Reflective Bible Study

When looking at all the prophecies and connection-points between the Old Testament and Jesus’ ministry, one of the best, most amazing connections relates specifically with Jesus’ resurrection. This particular connection point happens to be found in the book of Psalms. In this psalm of David, we get an amazing foreshadowing of the protection God provides to His people, and included in this psalm is the strong theme of the resurrection.

With that as our foundation, let’s read what David wrote. Our Old Testament passage for this episode is found in Psalm, number 16, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 1, David writes:

¹ Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.
² I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good besides You.”
³ As for the saints who are in the earth,
They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.
⁴ The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied;
I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
Nor will I take their names upon my lips.

⁵ The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You support my lot.
⁶ The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.

⁷ I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;
Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.
⁸ I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.
¹⁰ For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
¹¹ You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

In this psalm, we discover that David trusts fully in the Lord and that because of his trust in the Lord, he believes his soul will not be abandoned in Sheol, which, is the Hebrew word for the grave, or the place of the dead, if I’m not mistaken.

However, it is interesting that within that very same verse, which is verse 10, David writes prophetically that God would not allow His Holy One to undergo decay. While some people might assume that David is speaking about himself in this phrase, a technical reading of the verse draws our attention to David speaking this of someone other than himself. In other words, the first phrase of verse 10 could be said to be David speaking about himself. However, the second phrase, which begins with the word “Nor” transitions to speaking about someone other than David.

Over the past few years, I’ve begun to like logic puzzles, and the clues that use the word “nor” or “neither” are fascinating. When I was just beginning, when I saw a clue written with the format neither A nor B equals C, I originally believed that A and B could be the same. However, as I delved further into logic-puzzle-thought, I soon learned that the full clue being shared is that A, B, and C are all unique elements from one another.

Using our logic-puzzle-logic on our passage draws our attention to David clearly moving the focus away from himself with the second phrase he shares in verse 10, which then fixes our understanding of David’s “Holy One of God” to refer to the Messiah.

Moving forward to the New Testament and to Jesus’ life, we turn our attention onto Jesus’ resurrection. While we could use any one of the four gospels to describe this point in Jesus’ ministry, let’s read about the resurrection from Matthew’s gospel, because Matthew frames the details of the resurrection in an amazing way.

In Matthew, chapter 28, starting in verse 1, Matthew writes:

¹ Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. ² And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. ³ And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. ⁴ The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. ⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. ⁶ He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. ⁷ Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”

In the early morning hours of resurrection morning, the last thing on any of Jesus’ followers’ minds was on Jesus not being in the grave. I suspect that if Jesus’ disciples understood and believed Jesus’ resurrection like Jesus had tried to tell them earlier in His ministry, some, or perhaps even all eleven remaining disciples, would have been at the tomb to witness the angel arriving to roll the stone away.

It is interesting in my mind that Matthew’s gospel is the only one of the gospels to describe as much of the resurrection as he does. All the other gospels focus on the women who went to the tomb simply finding the tomb empty. However, Matthew’s gospel describes how the religious leaders had posted guards at the tomb to keep it secure, and that the arrival of the angel from heaven terrified these hardened soldiers.

A subtle side theme we can see in Matthew’s details of the resurrection is that one angel soldier for God is more than capable of scattering the best defenses humanity can muster. I suspect the religious leaders put their best efforts forward to keep the tomb secure, but it was no match for one angel from heaven.

However, I also always find it fascinating that this angel is only tasked with rolling the stone away, and perhaps also keeping the stone off of the entrance. This angel does not appear to actively be involved with Jesus’ life returning to His body. Instead, this angel’s task is letting Jesus out of the grave.

Actually, if we look at Jesus’ actions after this point, with Him appearing and disappearing among the various groups of disciples, I suspect that the angel at the tomb did not need to free Jesus from the grave.

Instead, I suspect that the angel was sent for the benefit of the women, and all of Jesus’ followers to remove the stone and let them see that the grave was indeed empty. If the stone had stayed put, and Jesus had supernaturally left the tomb without leaving a trace, there would be cause to believe the resurrected Jesus was an impostor. If the stone had stayed where it was locking the entrance to the grave, all of Jesus’ followers would likely have discounted or rejected the risen Messiah because everyone would assume Jesus’ body still lay behind the stone. It is also likely that the women would never have seen an empty tomb because the soldiers present would have turned them away.

This tells us that God sent an angel to validate the resurrection by opening the grave, scaring away those who would have likely attempted to close it back up, and showing all of Jesus’ followers that Jesus was no longer there. The angel who rolled the stone away was given for our benefit and what this angel did on resurrection morning vindicates Jesus’ own testimony, as well as David’s psalm that looked forward to the resurrection.

Jesus promised and predicted to His followers that He would be raised back to life following His death. While His followers did not know what to make of Jesus saying these things, especially since they all believed the popular view of the Messiah up to that point, specifically the detail that the Messiah would not face death, they missed the details that allowed for the Messiah to temporarily taste death.

Just like David wrote, God the Father would not abandon the Holy One of God or let His body decay. Instead, after Jesus lay in the tomb over the Sabbath day, marking Him resting following the completion of the work of salvation, Jesus returns to life and into the next phase of His ministry.

However, this seems like a great place to end this episode. While it might seem as though there is nowhere to go from here looking at prophecies Jesus fulfilled in His lifetime, I’ve saved some of the best, most amazing prophecies to look at as we move forward towards the end of our year podcasting, and that much closer to Jesus’ return.

As we come to the close of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open by challenging you, intentionally seek God first in your life. Trust that because Jesus conquered death and the grave, when we place our faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him, we have nothing to fear regarding death. When we die allied with Jesus, our resurrection is assured.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God. God wants a personal relationship with you, and the relationship God wants with you can begin today, and it extends past the end of pain, disease, sin, and even death. God wants a personal relationship with you that lasts for eternity.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving through Luke’s gospel, and the week leading up to the crucifixion, we come to a prediction Jesus makes and a message Jesus gives His disciples when they ask Him about when His prediction will take place.

Let’s read what Jesus predicts and what we can learn from what Jesus taught His disciples. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 21, and we will read it from the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 5, Luke tells us:

⁵ And while some were talking about the temple, that it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts, He [referring to Jesus] said, ⁶ “As for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down.”

⁷ They questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, when therefore will these things happen? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” ⁸ And He said, “See to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them. ⁹ When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.”

¹⁰ Then He continued by saying to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, ¹¹ and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

¹² “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. ¹³ It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. ¹⁴ So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; ¹⁵ for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. ¹⁶ But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, ¹⁷ and you will be hated by all because of My name. ¹⁸ Yet not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹ By your endurance you will gain your lives.

²⁰ “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. ²¹ Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; ²² because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled. ²³ Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people; ²⁴ and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

In this lengthy challenge Jesus gives His followers, I am amazed by several details Jesus shares. In the first part of Jesus reply, we are warned not to follow people who come claiming to be Jesus while also claiming that the time of the end is near. We should be cautious of anyone claiming to have special revelation from God regarding when the world will end. We also should know that when we hear of wars, these things are leading up towards the end, but the end does not follow these rumors or wars immediately.

This suggests that before Jesus returns, there may be a time of peace, or a time when things are more peaceful than not. One might describe this as a lull in a storm, as a temporary rest before the ultimate end. While I don’t make predictions about this, I simply am sharing one way to understand how Luke frames verse 9, which says “When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.”

Jesus continues His reply talking about massive wars, major earthquakes, plaques, famines, and terrors and signs from heaven. This may also be what happens leading up to Jesus’ return.

However, in verses 12 through 15, I am challenged and encouraged by Jesus’ words. In this section of Jesus’ reply, He predicts that His people will be persecuted, and brought before kings and governors because of our belief. Jesus tells us that this is God’s directing, and it is an opportunity for us to share our testimony. While it is very tempting to prepare what to say beforehand, Jesus challenges us not to prepare but to trust that God will give us the words to say. The amazing promise in this passage is that when we let God speak through us, He will “give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.”

God’s words through us when we are being challenged and attacked will be much stronger than words we could ever prepare, and the arguments God will speak through us will be as effective as Jesus was at challenging the religious leaders. Jesus always avoided disaster because He let God speak through Him.

The last big promise I want to draw out of this passage is what Jesus shares in verse 19. Jesus tells His followers that when all the bad in the world is directed at His people, “By your endurance you will gain your lives.”

When we press forward, determined to endure to the end, we will ultimately gain our lives. Technically, we won’t be gaining our lives, because our lives are stained by sin and our lives deserve death. Instead, technically, when we endure to the end, we gain Jesus’ life, and Jesus’ life is eternal life. Jesus took the death we deserved onto Himself on the cross and He offers us His life when we place our belief, faith, hope, and trust in Him. Through what Jesus did, when we endure through persecution, we gain eternal life!

While Jesus shares many other details in this passage, some of what Jesus shares was more relevant to those living in past centuries than it is today, while it is also possible that history will repeat itself.

Since we don’t know what details the future holds, I challenge myself to live each day at a time, and to focus on enduring for God. Through endurance, pressing forward for God and with God, no matter comes my way, I know for certain that I will outlast sin and I will ultimately gain Jesus’ gift of life, eternal life, in the new heaven and new earth!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your heart and in your life. Choose to trust God knows the future, trust God will speak through you when you are challenged for your faith, and trust that by enduring through all the bad that the world wants to throw our way, we will ultimately gain eternal life.

Also, while enduring the bad in this life, it is vital that each of us has a personal connection with God. Because of this, I always challenge each of us to pray and study the Bible for ourselves, because personal study leads to a personal relationship, and a personal relationship with God ultimately leads us through this life challenged by sin and into eternal life with God. If you have been coasting through your spiritual life leaning on other people, consider this a challenge to grow your personal relationship with God through personal prayer and personal study!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Continuing where we left off last week looking at one of Jesus’ parables that He shared leading up to the night He was betrayed and arrested, let’s turn our attention onto what Jesus taught immediately following the conclusion of this parable. However, since this is our year focusing on prophecy and connection points between Jesus’ ministry and the Old Testament, let’s first begin by looking at the psalm Jesus quotes from while wrapping up the parable He challenged the religious leaders with.

This psalm is number 118, and let’s read it using the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 15, the psalmist writes:

¹⁵ The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous;
The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.
¹⁶ The right hand of the Lord is exalted;
The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.
¹⁷ I will not die, but live,
And tell of the works of the Lord.
¹⁸ The Lord has disciplined me severely,
But He has not given me over to death.

¹⁹ Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the Lord.
²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord;
The righteous will enter through it.
²¹ I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me,
And You have become my salvation.

²² The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief corner stone.
²³ This is the Lord’s doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.

Let’s jump out of reading this psalm here. Overall, this psalm gives praise to God for all the blessings He has given to His people. However, tucked within this psalm of praise is a message about some builders rejecting a cornerstone. While this might be a reference to something that took place in the Old Testament, a quick search while I was preparing for this episode did not turn up a specific event in Israel’s history that I could refer to.

While there may be a time I wasn’t able to find, what I find even more fascinating than the specific details surrounding this psalm and why this idea was written into this psalm, is how Jesus ultimately frames this idea when He draws attention to it in the New Testament. While this phrase is shared in several of the gospels, let’s read it from Matthew’s gospel. Let’s also step back and read the parable we began with to give this teaching the context that those listening to Jesus would have had.

So with this said, let’s read from Matthew’s gospel, chapter 21, and starting at the beginning of the parable in verse 33, Jesus says:

³³ “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. ³⁴ When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. ³⁵ The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶ Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. ³⁷ But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ ³⁹ They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” ⁴¹ They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,

‘The stone which the builders rejected,
This became the chief corner stone;
This came about from the Lord,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?

⁴³ Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. ⁴⁴ And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.

As this event concludes, I find it fascinating that there are two ways Jesus frames understanding this psalm.

The first way of understanding it may have been the traditional way that those in the first century had understood this idea. This framing said that the Jewish nation, which was rejected by most every society at most points in history, ultimately will be made into the cornerstone of God’s kingdom.

On one hand, I believe this to be a true statement, with the only clarification or modification to what I shared earlier being that this cornerstone would be known as spiritual Israel, rather than the literal Jewish nation. While framing this idea as spiritual Israel allows for God-fearing Jews to be included, it also allows all of God’s people who started their life’s journey apart from God who come to God later in their lives. These people are welcomed in, and grafted into God’s family too.

However, I suspect that while these first century religious leaders may have believed this first angle for understanding this psalm, they rightly concluded that Jesus’ use of this psalm did not align with their frame.

Instead, Jesus takes the concept in this psalm, and subtly applies it to Himself. While it is very tempting to jump to the end of this conclusion and claim that Jesus is referring to Himself as the cornerstone, moving too quickly to this endpoint misses several powerful additional ideas Jesus shares in His conclusion.

Immediately following the conclusion of His parable and quoting this psalm, Jesus challenges the religious leaders by saying: “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it.” (v. 43)

With this verse as the immediate context for Jesus’ challenge, the best, first frame for understanding Jesus’ quotation is that what God is building is the kingdom of God. With the context being on Jesus warning these religious leaders that their lack of returning to God the fruit He desired was going to cost them their place in the kingdom of God, it was no surprise to anyone present that these religious leaders were opposed to Jesus.

However, with the context of this quote being framed as God building His kingdom, where would be the best place to look for a cornerstone. Some people, including many of the Jewish leaders living in the first century, believe the cornerstone of God’s kingdom would be the scriptures. I can understand the logic involved with this conclusion. The scriptures are a gift from God and a great foundation for growing our spiritual lives. Also, God’s Word, and His law form one big foundational element in His kingdom.

But elsewhere in the gospels, specifically in John’s gospel, we read Jesus challenging some religious leaders with the truth that the scriptures actually point to Someone. According to Jesus’ framing of the scriptures, when we are actively using them to base our life on, we will be logically pointed towards the One they were written to point us towards. According to Jesus, scriptures themselves don’t contain eternal life; they simply point to the One who has the power to give eternal life. This conversation is found in John, chapter 5, verses 39 and 40.

With all this in mind, we can then conclude that according to Jesus, God’s kingdom is built on the truth of the One scripture points us to, and the One scripture points us to is God the Messiah, who many people believe to be Jesus Christ Himself.

It is amazing in my mind that Jesus’ parable concludes with the tenants killing the vineyard owner’s son, and the psalm Jesus quotes also talks about the builders rejecting the cornerstone. The first century Jewish leaders were the ones entrusted with building up God’s kingdom, but they ultimately miss, discount, and reject the Cornerstone that God provided to Humanity.

However, we can be thankful for this because through Jesus’ death, the way has been made for our salvation. Jesus finishes this teaching in verse 44 by saying that: “he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

While we don’t have time to unpack this portion of the verse as well as I would like, it is worth noting that every member of humanity must come to grips with Jesus. If we choose to fall to our knees before Jesus, we will be broken and ultimately rebuilt into being the people God created us to be. However, if we choose to hold back on being broken by Jesus, this Cornerstone will figuratively crush us and scatter us like dust.

Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s kingdom. With this as one of the biggest themes in the Bible, it is up to us how we respond to Jesus. Jesus challenges us to come humbly to Him, bringing with us the fruit God wants us to have, and letting Him transform us into being the people He created us to be.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open by challenging you, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to let Jesus transform you through His love. Choose to place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus, the Cornerstone of God’s kingdom, and His sacrifice on the cross.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to Jesus each and every day. Through regular prayer and Bible study, discover how much Jesus loves us and what He was willing to go through because He wants each of us with Him in the New Heaven and New Earth.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Every so often, while moving through the gospels, we come across a passage that has the power to radically change someone’s perspective. The passage we are looking at for this podcast episode is one such passage for me.

A number of years ago, while studying this passage using Reflective Bible Study, I noticed a phrase in Luke’s version of this event that is not in Matthew or in Mark, and this phrase radically shifted my view about God, about death, about the future resurrection, and about the idea of perspective within the Bible. In other words, this passage pushed me to pay closer attention to the perspective of who is sharing the message within each Bible passage, and in Jesus’ case, we must pay attention to whether He is sharing from humanity’s perspective or from God’s perspective. While Jesus can share from either, it seems that Jesus usually draws us to pay attention to God’s perspective.

The extra phrase that is found within Luke’s gospel also may have stood out to me when I read it simply because I have never heard anyone else mention it, or draw attention onto it prior to my studying it. It is almost as if this is a forgotten or intentionally ignored phrase in a passage that doesn’t get much attention, simply because it challenges most people’s views about death and the resurrection. In short, this passage challenges all three major views regarding the state of those who have died without really touching directly on this topic.

Let’s read what happened and then unpack what we can learn from what Jesus taught. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 20, and we will read it from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 27, Luke tells us that:

²⁷ Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. ²⁸ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁹ Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. ³⁰ The second ³¹ and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. ³² Finally, the woman died too. ³³ Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

Pausing briefly, I am always a little humored at both the framing of the Sadducees dilemma, and at the ultimate question they ask. Luke has opened by saying that the Sadducees do not believe in a resurrection, but then they ask Jesus about what happens in the scenario they share at the resurrection.

I suspect that the Sadducees, who only regarded the Old Testament books Moses wrote as spiritually authoritative, had used this marriage dilemma as their reasoning for rejecting the resurrection. Because of this marriage instruction, it created a problem for when multiple brothers returned to life.

Because Moses clearly gave this instruction while not clearly drawing attention to the concept of a resurrection, in the Sadducees eyes, this dilemma logically concluded that resurrection was not valid because marriage is. In the Sadducees eyes, this dilemma made marriage, and all the legalities surrounding it, incompatible with the resurrection.

However, let’s read Jesus’ reply and uncover what we can learn about both these significant topics. Continuing in verse 34:

³⁴ Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵ But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, ³⁶ and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. ³⁷ But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ³⁸ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

³⁹ Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” ⁴⁰ And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

I am continually amazed at Jesus’ response, because His response challenges everyone present, while also subtly affirming a difficult to accept belief.

As Jesus opens His reply, He both challenges the belief that the resurrection is a fantasy while also subtly validating the detail that marriage and resurrection are, in the framing of the Sadducees dilemma, incompatible. However, Jesus stresses the detail that the resurrection that He promises marks the end of marriage, and this also draws us to understand exactly where we are in history. Since marriage is still something that occurs today, regardless of what you believe about marriage, its existence places us clearly before the resurrection and before the age to come.

In Jesus’ eyes, resurrection is a clear promise and something we can look forward to experiencing!

Next, Jesus challenges the belief that death is simply a transition into heaven. This is because the Sadducees question and dilemma is framed at the resurrection, and Jesus’ reply is also framed as being at the resurrection. Before the resurrection, the Sadducees dilemma makes perfect sense because before the resurrection contains marriage. If those who have died are conscious and living in heaven awaiting resurrection, the scenario that the Sadducees give is a valid concern, because all seven brothers were married to this woman.

Jesus’ reply frames this dilemma as not a dilemma because everything in His reply happens on or after the resurrection transition. The state of those who are dead prior to the resurrection is equal to nothing, or at the very least, it lacks consciousness and interaction with others. (Remember that if those who have died are able to see each other, then the Sadducees dilemma is a valid logical argument.)

In Jesus’ eyes, the Sadducees dilemma is not valid because there is no consciousness between death and the resurrection.

The third major belief that Jesus challenges in this passage is that death is a sleep waiting for resurrection. While in many other places death is referred to as a sleep, Jesus’ final statement in this passage appears to take aim at this belief as well. Jesus’ final words in this response are “He [referring to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob] is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

This third challenge is valid because if God sees all people as alive, even after their bodies have long decomposed, then they must exist somewhere. It is less relevant the state of their existence as the fact that they exist separately from the breath and the dust that is not given any specific or special designation.

In Jesus’ eyes, everyone, regardless of whether they are alive or dead, is alive in God’s eyes.

All three major views of death are challenged in this short passage. I suspect this is why almost no one talks about this event. To bring up the Sadducees dilemma means putting a target on yourself and on your belief about death and the resurrection.

However, how can we reconcile this?

Is there a view of death that is compatible with all three challenges?

I believe the answer is a clear yes, even if this view will likely never be popular. The answer to this viewpoint is seeing history as a timeline. The answer is seeing history as His story – specifically as God’s story.

To reconcile this in my own mind, I needed to start somewhere. Since the most common metaphor for death in the Bible is sleep, I started there. Death is described as sleep more than any other way in the Bible that I am aware of. However, the typical understanding of death as a sleep leaves out one major idea. Death as a sleep leaves out history’s timeline.

God has a clear record of history because history is His story. Because God exists outside of time, all He must do to see people as alive is to go to the part of His story that they are in. This does not mean that people now dead or who are not yet born are currently alive from our perspective. Instead, this means that God merely moves to a different part in history to see them as alive.

Does this mean that we no longer have any freedom of choice? Some people believe this, however I do not. Only if I knew God’s perspective and could see my future would I surrender all choice. God knowing what I will choose does not mean I don’t freely choose it. Since I don’t know my future, I have the freedom of pressing forward with the freedom of choice.

What does this mean then for the resurrection? With the timeline perspective of history, the resurrection is simple. God has planned a sequel to the story that sin corrupted, and this sequel is the New Heaven and New Earth. The resurrection then becomes the transition moment when God closes this book of history, and pulls all His people from our current story into His sequel. Because God is outside of time writing history, He has the power to pull characters from any point in His story into His sequel and He chooses to do that for His people!

Jesus teaches all of us that the resurrection is defined at the transition between the current age and the age to come. The age to come is marked by the absence of marriage. This means that the age we are currently living in as the same age as Jesus spoke, since marriage is an issue and a topic of discussion today.

However,this age filled with sin isn’t all we have to look forward to. God is planning a sequel, and He wants you and me to be a part of it!

As we come to the end of a longer podcast than what I was planning, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, intentionally seek God first in your life. Choose to ally yourself with Jesus and accept Jesus’ gift that He offers, which is a place within His sequel.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself. On any subject or idea you hear, see, or read, take the idea and filter it through God’s Word. Don’t take my word, or any pastor, speaker, author, or podcaster at face value. Study out your beliefs and let God push you into discovering His truth. If you haven’t studied the different angles of beliefs about death, perhaps this episode is an invitation or challenge to do so. Like me, you may be surprised about what you can discover.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or stray away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!