The Leaders' Last Question

Let's pray together. Father, we are grateful for today. Truly, Lord, the love that you have lavished on us goes beyond anything that we can ever imagine. And yet, Lord, you've loved us with an everlasting love, and we are grateful for that. And our prayer today is that we would see that love in action as we understand you and your communication with the religious leaders of Israel and how it is in your grace and mercy you extended them the offer of salvation that they might come to understand the truth of your word.

And today, Lord, we ask you to open our eyes that we might be able to behold the glory of your word in Jesus name. Amen. If you have your Bible turn with me to Luke chapter 20, Luke chapter 20, as we continue our study of the life of our Lord during the last week of his life, the most important time as we begin to understand how it is Christ communicates to us the truths that we need to understand.

And we told you that there were three parables given by our Lord on Wednesday of Passion Week, and Luke only records one of those parables. But those three parables that Christ gives indicts the leaders of Israel. In response to those three parables, there are three questions that are asked by the leaders of Israel. Luke only records two of those questions. And then as a result of that, there is one last question that Jesus will ask the religious establishment. And that will be the last question he asks in Luke's gospel.

This is the last question they asked. But we know from Matthew's account, there is one more question they asked, they come, we talked about last week, they asked about number one, political responsibility.

Number two, today, a literal eternity. And number three, a spiritual priority. Those are the three questions that are asked by the religious establishment as they conjure up some way to trap Jesus. These three questions that they asked him are the questions that they come up with after coming together trying to figure out how they can trap Jesus, so they might get rid of Jesus. Let's read the second question asked of Christ, Luke chapter 20, verse number 27.

Now there came to him some of the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection. And they questioned him saying, Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring to his brother. Now there were seven brothers, and the first took a wife and died childless.

And the second, and the third took her. And in the same way, all seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died also.

In the resurrection, therefore, which one's wife will she be? For all seven had her as a wife. And Jesus said to them, the sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor given in marriage. For neither can they die anymore, for they are like angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him. And some of the scribes answered and said, Teacher, you have spoken well. For they did not have courage to question him any longer about anything. Now you have to understand the background to the question to understand the question. And then you have to understand how it is Jesus in a majestic, glorious way, answers the question because only Jesus can do it the way Jesus does it, because he's Jesus, he's God. And so the way he does it is absolutely phenomenal.

Need to understand that Ecclesiastes 311 says that eternity has been set in the heart of a man. There has never been a man nor woman who has lived that has not thought and contemplated eternity. In other words, life after death. What happens when I die? That's why I love to do funerals. I love to do funerals, because when people get together, we might come from different backgrounds and we might have different occupations, but we all have one thing in common. We're all going to die. And to be able to talk to people on that level, say, look, we're all going to be in the same place at the same time one day.

That is we're all going to die. And on top of that, everybody is going to be resurrected. Those are the two things you have in common with everybody who has ever lived. You're going to die and you're going to be resurrected either unto life or unto death. But those two things are ironclad assurance. They're going to happen. So that's what makes funerals the most exciting time to preach, because everybody has that same thing in common. Now you're looking at me like, man, you are a wacko. But I'm not wacko because I love doing funerals.

And so you realize that they come and they ask because eternity has been set in the heart of man. Everybody thinks about eternity. Everybody does. There isn't a man or woman alive who's never contemplated life after death. And the Jews were no exception. No exception. They had a little bit of confusion about what would take place after death. They knew there was life after death. They just didn't understand how it was going to happen. And that's what makes our lives today so wonderful, because we have what the ancients of old did not have.

We had the New Testament. We have 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We have Philippians 3 verse number 21 that talks to us about the kind of glorified body we're going to have. The Jews did not have that when they talked about these things in their days, but they did believe in the resurrection. They had their oral writings and their traditions passed down. They had the Talmud that spoke of the resurrection. They had the apocalypse of Baruch and the apocalypse of Enoch. And they had Second Maccabees that all spoke about life after death, but they just were not able to understand what that life would look like.

They didn't get it. They didn't know that. But most importantly, they had the scriptures. They had the scriptures. They had the word of the Lord that spoke about the resurrection. Psalm 16 was one they held dearly. Psalm 16 verse number nine, Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will dwell securely, for thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol, neither wilt thou allow thy Holy One to undergo decay. Thou wilt make known to me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy.

In thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. So they knew about the resurrection of the body. They also knew over in Psalm 49 verse number 15, But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he will receive me. They knew that. Over in Psalm 73 verse 24, With thy counsel thou wilt guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. Over and over again. You can read about in Psalm 139, verses one and two. Isaiah chapter 26, Daniel 12 verse number two was one of the verses they held dearly.

Daniel 12 verse number two says this. It says, 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. So they knew about the resurrection. They knew there was life after death. The Old Testament taught it. Their traditions passed down through the rabbis. That was given to them. That taught to them about resurrected life. They just didn't necessarily understand what the resurrected body looked like or how it would all come about.

But they believed in a resurrection. And yet, there were some dissenters in Israel called the Sadducees. And they didn't believe in the resurrection. In fact, it says over in the book of Acts, the 23rd chapter, the eighth verse, For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. See, the difference between the Pharisees and the Sadducees is that the Sadducees did not believe in the supernatural. They didn't believe in life after death.

They believed that when you died, that was it. You go out of existence, you're done. They didn't believe in angels. They didn't believe in the spirit. They didn't believe anything supernatural. They were the dissenters in Israel. Now, the unique thing about that is that they weren't a very large group, but they were the most influential group in Israel. They were the wealthiest group in Israel. Why? Because the Sadducees were the chief priests. The Sadducees were the high priests. Most of the Sanhedrin, the 70 that governed Israel, the Supreme Court of Israel, most of them were Sadducees.

Now, that's very important to understand the whole dynamic in the murder of Christ, the death of the Lord, and how it all comes about. Because they did not believe in the supernatural. They did not believe in a resurrection. And Jesus was the one who said, I am the resurrection and the life. Remember Lazarus? You see, they couldn't deny the power of the resurrection because Lazarus was alive. See? Remember John chapter 12? You need to know John chapter 12. It says in verse number nine, the great multitude, therefore, the Jews learned that he was there.

Remember what it says, the Jews in John's gospel, it always speaks of the religious leaders. They learned that he was there and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead. But the chief priests took counsel. Who are the chief priests? The Sadducees took counsel that they might put Lazarus to death also because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus. So they had a hard time with the resurrection, especially when you got a guy who was dead for three days, walking around in Bethany, everybody wants to see him.

And now people are believing in this Jesus. Something must happen. Something's got to stop this Jesus. That's why over in John 11, these words are given by Caiaphas. Caiaphas, by the way, was a Sadducee. Annas, his father-in-law was a Sadducee. Now you begin to understand more about what took place at the temple cleansing because you see the Sadducees, they weren't in the upper regions of the Galilee. They weren't even in the outskirts of Judea. They resided in Jerusalem. Why? And they come into play during temple cleansing.

Why? Because what Christ cleansed was the bazaar of Annas. He was a Sadducee. And so he would cleanse that place. He would run out those money changers. He was attacking their wealth. He was attacking their income. He was attacking their monetary status. He was attacking their position. And this was the one claiming to be the resurrection and the life. And so they stood against the Christ. That's why in John 11, verse number 47, it says, therefore the chief priests, remember the chief priests are made up of the Sadducees and the Pharisees.

Pharisees, they were the literalists. They were the ones who were ritualistic. And the Pharisees and the Sadducees did not get along because one believed in the resurrection and one didn't. One believed in the supernatural and one did not. Pharisees did. The Sadducees did not. And they convened a council and were saying, what are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. Remember, they never denied the miracles of Jesus. They couldn't. They were obvious. If we let him go on like this, all men will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.

But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, said to them, remember Caiaphas is a Sadducee, you know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation should not perish. In other words, Jesus has to die. He has to, or we're going to lose our whole position. We're going to lose everything that we have. Remember that in 70 AD, when the temple was destroyed, guess what? That's when the Sadducees no longer existed because there was no more temple.

That's where they made all of their money. And that's where they promoted their position. That's where they received their esteem. Once the temple was destroyed, the Sadducees went out of existence. So now you begin to understand a little bit behind the question that's going to be asked of our Lord at this time. Remember, politically, the Sadducees were with Rome. Rome gave them delegated authority. That made the Jews hate them even more because they sided with Rome. And yet they ran the infrastructure of the temple and they demanded people give this and give that.

And they just kept getting richer and richer and richer. And the people couldn't stand them. But they were the, they were the leaders of Israel. They were the religious establishment of Israel. They were the chief priest and they were the high priest and they were the members of the Sanhedrin. They ruled Israel. Yet they did not believe in the supernatural. Yet they called themselves literalists. They believed in the Old Testament. They did not believe in the rabbinical tradition that was passed down.

And they did not believe in the oral tradition that was passed down. They only believed literally in, listen carefully, the Pentateuch. The first five books of the Old Testament.

That's it. They believed that the rest of the Old Testament was a commentary on the writings of Moses. You with me so far? And they would teach that because the resurrection was not taught in the Pentateuch, there was no resurrection. That's what they believed. And so they held strong to that. The Pharisees, on the other hand, believed in the resurrection, but they had no idea what would happen next. So they would ask questions like this. When a man is resurrected, will he be clothed or will he be naked?

They would ask that question. When a man is resurrected and he had a defect in this life, would he have a defect in the next life? They would assume based on the traditions passed down that that would be the case. If a man had a relationship in this life, then he must have that relationship in the next life as well. And the Sadducees had a heyday with this because they would argue all the time about the irrationality of their arguments concerning the resurrection. And the Pharisees and the Sadducees were at an impasse as to who could convince who of what.

And the Sadducees were experts in the law. And so that's what would prompt their question by coming to Jesus and asking him about this situation with this woman who had seven husbands, had no children, had seven husbands. Whose wife is she in the resurrection? And I'm sure that was the question, the ultimate question they asked the Pharisees. The Pharisees could not answer. They had no idea. They didn't understand the next life. They knew there was a resurrection. They knew there was a next life.

They believed in that. The Old Testament taught that, but they did not understand what that looked like. And so the Sadducees had a heyday with the Pharisees and mocked them and joked with them and ridiculed them because the Pharisees could not answer the questions. And this must be the ultimate question because this is the one they bring to Jesus, the master rabbi. If we can trap Jesus on this, we got him. So they come and they ask this question. Matthew's account tells us that they come on this day, Wednesday.

Luke doesn't tell us that, but Matthew's account does on the same day, the same day that the previous question was asked. That's Wednesday of Passion Week. Remember he rode in on Monday. He cleansed the temple on Tuesday. He taught on Tuesday. He taught on Wednesday. We're in the middle of Passion Week. He is now teaching. He gave three parables. They come with three questions. This is the second of the three questions.

Are you with me so far? I know I'm going a little fast, but that's what we get immediate ministry. You can always get it and play it back and get all the details, what you missed when you first started taking notes.

But here's the deal. They come and they ask the question. They approach Christ. They come to him and they ask a question. Remember, remember that in the midst of overwhelming evidence, the Sadducees hated the supernatural. You can learn more about that in Acts chapter four. Remember in Acts four, verse number one.

And as they were speaking to the people, the priest and the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees came upon them, came upon who? Peter and John being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Okay. So now you understand more about the Sadducees. They are irate with Peter and John because you're talking about Jesus being raised from the dead. They don't believe in a resurrection in spite of that empty tomb, in spite of how Christ appeared to over 500 individuals.

You go a little further in Acts chapter five, verse number 17. It says, but the high priest rose up. Remember the high priest is the Sadducees rose up along with his associates. And that is a sect of the Sadducees that they were filled with jealousy. Why, why would they feel with jealousy? Because everybody was following this new sect of Christianity. They were leaving the temple. They were leaving the synagogues and they were going into the sect of Christianity. They became very jealous because it would hinder their income.

It would hurt their monetary wealth. It would hurt everything they lived their lives for. They became jealous. Down to verse number 28, the high priest questioned them. We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in the name. And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. They were irate because the apostles kept preaching Jesus Christ, him crucified, dead, buried, risen again, and they could not stand it. So they have to put a stop to Jesus.

They have to get them off the streets. How will they do that? They're going to come and ask a question that will trap him. And here's the question. Teacher, again with flattery, master teacher, rabbi, they come because they want him to think that they esteem him as a teacher. Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies having a wife and he is childless, his brother should take the wife and raise up offspring to his brother. Now that's true. Deuteronomy 25, verses 5 to 10. It's called the Leveret marriage based on the Latin word brother, where you take a brother would take his brother's wife if he died.

And the reason God designed that simply is because that what he wanted to do is preserve the lineage of Israel and the tribal lineage of Israel. And Moses set up the law through God that if you're married to a man and he dies, you don't have a child, that that brother or the next closest relative is to marry that woman so that that line will continue on. You first read about it in Genesis chapter 38, where Onan would not do that and God killed him.

So you better do that. Okay. Also, the whole story about Ruth and Boaz is all about Leveret marriage. And so what happens here now is they come and they ask this question. Moses has said now they're going to the Pentateuch because that's what they believe in, right? They believe in the first five books of the Old Testament.

That's what they adhere to. They are experts in those five books. Moses has said this. And Christ, of course, would affirm that because he is a believer in the Old Testament. And then they present this scenario. This lady has a husband. He dies. She marries his brother. He dies. She marries his next brother. He dies. This is the original black widow. Okay. All the brothers die, seven brothers. Now, whether this is true or not, nobody really knows. Is it a true story? Is it a fictitious story? Is it something that's made up?

We don't know. But that's the question they ask. Okay. Finally, she dies. Thank God, because that's going to save the male race if she dies. Okay. She finally dies.

And so in heaven, in the resurrection, they don't believe in the resurrection. Whose wife is she? Who is she going to be married to? Knowing that the Pharisees taught, well, you know, everything in this life is just going to transfer over to the next life. If you've got a defect in this life, you have a defect in the next life. If you have a relationship in this life, you've got the same relationship in the next life. That's what they believe. That's what they taught. So in the next life, whose wife is she?

That's the question. And they think they have him. But they don't. You can never really get Jesus. He's God. And so he answers them. And how he answers them is important. Because what he says, you need to go back to Matthew chapter 22 to realize what he says. He says in Matthew 22, these words, Matthew 22, verse number 29, you are mistaken, not understanding the scriptures or the power of God. What an indictment. You are erring. Which means to wander. You have wandered away from reality. You have wandered away from the truth.

You have no idea what you're asking because you have no idea what the Bible says. Can you imagine being a religious leader and Christ saying you have no idea what you say you believe? You have no idea what the Bible says.

Because you did not interpret the scriptures accurately. Listen, everything in life depends on how you interpret scripture. Everything you do in life all depends on God's word being the cornerstone of your life and faith. Everything in life depends on how it is God's word is interpreted. The accuracy, the truth of God's word dictates how we live our lives. If you mess that up, you're going to mess up your life. And their lives were all messed up because they did not understand what the Bible said.

So Christ is going to tell them what the Bible says. You have greatly mistaken. You have wandered, been led astray away from the truth because you did not understand the scripture. You can't get anything right until you do. He says, listen.

Oh, by the way, not only do you not know the scripture, you don't understand the power of God. Because you see, if you understood the scripture, you'd understand the resurrection. And if you understand the resurrection, you understand the power of God. And it's right in front of them. Lazarus is two miles away and Bethany. How do they miss that? They've even gone to try to kill Lazarus because of the people who believe in Jesus. They can't even grasp the power of God when it's right in front of them.

Shows you how blinded they were to reality and to the truth of God's word. But there it was. So he says, you don't know, do you not understand the scripture? You don't have no idea about the power of God. He says, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. The sons of this age, they marry, they procreate, they have children. That's what they do. The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. Verse number 34.

That's what people do. The sons of this age, the sons of humanity, the people living in this realm, that's what they do. They get married, they have children, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. In other words, when you believe in the resurrection and you live in the next life, there is neither marriage nor are you given in marriage in the resurrection. Why? He tells you, verse 36, for neither can they die anymore.

The reason there's no need for marriage in heaven is because there's no need for continuity of the line. There is no need to replace individuals. Why? Because you're like the angels in heaven. The angels have a fixed number. Okay. The angels do not procreate. They do not multiply. They have a fixed number. So you're equal to the angels. There is a fixed number. You do not gain any more individuals in heaven. There's no need for that because the line is complete in heaven. He says, for neither can they die anymore for they are like angels and are sons of God being sons of the resurrection.

When you see the phrase sons of God or sons of this age or sons of the resurrection, it's a term that identifies the essential nature and quality of that certain individual. So if I am a son of God, I have God's life. If I am a son of the resurrection, I have resurrection life. God's life, okay, is not sexual. It's intimate. I have God's life. There is no need for sexual intimacy in heaven. Why? Because the relationship I have with God supersedes any relationship I could have ever had on this earth.

In other words, when I get to heaven, there's the ultimate bridegroom. Who is that? That's Christ. Who's the bride? We are. And in that relationship is the fullness of all relationships. And everything about that relationship supersedes any other relationship one could have on this earth. See, we have a hard time with that. We think, well, when I get to heaven, will I know you? Will you know me? Okay. Will we be married in heaven? Okay. That's going to be so irrelevant when you get there. That's not even going to be an issue when you get there.

We can't get that. We're not like the Pharisees. We can't get that out of our mind. We think that when we get to heaven, we're going to look just like we do now.

God forbid. You don't want to look like you do now. Believe me. You're going to have a glorified body. That's what 1 Corinthians 15 is all about. That's what Philippians 3, 21, a body like our glorious Lord's body. Okay. It's going to be a glorified, perfect body. Thank God. And in that perfection, there will be an intimate relationship between me and my God that supersedes any other relationship I could have on this earth. So Christ answers the preliminary question that way, and then gets to the heart of the issue by saying this, but that the dead are raised.

Even Moses showed, I'll stop right there. He's going to take them where? To the Pentateuch. First five books of the Old Testament.

He's going to take them to what they say they believe. This is so incredible how God does this. Now I could have taken him other places in the Pentateuch, but he took them here because it's going to come again in John's gospel in the 18th chapter in the garden of Gethsemane. So he takes them here because the Lord knows all things. He's got everything mapped out. He's planned out every event, every conversation, every situation between now and the cross and beyond. It's all under his predetermined counsel.

It's all going to work out exactly as he has planned it to work out. So he says this, Moses showed in the passage about the burning bush. Now we all know about that one. Exodus chapter three, where he calls the Lord, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now, if you go back to Matthew's account in Matthew, it says these words in Matthew chapter 22, these words are given to us verse number 32. I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Tenses are important.

Present tense. I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac and I am the God of Jacob. Wait a minute. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all dead by the time you get the Exodus chapter three. But God does not say I was the God of Abraham and I was the God of Jacob and I was the God of Isaac. He says, no, I am present tense. I am presently now the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I am not worshiped by dead people. I am not worshiped by corpses. I am worshiped, worshiped by living, breathing individuals.

So he says present tense. I am the God of Abraham right now, Moses. I am the God of Isaac right now, Moses. Yeah, Moses. He's talking to Moses. I am the God of Jacob right now, Moses. Christ uses that from Exodus chapter three to show that God is the God of the living, not the God of the dead. And they should know that. They should understand that. They should grasp that. but they did not. And Christ said, from our perspective, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are dead. But from God's perspective, they are alive.

And they are alive where? In heaven, in the resurrection. They've been raised from the dead. And I am their God, presently speaking to Moses. And he uses the phrase, I am, because he's going to come back in John chapter 18, when they come to get him with those thousand people from the temple police to the cohort, and all the Sanhedrin coming, the Sadducees all gathering together. He's going to remind them that he is that I am. When they say, when he says to them, who do you seek? They say, Jesus of Nazareth.

He says, I am. And they all fall over backwards. To reiterate in their mind, that on Wednesday of that same week, just two days ago, he said that God said to Moses, I am. And that he now was saying, I am. And as a result of saying that, the power of God exudes from him, and they all fall over backwards, all 1000 of them. The remarkable thing is that they all get right back up again. They don't understand the power of God, because the Sadducees did not believe in the supernatural, even though it affected them physically.

They would not. So Christ says to them, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him. They're all living to me. They all live for me. They all live to worship me. Then it says, some of the scribes answered and said, teacher, you have spoken well. That's an understatement. For they did not have courage to question him any longer about anything. In Matthew's account, says the multitudes were astonished, amazed. And the word used there is to describe one's mind being blown away. Remember, everybody is in the temple court with Jesus, and they're asking these questions, and the crowd is all around listening to what Jesus says.

And the way he answers blows everybody away because he speaks the truth. And they hated the Sadducees. They couldn't stand them. There had to be a sense of, oh yeah, boy, Jesus, you got them really good, you know, in the depths of their hearts, realizing that he was able not only to answer their question, but to put them to silence. They would no longer have any courage to ask him anything else. Now, we know that Matthew comes along and someone else comes, one of the scribes comes and asks about which is the greatest commandment, because that's the next question in line.

We're not going to cover that because that's not in Luke's gospel. But that's the next question. What about spiritual priorities? And after that, it says, no one dared ask him any more questions because they could not trap him. And so Jesus then, we'll see this next week, he will ask them the ultimate question. He'll ask them one question, which once again will silence them forever, because they would not submit to Christ as king. Now, this story reminds me so much of just how great our Lord is at relying on his own word.

Isn't that amazing? Jesus could have said anything he wanted to say, but he takes them back to his very own word to refute everything that is said. And that shows you the power of God's holy word, that the power of God's holy word is so incredible that God would take his word, reiterate it back to them, to trap them in their own questioning. Our Lord relied upon the word daily. And that reminds me that how often we need to be in God's word daily, because that is our sustenance. That is our life. And when we understand God's holy word, and it's applied to our lives, and we interpret it correctly based on what the word of the Lord says, then that is our life.

That is our life. And our Lord was so good at taking them back, he relied on his very own word. How much do we need to rely upon that very same word? And on top of that, you must know that one day you will die and you will be resurrected. Everybody who lives and dies is resurrected. Listen to what Jesus says in John's gospel, the fifth chapter, John chapter five, verse number 25.

Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear shall live. For just as the father has life in himself, even so he gave to the son also to have life in himself. And he gave him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of God. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice, all, and shall come forth, those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life and those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

Christ affirms that everybody will be raised from the dead. That's why in the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 20, verse number four, and I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.

Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection. Over these, a second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

In other words, there's a first resurrection. There's a second resurrection. You don't want to be a part of the second resurrection because that's the resurrection unto judgment.

The first resurrection deals with the one who is the first fruits of all those resurrected Christ himself.

It deals with those who die, who are in Christ at the trumpet of the Lord. They will rise first and we who are alive remain shall be caught up together with them in the air.

And so shall we ever be with the Lord. And then there's a resurrection of tribulational saints. And there's a resurrection of old Testament saints. All that is a part of the first resurrection.

Those who truly believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. But the second resurrection is a resurrection unto judgment.

And that's where the great white throne judgment comes into play in Revelation chapter 20 verses 11 to 15, where the books are open and all the deeds of those are put forth and they try to convince the Lord that they deserve heaven. And Christ will say, depart from me. I never knew you Folks, there's going to be a resurrection. Whether you're a Sadducee or not, there's going to be a resurrection of everybody in this room who dies because Christ promised it. You need to be a part of the first resurrection, the resurrection unto life.

The resurrection that puts you into the presence of almighty God forever and ever and ever to put you in a glorified body in a relationship with the living God that surpasses any relationship you could ever imagine this side of eternity. And Christ died that you might experience heaven's glory forever. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for today and a chance to be in your word for truly Lord. You are a great God and you alone are worthy of praise. We're grateful Lord for the interaction you had with the Pharisees and the Herodians and the Sadducees on that day on Wednesday in the temple courts, because so that we understand the essence of life.

We understand what it means to be a follower of Christ and we understand your heart. And father, we want to be people after your heart. Today, as we partake of the Lord's table, once again, celebrating the sacrifice on our behalf, we once again say thank you that we might experience your life in Jesus name. Amen.