Let us pray: Show us Your ways, O LORD; teach us Your paths. Lead us in Your truth and teach us, for You are the GOD of our salvation; on You we wait all the day. Amen.
WE ARE CHILDREN OF THE RESURRECTION.
JESUS’ teachings led to conflict between Him and Israel’s religious leaders. If you start reading this Gospel from verse one, you will see that JESUS showed how they weren’t leading GOD’s people well or wisely. This made the leaders angry. They looked for ways to have Him killed. They tried to trap Him into saying something against the Roman government. But His answers were so wise that they couldn’t have Him arrested. Then the leaders tried to trap him also into saying something against the Law of Moses.
The Sadducees were the group of Jewish religious leaders with the most authority in Jerusalem. They were in charge of the Temple and worked closely with the Roman rulers. They didn’t believe in angels or that GOD raised people from the dead. They didn’t believe that JESUS was the MESSIAH GOD had promised to send. Most Sadducees opposed JESUS and his teachings. So at this point they asked a difficult question about when people rise from the dead, even though they didn’t believe in the Resurrection, but just to trap JESUS! So they tell a story about seven brothers marrying the same woman in succession, and JESUS clarifying that, in the Resurrection, there is no marriage because people are like angels and can no longer die. Which means people who believe and trust GOD will have a new kind of life. It will be completely different from this world.
In this world, people marry each other so that they can multiply on earth, according to GOD’s commandment that Adam received in the Garden of Eden and which was also emphasized to Noah after the flood. In some cultures, marriage is so important that, if you are not married, it is difficult to gain respect among your own people and in society. But in the Kingdom of Heaven, as JESUS said, this is not the case! Marriage is not important there, in fact it is not even necessary, because no one will die and no one needs to be multiplied!
This shows us that the way of doing things in the Kingdom of Heaven is not the same as the way of doing things in the world we live in now. Everyone in this world wakes up early in the morning to work hard to get food so that life can continue. Otherwise they will die! But in the Kingdom of Heaven it is not so! For the CHILDREN OF THE RESURRECTION will be before the Throne of GOD, and serve Him day and night in His Temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore! There is no food needed anymore! In this world we need sunlight during the day and moonlight at night, but not in the Kingdom of Heaven! For the City in GOD’s Kingdom has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the Glory of GOD illuminates it. The Lamb JESUS is its light. And the nations of those who are saved, the CHILDREN OF THE RESURRECTION shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it (Revelation 21:23-24). There are many other things I could list that are important in this world but not important in the Kingdom of Heaven.
What does the HOLY SPIRIT say to us this morning about this? He says that we, as children of GOD, are CHILDREN OF THE RESURRECTION! The things of this world should not be our priority, for the world is passing away and the things of it. Instead, as people who are raised with CHRIST JESUS through faith in the Gospel, we should seek and long for the heavenly things where CHRIST JESUS is! Because GOD from the beginning chose us for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth—as He continues in the second reading “so that we may obtain the glory of our Lord JESUS”. Thus we receive that glory continually, if we continually strengthen our adherence to the Truth that we were taught by word or by the letters of the Apostles. In other words, believers should stand firm and hold fast to the teachings of GOD, whether they were received verbally or through the Holy Scriptures.
Yes, there are many obstacles that make us discouraged, losing the strength to do what is right in order to continue to receive that glory of CHRIST, because in a world marked by sin and human limitations, obtaining and fully reflecting CHRIST’s glory is challenging, but it is the ultimate purpose of the Christian life and an ongoing process enabled by GOD’s grace. In the first lesson, Prophet Haggai is conveying the message of GOD to the Jews who have returned from exile to rebuild the temple, but the rebuilding of the temple has stalled, and they are discouraged, seeing their new temple as inferior to the one Solomon built. But GOD is encouraging them to be strong, and work, for He is with them, His SPIRIT remains among them and He promises them that the new temple will be filled with splendor, surpassing the glory of the old one through the “shaking” of creation and bringing the “treasures of all nations”.
Which means that GOD knows our weaknesses, He knows where we are discouraged and lose the strength to do His will so that we may obtain that glory of CHRIST. That is why He gave his SPIRIT to always live among us! That SPIRIT of His is the guarantee that He himself, GOD, is among us! He gives us the strength to stand firm If we abide in His Word.
That is why GOD calls us to persevere in prayer without ceasing. To study the Holy Scriptures. To allow His SPIRIT to transform our nature into that of our LORD JESUS through the teachings of the Holy Scriptures in order to obtain that Glory of CHRIST.
While we are still on earth, it will not be easy to see that glory once we have obtained it, but when JESUS is revealed on the Day of Resurrection, He has promised that the form of our bodies will be changed to be like His eternal glory! Yes! That glory will be greater than what Adam and Eve had in the garden of Eden. For God will make all things new in the New Age, because He is the GOD of the living, not of the dead; he is the GOD of new things, not of old things.
Even now, since we are counting down the days until we leave you, I just want to tell you that you should not be discouraged or lose heart and say that because Brothers are no longer with us now we will stop going to church or we will stop coming to Volmoed. But you need to continue in the traditions that we taught you! Stand firm in GOD’s words so that our work here at Volmoed will not be in vain. Examine what you have gained from our being among you that will help you to continue to receive the glory of CHRIST.
In conclusion, the psalmist says in today’s Psalm: The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them. So if you feel discouraged in any situation that will make you lose focus in faith, cry out to GOD! He is always waiting to save you, always near to those who seek Him! In the letter to Romans the HOLY SPIRIT says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? And Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ; instead, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”