GETTING STARTED
Let’s set up the scene in today’s passage. The Sadducees were a religious faction of Jews who believed they were bound to accept nothing other than what Moses said and wrote in the Law. They had a lot to lose from Jesus’ popularity, and they used a common argument about marriage in an attempt to trap him.
- For a believer in Christ, the resurrection of the soul at death is certain. What implication does this have on how you live your life today?
READ THE WORD: LUKE 20:27-40 (ESV)
27 There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, 28 and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 30 And the second 31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”
34 And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, 36 for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” 39 Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40 For they no longer dared to ask him any question.
English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
DIGGING DEEPER
- What was the Sadducees’ argument? What assumptions were they making?
- Jesus recalled Scripture, pointing out that even Moses himself believed in the resurrection (vs. 37). How could you draw that conclusion based on what Moses said?
- The Sadducees were religious people bound exclusively to the Law. What are some ways that religion can obstruct your view of God’s truth?
- It is understood that our bodies will pass away. What are the promises in this passage, and what hope or encouragement do they give you today?
RESPOND TO GOD
The passing of time is a constant reminder of the mortality of our bodies. The truth is, your body deteriorates every day you live. One day it will stop functioning and your life in this age will end. Yet, death is not our end because the human soul bears no constrictions from the borders of this age. God designed us to live forever in another age, where time has no end and death is a distant memory. We attain it not by work or religion, but by God’s work through Jesus and relationship with him.
- Rejoice that Christ defeated death through the power of his resurrection.
- Thank God that, by faith, you share in the power of Christ’s resurrection.