He IS the God of the Living

This morning I opened my Bible to Mark's Gospel and the last line of this statement by Jesus caught my eye.  Here are the verses where Jesus is answering a trick question presented to Him by the Sadducees - Mark 12:24-27 NIV:

[24] "Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? [25] When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. [26] Now about the dead rising---have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob' ? [27] He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

Verse 27 just about jumped off the page when I read it a few minutes ago, so I figured I should spend some time reflecting on this statement. 

First, to put verse 26 in context, at the time of Moses' encounter at the burning bush, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had all been dead for 300+ years, and Jesus was clearly talking about some type of eternal life!  Earlier in Mark we have Moses and Elijah meeting with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, so we should understand that physical death is not the finality of one's existence.  The Sadducees, who Jesus was specifically addressing, did not believe in the resurrection, so for them to even ask the original question about marriage in the after-life is in itself completely fallacious, however, Jesus never wasted an answer, and provides some important understanding.

God does not look at our lives as ending when we die!

God certainly is alive - as He is eternal and lives outside of time!

God's perspective is that in Him, we have eternal life as well.  Jesus says that when those that are dead raise to new life they are like Angels, in that they now have eternal existence, in Him.  John expands this whole idea in his letters - 1 John 5:11-12 NIV:  "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. [12] Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."

He is not the God of the dead... He is the God of the living!

We, who have received salvation in Him, who are hidden in Him, whose lives are now found in Him, have this to look forward to.

He IS alive!

So will we continue to be!

This was the hope of the early church!  This was the hope of the Apostles!  

I should say this IS the hope and experience of the early church and the Apostles.

This should affect the way we think!   This should affect the way we live!  Oh that the Lord would open our eyes to the eternal, giving us glimpses beyond the veil of time, into the realm of the eternal!  We can see glimpses recorded in scripture.  If we read Isaiah 6:1-8; Ezekiel chapter 1; Revelations 1:12-18; Revelations chapters 4 & 5, we will see some striking similarities! 

In the same way that our eternal life should affect how we think and act, we should be affected by the fact that God is alive and acting even now!  He has not stopped His work with the first coming of Jesus!  He is alive and engaged in our lives today!  He IS the God of the living!

Too often, I think that God is somehow limited now, or inattentive, or focused on something else!  He IS the God of the living, which includes me!  

The God of the universe is totally capable of dealing with and interacting with me, in the same way that He is aware of the micro-cellular working on my body and at the same time the expanses of Universe!  We are still discovering new information about both, and always we discover order and forces we know nothing about... and in all of it God is aware and in control.

I go back to Jesus' initial response to the Sadducees, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?"  Oh Lord, help us to grow in our knowledge of both Your word, and Your power!  We do not want to be limited by our lack of understanding, but encouraged to understand more and more!  As Paul prays - Colossians 1:9-14 NIV:

[9] "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, [10] so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, [11] being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, [12] and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. [13] For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

Amen and Amen!