6/23/19 Luke 20:27-40 “Heaven is Real and Angels Are Too!”

21 Jun 6/23/19 Luke 20:27-40 “Heaven is Real and Angels Are Too!”

6/23/19    Luke 20:27-40  “Heaven is Real and Angels Are Too!”

As a pastor, even a retired one, I think that it’s my job to lead you in ways so that you can have a good life and an eternal life.  So I hope you can imagine that there are as many topics to preach on as there are ideas in the world.  However, there are some areas that we don’t like to talk about.  I should say that I don’t mind talking about them but you don’t want to hear them.  For some reason, most people don’t like to hear about hell.  Maybe it’s because they aren’t sure where they are going and it scares them as it should.  We also don’t talk too much about heaven.  Maybe that is because we don’t know a lot about heaven.  If you would like more information on heaven, read Randy Alcorn’s book called Heaven.  It’s very good.  We also don’t like to talk about money because we aren’t very obedient when it comes to giving Jesus back what He requires, a tithe or 10% of your income.  Do you see how in just a few short sentences I talked about all of these things you don’t want to hear about but are so important?  Today I would like to talk a little about the resurrection and a view that is more prevalent in our society than we like to think.  Let’s see what the Bible has to say about our resurrection and what it will be like in heaven.

I found this to be an interesting story from Andrew Chan.  He tells about a couple of F-15 jets who were escorting a C-130 Hercules transport plane.  These fellows are flying their planes along and chatting because there really isn’t much else to do.  And as they are talking the conversation soon comes around to who is flying the best plane.  I guess I should say aircraft.  Anyway, the fighter pilots contend that their jets are better because of superior speed, maneuverability, weaponry and so forth.  They were also quick to point out that the Hercules was woefully deficient in these and other areas.

Well, it wasn’t long before the pilot of the C-130 had enough of this and said, “Oh, yeah?  Well I can do a few things in this old girl that you can only dream about.”  Naturally, the fighter pilots challenged him to demonstrate.

“Just watch,” came the quick reply from the transport pilot.  The other pilots watched but all they saw was that the cargo plane continued to fly straight and level.

After several minutes like this the Hercules pilot came back on the air and said, “There!  How was that?”

The other pilots responded, “What are you talking about?  What did you do?”

To which the pilot of cumbersome transport replied, “Well, I got up and stretched my legs and I got a cup of coffee.”  Of course, you cannot get up in a jet fighter.

And this is like the passage today.  We don’t get to see the resurrection of fellow believers but we are to believe it just like the jet pilots believed that the other pilot could get up and move around.  This is one of the few places where Jesus gives us a little information on what it will be like in heaven.

Before we begin today I would like to spend a minute or so on just who were the Sadducees.  To put it bluntly, they were the Jewish leaders with money.  The Pharisees on the other hand were just middle class people that led the church in their spare time.  The Sadducees really weren’t very Jewish at all.  They only believed in the first 5 books of our Old Testament.  They would combine these teachings with whatever else they found in their culture.  They were a lot like the Greeks in that they believed in just about anything that came along.  They are also like our bishops and church leaders today who believe in society but not the Bible.  But they had the money and power so they were unmovable.  They disappeared after the Temple was destroyed in about 70 AD.  There was a constant battle between the Sadducees and the Pharisees who were actual scholars of the Old Testament.  One of the big things they disagreed on was the resurrection.  The Sadducees said there was no such thing because it wasn’t found in the first five books of the Old Testament.  About the only thing these 2 groups agreed on was that they had to get rid of Jesus!  This is where we start today.

We begin in the week before the resurrection.  In other words, it is Passover Week.  Everything is crowded.  This is where the Sadducees make their case.  There are lots of people around to back them up.  Many people did back them up because there were powerful.  They were the elite.  Whatever they said, went, that is until they met up with Jesus.  Please note how gentle Jesus is with them.

They ask Jesus a trick question and of course Jesus knows all about it.  We know it’s a trick because the Sadducees don’t even believe in a resurrection.  What would happen if the husband dies?  His widow was supposed to marry the dead man’s brother.  I bet there are people glad that we still don’t do this.  Anyway, then the second brother dies and this widow marries yet another brother.  These brothers keep dying off until the widow marries the seventh brother.  The question is ‘whose wife will she be in heaven?’

Now there is one flaw I would like to point out right away.  The Sadducees are trying to impose their human understanding on something that humans don’t understand.  They try to see heaven from a human standpoint.  We need to try to see heaven and earth from a heavenly point of view.  This is hard to do.  We do this all the time today.  Everyone knows what heaven will be.  That’s why we have a million different views of heaven.  We do this all the time in our personal life when we view others from our perspective.  We never think of their view.  This is why I don’t think studying diversity will ever work.  We need to study what we have in common.  Anyone can see how we differ.  In order for there to be any sort of lasting peace between people, we need to know what we have in common.  Marriages work so much better when they stress their commonality and not their diversity.  Anyway, I digress.

Jesus answers these guys by saying the heaven is very different from earth.  When we get to heaven we cannot die any more.  That makes sense, doesn’t it?  If we can’t die, then there is no reason to multiply either.  So there will not be any marriages in heaven as one of the main reasons for marriage is to have and raise children.  This is one of the few places in the Bible where Jesus lays out what we can expect in heaven.  This should take care of the Sadducees for a while.

I think that this is one of the common areas where we lack understanding.  Well, don’t be a Sadducee and think you know everything.  Heaven is so unlike anything that you can imagine.  You have never experienced a place where there is absolutely no sin.  You have never experienced a place where there is lots of work to do and you are elated to be able to do it.  You have never experienced a place where you can talk to all your ancestors plus all the famous people of the past.  You have never experienced a place where there is love, pure love every place you go and in everything you do.  This is just a fragment of what heaven will be like.  We cannot imagine it because we have never seen anything close to it.

Now I know that there might be people here today who like to dwell a little on this topic and I don’t blame you.  It’s interesting.  However, don’t get hung up on it.  Don’t make it your main focus because I know that is not why God made you.  And if you just can’t seem to take your mind off of it, then tell others.  Don’t go to another study but take what you know and tell the world.  I also know that as we get older, we cannot get around and do the things that we could when we were young.  But as long as your mouth and brain work, tell people about Jesus.  Tell them of this more than wonderful place called heaven.

And if you are younger, then work in the topic of heaven into whatever you are doing.  I have noticed as I have ministered to people in the last few years is that there is a tremendous hunger to know about Jesus.  Even those who put me down for my belief are hungry for the truth and all truth comes from the Bible.  Therefore don’t be afraid to talk about heaven.  Jesus tells us that it will be so great that we cannot even imagine it and I praise the Lord that He has thought of everything.

And this includes angels.  These Sadducees are so smart that they don’t even believe in angels.  These guys were too busy eating all they could at the banquets.  They were always drinking as much as they could at the parties.  They didn’t have time to read their Bibles so they didn’t even know what was in them.  They should have known about the angels that visited Abraham, the Father of their religion.  There were angels who visited David, Jacob, Elisha and Daniel.  My goodness, there were angels everywhere.  In the New Testament we have angels with Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Peter.

Now I will grant you that some of these books came later and the Sadducees would only have read the Pentateuch.  So they had an excuse of sorts.  And we have all kinds of excuses today also.  Have you ever noticed what God does with your excuses?  They don’t mean a hill of beans to Him unless you are being obedient.  In our modern world we have most of the secular society that doesn’t believe in angels because they cannot see them.  We also have groups of people who worship angels.  We are all over the spectrum in our belief or unbelief in angels.

But once again Jesus comes to the rescue.  There are angels and they are everywhere.  We usually can’t see them but sometimes they have been known to materialize.  We have all heard of the angels who have helped people in an accident or helped people in the hospital only to find later that no one had ever heard of this person.  What I’m trying to tell you today is that if Jesus says something, then it is true.  Once again I would call on the little children because many of them have seen angels and they will tell you about it.

So Jesus assures us that life will be different in heaven and that angels do exist.  Finally He tells His audience and us that there will be a resurrection.  Remember that His resurrection hasn’t happened yet.  He has told His disciples about it but they really don’t believe Him.  It will be a few more days before the light finally goes on in their minds.  I would guess that the Sadducees still won’t believe this but Jesus spoke with such authority that He quieted everyone.

Just as a little sidebar here, I have noticed that when I speak in the name of Jesus or I quote from the Bible, people will quiet their arguments.  Most of the time we don’t realize the power that is available to us through Jesus Christ.  He will silence your critics if you are proclaiming His name.  The person may not change his mind but at least you have planted a seed.   That is what we are supposed to do.

Anyway, I would guess that there might be people here today who only kind of believe in your own resurrection.  Well, here’s how I read the Scriptures.  When we die, we will go immediately to heaven or the other place but I’m not talking about that now.  We will continue in heaven as spiritual beings.  It won’t be until Jesus returns and He gives us a new heaven and a new earth that we will be bodily resurrected.  We will then have perfect bodies.  We will live on in eternity.  Therefore we will not have to reproduce.  Therefore we will not have husbands and wives in the earthly sense.

Please notice how all this fits together so nicely.   And also please don’t worry about what it’s going to be like in heaven.  Remember that worry is just a lack of faith in Jesus.  There will be no more tears or sadness.  You will feel better than you have ever felt in your life.  You will have all sorts of things to do that will be meaningful to the Kingdom.  All will be perfect and you will be able to talk to Jesus anytime you want.  You will see all your ancestors.  I’m telling you it will be perfect and you will be happy, joyful and glad.  And this tremendous journey begins when you confess your sins to Jesus and invite Him to be Lord and Savior of your life.  That’s all there is to it and it doesn’t get any better.

I have read a lot of things about heaven.  It is passages like this one today that give us the knowledge of what is to come.  But before we go, we have a job to do here.  We are to go out and baptize everyone we can in the name of Jesus Christ.  We are to help make disciples of all we meet.  We do this by using the gifts that we have.  The easiest way I have found to do this is to do everything in the name of Jesus.  Then just let Him lead you.

I have met many people during my life and ministry.  I look forward to seeing them again in the perfect light of heaven. There will be no differences.  There will only be peace and joy and goodness.  Our Jesus Christ has thought of everything, nothing has been left out.  That is how much Jesus loves you.  Thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.