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LUKE 20:27-38
I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY.
In the name + of Jesus.
“Some of the Sadducees (who say there is
no resurrection) came to him” (Luke 20:27).
I suppose we should start with an important question: Who were the
Sadducees? They were the priests. They presided over the sacrifices at the
temple. They were rich and powerful. When we hear the Bible mention the Sanhedrin
which was the judicial body before whom Jesus stood trial, a good number of
them were Sadducees. Caiaphas, the high
priest, was one of them.
The Sadducees were more politicians than
priests. Although they served at the
temple and did what the books of Moses prescribed, their main interest was in
retaining their prestige and their power.
When they perceived that Jesus was a threat, the Sadducees expressed
their true concerns. “The chief
priests (that is, the Sadducees) and the Pharisees called a meeting of
the Sanhedrin. They asked, ‘What are we
going to do, because this man is doing many miraculous signs? If we let him go on like this, everyone will
believe in him. Then the Romans will
come and take away both our place and our nation.’ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high
priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all. You do not even consider that it is better
for us that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish’”
(John 11:47-50). The Sadducees wanted
to protect and preserve their worldly glory.
Since they were so worldly, it should not surprise us that they did not
believe in the resurrection of the body.
They came to Jesus to challenge him and to
mock the idea of the resurrection of the body.
They presented their case of the man who died before fathering a
child. The Law of Moses decreed that a
brother should take the wife. He would
father a child who would be reckoned as his brother’s. This would keep the family line intact. They presented a case in which this was
attempted by seven brothers, each taking the woman as his wife and failing to
produce an heir. Then came their
“gotcha” question: “So in the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as a wife” (Luke
20:33). Their question was not asked
in good faith. They were not interested
in a real answer. They were only
interested in humiliating Jesus and propping up their own egos.
This is often how we have to deal with
people in regard to the Christian faith.
Some ask questions about the Bible out of concern. They genuinely wonder why God does what he
does or doesn’t do. Others ask, having already
drawn the conclusion that God is indifferent, ignorant, or impotent. Some wonder about things in the Bible that
are confusing or seem like contradictions.
Others ask, already certain that the Bible is wrong. Their goal is to mock the Bible and humiliate
the Christians who believe it. Sadly,
some Christians choose to abandon the faith than to endure the mockery of unbelievers. Beware! There
are always opportunities to confess the faith.
If someone is willing to have further conversations, invite them to
church or to meet your pastor. If they are
only interested in confrontation, then don’t bother tossing more pearls to
swine.
You and I confess, “I believe in the
resurrection of the body.” The Sadducees
did not, but they should have known better.
Jesus, ever patient with those who came to him—or in this case, came at
him, responded. “The people of this
age marry and are given in marriage. But
those who are considered worthy to experience that age and the resurrection
from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage” (Luke 20:34-35). Our Lord has established marriage in this
world for the benefit and stability of society.
Where families are strong, society is strong. Therefore, our Lord has, in his wisdom, established
a godly order of events: Marriage, then sexual relations which leads to
children. Any deviation from God’s
design is sinful, and it produces problems, such as men who are good at
impregnating women but not at taking the responsibility for their actions. Young ladies, if he is not willing to give
you his name, you should not be willing to give him your body. You will spare yourself much grief.
Marriage is a blessing designed for this
world. Through marriage, a father and
mother produce the generation which will follow them. The world needs this as each generation needs
to be replaced. This is not needed in
the heavenly kingdom, however. Jesus
explains why: “They cannot die any more, for they are like the angels” (Luke
20:36). The number of angels is
fixed. They don’t need to foster future
generations because they don’t die. So
it will be with all the saints in heaven.
There are no wedding chapels in heaven.
There are no maternity wards in heaven.
There are just the saints and angels of God who dwell with him and will
never die.
We should also pay attention to Jesus’
statement that the saints who enter the heavenly kingdom “are like
the angels” (Luke 20:36). We do not
become angels when we die. God created
the angels to be angels, and God created people to be people. God created you to be you on purpose. You don’t change into something else. You believe in the resurrection of the body,
which means that you will be you for all eternity—although you will be
glorified. Your body will be raised incorruptible
and immortal. You will be like the
angels, confirmed in holiness, which means that you won’t screw anything up in
the heavenly kingdom.
Now we consider the next statement that
Jesus made about the resurrection of the body.
“Even Moses showed in the account about the burning bush that the
dead are raised, when he called the Lord: ‘The God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not
the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him” (Luke
20:37-38). Even the Pharisees were
impressed by Jesus’ reply, saying “Teacher, you have spoken well” (Luke
20:39).
It is surprising that the Sadducees did
not respond, “Wait a minute! How can you
say this proves the resurrection of the body?
The skeletal remains of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still here.” Nevertheless, they did not argue. Jesus’ argument was accepted by the
Pharisees. The Sadducees accepted it as
a solid refutation. Perhaps it is not as
clear to you. You might think, “Jesus
proved that they have eternal life, but how did he prove the resurrection of
the body?”
When Adam and Eve brought sin into the
world, it affected everything. We are
born in a sinful condition. Our default
position is to reject God’s word for our own.
Sin has also corrupted our bodies.
We suffer mentally and emotionally.
We experience high blood pressure, congenital heart failure,
osteoporosis, and arthritis. Our eyesight
and our hearing fade. We lose our
balance and our memory. Finally, our
bodies give out. Death leaves behind a
body, but the spirit returns to the God who gave it. The body without the spirit is dead. The spirit without the body is
incomplete. For, God did not create us
to be disembodied souls.
Right now, we live in time. Our life began at conception. Psalm 139 teaches us to confess, “You wove
me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). The Psalmist teaches us that, even in the
womb, it is a “me,” that is, a living person.
However, it is much easier to mark the day we are born than the day we
are conceived. So, we mark and celebrate
the day of birth. Then, God grants us
years on earth for as long as he is pleased.
Psalm 139 also reminds us, “In your book all of them were
written. Days were determined, before
any of them existed” (Psalm 139:16).
In other words, just as God has determined the day of your birth, so he has
also set the day of your death. On that
day, you depart from this world and from time.
You enter eternity and stand before the Lord for judgment.
We can think of it this way: At your
death, you enter a timeless existence.
You close your eyes to this life and open them to see Jesus. It is as if you fast forward to the
resurrection of the dead on the Last Day.
Since we are still living in time, that day is still a future
event. We continue to purchase calendars
and turn the pages as time goes by. But
those who enter eternity are with the Lord.
People such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob live and worship the Lord in
glorious bodies. The saints in heaven
are not disembodied spirits. Just as
Moses and Elijah stood before Jesus at his transfiguration as living people, so
those who enter eternity are living people.
But since we have not seen it, we can only confess it: “I believe in the
resurrection of the body.”
The first holy man brought sin into the
world. With sin came death. Since all are sinners, all are marked for
death. But the second holy man, the
second Adam, Jesus of Nazareth, came to remove sin, and to reverse its curse
and its consequences. He removed sin by
taking all sin into himself. He
exchanged his holiness for our guilt.
Through your baptism in Jesus’ name, he has washed away your guilt and
covered you in his innocence. In order
to restore you to eternal life, Jesus had to endure a cursed death. In order to open heaven to you, Jesus had to
suffer your hell. He did that at the
cross. Jesus’ lifeless body was then
laid in a tomb because that is what the consequences of sin demand.
But on the third day, Jesus rose from the
dead. It was no mere spirit that rose
from the grave. Jesus’ body has overcome
death. He showed the wounds he had
received to his disciples to prove his identity and confirm the reality of the
resurrection of the body. A man has
proven himself victorious over the grave, and he is the one who will deliver
all mankind from the grave. If you believe
in Jesus, then you must also believe in the resurrection of the body.
Just as the Lord created you to be a
body-and-soul individual, so he will raise you up on the Last Day to be a
body-and-soul individual. Your body will
be you, but you will be raised with a body that is free from the curse and
consequences of sin. It will never be
corrupt. It will never grow frail. It will be free from ailments, anxiety,
sorrows, struggles, regrets, and any remnant of evil. All the curses from Eden will be removed, and
Eden itself will be restored.
We live here in time, and so we await the resurrection of the body. But Jesus said that “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob … is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Luke 20:37-38). This suggests that our last day on earth will be THE Last Day when Jesus raises the dead and judges all. Good news: He has already rendered your verdict. “(You) are sons of God, because (you) are sons of the resurrection” (Luke 20:36). Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. Since you are his, he makes you partakers of both.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
