Love Overcomes Daily Devotion #37 3/23/16

Day #37

Larry Trotter

Words of Love

 

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.’[b] 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Luke 20:35-38 NIV

 

Overcoming the Barrier

 

I would like to borrow an idea from the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on Luke by David Garland to use an image about our confidence in God to deliver us from death. My wife and I have been married for 37 years and have known each other for a good bit longer. I believe that she has always been faithful to me and will continue to be so and I also think that she believes the same about me. This brings up a good question. How can we be sure about each other? One possibility would be to never let the other out of our sight. Or if that gets a little tedious we could hire a private detective to follow the other one around every moment that we’re not together and report on our respective activities. Another possibility would be to hire attorneys and force each other to make depositions about our activities each month, perhaps asking each other to submit to a lie detector test. Any of these options could provide conclusive evidence regarding our faithfulness to each other. The downside is that there would be no sense of trust between us, which would be contrary to the whole idea of relationship and eat away at the fabric of our marriage. The fact is that I trust my wife implicitly and she trusts me because that’s the nature of who we are and who we know the other to be. The depth and intimacy of our relationship proves our faithfulness to each other in a way no private investigator, lie detector test, or legal deposition could ever prove. We trust each other because we have proven ourselves trustworthy. And that’s enough.

 

Let’s set the context for the verses above and make a connection with Scripture. Jesus has been challenged by a particular subset of Jewish religious leaders called Sadducees. One of the key differences between them and other Jewish communities is that they didn’t believe in the resurrection or any manifestation of life after death (which is why they were sad, you see...wait for it...). Seriously though, they asked Jesus a trick question about marriage based upon their particular belief that if a man dies without children his brother must marry the widow in hopes of having a child to perpetuate the family name. Their question supposes that a half-dozen or so brothers marry the same widow and die leaving Jesus to determine to whom she will be married in the afterlife. Jesus realizes that the question is a thin disguise for their mockery of resurrection so he meets them tit-for-tat. He tells them that “those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection,” implying that they may not be in that number when the saints go marching in, will not need to marry because they will be like angels. He then alludes to the account of the burning bush-no chapter and verse numbers in Jesus’ day. God would not be called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob if they were dead, so, they must be alive (in the afterlife). Ultimately, this is a statement about God’s nature as the God of life and death. The backstory behind the allusion to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is one of God’s faithfulness and provision and their faithfulness to him, a few stumbles notwithstanding. Moreover, Jesus’ ultimate trust in his Father’s provision in life and death is proven in his journey to and death on the cross. Jesus knew that his Father’s trustworthy nature as the giver of life and deliverer from death would not fail him at the last moment. You and I can also trust that same nature with our life and death. God did not bring us into this world to cast us aside at the last moment, particularly when we need him most. To trust in Jesus with our life by believing in him as our Savior means we can trust him in our death as our Deliverer.

 

Prayer

 

Sovereign God, I believe that you give life that lasts for all eternity. I believe in your Son who secures that life in all its fullness. In Jesus’ name, amen.