Light on the Hill

James Kaddis: What happens after we die? Let's talk about it next on Light on the Hill.

God did not design us to perish. From the very beginning, he created us to walk in immortality, but sin ruined everything and brought death into the world, even corrupting our ability to think in terms of eternity. Today on Light on the Hill, we're going to take a very close look at what Jesus himself teaches about life after death, and our prayer is that your perspective will shift as we consider the amazing future awaiting those who put their trust in Jesus. Here's Pastor James Kaddis in Mark chapter 12.

The Sadducees in this particular context, as well as the Pharisees, are very concerned about what they perceive to be losing. It's funny, these men that are so concerned about what they've lost is something they never had in the first place. They're trying to maintain power. They're trying to maintain influence. They never really had it. But they're not godly people. They're focused on trying to entrap Jesus and they're wanting to discredit him in a way that will make him look completely ignorant.

But in the process of them approaching Jesus and sin being on full display, Jesus gives us a glimpse into something that is super important for anybody that's experienced loss lately, especially when that loss is death. Because we learn something coming right out of Jesus's mouth that gives us perspective on something we realize that we don't have. By the way, let me just break the ice here for you just for one second.

The number one thing that mankind oftentimes does not recognize they have in abundance, forsaking it for something that they absolutely do not have, is salvation. And Christians are the worst at it. This has always been my contention about pastors during the time of COVID and during the time of all of this stuff going on, being complete cowards that need to quit the ministry if they didn't keep their churches open or if they did not talk about these political issues or any of those things.

Why? Because they were desperately trying to hold on to something they never had, which was the respect of the people that they were supposedly ministering to, because they never took care of what they did have, and that was their salvation. They never took care of learning how to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and recognize that he was the one that was going to show up. He was the one that was going to handle the situation. He was the one that was going to show himself strong where we all were weak.

We don't see it because we're so busy focusing on what we don't have. But yet what we have is so much more valuable, so much more valuable. It's infinitely valuable. It's priceless. Look at what happens here. This is so incredible. Verse 18. By the way, I went long with this to build you the foundation that you need to understand to be able to realize what Jesus is saying about marriage in the resurrection, okay? Very, very important because hopefully by now you recognize that what we're focusing on is our greatest asset, which is salvation.

That's the focus that we're dealing with right here. The moment you start to focus on that will be the very moment you understand the blessed hope that you have waiting for you to experience the greater thing, the better thing. Look at this. This is amazing. Verse 18. Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection, and they asked him saying, "Master..."

Okay, let me just stop real quick. It's funny when you think about this. The people that don't believe that the resurrection exists are the ones that are seeking to ask Jesus about the resurrection. I want you to get this. They're doing this because they don't believe in the resurrection, and this is not a question that comes from a place of sincerity. It's a question that comes from a place of sarcasm. And they're asking the question in order to not only discredit Jesus but in order to discredit the teaching of the resurrection that was being very clearly voiced by the Pharisees.

They didn't want that teaching to be brought up. Why? Because the teaching of the resurrection walked in direct contradiction with the very tools that they deployed to take control over the society that they were trying to fleece. Very important we understand this. So they're trying to entrap him. It's not coming from a place of goodwill. Verse 19, "Master." They don't mean that when they say master, but we've already gone over these nuances.

"Moses wrote unto us, if a man's brother die and leave his wife behind him and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife and raise up seed unto his brother." By the way, without even really digging into it—I probably should have dug into it—I'm almost certain Jesus is talking about Deuteronomy 25, okay? This is the teaching of the kinsman redeemer. You guys can look it up, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm almost certain that's what he's talking about here. I'm certain he's talking about the principle of the kinsman redeemer.

That's the question that's being imposed. I'm almost certain that it's Deuteronomy 25 we're talking about here. But let's dig into this because he's going to say—well, let's just read through this. Which, by the way, if you ever want to learn more about the kinsman redeemer, go through my teaching on Ruth. I really talk about this at length and I actually talk about all of the nuances within the law. We're actually going to talk about it once we're done with Exodus. We'll touch it when we get into the Levitical law, and I'm already studying through Deuteronomy.

It's really amazing stuff because there are some remarkable parallels to what Christ did for us and our salvation, which is on a whole other level. But anyway, so the brother takes over. Verse 20, "Now there were seven brethren, and the first took a wife and dying left no seed. And the second took her and died, neither left he any seed, and the third likewise. And the seven had her and left no seed. Last of all the woman died also."

Okay, so just understand the way this works with the law of the kinsman redeemer. I'm not going to get into all the dynamics of it because it's very integral, and it's one that literally we could spend hours and hours and hours talking about for a lot of different reasons, especially because in order to really understand the terminology reflected in Deuteronomy 25, you also have to understand nuances with the Hebrew language. Because there is a play on the Hebrew language, by the way, very similar to the play that we've been talking about with the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments are not "do not." It works—there's like a double affirmative that actually creates the negative. Kind of a different—I'm using very basic-to-understand terms, but it's highly technical. We could spend a lot of time working through that in order to understand what that means and what that looks like and how that works. But all this to say, the law that we understand that we oftentimes refer to as the law of this kinsman redeemer is if I'm a man and let's just say I have seven brothers.

And I marry a woman, and God forbid I die, and that woman is left a widow. This only applies if she doesn't have children. What would have to happen is the brother who is not married—some people actually interpreted it as he could be married and take on another wife—but the brother who is not married and he would be the next older, the next one in line, basically would take on that wife, would marry her, would seek to consummate the marriage in hopes to not only have a fruitful marriage but to impregnate her.

But if that doesn't work and he dies, then she goes on to the next brother. And if he dies, then she goes on to the next brother. And if he dies, she goes on to the next brother. And if he dies, she goes on to the next brother. And if he dies, she goes on to the next brother. And if he dies, she goes on to the next brother. And let's just say for whatever reason they all die, then she would go to a direct relative. So it could be like a cousin of them or that kind of thing. So that was kind of the way it worked.

Now the reason why this person is mentioning that she died after the seventh try without having any children is very complicated. Why? Because the whole purpose of the kinsman redeemer was so that that man who was married to be with that woman would still have his name carried, and somebody from his bloodline would be able to take on the legacy that he was not able to establish in his children. By the way, that shows you just how high of a regard God has for children, right? And why it's really important to fill the quiver up. Like God saw, like children are not a burden. Children are a blessing from the Lord, and they carry your legacy. That's critically important.

So in this scenario, what would typically happen—and this is especially true of younger women—is they would just go on and on and on and on until finally the marriage is consummated, there's a child that comes out of it. Now if the woman loses her husband and she has children, then there would be no kinsman redeemer obligation because she already has the children to actually carry the legacy. By the way, there is one interpretation of this that says that that only applies if one of the children are men.

If one of the children is not a boy, then she would still have the right to place the obligation upon the relative to become the kinsman redeemer because it would have to be a male to carry on that legacy. Just a little kind of a side note here. So in this scenario, this guy who's asking Jesus this question is saying this woman married, he died, then she goes to marry the other, he died, and on and on and on and on. All the brothers are dead, which I think by the time I got to brother number seven I probably wouldn't want to marry this girl.

Okay, they're all dead. And so now there's the imposition of a very important question, at least it's important in the mind of this Sadducee. And the question is this, let me read it to you: "In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? For the seven had her to wife." Okay, he's doing two things here. I want everybody to understand this. Number one, he is literally belittling the view of the resurrection.

He's making the resurrection sound ridiculous because he doesn't believe that the resurrection is even going to take place, and he's trying to disprove the resurrection based on what he is deeming a line of succession and what involves possession in the kingdom of heaven. Meaning if you're married on earth and you married all these different people, who's going to be the real husband when they go to heaven? How's that going to work? That is a question that was not only imposed in bad faith, but it was imposed in tremendous ignorance.

It was imposed without the ability to be able to understand what the core of the issue was, and Jesus is about to answer it and he's going to do it brilliantly. Look at this in verse 24. And Jesus answering said unto them, "Do you not therefore err, because you know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?" By the way, can I just say this is so cool. Remember I talked to you about how Jesus would not speak to the words being given to him but he would speak to the heart?

He's not speaking to the argument of the woman and who the woman is going to find as her husband in the resurrection. He's speaking to the error of their understanding of what eternity is. He makes this one very important statement. By the way, you might ask how can it be a statement? It's a question. This is a rhetorical question. We oftentimes in language refer to it as a declarative question as well because the imposition of a rhetorical question is a form of emphatic declaration.

We use rhetorical questions all the time in the world in which we live today. Perhaps one of the most common rhetorical questions that get asked is "Are you nuts?" "Are you crazy? Are you out of your mind? What were you thinking?" In other words, it is the imposition of a question in which the answer is so obvious that it actually demands that the answer itself becomes a statement. It's an emphatic way of saying something.

So instead of me saying "You're nuts," it's a lot harsher saying "Are you nuts?" Meaning you're crazy. So this is a very serious and very powerful way of creating a point. And by Jesus imposing this rhetorical question or this series of rhetorical questions, what he's actually saying is you're asking a question that reflects the fact that you have no clue about the things you claim to be a subject matter of. You don't know what you're talking about. You're carrying a premise that's completely broken.

I get this question a lot, by the way, by people who lose their husbands, wives that lose their husbands or husbands that lose their wives. And they ask me about will I be married to my husband when I'm in heaven? I get that. What's the relationship going to be like? Pray for me for wisdom with this because I still to this day don't know how to put it gently. Because the question is not about your relationship with your husband or your wife one day.

I believe that there's room in the scriptures and I can prove it that there is an enhanced relationship in heaven with the person that you were espoused here on earth. And I'll talk about that in a minute. The bigger issue that I need wisdom in being able to communicate and I still haven't been able to find it in 30 years of ministry is the very question that you're asking is a reflection of you not understanding what God has already given you.

And you don't say that to somebody who's mourning or grieving right off the spot. Like you don't do that. Okay, that's just you just don't do that. But at the same time, there's this desire that I have in my heart to explain that when a question like that goes forth, it's because you don't understand the glorious thing that you have. You see, I think about my two-year-old. He's so special to me. Oh my goodness, he's so special.

And he comes up to me, "Baba, baba, baba, can I have this?" He's got it in his hand. And this happens as a common scenario. I'll take it away from him and he starts losing his mind. "Why are you taking it away? I'm so hurt, it's gone!" But he doesn't realize I have the upgraded version right in front of him, but he doesn't see it because he's so focused on what I took away. He has the beat-up old ball or the beat-up little toy that's all broken that doesn't even work.

He'll come to me all the time with a broken toy. "Can you replace the batteries here?" "Give it to me, son." And then I'll give him something better, but he's sad when I take it away, like he's heartbroken. "I want it back, that's my toy." "Son, hey, focus. Stop for a second. Calm down." And then I give him something better. He's like, "Wow!" and then he can't let go of that. Until finally he gets taken away from him, he gets something better.

See, what my son doesn't understand as a two-year-old is that he has infinite resources available to him because he has a father that adores him. He has a father that loves him with his whole heart. Same thing with my daughters. Same thing. We oftentimes look at the temporal things that are taken away from us in this world, not recognizing the eternal that God has waiting for us. The question about who is this person going to be married to in the resurrection, meaning in the afterlife, is a reflection of the fact that these people don't even understand what that looks like.

Now Jesus is going to speak about this because I love this. Look at what he says in verse 25. He says, "For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels which are in heaven. And as touching the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spoke unto him saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You therefore do greatly err."

Wow. Let's talk about this for a second. It's not a coincidence that he brings up Moses, and it's not a coincidence that he brings up the burning bush. You see, when the bush burned at the time that Moses was in the wilderness, what was unique about that bush burning is when that bush was lit on fire, that fire should have dissolved within moments because a dry bush would have burned immediately. It would have burned quickly.

The fact that it seemed to have been burning perpetually was enough for Moses to recognize the anomaly and then investigate the anomaly. When he investigated the anomaly, only then was he able to find God behind the anomalous thing that he was seeing, and in that identification was he able to find something of eternal value. We look at this for a moment and we think about what happens when we receive Christ in our life.

When we put our faith and trust in Christ, something happens. It's a unique thing. We are instantly promised salvation because we take credit for the perfect life that Christ lived. So one day, we're going to hear the words "Well done, good and faithful servant." But we don't think in those terms because we're living in a world that is not real. See, the world we're living in right now is the portion of our life that really is not real.

The more real portion of the life is the portion of our very being that has a connection to eternity because eternity is where reality truly exists. If I have a widow that comes to me and they say, "Well, what about my husband, you know? What's it going to be like when I'm in heaven, my husband?" Well, let's talk about it for a moment, shall we? We have people in this fellowship that have lost their children.

We have people in this fellowship that have lost their wives, wives that have lost their husbands. As hard as this is going to be for me to ask you to do this, let me just ask you to do this for one moment. Think of the pain that you had in your heart when you lost your spouse. Especially for those of you that lost your spouse over tragic circumstances—cancer, murder, violence, whatever. Think of the pain that you're feeling.

Some of you still to this day can't even begin to think about it. Now I want you to stop and reflect upon the joy you felt in your heart when you were officially united with them. When you married them. By far, one of the most incredible days of my life was when I got to stand in front of my bride knowing that in a few short minutes, she was going to say, "I'm making a vow between God and declaring before you that I want to be your wife."

I still am shocked by that. Look, I've been married to my wife for almost 10 years now. Every time I see her, I'm still blown away by the fact that God put her in my life. Like I'm just like—I can't even—I can't even think about how miraculous it was that God brought her to me. She is the best part of me. She is. I remembered having a conversation with Erica at our Bible in 365 Q&A. It was the very last Q&A if any of you that watched it.

We both went on this tangent. If my spouse died, would I ever remarry? No. I can't imagine doing it. She said the same thing. It's weird to think about that, like it's almost kind of—it was just weird. In the times when I'm the most frustrated in something that's going on in my marriage—and thank God those things don't happen a lot—I'm oftentimes by the spirit of God forced to bring myself to the way that I felt when I knew this was going to be for eternity.

When I knew that this was it. I get to take her home and we were going to build a true life, a real life together. The greatness and the immense wonder that I felt in my heart in that moment won't even come close to how it's going to feel when the time comes that I get to see her beautiful face in the context of perfection. See, we live imperfect lives right now. We see our spouses within the context of imperfection. We live in an imperfect world.

We live in a world that's been affected by sin. The Bible says through one man, sin entered the world, and that sin brought death and destruction. That sin brought pain. That sin brought suffering. My wife calls me and says, "Hey James, I'm really interested in just going on my own just for—to be blessed, to go to this women's Bible study that's happening over here. What do you think?" My very first thought is "Is it a safe area? Are you going to be okay when you go there?"

Why? Because we live in a broken world. We live in a world that's just filled with pain and suffering and destruction. Imagine what the context of my relationship with my wife is going to be one day in heaven. We don't have the threat of the bad neighborhood. We don't have the threat of the influence of sin allowing us to be given to a mindset where we listen to the voice of an enemy who wants to destroy us.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us today for Light on the Hill. What you just heard is one part of a study in Mark's gospel from Pastor James Kaddis. You can hear it again at LightOnTheHillRadio.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Not long ago, Pastor James released his new book on the first half of Revelation. It's entitled The Last Book. He points out that Revelation isn't a book of fear but rather a book of hope. Pastor James will help you understand the world we live in and current events through a biblical lens, preparing your heart for what lies ahead. Get a copy by going to LightOnTheHillRadio.com or through Amazon.

We're so grateful for your support. Each donation that's sent in is an investment in what God is doing over the radio and internet. Lives are being impacted daily for the glory of God as a result. If you'd like to stand with us through providing either a one-time donation or ongoing monthly support, please visit LightOnTheHillRadio.com. While you're there, you can also send us an email. It would be great to hear from you and have you share the station you listen to as well. Just visit LightOnTheHillRadio.com and then click on contact. Now let's return to our message. We left off at verse 25 in Mark chapter 12.

James Kaddis: Let me focus you back on a phrase that Jesus gives here, okay? This is verse 25. He says, "For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels which are in heaven." Marriage as it was known to mankind within the context of the first union between Adam and Eve has never been known to mankind after the fall. It was never the same.

The union that existed between Adam and Eve was so pure and was so special that it was unfathomable what that union could look like within the context of mankind today. You see, within the context of what happened in the garden, God literally put Adam to sleep, then physically formed and fashioned out of raw material the wife that was designed for him. In the fallen world where we are unified to our spouses, we get a glimpse of that purity, but we don't get to experience it at its fullest.

The next time we will ever be able to understand what that feels like as Adam and Eve understood it is when we are in heaven. So for the widows that are out there who long to be reunited with their husband, understand this: What you long to be reunited with as Jesus said will never be as you perceive it on this earth. It will never be as you define marriage or understand marriage on this earth. Rather, it will be something that is reflective of the way God intended for it to be at the creation.

So if you think your marriage was amazing in the moment that you got to experience it here in this temporal, mortal world, you have no idea what that's going to look like when you are in eternity walking as God designed for it to be. Remember, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.