SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/24/2023 9:55 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 “The Approach”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 22:23
Message of the
verse: “23
On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to
Jesus and questioned Him,”
I want to continue to write more about the
Sadducees, and one of the things that they did in their “religious” study was
to mostly look at the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament,
almost to the exclusion of the rest of Scripture. They thought that the rest of the Old
Testament was actually a kind of commentary on the first five books of Moses. Not it is therefore because Moses taught
nothing directly about the resurrection that the Sadducees denied its
reality. I know that what I am about to
say has been heard by many people who have studied the Bible but there is a
truth in it. It was because the
Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection that they were sad u see.
John MacArthur writes “But a person
who does not believe in a life after this present life has little motive for
living other than he pleases. After
death he expects neither penalty nor reward, because he considers the end of this
life to be the end of everything. And in
spite of many clear teachings in the Pentateuch about godly living, the
Sadducees were perfectly comfortable in their proud and selfish worldliness.”
There
is a story in the 23rd chapter of Acts that has to do with the
Apostle Paul when he was on trial, and how he used the fact that the Pharisees
and the Sadducees were at odds about the resurrection. I will now quote from Acts 23:6-9 “6 But
perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began
crying out in the Council, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees;
I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!" 7 As he said
this, there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the
assembly was divided. 8 For
the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a
spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. 9 And there occurred a great
uproar; and some of the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began
to argue heatedly, saying, "We find nothing wrong with this man; suppose a
spirit or an angel has spoken to him?’”
It
was when challenged by the Sadducees to prove that the resurrection was taught
by Moses, the Pharisees apparently could only muster up only two or three
obscure references. The first one was
found in Numbers 18:28 and I will look at that verse now “‘So you shall also
present an offering to the LORD from your tithes, which you receive from the
sons of Israel; and from it you shall give the LORD’S offering to Aaron the
priest.” The Pharisees said that this
implied resurrection, in that it spoke of giving “the LORD’S offering to Aaron
the priest,” the present tense indicating that Aaron was still alive. Two more verses that the Pharisees said spoke
of the resurrection, and the second came from Deuteronomy 31:16, which speaks
of the people arising, but their arising was not to a future life but to
harlotry. (They seem to be stretching the meaning of the Word of God.) Thirdly was from Deuteronomy 32:39 in which
the Lord says, “It is I who put to death and give life,” and this was a
reference simply to His sovereign authority over life and death.
MacArthur
writes “The Pharisees and Sadducees had great social and political as well as
theological animosity between them.
Socially, the Sadducees were aristocratic and the Pharisees were
commoners. Politically, the Sadducees
were pro-Roman and the Pharisees anti-Roman.”
I
have mentioned that there was one issue that solidly united these two groups,
the Pharisees and the Sadducees and that was their uncompromising opposition to
Jesus, as they both wanted Him to be put to death.
Looks
like we will have one more SD to talk about the Sadducees and that should end
our discussion from Matthew 22:23. I
find it difficult to think about a group of so-called “religious” leaders who
do not believe in the resurrection, but I suppose that there are still some of
those types around today in our world.
8/24/2023 10:28 AM
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