Mark - Lesson 17...Continued from page 2

DAY THREE:  Questioned by the Sadducees

Please carefully read Mark 12:18–27 and answer the following questions.

1.  The Sadducees now took their turn to try to trap Jesus.  How did they take God’s command in Deuteronomy 25 and base an elaborate story on it, trying to mock the idea of resurrection from the dead? (vv. 18–23)

NOTES: This is the only place in Mark’s Gospel where the Sadducees are mentioned. This group accepted only the Law of Moses, but none of the other Old Testament books, so if a doctrine couldn’t be defended from the first five books of the Old Testament, they wouldn’t accept it. They rejected concepts such as the existence of the soul, life after death, resurrection, final judgment, angels, or demons. Most of the Sadducees were priests, but not all, and were wealthy. They considered themselves the religious aristocrats of Judaism and tended to look down on everybody else!  They controlled the Sanhedrin and the Temple, as we saw last week, and maintained close contact with the Roman authorities.   They were like First Century deists in many ways.[vi]

2.  What was Jesus’ response to this story, and how did He point out their true problem, the same problem every skeptic and atheist has? (vv. 24, 25)

NOTE: Now don’t read verse 25 and conclude like many erroneous depictions of heaven that we become angels when we die, or have to earn our wings, as we’ve seen in Christmas movies and the like!  Jesus didn’t say we would become angels or be like the angels in everything, for God’s children are higher than the angels (John 17:22–24;
1 John 3:1, 2).[vii] He implied we will not have the same human needs at that time.

.  How does Jesus, using a Scripture passage that they accepted, defend the concept of both the resurrection and eternal life? (vv. 26, 27)

4.  At the time that God revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush, Jacob was dead for 200 years, Isaac 225, and Abraham 330 years, but in reality they weren’t dead at all![viii]  Eternity is real, and will be for each person either unending bliss or unending torment.  We must not be skeptical and think that eternity is just a concept the writers of the Bible made up; it is real, and eternal life for the believer begins the moment of our salvation.  What do the following passages tell us about eternal life and how far God has gone to allow us to spend it with Him?

John 3:14–17; 17:2, 3

Romans 5:19–21; 6:23

Titus 3:3–7

I John 1:1–3; 2:25; 5:11–13, 20

Scripture Memory:  Try to fill in the missing words in the blanks below, by memory if at all possible, and then review the passage several times today.

Jesus answered him, "The _________________ of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the ________________ our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall __________________ the Lord your God with all your _____________________, with all your _____________________, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.  And the _____________________, like it, is this: 'You shall _______________ your _____________________ as yourself.' (Mark 12:29–31a nkjv)