Thin, Low And Wide Open
Opening Prayer
Glorious Father, may You give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that I may know You better (Eph. 1:17).
Read Mark 12:18–27
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
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 raise up offspring 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 burning 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!”
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Remind yourself of the Christian’s hope of resurrection that we have (1 Cor. 15:22), and give thanks for it!The irony here is that a group who did not believe in resurrection (18) constructs a fictitious case study, based on Mosaic law (Deut. 25:5), to ask a question about resurrection (23)!
Once again, Jesus turns the tables on his attackers. The Sadducees’ position was founded on two mistakes (24,27). Firstly, they hadn’t understood how Scripture establishes the ground for resurrection. When God introduced himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, years after they had died (26), he wasn’t claiming to be the God of their corpses, but of them, very much alive!
They’d also failed to grasp that in the age to come God’s family will be complete. We will be like the angels: no one will die (Luke 20:36), and marriage will not be necessary (25).
Secondly, they had underestimated the power of God, who would soon show himself to be eminently capable of raising the dead!
A thin knowledge of Scripture and a low estimate of God’s power left the Sadducees wide open to error and without a solid hope for the future.
Apply
Where do you need to grow most: in knowledge of Scripture or in faith in God’s power?
Closing prayer
God, help me to know You better. Help prepare my heart to receive Your teaching—whether it’s intellectual or experiential.
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