COMMENTARY ON MARK
LESSON NUMBER 130
“ Mark 12:26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.” (Mark 12:26-27; Matthew 22:31-33; Luke 20:37-38)
THE GOD OF THE LIVING
INTRODUCTION
Jesus was God “manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim 3:16). For this reason His name was called “Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us” (Matt 1:23). This was prophesied in Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isa 7:14). This name, however, was never used in reference to Jesus after His birth – either in addressing Him personally, or in the doctrine of His Person. It is a name that is known by spiritual intuition and insight. Paul expressed it to Timothy in the words “God manifest in the flesh.” He also spoke of it to the Colossians, declaring, “For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell” (Col 1:19), and “For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Col 2:9). Again, it is affirmed in the book of Hebrews: “Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person . . .” (Heb 1:3). The term “Son of God” also stresses this reality (John 5:18). John also points to this truth doctrinally when he wrote, “And the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14). Yet, serious disciples eventually become keenly aware of the obscurity of this truth in the professed Christian community. The words of Jesus, although the precise expression of the mind of God, are regularly brushed aside as though this were not the case. Some even teach that Jesus preached and taught as a Jew under the Law, and that His words have no part in the New Covenant. This is a most serious error, and reflects a state of spiritual blindness and alienation. We have in this text a sterling example of the weight of Christ’s words, as well as the perspective from which He spoke. We will find in them a destructive blow to some very contemporary theology. Because of the aloofness of the modern church from God, these words will have a somewhat strange and irrelevant sound to them. Some may even dismiss them as too weighty. However, these words address foundational matters that must be understood.
TOUCHING THE DEAD, THAT THEY RISE
“ Mark 12:26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?”
Although the Sadducees have not mentioned their doctrine – namely, that there is “no resurrection” (Mk 12:18) – Jesus will not fail to confront them with their error. Theirs was a materialistic religion, for they also denied the existence of angels and spirits (Acts 23:8). We have no Scriptural record of any of their number promoting their doctrine, or precisely how it was stated. It may even be possible that their omission of teaching on angels and spirits constituted a denial of their existence. If that is the case, it brings the matter very close to our time. Josephus, Jewish historian, says this of the doctrine of the Sadducees: they “take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades.” Jewish Wars, book ii. chapter 8, section 14 and “The doctrine of the Sadducees is this, that souls die with the bodies.” Antiq., book 18, chapter 1, section 4 The point to be seen here is that Jesus would not ignore their erroneous teachings, but boldly confronts them. They have not mentioned their foolish teaching, but He will do so. That is His manner.
AS TOUCHING THE DEAD. What is the state of “the dead?” Are they non-existent, as the Sadducees taught? Or are they unconscious, or in a state of inactivity, as the Adventists and soul-sleepers teach? Were expressions of the ancients, prior to “life and immortality” being brought to light, the ultimate statements concerning “the dead?” Here are some examples of the statements of reference. “For in death there is no remembrance of Thee: in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?” (Psa 6:5). “The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence” (Psa 115:17). “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten” (Eccl 9:5). “For the grave cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth” (Isa 38:18). If we do not consider these texts in view of the Gospel, we will not understand them.
These words reflect the absence of illumination concerning “life and immortality” (2 Tim 1:10). The words are true, but are spoken with life in this world in mind. The idea seen in them is that men must devote themselves whole-heartedly to the Lord while they can. They do not address the matter of existence or consciousness after death. Even with all of that, holy men have always known there was going to be a resurrection (Job 14:12-15; 19:25-27; Psa 16:9-10; 97:15; 49:15; Isa 25:8; 26:19; Dan 12:2-3; 12:13; Hos 13:14).
In expressing the words “the dead,” Jesus indicates that those who have died are still recognized as people. They are not non-existent. The word “dead” refers to the body, which is vacated at death, when the soul departs from it (Gen 35:18).
THE BOOK OF MOSES. This confirms that Moses wrote the first books of the Bible. Thus the Jewish Scriptures are described as “Moses and the Prophets” (Lk 16:29,31; Acts 26:22; 28:23), and “the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms” (Lk 24:44).
IN THE BUSH. This refers to the calling of Moses to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage (Ex 3:2-4:23). Exodus says “the angel of the Lord appeared” unto Moses “in a flame of fire out of the bush” (Ex 3:2). Stephen also refers to this angel (Acts 7:30). Yet, the message delivered by the angel was from the Lord God Himself. Therefore the text reads, “the Lord saw . . . God called unto him . . . I am the God . . . the Lord said . . . Moses said unto God . . . God said unto Moses . . . the Lord said unto him,” etc. This also has been God’s consistent manner – whatever a messenger, whether man or angel, said in the name of the Lord is declared to have been said by God Himself. Thus the blasphemy of those who say men wrote the Bible, not God, is seen for what it really is.
THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB. Matthew reads that Jesus preceded these words by saying, “touching the resurrection of the dead” (Matt 22:31). Luke says, “that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush” (Lk 20:37). Thus Jesus throws their doctrine down to the ground, showing that it contradicts what God has clearly said.
God identified Himself to Moses by saying, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex 3:6). God so identified Himself because He had especially revealed Himself to the fathers (Abraham: Gen 12:1-18; 13:14; 17:9-15; 18:13-17; 21:12; Isaac: Gen 25:11; 46:1; 48:15; Jacob: Gen 28:13-16; 31:3,11-13; 32:28-30). God chose to be known as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – long after they had died and been gathered unto their people. He did not say He was their God in the past, but that He was their God at the present, even when He was speaking (Ex 2:24; 6:3; Deut 6:10; 1 Kgs 18:36; 1 Chron 29:18; 30:6; Matt 22:32; Acts 3:13; 7:32). Here, Jesus also speaks in the present tense: “I AM the God of . . .”
At the time of “the bush,” Abraham had been dead for 329 years, Isaac for 224 years, and Jacob for 198 years. Yet, God said He was still their God. We conclude, therefore, that they had not ceased to exist, but were somewhere in subjection to God and in communion with Him.
HE IS NOT THE GOD OF THE DEAD
“ 27a He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. . . ”
Because Jesus is the Expositor of God, we should expect Him to speak with unparalleled understanding concerning His nature. Men may speculate and philosophize about God, but Jesus reveals both His character and His manners. We do well, therefore, to give our undivided attention to Him. He now speaks of the God “with whom we have to do” (Heb 4:13).
HE IS NOT THE GOD OF THE DEAD. Matthew reads, “God is not the God of the dead” (Matt 22:32). Do not the Scriptures speak of the Lord in respect to “the quick” [living] “and the dead” (2 Tim 4:1; 1 Pet 4:5)?How is it, therefore, that Jesus says God is not the God of the dead? In this case “the dead” are those who are no longer framed with mortality. “Dead” is not equated with non-existence or a lack of awareness and sensitivity, as the Sadducees taught. The fact that those who die leave this world does not mean they pass into oblivion, or that they no longer are responsive. John saw some people who were dead through martyrdom, yet were under the altar of God, and they were asking questions and receiving answers (Rev 6:9-11). Jesus spoke of two men who were conscious and aware of their circumstances after they died (Lk 16:22-31). It will do no good to say Christ’s words were a parable, for even if they were, parables are likenesses that are real, not ones that are fictitious.
In these words, Jesus is saying that there is a sense in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not dead. While there is, indeed, a part of them that is dead, there is also a part that is not dead. The raising of the dead is actually the reuniting of the unseen part of man with the body – then an immortal body. Jesus’ argument is that conscious and responsive personalties will be raised from the dead, not sleeping, inactive, or unconscious ones.
Paul said that when he died he would be “absent from the body,” yet “present with the Lord” – not eventually, but at the time he left his body (2 Cor 5:8). He knew that God was “not the God of the dead.” That is, no one is “with the Lord” without an awareness of it.
A word needs to be said here concerning the purported identity of God with dead religious movements. God is not the God of past movements, former days, etc. At no point does God associate Himself with the dead – past or present! Those who can only glory in the last, by that very posture, confess their alienation from the God of the living!
THE GOD OF THE LIVING. In these words, Jesus is affirming that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are living, for God has said He is associated with them, and He is not the God of the dead. Jesus represented Abraham talking hundreds of years after he had died (Lk 16:25). Peter, James, and John saw Moses over 1,500 years after he had died. For that matter, in order to confirm that life in this world is not the only life, both Enoch and Elijah were translated into the unseen world without dying (Heb 11:5; 2 Kgs 2:11-13). Peter, James, and John also saw Elijah speaking with Jesus about His death – something about which the prophet had never spoken while in the world (Lk 9:31). Nothing in Scripture suggests these men ceased to exist. Translation presupposes movement to another area. These two men left this world, yet did not cease to exist. That throws down the notion that there is no consciousness after men leave this world. That is not even to mention Jesus, who is no longer in this world, yet is very much alive and active.
The resurrection will be of those who exist, not of those who do not. After they die, and prior to the resurrection, their bodies are dead, and “rest” in the grave. Their spirits, however, live on. For the righteous, there is advancement, learning, and growth, as confirmed in Abraham, Moses, and Elijah. For the wicked, there is torment and painful recollection, as confirmed in the rich man of Luke sixteen. There is a very definite sense in which they are all alive.
ALL LIVE UNTO HIM. Who are “the living?” Luke provides some insight into this matter. He records Jesus adding, “For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto Him” (Luke 20:38). Other versions read, “to Him all are alive,” NIV “to Him all of them are alive,” NRSV “In God's sight all people are living,” GWN “to Him everyone is alive,” NJB and “they are alive [not dead] unto Him [in definite relationship to Him].” AMPLIFIED
At death, men pass from this world, but they do not move away from God. God does not preside over insensitive creatures – that would be an affront, or insult, to His Godhood. How is it possible for God to be “over all” if there is a natural experience that moves a person beyond the awareness of and submission to His Person? Such a doctrine, though commonly held by many professing Christians, presents a distorted view of God Himself. All men remain accountable to God, whether in the body or out of the body. God does not relinquish His Sovereignty for a season to death. Death is an experience to which humanity is subject. However, it is not one that interferes with the government of God over the individual. So far as God is concerned, there is no death. That is, there is no experience that can put a person beyond the reach of Divine influence. That is precisely why David said it was not possible to get away from the presence of the Lord. He spoke of the extremities of heaven and hades, saying that neither place could possibly put him away from God(Psa 139:7-8). For the wicked, final removal from God will occur when Jesus comes (2 Thess 1:9).
YE THEREFORE DO GREATLY ERR
“ 27b . . . ye therefore do greatly err.”
Jesus takes hold of the doctrinal house of the Sadducees and shakes it down to the ground. The superstructure of their theology was wrong because they were ignorant of God Himself. They saw God as presiding only over men in the flesh, and viewed matter as the primary substance. But they were wrong. They had failed to consider the vast heavenly host that surrounds the Lord (Lk 2:13; Heb 12:22; Rev 4:4; 5:11; 7:11), the “spirits of just men made perfect” (Heb 12:23), and “principalities and powers in heavenly places” (Eph 3:10).
GREATLY ERR. Jesus does not simply say they made a mistake, or did not understand, or did not think deeply enough. He said that did “greatly err.” Other versions read, “greatly mistaken,” NKJV “badly mistaken,” NIV “quite wrong,” NRSV “going far astray,” CJB “badly deceived,” CSB “greatly misled,” NAB “you have made a serious error,” NLT and “you are entirely wrong in your views.” WILLIAMS
Errors are not all the same, and it is disastrous to approach them as though they were. Abraham, for example, was technically mistaken about how God would maintain Isaac as the promised heir (Heb 11:19). His mistake, however, was only because of a lack of detailed revelation. In just a few moments he saw the matter more clearly and abandoned the view he at first entertained. He had thought in harmony with the nature of God and the revealed purpose of God, but was not clear in all of the details at the time. By comparison, the Scribes and Pharisees were wrong in their view of Jesus – so wrong that Jesus said to them, “how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” (Matt 23:33). The magnitude of the error of the scribes and Pharisees was that it required sinning against a greater revelation – one in which God had, so to speak, extended Himself to make the Messiah known to them.
There are errors that require denying pivotal revelations – express illumination that has been given to acquaint the people with the way things really are. In the case of the Sadducees, considerable had been revealed through the Prophets concerning the resurrection of the dead, angels, spirits, the end of the world, and a time of judgment. Additionally, Jesus had spoken of the resurrection, the day of judgment, and of the generation of that time facing people who had lived in previous generations – like Nineveh, the Queen of Sheba, and even Sodom and Gomorrah. To stubbornly maintain a flawed doctrine concerning the basic constitution of mankind, as well as the appointed time in which men will all stand before their Creator, was inexcusable.
Some delusions are like a giant cloud that casts a larger shadow, obscuring even more than other aberrant thoughts. The person who is persuaded it is wrong to eat meat is not in as serious a condition as the person who thinks he can live with his father’s wife. Satan can work more extensively with the latter delusion. No error is harmless, but when flawed thinking is at a foundational level, it corrupts the whole of thought For example, a person who thinks this world is the main world is at more of a disadvantage than the one who thinks marriage is forbidden.
To say there is no resurrection compels the deceived one to emphasize this world and this time. It obscures the fact of the appointed day of judgment, and lessens the magnitude of sin and transgression. The distortion of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead can “overthrow the faith of some” (2 Tim 2:18). And why so? Because it chisels away at the very purpose of God, diminishing the future and the necessity of preparing for it.
David once asked, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psa 11:3). A compelling question, indeed! It seems to me that one of the besetting sins of our time is the failure of the professing church to identify, expound, and build upon the foundation. The result is that life in this world is being seen as bigger and more significant than it really is. On the other hand, heaven, eternity, the coming of the Lord, and the day of judgment, have been pushed to the background of religious thought. The result is a carnal, uninformed, and emaciated church. It can be said of spiritual Babylon, “She has ‘greatly erred!’”
ASTONISHED AT HIS DOCTRINE. Matthew says that when the multitude heard Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees, “they were astonished at His doctrine” (Matt 22:33). The word “astonished” is an arresting one. Its general meaning is amazed or shocked. It carries the idea of “cast off by a blow,” or “drive away.” THAYER Speaking crudely, it is like having the wind knocked out of a person, so that they are speechless and totally incapable of carrying on any more conversation. Once the teaching of Jesus comes home to the heart, men respond like Job, “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth” (Job 40:4). At that time Jesus is no longer approached as though He was one of man’s peers. No fault can be found with what He declares, even if it is not understood. David said it this way, “I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because Thou didst it” (Psa 39:9). Solomon said it like this: “If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth” (Prov 30:32). We are living in a time when a new kind of preaching and teaching is required that yields this kind of response. Modern preaching it not powerful enough. It allows for too many questions, rebuttals, and rejection. Oh, for more astonishment among the carnal!