Read Mark 12:18-27
Do I Believe? Or Am I Badly Mistaken?
Now the Sadducees, who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead, came to Jesus with a question. Their intent was to try and make the belief in the resurrection of the Dead foolish. So they make up a conundrum in hopes of making Jesus look foolish. So they use an example of a man married to a woman and he dies and they have no children. The law says the brother of the deceased must marry the widow. But he also dies and the third then marries her. In fact all seven brothers married her and all died leaving no children. So now the Sadducees ask the question to make Jesus look stupid. They ask, “At the resurrection, whose wife will she be since the seven were married to her?” For Jesus to answer this question would make him look foolish because the woman can’t have seven husbands in heaven. Therefore, to the Sadducees, their conclusion is there is no Resurrection.
However, Jesus answers the question they ask and addresses their hidden belief of “NO Resurrection” by disproving this belief through Scripture.
Question 1: “Whose wife will she be?” Jesus makes them look foolish by saying, “Are you in error because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God?” The paraphrase of that is, “Are you stupid?” “When the dead rise they will neither marry nor be given to marriage, for they will be like angels in heaven!” If the Sadducees knew the power of God they would know it’s an easy task for God to raise people up from the dead, as he has done so throughout Scripture.
Hidden Belief: There is no Resurrection! Jesus addresses their ignorance with the Scriptures to prove there actually is a resurrection of the Dead. Jesus says, “In the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to Moses,’I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'” Therefore, “God is not the God of the dead but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
When it comes to knowing God’s word, are we reading it and studying it? Is God’s word what we live by or do we take what our culture defines as truth and let it define how we live our lives?
When it comes to the power of God, do we deny his power? Do we allow the same Holy Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead also transform our lives for the Lord as we await the day when we will also be resurrected from the dead, only to be alive again in the spirit for eternity in heaven?
Am I being foolish and will God say, “You are badly mistaken!”
Live by God’s word and believe in his power for your life: now and for eternity!
