Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – 2 Corinthians 11-13
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 22:29-32
Jesus: You know neither God’s Scriptures nor God’s power—and so your assumptions are all wrong. At the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They will be like the messengers of heaven.
A key to this resurrected life can be found in the words of Moses, which you do claim to read: “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Our God is not the God of the dead. He is the God of the living.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
I sometimes find it amusing to hear the assumptions people make about heaven. It’s been happening a long time as we can see from today’s focus on Jesus’ words. First, you need to understand the Sadducees wanted nothing other than an argument with Jesus. Jesus kept talking about heaven and the resurrection and the Sadducees didn’t believe in a resurrection. They only took into account the books of Moses, the Law, and in those five books of the Old Testament, there is no promise of heaven or a here after or a resurrection.
So the Sadducees came to pick a fight and used the Law God gave Moses to try to trap Jesus in His words about heaven. Seven men marry the same woman after each dies successively. None have children, but they marry her in accordance with the Law to carry out the name of their deceased brother. That’s the law. That’s what Moses told them to do and He got it from God, right?
Well, they forgot Jesus had already come down pretty hard on the Pharisees for questioning Him about divorce. Divorce wasn’t in God’s design, but He made provision for it under certain circumstances because we live in an evil, wicked world. So now, these Sadducees think they can trump Jesus with their heaven question. Jesus has been preaching about heaven and the kingdom, so let’s see if He can answer this one.
Once again Jesus baffles these supposedly educated religious leaders. I like His not so subtle barb, “A key to this resurrected life can be found in the words of Moses, which you do claim to read:…” They think they have it right. They can no doubt recite long passages and never stumble on a single word. They even have their Talmud memorized. So they know all the great Rabbis’ interpretations of those difficult passages. Yeah, they’ve read the words of Moses. But do they get it?
I think that leads us to a few questions we need to answer today. First, have we even read it. Jesus pointed to them and acknowledged their claim. And Jesus really didn’t dispute the fact that they read the words. They could recite them as well as He could. So, the first question for us is have you read God’s word? It’s surprising how few Christians have read the Bible in its entirety. We think that’s for the “holy crowd” or the preachers or something. But if we really want to know God, don’t you think the words He left for us is a really good place to start? So that’s the first question, have you even read His word. If not, today is a good time to start.
The second question is do we understand it’s message? Some, like the Pharisees and the Sadducees like to pick it up and find all the “thou shalt not” passages and beat people over the head with them. They see God’s word as a list of rules we must keep in order to win God’s favor and find our way to heaven. But that’s not what God’s word is. The Bible is really a love story. It’s the story of God’s overwhelming love for the people He created. So much so, that He wrapped Himself in flesh and gave His own life as the redemption price to buy us back into His presence.
It’s a horrible picture to remember, but one that fits when you think of the price God paid for our redemption, but we were slaves to sin. Picture the 18th and 19th century slave ships and their cargo unloaded on the docks. Men, women and children standing on blocks sold at auction to the highest bidder. But we gave ourselves away to the master of sin and became his slave to do with whatever he wanted. But God came on the scene and bought us back. He gave His life to pay the price to break the chain that held us in the slave camps of the enemy and gave us a new life of grace and mercy and love.
He doesn’t chain us to this new life. We can return to the slavery of sin if we want, but why would anyone choose to do that after experiencing the freedom God gives when we ask Him. God’s word speaks of His plan of redemption from the very beginning. It tells His story of grace and mercy and forgiveness from the first sin in the Garden of Eden until John call out on the Isle of Patmos, “Come soon, Lord! Come soon.”
Have you read the book? Do you know it? Do you understand the message of redemption God gave us in His word? He is the God of the living and wants to give you new life, too.
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