“Life After Death”
Mark 12:18-27
SCRIPTURE INTRO: How often do you think about what will happen to you when you die? Does your belief in the Bible’s promises of life after death make any real difference in the way you live this life?
INTRO: Do you know anyone who does not believe in an afterlife?
Who says, when you die, you die—that’s it.
I’ve met a few people like that but I’ve never known any personally.
Most people believe in some kind of afterlife—
even if it is vague and fuzzy and sentimental in their minds.
They think that something happens to us when we die.
But the Sadducees didn’t believe in an afterlife.
The Sadducees were a branch of Judaism in Jesus’ day.
They were a small, aristocratic, wealthy, highly-educated group,
the blue-bloods of Jewish society.
They are not only mentioned in the New Testament,
but also in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus.
Josephus says the very same thing about them that Mark does:
“The doctrine of the Sadducees is this: That souls die with the bodies.”
When you die, you die—that’s it.
The Sadducees did not believe that when a person dies their soul
goes to heaven or hell. They certainly did not believe in the resurrection.
What did they believe in?
They believed in the status quo.
They believed in keeping their way of life, their standard of living, their wealth,
their comfort and position in society intact.
They had a moral and social code based on their understanding of the first
five books of the Bible—the books of Moses—the only ones they accepted.
And they kept that code because it was part of their plan for keeping their lives
as untroubled and comfortable as possible.
That’s what they believed in—making this life as predictable and trouble-free
and comfortable as possible.
The Sadducees came to Jesus with a question.
Presented hypothetical situation of seven brothers marrying one women,
one after the other and none of them having children.
Asked: Whose wife will she be in the resurrection?
This practice of a man marrying his brother’s childless widow was a custom
in
ancient
What’s important to see is that Sadducees were mocking the idea of an afterlife.
They were asking a ridiculous question in hopes of getting a ridiculous answer.
They thought Jesus would be stumped or maybe try to explain—
Well, it’s her first husband or it’s her seventh husband.
They would say: The resurrection sounds more nutty and confusing than this life!
But Jesus responded by saying:
Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.
Then he made two important statements about the after life.
You may wonder:
what does Jesus’ encounter with these people have to do with me?
I’m not a skeptic. I believe in the soul and heaven and hell.
Yes, we believe those things—
but quite often we live as if we didn’t.
We live as if there were no afterlife.
Just like the Sadducees we focus all of our attention and energy and hopes
on this life. We do all we can to make sure our lives here are comfortable,
and secure and as free of discomfort as possible.
So what Jesus says to the Sadducees comes home to us and challenges us to ask
ourselves if we really believe what the Bible says about the afterlife.
Because if we do, if we believe what Jesus tells us,
it will have a profound impact on the way we see this life,
and how we live every day.
Let’s look at this passage under two headings:
1. What Jesus tells us about the afterlife.
2. How believing him makes a difference in this life.
MP#1 What Jesus tells us about the
afterlife.
In response to the Sadducees mockery,
Jesus made two important statements about the afterlife.
Let’s look at them in reverse order.
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”?
He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Sadducees only accepted the books of Moses (first five books of the Bible).
And they claimed to be experts. Built their code for life on those books.
Jesus said: You don’t believe in life after death?
It doesn’t sound like you’ve read the books of Moses.
When God spoke to Moses from the burning bush and said:
“I am the God of Abraham . . .” that statement reveals that there is life after death.
Jesus based his argument on the tense of the verb.
God did not say: I was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Past tense.
But now they are dead and gone and they don’t know me anymore.
He said I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Present tense.
I know them and they know me right now, even today.
The most tragic words in the context of a relationship are the words “I was.”
I was married. I was a father. I was a friend.
Just his week I was talking to a woman and asked her how many children she had.
She said, Two. Then paused and said, I had another son, but lost him when 12.
How long ago? Tears sprang to her eyes and she said: It was 30 years ago.
She could not say: I am the mother of a 42 year old son.
She had to say: I was his mother, but no more. He is dead and gone.
But God says: I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
In quoting this passage Jesus was affirming that when believers die,
it is only their bodies that die, their souls still live in a personal,
conscious, relationship with God.
Even though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are no longer walking on earth,
they are still alive. God’s relationship with them is still real.
Even though they experienced death, they are still with him.
We know from other places in the Bible that when our souls are with God
in heaven that things will be clearer, and more joyful than we have ever known.
Struggles and troubles and sin and sadness will be put behind us.
Bible describe this as entering God’s rest and being with the Lord.
At the recent funeral of Dr. D. James Kennedy,
the words of one of his sermons where printed in the program:
“Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some people will say is the end of this life. They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a few people will cry. But I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet joined me in the land of the living.
How can we be sure that our souls will be with God when we die?
This passage says nothing about the faithfulness of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Instead God says: I am their God.
This is the same language Jesus uses to describe himself.
I am the good shepherd. I am the bread of life. I am the light.
I am the resurrection and the life.
What that tells us is this: We do nothing. Christ does everything.
You must simply entrust yourself to him, body and soul.
Believe he is the great I am.
Believe he is now and always your shepherd, bread, light, resurrection.
And you can know that when you die, your soul will enter his presence
because God’s relationship with his people is always I am, always present tense.
Now let’s look at the other thing Jesus tells us about the afterlife.
“You do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. When the dead rise,
they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.”
For many Christians, this is a big disappointment.
They can’t imagine how the next life could be better and happier
without being married to the person they love.
I feel this way. My marriage is one of the happiest things in my life.
It would make me very happy to know that I would be married to Allison forever.
Now, to be honest, you should know that this passage one of Allison’s favorites!
But Jesus is very clear—no marriage. So what does it tell us about the afterlife?
Notice Jesus is talking specifically about the resurrection: “When the dead rise.”
This is an important reminder to us that heaven, in the sense of our souls
being with God when we die, is not the final thing the Lord has planned for us.
We are not going to exist as spirits forever.
There will be a day of resurrection when Christ returns.
The bodies of believers will be raised in a glorified state, like Christ.
Our sinless souls and glorified bodies will be reunited.
We will live and reign in Christ’s eternal kingdom which is this world made new.
Heaven will come to earth and earth will become heaven.
Heaven is God’s glory and rule—His throne.
Revelation says of the new creation: The dwelling of God is with men.
The Bible just gives us hints and rumors of what that life will be like.
It’s mostly described in terms of what we won’t experience.
Life without corruption, weakness, and dishonor and sin.
Life without death, tears, mourning, crying or pain.
So why won’t marriage be a part of that picture?
This seems to be the reason: Because the very best marriage in this life—
the companionship, the intimacy, the trust, the shared jokes and laughter
and purpose and delight in each other’s company—the very best marriage—
is just training wheels for the great life God has planned for us.
All of those deep things that make a marriage good, we will experience
in ways we don’t even understand in the resurrection life.
I’ve done a few weddings.
But one thing I’ve noticed, as the preacher, I have the best seat in the house.
I get to see the bride come in, and the groom’s reaction.
I get to see the father’s face when he gives her away.
I get to see eye contact as they exchange vows and rings.
And the thought sometimes occurs to me—all these deep and wonderful things—
these deepest of human feelings—these great hopes and joys—
this wonderful standing of the threshold of a new life together—
It’s just a dress rehearsal for the great resurrection life God has planned for us.
No marriage—and yet eternal life itself is described as the bride adorned
for her husband and the wedding supper of the Lamb.
All of the greatest hopes and deepest joys that God made us to experience
as human beings—the companionship and intimacy—
we will know that at the resurrection through our union with Jesus Christ.
At death our souls with God in heaven—perfect peace, perfect rest.
And then at the resurrection—glorified bodies, living and reigning with Christ.
If you really believe that this is your destiny as a child of God—
then it will change the way you live. That brings us to our second point.
MP#2 How believing what Jesus tells us about the
afterlife
makes a difference in this life.
It gives you strength to deal with frustrations and disappointments.
Life in a fallen world is frustrating and disappointing.
It might be something as simple as frustration over a home repair project.
You think: I can fix this. I don’t need to call anybody.
Have it done in an hour. In fourth trip to Lowes—what’s wrong?
Or it might be frustrations at work.
Irritating co-worker with weird agenda.
I just came here to do my work.
Why do I have to deal with this mess?
Or maybe it is disappointment over your marriage.
I thought it was going to be different from this.
I thought it was going to be more fulfilling.
Why are things not better? This is not what I had hoped.
I could go on naming any number of things.
Why do we have those frustrations and disappointments?
Because we were made for heaven.
We were made for a perfect world.
Because our first parents were given the Garden of Eden—
and were told to till it and enjoy it and take dominion.
In that place work and relationships and plans were blessed
and not subject to frustration.
The memory of that place is in our spiritual DNA.
But now creation is groaning under the curse.
You can respond to that in different ways.
You can try to make a little heaven on earth.
That’s what the Sadducees did, and that’s why they hated Jesus.
They built their lives on comfort, stability, security and wealth.
Like everybody else, thought Jesus was a political Messiah.
He would rebel
against
that would ruin their little world.
They were wrong about Jesus being political, but there is an important lesson.
If you try to make your life in some area perfect, comfortable, secure,
unruffled by the troubles and pains of life—guess what?
You will be frustrated and disappointed.
You can get mad at God for not going along with your plans
for making your little life perfect here or you can remember that
he’s not in the business of making your little life perfect here—
He’s in the business of bringing you to heaven.
And you can hold on to that and say:
These frustrations are just a reminder that this is not my final destiny.
I’ve been made for more than this, and one day I will inherit it.
That won’t make you check out but instead it will cause you to realize
that the work you are doing now, with all its frustrations and imperfections
is just training for the great work you will do one day in Christ’s kingdom.
You have to deliberately think that way.
I’m in training for a great future life.
One day I will work and plan and build in a world without the curse.
I’ll be with people, enjoy friendships without the curse.
But I’m not there yet. God is getting me ready for that.
In the mean time, going to do my best, push against the curse,
put my hope on Christ and the future.
Sadducees were wrong about Jesus bringing a political kingdom—
but they were right about something.
They were right in understanding the power of his teaching
about the resurrection—that’s why they mocked it and feared it.
They knew that if people believed Jesus, then nothing could stop them.
If they lost everything—homes, family, wealth—they would say:
that’s nothing compared to the glory I will enjoy.
If they faced frustrations and disappointments and setbacks—
would still believe in the future kingdom and would keep pushing.
And even if they died before the great cause was accomplished,
it would not be the end for them, but they would go immediately
into the blessed presence of God.
Sadducees thought—if people follow this man, believe this, no stopping them.
And how right they were.
Nothing that makes men and woman more courageous and willing to push
back against the curse than faith in Christ and the hope of eternal life.
I recently read a good book called “Against All Hope.”
Autobiography by a man named Armando Valladares.
In 1959, shortly
after Castro had taken over
for comments he made at work critical of communism. He was 23.
Thrown into a terrible prison in
Guards brutalized political prisoners and firing squads were going day and night.
It was there Armando came to faith in Jesus Christ.
This is the way he describes it: He grew up religious.
His Christianity was like good manners, something learned, but never examined.
Then, in this prison, turned to Christ out of fear of losing his life.
But it just didn’t seem right. Seemed like just using Jesus to get out of a bind.
Life changing moment was seeing the execution of some young Cuban men.
The slogan of the communists was: “Viva la revolucion!”
Just before the shots were fired, these young men shouted: “Viva Cristo Rey!”
“I understood instantly, as though by a sudden revelation, that Christ was indeed there for me in moments when I prayed not to be killed, but I realized as well that he served to give my life, and my death if it came to that, ethical meaning. Both my life and my death would be dignified by my belief in Him. It was at that moment, I am sure, and not before, that Christianity became, more than a religious faith, a way of life for me. Because of my situation , it seemed my life would necessarily be a life of resistance, but I would be sustained in it by a soul filled with love and hope.”
And for the next 22 years Armando resisted every attempt to make him embrace
the communist revolution—both torture and promises of better treatment.
And never stopped pushing back against evil and praying and working
for the freedom of his countrymen.
Even after his release, and after making his way to freedom
in
years of frustrations and disappointments that the country he love is still
in bondage, his hope is in Christ, and he knows that one day all will be set right.
That’s our hope. Remember that, don’t put your hopes in this life,
don’t be overcome with frustration and disappointment. Work, push back.
Believe Jesus, your future is life with God and a great and
glorious resurrection.