Saving the Whole Man

Series on Luke

V The Imminence of the Kingdom

I Testing

Text: 20:27-40

Introduction

Whenever the celebration of the advent of our Lord draws near, i wonder if we fully appreciate the event of the incarnation. The word means “in the flesh.” It is expressed so well by Charles Wesley in the beloved hymn, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” He writes, “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.” The Son of God is veiled in flesh. Salvation in the Bible is physical. It involves our flesh. It encompasses our bodies. This is unique. millions, i dare say billions of people believe in life after death in some form or the other. It is rare that you find the hardened cynical atheist who says that death is a blank wall. Yet of these multitudes who believe in life after death only orthodox Bible believing Christians believe in the resurrection of the body, and i guess also some heretical groups that have developed out of the Bible. The point is that we do not simply believe in the survival of the soul, but in the resurrection of the body. This is intimately connected to our celebration of Christmas. The Son of God assumed a full and complete human nature which was mysteriously coupled to his divine nature without their being mixed, changed, or creating a third kind of being. He was not only fully God but fully man with a complete human nature including a body formed in the womb of the virgin Mary, so that he might identify with us totally and totally save us. Since we are body and soul the deliverance he brings would be quite incomplete without the resurrection of the body. This is the subject of our text. Let us consider three things, the negation ,the nature, and the necessity of the bodily resurrection.

I The Negation of the Resurrection

The question in our text is posed by the Saducees. They were a priestly aristocracy, and were worldly and compromising. They were diminishing in number at this time and were generally out of step with the majority of the populace who preferred the nationalistic emphasis of the Pharisees. Unlike the Pharisees they did not accept the resurrection of the body. In fact they only accepted the first five books of Moses and thought most of the teaching of the Pharisees was nonsense. The question they ask may seem ridiculous to some, but it certainly would appeal to the rough common sense of the multitude and the coarse materialistic views of the resurrection which were prevalent. Their question indicates how absurd they thought the idea of the resurrection was. We read in verses 27-33, Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” They make the resurrection seem like a continuation of life as we know it. In this they misrepresent even the conception of their own people. In verses 39 and 40 the teachers of the law, the scribes, are thrilled because Jesus represents the position of the Pharisees and we read, Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” And no one dared to ask him any more questions. However, do not miss the subtle insinuations of the Saducees in our text. The enemies of Christ always caricature His teaching. They always overstate the case to make it seem ridiculous. For example, the Bible has a lot to say about women’s rights and has been the single most effective contributor to the emancipation of women, but the feminist movement takes a few Scriptures concerning male leadership in the home and church and makes it seem like the whole purpose of the Bible is to oppress women. Or consider the environment; the Bible teaches that it is man’s duty to take care of the environment, but humanistic environmentalists have intentionally made it seem like the Biblical command to rule and subdue the earth is the cause of environmental abuse. Beware because this is the tactic Satan used in the Garden of Eden. God said, Don’t eat of the tree,” but Satan said that God said, Don’t touch it. He put words into God’s mouth in order to caricature and thereby misrepresent the teaching. You live in a world where this happens every day.

II The Nature of the Resurrection

Our Lord gives a simple truthful answer in verses 34-38, Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” The Bible tells us that there is a general resurrection of all men. the dead both small and great will stand before God, Revelation 20:11 and 12, Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. But in the language here, Jesus refers only to the resurrection of believers. These, Jesus says, will not become angels, but will be like the angels in that they are sinless and immortal. This means that there is no longer any need for marriage and the birth of children. Thus the institution of marriage will cease. This of course answers the Saducees’ question and solves the quandary of multiple husbands. But we need to make a further observation. I have heard people say, “What will heaven be like without children?” This represents a very grave and serious underestimation of the power and wisdom of God. We need to understand that all of the closeness, love and intimacy of marriage will be realized spiritually in the resurrection and far more perfectly and with tremendous satisfaction. And the childlike characteristics, the trust, the innocence, the dearness and loveliness of childhood will be displayed in all of God’s people. We will find in one another a childlikeness that is more precious and beautiful than we can imagine. This is why Jesus says in verse 36 that we are children of God and children of the resurrection. All the joy we find now in our families will be caught up and far surpassed by the experience of heaven. At Christmas time, for example, when we celebrate the incarnation we need to know that our Lord takes this humanity upon himself to bring it to a new fulfillment. The joys we experience at Christmas here will be multiplied many times in heaven.

III The Necessity of the Resurrection

Our Savior has also explained here why the resurrection is a necessary belief. i think the sentiment He offers here is the same as that which Paul states in i Corinthians 15, that greatest New Testament chapter on the resurrection. There he says that if we have hope in Christ in this life only we are of all men the most miserable. This is what Jesus means by the statement that God is not the God of the dead but of the living. Jesus refers to the part of the Bible the Saducees accepted, the Pentateuch, and to their favorite person Moses. But the most telling thing is not that Jesus states that in Moses day God was still the God of Moses’ forefathers and therefore they must be alive, but that he ends with these words “For to Him all are alive.” It is impossible to be connected to God and not be alive forever. For me this gave new meaning to the very first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “What is the chief end of man.” The answer is “To glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Forever my friends. That is the goal of our being here, the goal of our creation, the goal of our redemption. As you celebrate Christmas this year and the incarnation, i want you to remember that this is not a reminder of the past, but a foretaste of glory and the fulfillment of our destiny. Because he took our nature and died for our sins, and rose again, we shall rise also.