Luke 20:27-38
“We Shall Live with God”
Many Deny It
God Confirms It
As the holiday season quickly approaches, many people are making plans. They might be planning a trip to visit friends or relatives, or maybe just a special meal. Making these plans sometimes can be quite difficult. There are so many things that need to be done and so many details that need to be addressed. Sometimes we wonder if we will ever be able to do everything we have planned or if this will actually work out the way that we hope.
Complicating things is the fact that there are certain variables that we can’t control. You know what I mean if you have ever had a trip cancelled because of bad weather or a visit with friends called off due to an illness. As we make our plans, we know that things are subject to change at any moment and that we might have to change or even cancel our plans. We might be very disappointed if this happens, but we realize that this is always a possibility.
There is one plan that we have that we would be very upset if we had to change. Imagine how we would feel if we were told that we had to change our plans for eternal life. Think about what it would mean if we were suddenly told that our plan to spend eternity in heave with God just wouldn’t work out. No doubt there would be a great deal of panic, sorrow, and fear caused by such an announcement.
Our text for today addresses the fear that some have about their eternal future. It also is very reassuring for us as we hear our Lord confirming the plans of all true believers. Let’s go to these words now to see why we can be very certain that
“We Shall Live with God”
Many Deny It
God Confirms It
At the time of Jesus, there were many who were contradicting what he was teaching. Among those was a group known as the Sadducees, who among other things, taught that there was no resurrection from the dead. If there was no resurrection, that meant that there would be no eternal life in heaven. When people heard these things, they understandably became quite upset.
In our text a group of these Sadducees cam to Jesus with a hypothetical situation that they believed supported their teaching and disputed Jesus’ teaching. We are told in our text, “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 by 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?”
These men believed that with this question they would force Jesus to admit that there was no answer. If so, then his teaching of heaven must not be right. And if Jesus’ teaching about the resurrection was wrong, then the rest of his teachings would also be thrown into question.
The devil continues to send out people to sow such seeds of doubt into the hearts of God’s people. They come with human arguments and ridiculous questions, trying to make us doubt the things that God says to us in his word. They will question, for example, our belief in angels, creatures that we have never seen, but believe exist. They will ask us why a powerful and loving God would allow his followers to suffer. They will tell us that they will only believe what they can see or experience.
If we try to combat these people on their playing field, they will quickly talk us into a corner. Our beliefs and our faith are not based on logical conclusions drawn from earthly experiences. The author to the Hebrews wrote, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (11:1) Jesus expressed this same thought when he said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29) We are blessed because we believe God’s Word by the power of the Holy Spirit who works through it. We belief without seeing, without earthly proof. Those who do not, deny what Jesus says because “they do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” (Matt. 22:29)
We call people who only believe what they can see or understand Rationalists. They let reason be their guide as to what is right or wrong. If it can’t be explained, they contend, it can’t be right. That was where the Sadducees went wrong. They ignored God’s counsel, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. (Is. 55:8)
The Lord has done and will do things that are far beyond our comprehension and our imagination. That’s what makes him God and sets him so far about us. When God clearly and plainly tells us that we shall live with him, we believe him. No matter how many people may deny it, as long as God says it, it will happen. We are so certain about our eternal future because our Lord himself has confirmed it.
God Confirms It
The Sadducees thought they had finally backed Jesus into a corner that he could not get out of. They thought they finally had a question that Jesus could not answer. If a woman had seven husbands on earth, who would be her legal husband in heaven? Jesus was not fooled by their question. He answered the Sadducees, “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.”
Jesus gets right to the point in showing the faulty logic of the Sadducees. The next world isn’t going to be the same as this world. Marriage is an institution that God has given us for this world. When Christ raises us from the dead on Judgment Day, we will be taken into heaven. There we will live under different circumstances than we do here. We will live in perfect unity with one another as sons and daughters of our Lord. The family structure as we know it on earth will no longer be necessary.
The Sadducees were looking to prove that what Jesus said was not true. Patient in his love for them, Jesus pointed to an incident from the Old Testament that would support his teaching of an eternal resurrection. He said, “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 a God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
Jesus pointed to the fact that God called three men who had died earthly deaths “alive.” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, but they were not left ofr dead. Their souls lived on in heaven where their bodies would join them on Judgment Day. If they were still dead, then God would be a God of the dead, which even Moses denied. In Matthews account of this story he added, “He is not he God of the dead but of the living.” (Matt. 22:32)
A pastor once was called on to perform a funeral. As a young man he decided to look to Jesus for an example of a funeral sermon that would bring comfort and peace. He turned to the four gospels to find a sermon that Jesus preached at a funeral, but he didn’t find one. In fact, every time that Jesus encountered a dead person, they were raised to life! God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. He is not the victim of death, but the master of death.
As he prepared to return to heaven, Jesus left his disciples with a very comforting promise. He said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (Jn. 14;2,3)
Eternity is a long time. It’s good to know where we will be spending ours. That is one plan that will not change. As surely as God has given us the life that we are living here on earth, he will give us an eternal life in heaven. Hold onto that promise and make it yours through faith in Jesus.
Amen.
-Rev. Roger Rockhoff