IN THIS INCIDENT
WITH THE SADDUCEES, CHRIST EXPLAINS "THE END OF THE AGE"
The Sadducees were trying to
trap Jesus with a trick question. So they thought up a scenario to buffalo Him...Here
is what they said.
"Teacher," they said,
"Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife
but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for
his brother.
Now there were seven
brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless.
The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the
seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. Now
then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven
were married to her?" Luke 20:28-33
Looks like they've got Him,
doesn't it? Maybe this will break Him from teaching that after
we die, we come up in a resurrection...but no. He answers
them. He knows that they know nothing of the age to come.
He says,
"The people of this age marry
and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy
of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the
dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and
they can no longer die; for they are like the angels.
(Only God hath immortality, yet faithful
angels are promised eternal life) They
are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection.
Luke 20:34-36
We see that people in this
"age" do things like getting married...but there is going to be an
end to this age...and
with it will come some major changes. Speaking of the age to
come, the Bible
says, "...which he (God the Father) exerted in
Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right
hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power
and dominion, and every title that can be given,
not only in the present age... but also in
the one to come.
Ephesians 1:20-21
WHEN DOES THE END OF THIS
AGE FULLY COME?
All we know, is that at the
end of the age, there will be a great fire that will burn up all the
wicked. Matthew 13:40-43 says,
"As the weeds are pulled up
and burned in the fire, so it will be at the
end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his
angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes
sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery
furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the
righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He
who has ears, let him hear."
HOW IS THIS CONNECTED TO THE
INFORMATION THAT CHRIST GAVE ABOUT THE END OF THE AGE AND THE
RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD? If you look at the end of the
book of Revelation, we see that there truly are resurrections
just like Jesus taught! The Sadducees were wrong.
In Revelation, it speaks of
the "first" resurrection"
(which occurs at Christ's return...this resurrection
is sometimes mistakenly called "the rapture,"...a term that is no
where mentioned in the Bible)
and the book of Revelation also speaks of another massive
resurrection (obviously, if there is a first resurrection then there
has to be a second one...and Revelation 20 says that this second one
comes 1000 years later at the end of the millennium...and just prior
to the destruction of the old heavens and earth by the lake of fire
that literally burns up the earth and heavens to make way for the
new heaven and the new earth.
THE BURNING UP OF THE HEAVENS
AND EARTH ARE THE "FIERY FURNACE" THAT WE JUST READ ABOUT IN MATTHEW
13. THIS DESTRUCTION OF THE OLD HEAVENS AND EARTH BY FIRE ARE
"THE END OF THE AGE." The permanent spiritual kingdom of God which
is formed when the new heavens and the new earth come into existence
is the beginning of a new age!!!!)
Then and only then will their
be real peace on earth. This is when the righteous will shine
like the sun in the kingdom of their Father, and they will be just
like their brother Jesus Christ, in that they will be a true child
of the God family. As Christ said,
They are God's children, since they are
children of the resurrection. Luke 20:36
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