms of the present, it will not differ from the way things are now.  

The entire argument of the Sadducees is based upon a single premise: life in the kingdom of God will be just like it is now.  

Based upon this, the present institution of marriage is assumed by the Sadducees to continue on in the kingdom.  

Therefore, a woman who was married to seven brothers would be in a terrible predicament in heaven, for she would have to choose one of them with which to live. 

Jesus’ quickly dashes their argument for He speaks of two worlds, “this world” and “that world,” which are very different from each other.  

The kingdom of God will be very different from the way things are now, for those who were resurrected.  

For those who are resurrected there will be no death, there will be no bearing of children, and there will be no marriage.  

This detailed scenario of the seven brothers for one wife, proposed by the Sadducees, is shown to be ridiculous and not applicable to whether or not there will be a resurrection.  

Resurrection will pose no problem for husbands and wives for marriage is for now, but not for heaven.   

The vows that you took when you were married attest to that for those vows included the oath, “until death do you part.” 

Marriage was instituted to perpetuate the race and when those who have new bodies, fit for the kingdom of God are in the kingdom, the race is perpetuated and therefore marriage is no longer necessary.  

Marriage in heaven is reserved for that which takes place at the marriage supper of the Lamb, between Christ and His church. 

People in this age die, and therefore there was the need for God to spell out through Moses, provisions for preserving the family name. 

Those resurrected for the kingdom age will not die, and therefore there is no need for such a perpetuation.  

Men and woman in that future age will be “like angels,” which neither die nor reproduce.  

Conditions in that future age will be greatly different and we see how foolish the Sadducees were to think that because present conditions cannot be continued after the resurrection that that proves there is no resurrection. 

The Sadducees had so honored the law of Moses that they saw it with a permanence that it did not deserve.   

The law of Moses was temporary and unable to be perfected in sinful men.   

They looked to the law of Moses to perfect them, that is to bring them righteousness before God when that was never the intention of the law.  

They discarded or gave little attention to God’s covenant with Abraham which would give them righteousness on the basis of faith, as a gift by God’s grace.   

This of course transcends the law. 

Legalists despise grace for it does not show off what they can do, but instead shows what God must do for them.  

Therefore they always develop a system of salvation by their own merit or works which is designed to show themselves in their best light.  

But God will not accept any show offs in his kingdom for his kingdom is reserved only for those with a humble and contrite spirit. 

Now another error of the Sadducees in their belief of no resurrection, was in the trust they had in the books of Moses thinking that Moses also did not support a resurrection.   

To thwart this assumption Jesus said this in: 

Luke 20:37-38,  Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. ³⁸For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. 

So the Lord goes about proving that there will be life everlasting and therefore a resurrection as taught in the Pentateuch, which was the Word of God written by the hand of Moses.  

There are many references to the resurrection taught in the Old Testament but Jesus did not use them, but used that in which the Sadducees trusted, the books of Moses. 

Jesus showed how Moses believed in the resurrection, for Moses, at the burning bush, called God the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Now at this time of course these three had been dead in body for many years, but Jesus tells the Sadducees that God is not the God of the dead inferring that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were at that very time very much alive.  

At the burning bush event, God identified Himself to Moses, and therefore to Israel, as the “I am,” the eternal God. 

God referred to Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not speaking of these patriarchs as dead men, but as those who are alive, those who are immortal.  

If God spoke of dead men as though they were alive, then this implied that these men would live again in body, they would rise from the dead.  

This is that which the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews spoke, not only of these three patriarchs, but of all the Old Testament saints: 

Hebrews 11:13-14,  ³These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ¹⁴For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

Hebrews 11:17-19, By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, ¹⁸Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: ¹⁹Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. 

The Sadducees, trusting only in the books of Moses and in that, not even having a good understanding of those books, were wrong as there being no resurrection.   

The basis of all that Moses did in leading the children of Israel out of Egypt and the basis of all that we do lies with the fact that our God is a God of resurrection.  

Abraham looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.   

I too, and you too if you are God’s child, look for that same city.   

This is what moved Abraham to bring Isaac to the mountain to sacrifice him, for his God was a God of resurrection. 

In reality, resurrection was the motivator for Moses to do all that he did in obeying God in bringing the children out of Egypt. 

God was sending Moses to Pharaoh, to demand the release of His people.  

For people to do as God commanded through Moses was to face the very real possibility of death at the hand of Pharaoh and his armies.  

Christians today face the very real possibility of death in the carrying out of God’s will, but for believers the resurrection is that which keeps them moving even in the face of death. 

It takes faith in the resurrection to be faithful as a Christian for we do not live for this world, but for the next! 

It was God’s character as the eternal One, as the I am, and His promise of deliverance from death which gave the faithful Israelites confidence to obey God’s leading, even facing death on numerous occasions as they trekked toward and in the promised land. 

The teaching of Jesus was plain in this regard for we have seen many references to the resurrection of the dead, either directly or indirectly.  

Simeon knew that he could die in peace knowing that his eyes had seen God’s salvation when he saw the Christ child. 

Luke 2:29-31,  Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: ³⁰For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, ³¹Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; ³²A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.  

Remember the fear that Herod raised in thinking that Jesus may have been John the Baptist, raised from the dead. 

Jesus taught that a person’s actions ought to be based on the assurance of one’s resurrection, which was to be accompanied by rewards for obedience in this life: 

Luke 14:13-14, But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: ¹⁴And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

The Bible teaches that God is greater than death.

This very same God said the wages of sin is death but He provided the way to pay the wages in Jesus Christ.

The word of God assures us that all mankind will be raised from the grave, some to their rewards, and others to their punishment.

Daniel 12:2 teaches this:  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

And Jesus in John 5:28-29 taught this:  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, ²⁹And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. 

The resurrection is one of the fundamental and foundational truths of the Bible.  

Paul told us this in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, where he said: if there is no resurrection “we are of all men most miserable”. 

And so the Sadducees are wrong on two counts.  

In the first place, they were wrong in their assumption that life in the kingdom of God, would be simply a continuation of life here in this age.  

Their understanding of dispensational truth was wrong.  

This led them to reject the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead because it seemed that it would be impossible for men to continue in the present as they had begun on earth.  

Their second error was in supposing that Moses rejected the hope of resurrection, based on their incorrect understanding of the Law of Moses, and their misuse of the law relating to the preservation of the oldest brother’s line of descendants. 

Luke 20:39-40,  Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said. ⁴⁰And after that they durst not ask him any question at all.

The Sadducees started the questioning, but the Pharisees finished it for they were quick to agree with Jesus Christ relative to the resurrection.

The purpose was to discredit Jesus by His words, but the scribes would not find fault with these words for they were words to discredit their competitors, the Sadducees. 

The answer of Christ was so powerful, even His adversaries had to commend Him.  

They differed with Jesus in many things but when it came to the resurrection of the dead they said he had done well.  

Jesus Christ is not influenced by their agreement for in the next passage he raises up question to them and shows that they too do not understand the Scriptures.