The Resurrection Separates Us from Those Who Live for this World

Luke 20:27-47

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.

• Denial of the resurrection is the direction this world has gone.
• The resurrection is questioned through the natural social order.
• People who receive eternal life are not married.
• God is the God of the living, not the dead.
• Jesus Christ is not the Son of an earthly father; He is the Son of God.
• Living for the values of this world brings condemnation.

Denial of the resurrection is the direction this world has gone. “Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him,” Luke 20:27 The Sadducees could not believe in Jesus because they didn’t believe in the resurrection, the judgment in the afterlife, nor eternal life. They were completely without understanding of the Old Testament prophecies and ignored them. We live in a world today that has no belief in anything beyond this world. They discard the teachings of Jesus Christ, and do not have the Holy Spirit in them who is a down payment of eternal life to come. Their system of belief is humanism through the mark of the beast.

The resurrection is questioned through the natural social order. “…saying: “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.” Luke 20:28 The Sadducees were trying to apply the laws of the natural social order to how heaven will be. “Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her as wife, and he died childless. Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.” Luke 20:29-31 The Sadducees were hypothetically saying that in heaven there would be unresolved issues because by the laws of this world, she would be married to seven men when they were all resurrected. “Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife.” Luke 20:32-33

People who receive eternal life are not married. “Jesus answered and said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.” Luke 20:34 Marriage is something that people in this natural world does. In fact, nowadays marriages are formed when the couple does not believe in Jesus Christ, the resurrection, the judgment to come, eternal life, nor the need for the remission of sin. Marriages are made through the mark of the beast. “But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage;” Luke 20:35 People who receive eternal life are not married, but we are married to Jesus Christ. “…nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” Luke 20:36 Eternal life does not mean “forever yours” like in a “Hallmark Family Movie”, eternal life makes us like the angels in Heaven, we become immortal.

God is the God of the living, not the dead. “But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’” Luke 20:37 Jesus makes the Holy Scriptures easily understood, something that the Sadducees refused to do. God is not a graveyard God, nor a patron saint over the dead, nor anything like that. Those who live for the mark of the beast are serving the god of the dead because they do not believe in eternal life through Jesus Christ. “For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.” Luke 20:38 God is the God of the living, and we all have life through Jesus Christ. Every single person on this planet lives to God because every single one of us will answer to Him on the day of judgment, in the afterlife. “Then some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.” But after that they dared not question Him anymore.” Luke 20:39-40

Jesus Christ is not the Son of an earthly father; He is the Son of God. “And He said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David? Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms:” Luke 20:41-42a. Jesus makes the scriptures very easily understood and once again reveals the obvious, the Sadducees and other Jewish leaders were calling the Christ (Jesus) the Son of David instead of the Son of God, but that was wrong. This is what the Bible really says, (Psalms 110:1), “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’ Luke 20:42b.-43 King David is saying “The Lord said to my Lord,” meaning God said something to the one who is Lord over David. Who is the One over him? It is Jesus Christ who sits at the right hand of God until His enemies become His footstool. “Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then his Son?” Luke 20:44 Jesus is not the Son of David, but is David’s Lord, the Son of God.

Living for the values of this world brings condemnation. “Then, in the hearing of all the people, He said to His disciples,” Luke 20:45 We are the disciples of Jesus, and He has something He wants to say to us, and so that everyone else can hear, “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts,” Luke 20:46 The scribes are the ones who are supposed to know the scriptures, but instead they live for this world with no belief in the next. The people mentioned in that verse have no belief in the resurrection from the dead, and their values are rooted in the things of this world.

They thrive on social esteem and respect, which is given to those who live by the mark of the beast. They love the best seats in the synagogues, which relates to wanting to be in the best places within our mind and heart. We are the synagogue of the Holy Spirit, and they want to sit in the place of the Holy Spirit where there is nothing but goodness and praise for them. They love to be honored at community events, and love to be looked at with admiration and respect. They live by the mark of the beast and detest the Spirit of Christ, “…who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.” Luke 20:47 They use churchy and humanitarian sounding words, but their life is rooted in money and possessions, which are given as rewards for living by the mark of the beast. They will receive greater condemnation in the judgment to come.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1