Latest / Reformed Thinking / The God of the Living: Christ’s Defense of the Resurrection (Matthew 22:23–33)

Transcript

The God of the Living: Christ’s Defense of the Resurrection (Matthew 22:23–33) · Reformed Thinking

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You know, usually when we talk about medical diagnosis, there
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is this expectation of absolute precision.
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Like you break your arm, the X-ray shows that jagged white
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line and the doctor just points and says there it is.
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Right, it's totally binary, broken or not broken.
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Yeah, we like things to be visible, to be neatly
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categorized. But then you step into the world
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of human rationalism and theological error, and suddenly
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that X-ray machine seems broken. We are looking at a diagnostic
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landscape that is incredibly murky, especially when people
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use religious language to hide A skeptical heart.
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It really creates a massive smokescreen.
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I mean, people can use all the correct vocabulary, wear the
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right clothes, and stand the right buildings while harboring
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A worldview that is entirely opposed to the reality they
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claim to represent. Welcome to Reformed Thinking.
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This is the deep dive where we take curated sources, historical
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commentaries, theological analysis and scriptural texts
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and extract the most critical insights to give you a shortcut
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to being thoroughly informed. And we know you might be seeking
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intellectual clarity today. Or maybe you just enjoy a
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fascinating historical debate. Whatever brings you here, we are
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glad you were at the table today.
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We are unpacking a highly charged confrontation from
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Matthew chapter 22 verses 23 through 33.
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We are looking at Jesus facing off against a group called the
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Sadducees regarding the doctrine of the bodily resurrection.
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This specific text forces us to confront the tension between
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human rationalism and divine revelation.
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We see skeptics attempting to mock the supernatural and Christ
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dismantling their arguments with absolute authority.
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I really want to establish the dramatic stakes right from the
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jump because this is not an academic disagreement happening
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in a quiet classroom over tea. No, not at all.
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This is a high stakes public ambush.
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It is a strategic interrogation meant to humiliate Jesus in
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front of massive crowds just days before his crucifixion.
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OK, let's unpack this. To really grasp the tension, we
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need to understand the atmosphere.
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We are in Jerusalem and it is Tuesday of Passion Week, roughly
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8033. What does that actually look and
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feel like on the ground? You really have to picture the
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sheer scale of the environment. Jerusalem during Passover was
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just boosting at the seams. The normal population of the
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city would swell by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims.
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Wow, so it's completely packed. Exactly.
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The streets are packed, the noise is deafening, and we are
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standing inside the public precincts of the Temple.
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This is the epicenter of Jewish religious and cultural life.
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But the mood is incredibly hostile.
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Because the Romans are watching, right?
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The Romans are watching from the Antonia Fortress, hands on their
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swords, anticipating riots, and the religious establishment is
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in a state of absolute panic because of what Jesus has been
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doing. Well, he hasn't exactly been
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keeping a low profile. He just rode into the city on a
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donkey, accepting the praises of the crowd declaring him the
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Messiah, and then he went straight to the temple.
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He walked right into the commercial center of the temple,
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overturned the tables of the money changers and drove out
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those who were selling animals. He struck at the financial and
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structural heart of the religious elite.
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That is a massive disruption. It is.
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And after that, he began telling pointed parables like the
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parable of the two sons and the Wigtum attendants, which were
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public indictments of the religious leaders.
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So he essentially walked into their headquarters, disrupted
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their cash flow, and dismantled their authority in front of the
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entire nation. Pretty much.
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It makes total sense why the religious establishment had
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moved past suspicion and into acting extermination mode.
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They needed to destroy his credibility before they could
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destroy him physically. The narrative in Matthew
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chapters 21 and 22 is structured as a series of escalating
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controversies. First, the chief priests and
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elders demand to know by what authority he acts.
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And Jesus turns that back on them.
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Right then, the Pharisees and Herodians try to trap him with a
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political question about paying Tasses to Caesar.
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Jesus evades that brilliantly with the coin.
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So since the Pharisees failed, a new, much more influential group
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steps up to the plate. Sadducees.
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We hear a lot about the Pharisees in Sunday school, but
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the Sadducees sometimes get lumped in as just generic bad
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guys. Who were they and why did they
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have so much to lose? The Sadducees were the wealthy
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aristocrats. They were the old money of
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Jerusalem. The high priestly families were
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almost exclusively seducion. So they held the real
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institutional clout. Absolutely.
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They controlled the temple treasury, which function like
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the central Bank of Judea. They were the political elites
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who collaborated directly with the Roman occupation.
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The Romans allowed them to maintain their wealth, their
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massive homes in the upper city, and their social status as long
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as they kept the populace under control.
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So they are the ultimate pragmatists.
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They are managing the religious economy of Israel, working with
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the occupying force and just making sure the boat doesn't
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rock. They had a vested interest in
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the status quo. When Jesus cleansed the temple,
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he wasn't just offending their theology.
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He was threatening the delicate political balance that kept them
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in luxury and kept the Roman legions at Bay.
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That makes their theology even more interesting.
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Our sources described them as materialists and strict
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rationalists. How does a religious leader end
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up being a materialist? Well, they adopted a very narrow
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theological framework. They rejected the oral
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traditions and the extensive extra biblical rules the
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Pharisees championed. They rejected the existence of
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angels, demons and spirits. That cuts out a lot of the
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supernatural. It does, and most critically,
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they completely rejected the doctrine of the bodily
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resurrection or any concept of life after death.
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They accepted only the Pentateuch, the first five books
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written by Moses, as their definitive, authoritative
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scripture. If Moses didn't explicitly spell
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it out in a way their rational minds could categorize, they
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discarded it. I look at the Sadducees and I
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immediately think of modern secular institutionalists.
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They loved the social benefits, they loved the status, the
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beautiful architecture of the temple, the robes and the
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cultural influence. But they completely rejected any
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supernatural reality that could not be measured by human logic.
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Yeah, they wanted the crown without the cross and the temple
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without the living God. Their religion was characterized
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by worldly reductionism. They functioned as operational
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atheists in many ways. That is a stark way to put it.
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But it's true. They talked about God and the
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law, but they boxed God into a system they could manage.
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The concept of a future bodily resurrection was offensive to
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them because it implied a future judgment and overturning of the
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current social order and a reality they could not control
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with their money or their political connections.
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So if that is their worldview, they can't just walk up to Jesus
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and say we disagree with your theology.
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That doesn't play well with the massive crowd hanging on his
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every word. No, the crowd wouldn't care
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about a dry academic dispute. Right.
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They have to discredit him publicly.
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They need a scenario so absurd that the crowds will turn
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against him and laugh him out of the temple.
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Courts. They needed a weapon to make the
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supernatural claims of Christ look foolish, so they decided to
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weaponize a specific piece of the Mosaic Law.
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They went to Deuteronomy chapter 25 verses 5 through 10 and build
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a trap around the institution of Laviret marriage.
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We need to stop right here and clarify what Laviret marriage
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is, because to a modern ear, the idea that a woman is required to
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marry her deceased husband's brother sounds oppressive.
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It sounds like treating women as property to be passed around.
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How is this actually protective? It requires a shift into an
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ancient agrarian mindset. In that culture, a woman's
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survival and social standing were entirely tied to the man in
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her life, first her father, then her husband, and eventually her
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son's. So if she loses her husband, she
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loses everything. Exactly.
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If a woman's husband died before they had children, she was in an
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incredibly vulnerable position. She had no heir to care for her
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in her old age. Plus the family's allotted land.
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Their inheritance in the promised land would be lost to
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that specific family line. So she goes back to her father's
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house. She is a widow without
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prospects. If she stays, she has no land
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and no son to work it. She faces total destitution.
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The levirate law required the deceased man's brother to step
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in, marry the widow, and provide for the first son born to them
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would legally carry the name of the deceased brother.
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Oh, I see. This ensured the dead man's
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lineage was not erased from Israel.
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The property remained within the covenant family, and the widow
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was protected from starvation and poverty.
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It was a mechanism of social welfare and covenant
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faithfulness designed for a harsh mortal world.
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OK, that makes sense. It is a safety net.
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But the Sadducees take this law, which was meant for mercy and
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provision in a fallen world, and they twisted into a theological
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weapon. They construct this extreme,
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absurd hypothetical scenario to spring on Jesus.
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They approach him and say, Teacher Moses said if a man dies
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having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise
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up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers
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among us. The first married and died and
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having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.
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So to the second and third down to the 7th.
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After them, all the women died. You almost hear the smugness in
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their voices. It sounds like a terrible logic
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puzzle. They deliver the punchline of
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verse 28 in the resurrection. Therefore, of the seven, whose
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wife will she be? For they all had her.
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That is just so incredibly cynical.
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They're using a classical rhetorical device known as
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reductio ad absurdum. They construct a scenario to
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show that taking a premise to its logical conclusion results
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in absurdity. They believed that if they could
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prove the resurrection creates an impossible chaotic marital
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entanglement in the next life, then the doctor of the
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resurrection itself must be irrational and false.
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Is this even a genuine theological inquiry?
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It feels like a cynical gotcha moment designed for Public
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Theater. It operates exactly like a
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modern political sound bite. It is designed to humiliate the
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opponent, score points with the crowd and shut down the
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conversation. They don't want an answer, they
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want a spectacle. It is entirely hostile.
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They are attacking a caricature of the resurrection that they
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themselves invented, and there is a massive hidden assumption
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in their logic. The trap only works if you grant
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them their comus about what the afterlife actually is.
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Their fatal flaw was assuming the age to come would simply
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replicate the current fallen age.
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They imagine the resurrection is nothing more than a direct
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continuation of this present earthly life.
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Like just waking up tomorrow but you live forever.
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Yes, they assumed that if we rise from the dead, we just pick
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up where we left off, carrying over all the same social
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arrangements, biological drives, economic limitations and
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property rights. They assumed earthly marriage
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must simply be transferred unchanged into the next World.
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They bound divine truth to the limits of their own earthly
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imagination. But Jesus doesn't take the bait.
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He doesn't start untangling the marital status of these seven
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brothers. He cut straight through the
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hypothetical noise and goes directly to the underlying
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disease, causing their flawed thinking.
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He responds in verse 29 with absolute sovereign authority.
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He says you are wrong. Wait, I want to highlight how
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shocking that is. In 1st century rabbinic debate,
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wasn't there a lot of nuance? Weren't they used to quoting
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other scholars, debating the finer points of the law, and
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having lengthy, respectful dialogues?
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Usually yes. But Jesus doesn't validate their
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question at all. He just shuts it down.
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What's fascinating here is the Greek verb used.
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It is plenus. It means to be LED astray, to
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wander, or to be fundamentally deceived.
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It indicates A fatal spiritual deception.
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Jesus does not treat their question as a respectable
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alternative viewpoint within the boundaries of acceptable
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religious debate. He calls it out as a severe
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self-inflicted blindness. He doesn't debate the
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hypothetical, he attacks the premise.
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He diagnosis their error as twofold.
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He says you are wrong because you know neither the scriptures
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nor the might of God. I want to break down both of
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those charges, starting with their ignorance of the
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scriptures. These are the religious elite.
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They have the physical scrolls. They hold high religious office.
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How can Jesus say they don't know the scriptures?
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Having access to the text and possessing spiritual insight are
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two very different things. Sadducees spent their lives
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around the temple. They were the guardians of the
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Pentateuch. But they read the text in
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fragments. They just picked what they
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liked. Exactly.
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They severed laws from their covenantal context and twisted
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them to fit their skepticism. They approached the text as
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judges, deciding what was rational and what wasn't, rather
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than submitting to the revelation of God.
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That is a harsh reality check. Having a Bible on your desk or
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holding a religious title or possessing an advanced
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theological degree does not guarantee you actually
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understand the Sovereign Lord. Intellectual pride creates a
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massive blind spot. They had words without
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understanding, text without truth.
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The irony is staggering. They look down on the common
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people as uneducated, yet the Incarnate Son of God looks at
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the highest theological authorities in the nation and
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diagnosis them with foundational ignorance.
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And then he hits them with the second part of the diagnosis,
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ignorance of the sovereign might of God.
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What does that actually mean in this context?
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They measured God's capabilities by their own human experience.
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Because they could not imagine how God could organize a world
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without earthly marriage or how a decomposed body could be
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raised, they concluded God was incapable of doing.
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It they boxed him in, yes. They assumed the creator of the
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universe, who spoke galaxies into existence out of nothing,
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was bound by the biological mechanics of a fallen world.
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They reasoned from what is customary now to what must
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always be. It is the ultimate human
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arrogance. Like if my finite brain cannot
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comprehend the logistics, then the infinite God cannot
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accomplish the reality. They created a God in their own
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image, a God who is just as constrained by physics and logic
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as they were. A cramped theology always leads
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to a diminished view of God These two errors, ignorance of
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scripture and ignorance of God's might, always travel together
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that. Makes a lot of sense.
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When people do not know the Scriptures faithfully, they
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inevitably reduce God to a manageable size.
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And when people have a low view of God's capabilities, they will
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always distort Scripture to fit their narrow imaginations.
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Having diagnosed their core ignorance, Jesus immediately
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proceeds to correct their small minded view of eternity.
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He decides to answer the trap by explaining the actual nature of
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the resurrected life. He addresses the hypothetical
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directly in verse 30. He says, For in the resurrection
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they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the
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angels of God in heaven. We have to be very precise here
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to avoid confusion. When people hear as the angels,
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popular culture takes over. People start thinking that when
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we die, we turn into angels, get wings, sit on clouds and play
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harps. What is Jesus actually saying?
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The distinction between humanity and the angelic order remains
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entirely intact. Scripture maintains that
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redeemed men and women remain truly human and will be raised
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bodily. The phrase as the angels refers
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to the condition of their existence, not their species.
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OK, that clarifies things. Like the angels, the resurrected
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Saints will live in a glorified state that is no longer governed
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by the biological patterns necessary for earthly
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continuation. To understand why marriage
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ceases, we have to look at why marriage exists in the first
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place. You mentioned earlier the
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concept of a creation ordinance. Can we define that for the
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listener? A creation ordinance is an
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institution established by God at the very beginning of human
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history, prior to the fall, designed for the flourishing of
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human life on earth. Marriage and work are primary
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examples. Got it.
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Marriage is good, holy, and designed by God for a mortal
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world. It exists for companionship, but
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also structurally for procreation, for raising up the
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next generation and for fulfilling the mandate to fill
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the earth. It replenishes the human race in
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the face of constant death. The Leviart law we talked about
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earlier was entirely focused on preserving A lineage because
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death threatened to erase a man's name.
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It was a countermeasure against mortality.
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In the glorified state, death is entirely conquered.
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The last enemy is defeated. When there is no more death,
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there is no more need for replacement or procreation.
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That completely removes the need for the Leviart law.
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Exactly. The institutions designed to
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sustain a mortal world are no longer necessary.
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The age to come features a glorified, deathless bodily
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existence. Jesus is showing them that
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resurrection life is a transformed reality.
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It is not resuscitation back into the old decaying order.
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It is entrance into the new creation.
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It is like trying to use the biological rules of a
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Caterpillar to argue that a butterfly cannot possibly fly.
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The Sadducees are Caterpillar thinkers.
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They are looking at the limitations of the cocoon, the
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crawling, the eating of leaves, and they're saying, see,
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airborne flight is a logistical impossibility.
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A Caterpillar would just fall out of the sky.
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That is a great way to picture. It and Jesus is saying you have
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no idea what the glorified state looks like.
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You are applying the rules of the cocoon to the sky.
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That analogy perfectly captures their error.
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They assumed continuity without glorification.
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They imagined more of the same. But Christ reveals that the
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coming age is not a shadowy continuation of her present
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experience. It is the perfected state.
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Earthly institutions that were necessary for the journey are
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retired when the destination is reached.
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Jesus has completely dissolved their hypothetical dilemma.
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He exposed that their trap rests on a massive category error.
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The seven brothers won't be fighting over this woman because
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the entire institution of earthly marriage has fulfilled
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its purpose. Yes, the problem ceases to
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exist. But he doesn't stop there.
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Dissolving the trap isn't enough.
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He goes on the offensive to prove the resurrection using the
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only authority the Sadducees actually accept.
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This is where we see the absolute brilliance of his
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scriptural masterstroke. He goes to the book of Exodus in
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verse 31. He says, and As for the
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resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to
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you by God? I am the God of Abraham, and the
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God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
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I have always wondered about this choice of text.
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Why quote Exodus 3? If you want to prove the bodily
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resurrection from the Old Testament, why not quote Daniel
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12, which literally talks about those who sleep in the dust of
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the earth awakening, Or Isaiah 26?
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Those seem much more explicit. Because Jesus is meeting them on
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their own turf. The Sadducees rejected Daniel.
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They rejected Isaiah. They did not consider the
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prophets to hold binding theological authority.
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So quoting them would be useless.
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Right. If Jesus said quoted Daniel,
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they would have simply dismissed the source material.
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Instead, he goes to the foundational moment of their
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entire religion, God speaking to Moses out of the burning Bush.
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He takes the Pentateuch, the only text they claim to Revere,
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and uses it to dismantle their skepticism.
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Let's examine the grammatical and theological weight of this
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quote. It all hinges on a single
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phrase. I am.
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It is in the present tense. God did not say to Moses I was
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the God of Abraham back when he was alive, walking around
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Canaan. If we connect this to the bigger
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picture, this is the logic of the living God.
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The covenantal argument here is staggering.
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When God says I am the God of Abraham, he is declaring an
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ongoing bond of promise, fidelity, and saving commitment.
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For God to be someone's God is not a trivial historical label.
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It means he has set his favor upon that person and taking them
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into Covenant Fellowship. If God identifies Himself by His
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relationship to these patriarchs centuries after their physical
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deaths, that relationship must remain unbroken.
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A covenant bond secured by the Sovereign Lord cannot be severed
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by the grave. Correction Hope is not based on
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wishful thinking. It is not based on Greek
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philosophical speculation about the immortality of the soul.
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It is based entirely on the character and covenant
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faithfulness of God Himself. It is rooted in who he is.
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Yes, if God is truly their God, they must live unto Him.
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The covenant Lord does not enter into a saving relationship with
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His people, only to let death have the final word.
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He says He is not God of the dead, but of the living.
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If he is the God of Abraham right now, today, then Abraham
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cannot be permanently reduced to dust.
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God's faithfulness requires the final triumph of life.
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His promises to them regarding the land and the blessing cannot
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terminate in the grave. They must be raised to inherit
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the promises. This completely exposes the
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poverty of the seducion theology.
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They claim to follow Moses, but they reduce the covenant to a
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mere historical memory. Jesus shows that you cannot
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rightly confess the God of Abraham.
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Isaac and Jacob will deny that he is the God of the living.
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This overwhelming scriptural victory silences the elite
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skeptics completely, but it does more than just win an argument.
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It reveals something massive about the identity of the man
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delivering the argument. The narrative shifts from a
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debate about a doctrine to the absolute authority of Christ
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himself. Stands here as the authoritative
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interpreter of the word. While the religious leaders, the
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supposed experts, stumble in the dark, Jesus reads the text with
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perfect clarity. He doesn't just offer an
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opinion. No, He does not offer a
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speculative opinion. He declares the truth of God
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with sovereign authority because He is the eternal Word made
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flesh. As our great prophet, He
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perfectly exposes the errors of the unregenerate heart.
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The staggering irony of the moment cannot be overstated.
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The Sadducees are standing in the Temple mockingly asking a
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hypothetical logic puzzle about death, completely unaware that
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they are attempting to debate the resurrection and the life
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face to face. They are bringing a Riddle about
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mortality to the author of life. We have to keep the timeline a
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passion we can view. Jesus is defending the doctrine
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of the bodily resurrection on Tuesday, just days before he
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will physically demonstrate it, the.
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Timing is incredible. He is speaking as the priest who
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will shortly offer himself as the final sacrifice.
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His active obedience and upcoming atoning death on the
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cross will secure the very justification and eternal life
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he's currently teaching about. He isn't just giving a brilliant
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theological lecture, he is describing the reality he is
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about to accomplish. The sovereign might of God that
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the Sadducees denied is going to be most clearly seen in the
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empty tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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What he proves from Scripture on Tuesday, he will confirm by his
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own triumph over death on Sunday.
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Here's where it gets really interesting.
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Look at the reaction of the crowd in verse 33.
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The multitudes were astonished. Jesus didn't just score debate
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points. He manifested divine authority.
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The crowds recognize that they were witnessing something far
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beyond human intellect. They heard the voice of the
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Shepherd. The astonishment of the 1st
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century crowd echoes forward to us.
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The absolute authority Jesus demonstrated in the temple
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demands a response from every person who hears this text
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today. Matthew did not record this just
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to preserve an interesting historical exchange.
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He recorded it to produce faith, to humble the self reliant and
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to strengthen the weak. Which moves our discussion
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directly into application for you, the listener today.
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Because the errors of the Sadducees are not ancient
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history. They did not disappear when the
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Temple fell in 8070. These eras live on in modern
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pews, in universities and, if we are honest, in our own hearts.
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We have to actively warn against living like a functional
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Sadducee. This happens whenever people
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treat religion as a tool for earthly gain.
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We see this blatantly in the prosperity gospel, which focuses
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entirely on physical wealth, temporal comforts, and
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maximizing your status right now, while completely neglecting
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the weight of eternal realities, the necessity of repentance, and
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the coming judgment. It is the exact same mindset.
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Give me the financial blessings. Give me the social status, give
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me the utility of religion, but do not talk to me about a
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supernatural reality that demands my absolute submission.
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Do not talk to me about an age to come if it costs me anything
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in this current age. The Sadducees were willing to
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speak the language of covenant, but not to follow its
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implications. Yeah, modern thought is often
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embarrassed by the supernatural. Miracles are softened into
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metaphors. Judgement is neglected.
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We must stress the need to submit strictly to the closed
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Canon of Scripture. We cannot rely on modern
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pragmatism or human rationalism to dictate what we believe God
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can or cannot do. We have to let the text speak
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even when it offends our modern sensibilities.
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If we assume that familiarity with biblical language equals
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true understanding, we are falling right back into the
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Sadducee strap. We have to come to the text with
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reverence and a teachable spirit, not with a mind
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determined to accept only what fits our pre-existing earthly
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categories. This raises an important
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question for all of us. Where does our confidence rest?
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Is it in our ability to rationalize the universe, or in
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the sovereign grace of the living God?
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If our theology leaves no room for the Almighty to act in ways
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that surpass our comprehension, then our God is too small.
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I want to pivot to the pastoral comfort of this text, especially
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for the listener who is grieving.
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For the person who has stood by the casket of a loved one who
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died in the Lord. This passage provides immense,
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staggering comfort because God's covenant with his people extends
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beyond the grave. Death is a defeated enemy.
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It absolutely forbids despair. For those justified through
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faith, the loss of loved one is met with absolute certainty that
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the God of living holds them securely.
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Death does not sever the believer from the Lord.
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The God who bound himself to his people and covenant mercy
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remains their God in life, in death, and beyond death.
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The Christian mourns, but not as those who have no hope.
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The resurrection is not wishful thinking.
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It is a covenant certainty grounded in the very character
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of the living God. The Sadducees brought a question
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designed to produce mockery, and Jesus turned it into a
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declaration of unbreakable hope. He took their cynical trap and
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used it to eliminate the greatest promise in Scripture
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that God will not abandon His people to the grave.
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Let's recap the progression we have walked through today.
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We started with a hostile political trap set by wealthy
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elites based on a twisted, cynical reading of levirate
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marriage. Then we saw Christ deliver a
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devastating diagnosis of their spiritual ignorance, exposing
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how they knew neither the Scriptures nor the omnipotence
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of God. And we witnessed A majestic
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defense of the bodily resurrection rooted in God's
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unbreakable covenant with the patriarchs from the burning
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Bush. Jesus proved himself to be the
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supreme Lord of Scripture and the herald of the resurrection,
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securing our hope entirely on his own victory over the grave.
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As we wrap up this deep dive, I want to leave you with a brand
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new angle to consider on your own, something that builds on
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everything we have discussed. We have established that God's
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covenant necessitates the future physical, bodily resurrection of
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the patriarchs and of you if you are in Christ.
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That physical reality is crucial.
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So how does the promise of a tangible, glorified physical
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body in the new heavens and new earth alter the way you treat
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your physical body and the physical world right now, today?
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If matter matters to God so much that He plans to redeem and
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resurrect it, how does that change your daily habits, your
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stewardship of the earth, and the way you view your own
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physical limitations? The reality of a physical
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resurrection changes everything about how we value the present
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physical world. Thank you so much for joining us
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at the table today for this deep dive.
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We hope it has brought you clarity, challenged your
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assumptions, and anchored your hope in the God of the living.
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Until next time, keep reading, keep thinking, and keep resting
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in the Sovereign Lord.