The vacancy pastor will not have printed sermons available during the vacancy (October 26 through November 16). We will plan to resume e-mailing sermons on November 24^th. God’s blessings!
TEXT:  Matthew 22: 23-33                   22^nd, Pentecost                   10/12/08

            Some people have become a little more interested in life after death because of the testimonies of those who have had near-death experiences.  Individuals on hospital operating tables, or those involved in car accidents or in drowning incidents, claim to have died, gone to heaven, and then when their body was revived, they claim to have returned from the dead.  These astounding testimonies of near-death experiences have caused a lot of controversy.  Are they true or not?  What actually happened to these people?  At the same time, in the midst of all this excitement, very few people seem to realize that these same individuals who claim to have returned from the dead will one day still die from old age or accidents or illness.  Consequently, these popular and exciting stories of near-death experiences provide no solid assurance to the disturbing question asked by Job in the Old Testament: “If a man dies, shall he live again?”  Finally, near-death experiences offer no certain hope.  But that doesn’t mean there is reason to despair. Already in the Old Testament God spoke of the resurrection of the dead.  Job made that beautiful confession, “I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.”  The Prophet Daniel also said, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”  In addition to this, there is evidence in the resurrection of the dead in Jesus Christ.  As we will confess in the Apostle’s Creed: Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried, and then on the third day he rose again from the dead.  The empty tomb was the divine evidence of the resurrection.  Jesus says, “Because I live, you shall live also.”  Just as the enemies of Jesus have tried in vain to discredit his resurrection, so they rebuked him for even speaking about the resurrection before he actually died.  Since the enemies raised the question in our text, we want to address it by asking, “Is there a resurrection of the body?”

            One of the important events that will take place on the day of Christ’s second coming is the resurrection of the dead.  That’s why we confess, “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”  But how sad for those who don’t believe that.  Around the dial of a clock in Strasburg, France are the words: “One of these hours the Lord is coming.”  For those who don’t believe in Christ as their Savior, that’s a terrifying thought.  But not for us Christians.  For us the promise of Christ’s second coming is also associated with the resurrection of the dead.  But the Sadducees, to whom Jesus spoke these words of our text, were just that, “sad-you-see” because they didn’t believe that there was such a thing as a resurrection from the dead.  They didn’t raise the question, “What if there is no resurrection?”  They flatly denied it.  They came to Jesus with their trick question: “Teacher, Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him.  Now there were seven brothers among us.  The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother.  The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh.  Finally, the woman died.  Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”  The whole point of this foolish question about whose wife the woman with seven husbands would be in the resurrection was a sarcastic one.  It was designed to give the impressions that, if there were such a thing as a resurrection, heaven would be in a chaotic mess.  This woman would not know what to do, if she was to be married to her first husband or the last one or one of the others.  She certainly couldn’t be married to all of them at the same time.  You see, the Sadducees accepted only the five books of Moses as the most important of the entire Old Testament and in this story they were referring to a law given in the 25^th chapter of Deuteronomy.  The law stated that it was a man’s duty, if he were unmarried, to marry the widow of his brother if he had died without leaving a son.  The purpose of this law was to provide an heir who would continue the dead brother’s line of descendants.  To then support their denial of the resurrection, the Sadducees fabricated this absurd story of a man with six brothers, all of whom married the same woman in turn without leaving a male child as an heir.  This would then make the resurrection of the dead look impossible and ridiculous because this woman would have more than one husband in heaven. 

            Perhaps some might be stumped on how to answer this complicated question, but Jesus’ answer makes it very clear.  God does not tell us everything about the hereafter, but he gives us enough glimpses here and there in Scripture so that we eagerly long for it.  One such glimpse is in the answer Jesus gives to the Sadducee’s question.  “Jesus replied, ‘At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.’”  So the arrangement of marriage, reproduction, and childbirth are given by God only for this life, not for the life to come.  Since there is no death in heaven, there is no need for marriage and birth to replenish the race.  Rather, the believers will be like the angels in heaven.  Notice it doesn’t say we become angels, but become like angels.  In heaven we will no longer be concerned about marriage and earthly relations, about earning our daily bread by sweat and toil, no longer confronted with such things as food and drink, heat and cold, water and air.  In our glorified bodies we will live like the angels around the throne of the Lamb of God, concerned only about singing his praises and doing his will.  All the more reason for us to place less emphasis upon the passing things of this life and showing greater concern for the abiding treasures of heaven.  A famous baseball player who was a Christian was being interviewed by a reporter.  The reporter asked him what his chief ambition was.  He said, “My chief ambition is to go to heaven.”  The reporter was trying to be funny and said, “Oh, you want to give up your glove for a harp, eh?”  The player said, “If there is anything foolish about wanting to go to heaven when you leave this world, then I’m afraid life here isn’t worth living.”  So the whole purpose of the Christian’s existence is to prepare for the resurrection to eternal life through Jesus Christ.  Everything we do will want to center around that event. 

            Just think of the comfort we have when our believing loved ones leave this life.  All of us have lost a loved one through death at one time or another.  There is sorrow, there is a sense of loss, and there is an empty feeling inside when those whom we love pass away.  That feeling is the same for all people.  But the Sadducees here, who do not believe in Jesus Christ, are left behind with only a memory.  But the Christian, who believes in Jesus and his Word, there is a tremendous comfort and hope when we hear the words at the graveside: “We, therefore, commit this body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the hope of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  God gives us that same hope in our text today when he says, “But about the resurrection of the dead – have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?  He is not the God of the dead but of the living’”  Does this mean that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still alive?  Yes, indeed!  Their souls are alive with God in heaven, and their bodies, long ago returned to the dust of the earth, await the great day of resurrection when they will be raised as glorified bodies to rejoin their souls and live before God forever in heaven.  It does not make any difference how a person dies, or how long the body lies in the grave, it will not be left behind on Judgment Day but will be raised.  It will be raised along with the bodies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and everyone else.  This also includes bodies that have been cremated.  It certainly isn’t wrong for a Christian to have his body cremated.  In some parts of our country people may not have a choice because of a lack of burial space.  There are, of course, unbelievers who insist on the cremation of their bodies to prevent the resurrection of their bodies on the Last Day.  But from eternity God has had the power and still has and always will have the power to raise up all the dead from their graves, even the wicked.  But for us it means having a glorified body, a body no longer subject to pain or imperfection, no blisters and aching feet, no sweat, nor sorrow or tears. What a glorious, happy, eternal change to look forward to.  All the more reason to sing out: “O sweet and blessed country, the home of God’s elect!  O sweet and blessed country, that eager hearts expect.”  Amen.