Life After Death Mark 12:18-27 Introduction This morning we come to the topic of the afterlife the resurrection To live in this world part of the lot of humanity is to be confronted with the reality of death I remember around 6 th grade one of the boys in our school was killed in some kind of a motor bike accident I didn t know the boy particularly well but the idea that he was gone and would not be seen again in this life was a strange thought One day Tony is in your classroom the next he s where? Could that happen to me [I guess so] - - - what happens next? - - - only natural to wonder John MacArthur was once on the Larry King Show with a panel of religious leaders of different faiths discussing various religious questions shortly after the 9-11 terror attack [2001] At one point Larry threw out a question directed to MacArthur: What about a two year old baby crushed at the bottom of the World Trade Center? - - - what happens? / where do they go? MacArthur did not hesitate: Instant heaven Larry who knew a little theology responded: He wasn t a sinner? MacArthur responded again: Instant heaven MacArthur commented later: In the sound-bite environment of a program like Larry King Live, I had no opportunity to follow up with an explanation for my statement, and frankly, Larry didn t ask for one. [Safe in the Arms of God, p. 2] MacArthur went on to write a short book detailing why many Christians have come to such a position on the death of infants Larry is not the first to ask the question of infant salvation It flows quite naturally from the Christian position that we are saved by grace thru faith in Jesus and His atoning death. What about infants that die before being able to comprehend truth / exercise faith? They have the sin nature at birth but are incapable of belief and moral choice up to a certain age of development 1
MacArthur comments on the status of infants: Scripture teaches that we are saved by grace, but we are damned by works. Scripture teaches that eternal punishment is the wage due those who have willfully sinned. Nowhere in the Bible is anyone ever threatened with hell merely for the guilt inherited from Adam. Instead, whenever Scripture describes the inhabitants of hell, the stress is on the willful acts of sin and rebellion... Scripture always connects eternal condemnation with works of unrighteousness willful sin. [p. 80] The Great White Throne Judgment scene Revelation 20:12, 13 The books are opened the dead are judged according to their deeds Infants are incapable of making conscious moral acts they do not fit into those categories Pastor John Newton wrote to some close friends whose young child had died: I hope you are both well reconciled to the death of your child. I cannot be sorry for the death of infants. How many storms do they escape! Nor can I doubt, in my private judgment, that they are included in the election of grace. [Safe... p. 56] We have questions about the afterlife It was no different in Jesus day In our passage this morning Jesus is asked a question about the resurrection by a religious group called the Sadducees - - - in His answer He reminds us of the crucial role of the Scriptures to our understanding of reality The answers we seek to life s questions are found here D.L. Moody: this book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of life, the doom of sinners, the happiness of believers. Read it to be wise. Believe it to be safe. Practice it to be holy. It gives light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler s map, the soldier s sword, the Christian s chart. Here paradise is restored: heaven is opened and the gates of Hell described. Christ is its theme, our good its design and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, a river of pleasure. It is given us in life, will be open in judgment, and remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, rewards the greatest labor, and condemns all who trifle with it. I. A Question about the Afterlife vv. 18-23 On this day of questions we move on from the Pharisees and Herodians 2
Next up: the Sadducees Once again men coming with a question not from genuine motives but rather seeking to discredit Jesus in some way Once again Jesus puts them to silence Matt. 22:34 Matthew will say that Jesus muzzled [silenced] the Sadducees with His answer Who were the Sadducees? They were a religious party generally associated with the temple and priesthood They held positions in the Sanhedrin the Jewish Supreme Court They had some peculiar religious views: Denied the resurrection Denied the future judgment Denied existence of angels Held only to the 1 st five books of Moses as their Bible tended to disregard the rest of the OT This was a test not to trap Jesus in a political statement but merely to ridicule Him as a rabbi Some today dismiss the doctrine of the resurrection [like the Sadducees] and the afterlife Richard Dawkins [atheist] Being dead will be no different from being unborn I shall be just as I was in the time of William the Conqueror or the Dinosaurs. He says: we simply cease to exist that s all. What comes next? Nothing the ride is over we just need to accept that Sigmund Freud took a more psychological approach [calls belief in things like heaven and the resurrection to be wish fulfillment] He said that religious people invent heaven and such things because it is such a wonderful idea Freud: We shall tell ourselves that it would be very nice if there were a God who created the world... and if there were a moral order in the universe and an afterlife; but it is a very striking fact that all this is exactly as we are bound to wish it to be. [i.e. afterlife heaven wish fulfillment] Or Karl Marx the father of communism called religion the opiate of the masses We just believe in God [and heaven] because it makes us feel good [like a drug] 3
*** How might Jesus respond to such thinking? One man who lived under both Nazism in Germany and later in Russia under Stalin gave his response to this idea [he had seen plenty of humanity s darker capabilities] Czeslaw Milosz: a true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders we are not going to be judged. [The Twilight of Atheism, p. 153] He says, you ve got it backwards - - - the true opium of the people is when people tell themselves that there will be no judgment of God and they can do whatever they want in this life at death they cease to exist Milosz basically says don t think you will solve the religious question on the grounds of wish fulfillment that sword cuts both ways Why do we believe in a resurrection? Is it because of the testimony of near-death experiences? [little boy who died and went to heaven - - - those are interesting but no...] *** Christian s believe in the resurrection based on the authority of Jesus and the Scriptures / the faithfulness of God to His promises / the power of God to perform what He says He will do The resurrection is taught in the OT: Daniel 12:2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. Jesus taught and preached a resurrection John 5:25-29 The resurrection says that death does not end all The resurrection teaches that man is accountable for the actions he makes in this life because He is made in the image of God belongs to Him Even if someone literally gets away with murder in this life the justice of heaven will have its say This question of the Sadducees comes to Jesus more like a riddle 4
They come with this scenario about a woman marrying 7 brothers in succession [clearly a hypothetical] There was a provision made in the law Deut. 25 Basically intended to preserve family name and inheritance If a brother died while married and childless his younger brother would take his wife and the first born son would be considered the son of the first brother Christine was quite relieved after we had our first son... If you were in this family and you were the 3 rd or 4 th brother in line you would probably be a little squeamish about this whole process when your time came up You might want to send Sally away to cooking school or something to make sure that s not the problem They summarize their case and say, Which one s wife is she going to be in heaven? - - - She had 7 husbands Jesus - - We ve located the Elizabeth Taylor of the 1 st century - - who will she be paired off with in eternity?!! They think they have exposed the ridiculous nature of the resurrection to Jesus here i.e. look where belief in resurrection can take you how ridiculous is this? Jesus takes this situation and question of theirs even though he knows their motives He still responds in a way that brings edification to those with ears to hear We can appreciate the fact that he does because He adds to the body of information we have in the NT on the afterlife II. The Answer Book vv. 24-27 Jesus says the reason they are mistaken about the resurrection is that they don t understand the Scriptures or the power of God We might picture Jesus here saying: What have you been doing with your Bibles? You don t know what this book says at all! To begin resurrection is not the restoration of life as we know it here in this life it is entering into a whole new realm of existence We will be like angels in heaven marriage is not part of it Jesus does not say that we become angels but rather are like them in this respect 5
The resurrection body: Phil. 3:20-21 The resurrection will be a display of the power of God What will the resurrection body be like? It is described with terms like: immortal, imperishable, incorruptible I Cor. 15:52-53 We will be no longer susceptible to physical death / disease / decay / sickness We will know and perceive things we don t know now I Cor. 13:12 [now we know in part] We are talking about a vastly different kind of existence We shall see Jesus face to face be conformed to the body of His glory I John 3:2-3 This is an amazing doctrine How can someone pull this off? We aren t talking about what man can do - - - we are talking about what God can do Jesus says that is the source of their error they don t know what God has taught [in Scripture] - - - and they don t know what God can do [His power] If God can make this universe make this planet able to support life create Adam and Eve give the breath of life to them - - - He can certainly raise the dad Jeremiah 32:17 Ah Lord God! Behold Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power and by Thine outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for Thee. Jesus proceeds to give an argument from Scripture for the resurrection to the Sadducees He basically tells them they had not interpreted Scripture correctly He sticks to the Pentateuch the books the Sadducees believed in Ex. 3 the call of Moses God didn t say, I was the God of... or I had been... [past tense] But I am the God of... 6
This implies their continued existence after death they do not cease to exist they are with the Lord looking forward to the day of resurrection On the Mount of transfiguration we have Jesus talking with who? [Moses and Elijah] They re not dead! They ve just moved to another realm. Paul taught that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord II Cor. 5 Jesus reminds us that we will have wrong ideas about reality if we do not know and believe the Scriptures Ps. 119:105 Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Conclusion John Wesley once spoke these words on the Bible: To candid, reasonable men, I am not afraid to lay open what have been the inmost thoughts of my heart. I have thought, I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air... a few moments hence, I am no more seen; I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing, the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach me the way. For this very end He came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the book of God! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libri. [a man of one book] Wesley: I want to know one thing: How to get to heaven John 20:31 these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. What does this book tell us? It tells us about a God who so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. It tells us about a God who is willing to forgive sinners who put their trust in Him It tells us about a Savior who bore our sins on Calvary I John 2:2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 7