❖ Video
❖ Audio
To Die, To Rise Again, To Live
(Mark 12:18-27)
Mari Ikeda
A. The resurrected body (18-25, I Corinthians 15)
18 Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19 “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. 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” 24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.
(1 Corinthians 15:42-44) 42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
B. The resurrection of the dead (26-27)
26 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’? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
1. From God’s perspective, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all alive
2. Jesus knew that they were in the kingdom of heaven
3. Our relationship with Jesus gives us eternal life
Summary
God promises us that we will be resurrected from the dead one day. In resurrection, we don’t simply come back to life in our old earthly bodies, but we are made new and given eternal life. It means that we are never forgotten and that death cannot defeat us. Resurrection begins as we choose to journey through life with God. Choosing to walk with God means choosing life, whether or not we are alive in our earthly bodies.
For Discussion
- Why don’t we need to fear the death of our earthly bodies?
- What does it mean for eternal life to begin while we still have our earthly bodies?