Seeing and Not Seeing
Opening Prayer
Lord, I know Your Word isn’t always easy to hear or obey, so help me to be ready to be challenged by You.
Read MARK 12:18-27
[18] Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. [19] “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. [20] Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. [21] The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. [22] In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. [23] At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” [24] Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? [25] When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. [26] Now about the dead rising-have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? [27] He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!” Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
Reflect
What did the Sadducees fail to understand?Visiting Japan a few years ago, we got lost in the mountains. Not speaking Japanese, we could not even guess at what the signposts meant. Eventually we had to turn and go back.
The Sadducees have a similar difficulty with the concept of resurrection. Not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God (24), they lack the framework for seeing God at work. They are able to quote the letter of the law to Jesus, but they lack the insight to hear God speaking in the Scriptures because they are not open to be challenged by him. So they ask Jesus this question to make fun of the whole idea of resurrection, rather than being prepared to be changed by the answer. There are still too many who read the Bible not to hear God but to confirm their own ideas and prejudices.
We can’t know the details of what resurrection life will be like. But we do know from the Scriptures and our own experience about God’s faithfulness in the past and his power to act in the present and the future. This knowledge helps us to trust him for this life and the life to come.
Apply
Are there things that you need to simply trust God for the present or future? If so, pray about them now.
Closing prayer
Lord, I trust completely in Your great power and Your unfailing goodness. May I never, ever lose that vital faith.
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