THE GOD OF THE LIVING

The term, "The God of the living" was taken from the context of the Scripture where the Sadducees argued with Jesus on whether there is a resurrection and afterlife. Beloved, God is the God of the living and at the same time, the God of those who are physically dead but whose spirits are still alive. Therefore, eternal destinies are real and there is life after death. However, let's find out more in today's evaluation and exposition.

Reference: Mark 12:27 English Standard Version (ESV) "He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong."

If you carefully study the book of Mark chapter 12, you would notice that the Pharisees and Herodians had a pointless or needless attack on Jesus' base of support. Earlier, they came up with a subtle political question, trying to force Him to choose between the Roman rulers and the Zealots, but it didn't work (see Mark 12:13–17). Then the Sadducees, who believed there was no resurrection, came to Him with another question.

"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. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?"(see Matthew 12:19-23 NIV).

The Sadducees have used this law about marriage to try to falsify and confound the existence of the afterlife. In response, Jesus declared, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising- have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, '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. You are badly mistaken!" (Mark 12:24-27 NIV).

Now watch this: since the idea of a woman being married to seven men in the afterlife seems impossible, the Sadducees concluded that there was nothing like an afterlife. They used the Mosiac marital law out of context to prove their unfounded belief. So Jesus used the very statement that God used to introduce Himself to Moses, to prove that resurrection is real. He also pointed out to them that their reasoning was wrong because in the afterlife, there won't be marriage in heaven at all. We will all function like angels. Praise God!

By Jesus using the task of Biblical exegesis in Exodus 3:6 (ESV), He gave them a satisfactory answer and they shut up because they were truly convinced. Look at it this way: God is still the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their forefathers, who had physically died. If He is still their God, then those Biblical personages are still existing because their spirits are still alive, which confirms that there is an afterlife. This simply means that the Sadducees wrongly used the process of interpreting the Scripture "by assumption", instead of "by revelation knowledge", because the interpretations of Kingdom mysteries were not given to them (see Matthew 22:29 NLT). Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Psalm 17:15; Luke 20:38; John 20:9; Romans 14:9.

Exuberant Declaration: I thank my God who makes a decree and all men tremble before Him; for He is the God of the living, enduring forever. His Kingdom shall never experience an end, and His dominion is characterized by everlasting regime. I'm anointed for His divine purposes. He has given me a royal dominion to function in the earth realm, a wit acumen and keen intelligence for the knowledge of His Word, and a priestly office to establish answers to my prayers. Thus, I'm ordained to express divine verities and to receive consistent rewards from the throne room because I serve the God of the living. Hallelujah!