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When looking at the vast majority of Jews we know they have always believed in a resurrection. They believe in both a national resurrection and a personal resurrection. What do I mean by a national resurrection? In Ezekiel 37 there is a picture of the national resurrection of Israel. The Messiah would come and would be a conqueror like David and would raise Israel from death to victory. One writer said, "Just as David emerges from nowhere, defeated Goliath and became a national hero, so the Jews were anticipating the arrival of a similar figure who would resurrect Israel as a nation". So they believe in a national resurrection. They also believe in a personal resurrection. They believed that they, along with the proselytes who believed in the one true God, would be raised from the dead. You find this in their non-Biblical books such as II Maccabees, Apocalypse of Baruch, the Apocalypse of Ezra, and the Apocalypse of Enoch. Even the Talmud which is where Jewish law is collected, there is a common theme concerning a resurrection. But does it speak of a resurrection in the O.T.? Yes, you can find scriptures that speak of a personal resurrection in Psalm 16:9; 49:15 and Psalm 73:14. Even Job wrote "though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God". So based on these texts and others the majority of Jews believed in a resurrection, both a national and personal resurrection. But the Sadducees were a sect of Judaism, a minority party who ran the temple and the High Priest and the chief priests were predominantly Sadducees. But they denied the resurrection. In fact they denied all the supernatural. They denied the existence of angels, they denied the existence of spirits, and they denied the resurrection. By the way, you will not find any Sadducees after the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. The Pharisees wanted to get Jesus in trouble with Rome, the Sadducees wanted to discredit Jesus with the people by making Him look stupid, make Him look like a fool. The Sadducees were the hard line fundamentalists in that they strictly applied the internal justice of the land. They didn't accept anything but the Law of Moses and were fastidious in Levitical matters of purity. But they also did not believe in any future life. When you die, you go out of existence so they had no interest in a Messiah.
So the question becomes, if they were strict literalists of the scriptures, why did they deny the resurrection in the O.T.? The answer is that they held to the supremacy of the writings of Moses, which are the first 5 books of the Bible. If you remember all the O.T. passages I quoted to you to affirm that there will be a resurrection they came from books after those first five books. So they would say if it isn't in the writings of Moses then they didn't believe it. In Acts 4, they arrested Peter and John and put them in jail for preaching the resurrection. Josephus, a Jewish historian, tells us that they were the ones who murdered our Lord's brother, James. So some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus. Their goal was to make Jesus appear stupid, to make him look like a fool because He affirms the resurrection. So they create an absurd scenario in Mark 12:19. There were seven brothers, the first one took a wife and died leaving no children. The second one married her and died, leaving no children, then the third one likewise. So all seven left no children. Last of all, the woman dies. Here's the absurd question. In the resurrection, when they all rise again, which one's wife will be for all seven had married her? Then we see the astute solution in v.24. Jesus says the problem is that you are ignorant of scripture and the power of God. The problem is not with me but with you. You are the ones putting your ignorance on display. You are mistaken. The verb mistaken means being led astray, cut loose from reason. It comes from the word which we get planet or wandering bodies. You are wandering bodies leading people astray. That is why in Jude 13 false teachers are called wandering stars.
First, he says they do understand the scriptures and this indictment could be applied to anyone who misrepresents the truth. You do not understand. The word 'not' implies not only negative ignorance but positive unwillingness. He is saying they do not care to understand the scriptures. They have no ability and have no interest in understanding the scriptures. They were the fools. That was a pretty strong indictment for people who prided themselves on their literal understanding of the writings of Moses.
Then Jesus said they do not understand the power of God as it is revealed in scripture. If they understood the book of Genesis and saw that God created everything in six days by simply speaking it into existence, why do they have trouble believing God could create a resurrection form that is different then what you see here? If they had known the Pentateuch (first 5 books of Moses) they would have known that God promises resurrection. If they had known the power of God they would have known that God can create any type of life he wants. But they were both spiritually dead and spiritually blind.
Then you have the absolute statement in v.25. Who rises? Luke 20:34 says the sons of this age, human beings living in this age which is a Hebraism for people living in this world. When the people of this world rise from the dead in the next life, they neither marry nor are given in marriage. Sex, reproduction, birth and family cease to exist. No marriage in heaven. No sexual relationships, no families and no exclusive relationships. That is contrary to those who believe in their dominating rulership by procreation with multiple wives. It is also contrary to the Islamic view of everlasting sex on green pillows with 72 virgins. Jesus says we will be like angels in v.25. Doesn't say we will be angels in heaven but we are going to be like angels and I believe Jesus threw this in because the Sadducees didn't believe in angels. How are we going to be like angels? They are glorious. They are eternal. They are heavenly beings. They do not reproduce. They do not die. Marriage is only for this life and I Peter 3 says it is the grace of life; it is to be the best this life has to offer. But in the next life no one is born and no one dies therefore the relationship of marriage is unnecessary. Right now we are imperfect and it is not good for a man to be alone because we are to be completed by a partner. In heaven we don't need someone to complete us because we will be perfect. We will lack nothing and we will love everyone perfectly and equally. So marriage is unnecessary. God is not up in heaven wondering how he is going to sort it all out if a guy had a fistful of wives or a woman had many husbands. That is not a problem for God and they should have understood his power. What an inadequate perception of God they had. Now remember the Sadducees were stuck on the books of Moses so in v.26 Jesus takes them to those books. Haven't you read in the book of Moses, the account of the burning bush? What did God say to Moses? I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. What does it have to do with anything? God said it in Ex. 3:6. He was saying, 'I am and they are'. Get it? God was speaking of his covenants with the patriarchs who have died. He doesn't say I was the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob which he would have said if they were out of existence. He said, "I am," present tense.
He says, "I am the God of these men and I am not a God that is worshiped by corpses." He is affirming the personal existence of these three men. To make sure they got it he says in v.27, I am not the God of the dead, but of the living. Then Jesus closes his argument by saying you are greatly mistaken. Who is the fool? They were the fools. He is not a God of dead men but the God of the living. Right in the book of Exodus, in a very obvious place in the writings of Moses, is the evidence of an afterlife. All those years the Sadducees poked around the writings of Moses to prove there was no resurrection and right under their noses God identifies himself as the God of those who are living, even though they had died. Isn't it wonderful to think about the resurrection? This is not the end. This is not the way we are going to be forever physically or spiritually. We will have a glorified body perfect in every form. We will be perfect lovers of God, perfect worshippers of God, and perfect lovers of one another. We will have perfect knowledge and be perfectly motivated to do perfect service with undiminished joy. And get this: we will never be weary, never be tired, never be bored, and never be disappointed. I leave you with Philippians 3:20. It says "Our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body". I can't wait. How about you? And it is all because of His grace.
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The Rev. Dr. James Barnes is currently the pastor of White Memorial Church in Milroy.