YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)
Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
We went off a bit from our discussion of what we will call the Parable to Teach the Sadducees. As we know this is a teaching on resurrection and Jesus is attempting to correct them in their ideas. The Sadducees are said to have no belief in resurrection and are yet speaking to the Master regarding such. We will repeat here the scripture from the Gospel of Luke and discuss this further:
“Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him, Saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man’s brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her to wife, and he died childless. And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and died. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? for seven had her to wife. And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. Then certain of the scribes answering said , Master, thou hast well said. And after that they durst not ask him any question at all. And he said unto them, How say they that Christ is David’s son? And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Till I make thine enemies thy foot stool. David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?” (Luke 20:27-44).
This teaching by the Master is clear in a number of points that can help us to understand the idea of the Greek word anastasis which is translated as resurrection. First we should understand that there was a belief in a resurrection generally in Judaism and that the Sadducees did not accept that belief as part of their faith. What they did believe is uncertain and what exactly the Jews in general believed is also unclear. A bit of insight can be gained from: “For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both” (Acts 23:8) which tends to remove the idea of a resurrection of the dead body of man. Either angel or spirit would connote the idea of continued or renewed life as either of these and not a return to a dead body. However, in practice it appears that the Jewish belief is also in the raising of the bodies of the dead at some time as appointed by God. The ideas for this resurrection seem to come from some books of the Old Testament (Job, Isaiah and Daniel) plus other apocryphal books that are not in the general Cannon of Christianity including Enoch, Jubilees, Apocalypse of Baruch, 2 Esdras and the Maccabees^*. The writings in the Book of Job as well as the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel are vague references so something unknown which have been construed into a belief system that even the totality of its followers do not agree on. There are no clear scriptures that speak of the afterlife nor of the resurrection; most all is derived from the minds of men who know only their existence in form and have no other basis for an eternal existence except for that it too be in this form. It is all that we know as men and we should see this as by design.
Moving on now to Christianity. Since the New Testament writers are Jews, they were most likely well versed in these scriptures and, from our perspective, elaborated upon the scriptures in speaking to the Jews that they wanted to convert. This is evident in much that is found in the epistles and we also know that Jesus used Old Testament words and sayings to confirm Himself and prophecies about Him. We could here take on a review of the various scriptures from the Old and the New Testaments that are purported to tell us of the resurrection of the dead in bodily form but we will put this off to some future posts. Today we will continue with resurrection as taught by the Master to the Sadducees and which we will see is not along the lines of the Christian concept of resurrection at all. Let us remember the citation above regarding the comments of the Apostle Luke in commenting about Pauls encounter with the Sadducees and Pharisees which says For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit. This then is where we will start; as if these Sadducees are seeing the idea of the resurrection as not being of the body and we should remember here that the idea of resurrection is undefined except for the after the fact presentations in our concordances and dictionaries. We should also remember that Jesus, in the other versions of this teaching, tells the Sadducees that they are misreading the scriptures saying that “Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures” and again at the end of this teaching in Mark “ye therefore do greatly err” (Mark 12:24, 27). Other than the part about the teaching of Moses, that a brother should take the widow of deceased brother with no child as his wife and have children for him, there is no scriptural reference to wives and husbands in the afterlife. Were the Sadducees making reference to something that did not exist or is there other teaching that indicated this was so? We do not know but we do know that the Master addressed it as to the effect that they were misreading or misinterpreting some scripture.
And what does He say? aside from telling them that their point is wrong the Master goes on to say that there is no marriage in the afterlife, in the resurrection, positing perhaps, as we do, that this resurrection is the same as the afterlife. Going further with this thought we can see that there is a relative dissolution of Earthly relationships; that they are for this world and this life only. In Christian life however this is not the view. Millions think that at death they will be reunited with those who departed before them and we would say that, depending on the state of consciousness of those deceased spouses and friends and children, we may well find interaction with them but this on a wholly different level and in a way that we cannot say that we understand. There are those that dream and have visions of ‘heaven’ and of ‘heavenly places’ but can we count these as factual especially when few of them can agree even among themselves as to what it is that they see? We should here have the understanding that in saying “they neither marry, nor are given in marriage” that the Master is casting much doubt on the common conceptions of the afterlife as a way of rejoining our loved ones.
Note here that Jesus gives us a great clue to this whole paradigm in saying “they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead“. What does this mean? It is interesting that a review of the commentaries on this finds that one major work skips this verse altogether (The Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible)**^ another briefly says that In His reply to the Sadducees, three important things are added to that which is said in Matthew. 1st, It is not only the condition of those who are raised, and the certainty of the resurrection; it is an age, which a certain class only, who are accounted worthy of it, shall obtain, a separate resurrection of the just (v. 35). 2nd, This class is composed of the children of God, as being the children of the resurrection (v. 36). 3rd While waiting for this resurrection, their souls survive death, all live unto God, although they may be hidden from the eyes of men (v. 38). (The John Darby Synopsis of the New Testament)**^ which ideas are gleaned from the actual statements of the Master and merging them into his own belief on the resurrection. Another commentary says The world to come, eternal life and happiness; not by their own works and merits, but through the blood, sacrifice, and righteousness of the Messiah; and the resurrection from the dead; that is, the first resurrection, the resurrection unto life, which only the dead in Christ will enjoy; otherwise all will be raised: but some to the resurrection of damnation: these neither marry, nor are given in marriage; (John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible)**^ which clearly takes up these thoughts of the Master and combines them with other doctrinal ideas from other scriptures.
It is our objective to allow the sayings in scripture stand on their own or, if they are to be built together to have them done so within the scripture itself. For example we can take the three versions of this teaching and put them together because they speak of the same thing but tell it from a different perspective. We may also take a scripture from an epistle to confirm or to amplify a saying from Jesus or another. But adding together rather unrelated scripture to form doctrines, especially vague and unclear scripture, is like to what the Master railed against with the Pharisees of the time and may be also what He is saying here to the Sadducees: “Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures“. Do not misunderstand the point here, it is not against the commentators nor against any particular teaching of the church for they do believe that what they say is what is true; it is not against any thing but for the prospect that we can read this and all scripture in a new light, apart from the normal teachings that have led us to this day.
What do we see here? From the general concepts of Jesus teachings on the Kingdom of God we see that this statement of “they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world” as those who have also attained the Kingdom of God; these are truly resurrected as He was and are as what Paul says in: “and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed“. This is about the Kingdom of God and we should know that that is here and now and immediate for “they which shall be accounted worthy“. This is the crowning glory for the true Sons of God coming out of this life in form. What do we say then of those who are not “accounted worthy to obtain that world“? We should not assume, as some do, that these are bad people or non-believers as many may say; rather, we should see these as those who did not rise to the level of righteousness and Love that puts us into His Presence. We can posit that these are those that will go as we described in other posts; into an afterlife that continues, in a undefinable way, each individuals own unique place of consciousness. The vile likely remain vile and the good likely remain good and whatever is the focus of our lives persists; for those in the Kingdom they are in the Kingdom and for those focused on Earthly things, such is the state that remains but without the wherewithal to perform. A dreamlike state reminiscent of worldly life? We should remember here that whatever state we are in after the death of the body is closer to our real selves that is this body; it can be said that this is the lowest that we can go or the furthest away from our reality. The relation of our Souls to our bodies is a complex affair that requires some understanding of the true nature of man, his constitution as we have written and will continue to do. There are what can be considered entire realms of being yet to be discovered but in which we everyday dwell; mental, emotional and the very energy that underlies our Earth’s existence.
As a testimony to all this is what we continually discover here in the physical. In electricity, in nuclear energy, in an infinite array of wavelengths that can simultaneously carry all of our varied transmissions in light and sound. There is no end seen to our advances in the smallness of things and ways to use energies. Who would have thought but a few years ago that we would have the ability to put an entire library on a device we can carry in a pocket? We are good at what it is that we do and when we turn our attention to things spiritual we can be just as good and can then make many discoveries and uncover many mysteries.
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
Thursday is the beginning of United Nations Week and Monday is United Nations Day. This is our opportunity to support this world body that is humanities best hope for lasting peace and for the uplifting of millions upon millions of our brothers and sisters from poverty and hopelessness to a sense of value and of worth. There is a tab at top,Peace In Our Time, which provides additional insight and information. If nothing else, we can pray for the future success of the United Nations. We will leave this banner up as the Quote of the Day until the end of United Nations Week but will try to change the attached scripture frequently.
The scripture that is included here is meant to be a showing of the New Testament reality of the Brotherhood of Man. It is quite clear and simple in that God made of of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth. God’s children, each and every one.
One World, One Humanity, One God
United Nations Day
In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, as which “shall be devoted to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for” its work.
In 1971 the United Nations General Assemblyadopted a further resolution(Resolution 2782) declaring that United Nations Day shall be an international holiday and recommended that it should be observed as a public holiday by allUnited Nations memberstates.
United Nations Day is devoted to making known to peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations Organization. United Nations Day is part of United Nations Week, which runs from 20 to 26 October.
Wikipedia contributors. “United Nations Day.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 10 Oct. 2011. Web. 18 Oct. 2011.
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation (Acts 17:24-26)
- ** Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
- ^* Wikipedia contributors. “Resurrection of the dead.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 28 Sep. 2011. Web. 19 Oct. 2011.
