THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Mark: Jesus, The Perfect Servant Of God

Part III: The Perfect Sacrifice Of Jesus, The Perfect Servant Of God, Mark 11:1-15:47

G. Learning Of The Living, Miracle-Working God Versus Dead Religious Rationalism

(Mark 12:18-27)

I. Introduction

A. Mark's Gospel was written by John Mark who was rebounding from having abandoned Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:13) due to Mark's lapse in following Christ over some difficulty.

B. That failure would have risen in part from Mark's failure to trust the living, miraculous God to help him, what sin is practiced in abundance by the dead religious rationalism of Liberal Theology with its denial of miracles.

C. Mark 12:18-27 reveals Jesus' exposure of the error of the dead religious rationalists of His day, the Sadducees, and instructs us for our insight and edification (as follows):

II. Learning Of The Living, Miracle-Working God Versus Dead Religious Rationalism, Mark 12:18-27.

A. The Sadducees were the theological liberals, the dead religious rationalists of Jesus' day: (1) they denied the resurrection as they thought the soul ceased to exist at death, (2) they denied the existence of angels and demons and (3) they taught that though the 39-book Old Testament was canonical, the five books of Moses were more highly inspired than the rest of the canon, Zond. Pict. Ency. of the Bible, v. Five, p. 214-215.

B. This denial of the miraculous aspect to Scripture's living God showed up in their spiritually dead religious rationalism that led them to ask Jesus a coarse question in trying to prove their false beliefs, Mark 12:18-23:

1. The Sadducees, whom Mark specifically noted did not believe in the resurrection (Mark 12:18a), approached Jesus with a theological question, Mark 12:18b.

2. That question dealt with a woman's having wed seven brothers who had died in succession in order to fulfill the Mosaic requirement of levirate marriage, Deuteronomy 25:5. Each brother who successively wed her had in turn died without producing any seed by her unto her first husband (Mark 12:19-22).

3. If there was a resurrection, the Sadducees asked to whom would she be married, for she had been wed to all seven brothers, and by this question they implied that by raising them all together, God would be put into the impossible position of producing a sinfully incestuous union, Mark 12:23 with Leviticus 18:16.

C. Jesus replied by claiming that the Sadducees were "deceiving" themselves (planasthe, Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 163) since they did not know the Scriptures nor the power of God, Mark 12:24.

D. He then explained the power of God and the Word of God in that order in Mark 12:25-27:

1. First, Jesus explained God's miraculous power opposite the Sadducean denial of miracles, Mark 12:25:

a. He said that there would be a resurrection, what the Sadducees denied even could occur, Mark 12:25a.

b. Jesus also said that those who would be raised would neither marry, that is, contract a marriage, nor be wed, that is, have a marriage arranged by their parents, but be like the angels of heaven, Mark 12:25b; Ibid. This would counter the Sadducees who would deny the existence of a miraculous asexual body in a miraculous resurrection or the existence of angels!

2. Second, Jesus explained the Scriptures of the miraculous God, Mark 12:26-27:

a. The Sadducees denied the resurrection since they denied the soul existed after death ("II,A,(1)" above), so Jesus countered this error by alluding to Exodus 3:6 on Moses and the burning bush, a passage in one of the books of Moses that the Sadducees held was fully authoritative, Mark 12:26a; "II,A,(3)" above!

b. The historical context is important, for the patriarchs named had been dead for hundreds of years, and the grammatical context is equally invaluable as the verb "am" on which Jesus' argument is based is grammatically understood, not written in the text (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 81) as is also attested by the King James Version that places the verb "am" in italics, Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, 1978, p. 1423; Mark 12:26b.

c. Jesus' argument was as follows: if God said "I am" the God of the long-deceased fathers, they still had to exist though long-dead (Mark 12:27a), so the Sadducees greatly deceived themselves (planasthe), Ibid., Bible Know. Com., N. T.) on their denial of the resurrection, Mark 12:27b.

Lesson: Opposite the dead rationalism of the Sadducees, Jesus revealed the God of Scripture is a miracle-working God Whose Word only reveals He is a miracle-working God versus dead religious rationalism.

Application: Opposite the dead rationalism of Liberal Theology, may we believe in the miracle-working God of the Bible, holding to the miraculously divinely-inspired text of all of Scripture that reveals this miracle-working God.