Luke 20:37 – 21:4 Bible Teaching

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Prayer
Luke 20.37-47
Luke 21.1-19
Aired May 17th 2020

So last week we read and covered the trap the Sadducees set for Jesus about the seven brothers having the one wife. And they asked Jesus:

33 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? for seven had her to wife.
34 And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage:
35 But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:
36 Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

Now Jesus continues on and says, relative to the resurrection:

37 Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
38 For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.
39 Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said.
40 And after that they durst not ask him any question at all.

Let’s cover these passages so hop back to verse 37 where Jesus adds:

37 Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

The first line means, “and so, proving that the dead are in fact raised,”and he sites a passage from Exodus 3:6 and 15 to prove it.

The passages reads:

Exodus 3:6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

By the time this was cited about the burning bush, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been long dead – Abraham 329 years, Isaac 224, and Jacob 198. Yet God spoke then about still being their God.

Therefore, Jesus is pointing out to the Sadducees that they must still be somewhere living . . . FOR “God is not the God of the dead!”

To add to this teaching Luke’s account adds here and “all live unto him,” meaning that all the righteous dead can properly call Him their God (even after death).

This passage does not prove directly that the dead bodies would be raised but it does prove that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had an existence at the burning bush or that their souls were alive, and this is something that the Sadducees denied. And so Jesus adds at verse 38

38 For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.

The term “living God” is something the Jews use throughout the Old Testament to distinguish him from dead deities – like stone figures and stumps of wood.

He lives and all who are His live – in the truest sense of the term.

39 Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said.
40 And after that they durst not ask him any question at all.

He seems to have pleased them – and since his time before the cross is not long, the narrative suggests that they never bothered him again.

However, Jesus takes this engagement with them to give them one more shot of wisdom, presumably to try and open their eyes. And so, we read:

41 And he said unto them, How say they that Christ is David’s son?
42 And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
43 Till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
44 David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?

Let’s cover this query of the Lord to these religious men:

41 And he said unto them, How say they that Christ (the Messiah) is David’s son?

“What are your views respecting the Messiah or the Christ? Especially respecting his genealogy and the fact that the Messiah came after David, but David calls Him His Lord?

We note here that the article “the” is missing here –

How say they that “Christ” is David’s son?

The article “the” would then read, “What do they say about the Christ, David’s son,” and in my estimation it should have been retained. But to the question . . .

How can the fathers and scholars say that the Messiah is David’s Son (verse 42) WHEN

42 David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 43 Till I make thine enemies thy footstool

How could the doctrine that says that the Messiah would descend from David, while David refers to Him as his Lord?

How do you reconcile this in your hearts and heads? What does this say about the Messiah – if King David calls Him Lord!

This passage is cited in Psalm 110:1 and is the most oft quoted Old Testament passage cited in the Apostolic Record.

A lord or master is a superior in scripture and while the word here does not necessarily imply divinity it certainly implies superiority.

So again, Jesus asks them, “How do you call the Messiah David’s Son when David himself calls him, Lord?

The logic goes like this: If the Messiah was to be merely a descendant of David, as other men descended from parents, if he was to have a human nature only and bear nothing else supernatural or otherworldly about him, as the Jews in that day supposed, then why on earth would David refer to Him as His Lord?

In other words, don’t David’s words, posed so many years before, automatically infer that the Messiah that would come from His lineage would be God with us?

It is also interesting, but not typically discussed, how YHWH said to David’s Lord,

“Sit on my right hand UNTIL I make thine enemies thy footstool.”

To be invited to sit on the right hand of someone in power, to a Jew, was an invitation of unspeakable honor as the right hand of a King was the position of power and authority.

So, this was not only a prophesy of the Messiah to come through the physical line of David, but it was a prophetic expression of the ultimate exaltation of Jesus Christ once he overcame sin and death on our behalf.

For this reason, we read the following passages. For instance, at the end of the Gospel of Mark he writes:

Mark 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

This must be true because when Stephan was being stoned, we read in Acts 7:55 that:

“he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,”

Paul, in Romans 8:34 wrote

“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

And then in Ephesians 1:20 Paul adds:

“Which he (God) wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.”

The writer of Hebrews wrote in the first chapter of his epistle (Hebrews 1:1-3)

God, who at different times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

And then Hebrews 8:1

Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;

2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

From all of these passages, Bible readers today make a reasonable assumption about the place of Jesus today – they say that “he is sitting on the right hand of the Almighty, making intercession for us.”

I want to believe this. I used to teach it. It is comforting to think that we are being interceded for by our Lord and Savior, that like the tales of influential preachers and teachers go, Satan is standing before God and railing against us for our failures and sins, but they Jesus steps up and says, “Father, I’ve got this one. He or she is mine.”

And Satan turns and walks away without a sound.

It’s really easy to believe because we are reading in the scripture that there was a time when Jesus was at the right hand of the Father.

(beat)

But there is almost always a caveat to the passage that is overlooked. Let me read a recitation from Hebrews 10:12-13 which includes this caveat. Ready?

Hebrews 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
13 . . . waiting until his enemies be made his footstool.

A footstool is that which is under the feet when we are sitting – kinda like an ottman.

The prophesy of Jesus’ location at the right hand of the Almighty is always couched in the language of “until.”

In Acts, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter said to the three thousand:

34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool.

In the first chapter of Hebrews the writer, comparing Jesus to angels, wrote:

Hebrew 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?

That very passage, when I was preparing to teach those passages, floored me. And I realized that Jesus at the right hand of power and might was a temporary position.

I had no idea when his place next to God his father would be up or over, but scripture was clear, from the original verses in Psalm, through the Gospels, and the epistles, that Jesus would be at the right hand of God UNTIL . . .

Until when?

Until God had put all enemies under his feet. So, until he has had the victory over all things – over all enemies.

Now, Paul writes something really interesting relative to this in Ephesians. Listen to what he wrote THEN about God and Christ PAST TENSE:

Ephesians 1:20 Which he (God) wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

In this letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul certainly sounds like God had put everything under his feet – at least in terms of principalities and power and might and dominion . . .

In fact, this victory occurred at the cross. There he defeated Satan’s reign and bought back the world, reconciling it to His father through His shed blood.

But even after the cross, he had more to do before everything, and all enemies were put under him.

Stay with me.

When the High Priest on the day of Atonement took blood into the Holy of Holies, the Nation of Israel as a whole waited outside in anticipation of a couple of things.

They waited with the hopeful expectation that the offering the High Priest made to God on behalf of their collective sins, would be received by God AND that the High Priest would exit the Holy of Holies alive and well to evidence this reception.

To do so signified to the people that their sins had been covered!

Now listen, Jesus, though not a high priest by blood lineage who would have to enter the Holy of Holies annually with the blood of animals, was a permanent High Priest who would enter into the Holy of Holies on high “once and for all” bearing his own shed blood, also had to come out of the Holy of Holies to wrap the whole offering up.

So he entered the Holy of Holies and took his place at the right hand of God as Hebrews 8 says:

1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.

But he also had to exit that place to complete the deal, showing his own that his offering was accepted by God.

We see all of this happen in stages. First, he was accepted when he was baptized (washed) and anointed (by the descending holy Spirit) and the Father said “this is my beloved Son.”

Then he was shown cleansed and able to abide in heavenly realms on the Mount of Transfiguration when again the Father said, “this is my beloved Son, hear Him.”

Then, from Acts 13:33 we learn from Paul that it was in and through his resurrection that God called Jesus our High Priest his only begotten Son.

We then read of Him ascending into the heavens or Holy of Holies, taking his place at the right hand of the Father as prophesied, and angels promising those watching Him go that he would return in the same manner.

And so scripturally, we look for and await his return – His coming back OUT of the Holy of Holies, which would be a sign to the Nation that not only was His offering of blood accepted, but that He too was accepted by God, insomuch that he was able to enter into his presence – and then exit back out – alive.

Jesus promised that He would return to His own – over and over again – that he would, in fact, come back to them then.

And his brings us to the moment of total victory over all things – sin and death, Satan and Hell, the second death, everything.

And then and only then would Jesus no longer remain at the right hand of the Father – because at that point the “until” caveat would be fulfilled.

We read about this moment in 1st Corinthians 15 were Paul writes, speaking of the Resurrection:

1st Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; (the first to be raised from the dead) afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. (so we know that the resurrection of the dead for all who are not Christ would begin at his coming. Now, people assume that he has not come back yet, and so they are all awaiting the resurrection of all people everywhere to happen when he does. But if, as He promised, he came back to them then, then the resurrection started when he came back almost 2000 years ago and it continues to occur (with spiritual heaveny bodies given to all) when anyone dies. So . . . Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection and they afterward those who are Christ’s AT HIS COMING. Verse 24)

24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he (God) shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he (Christ) must reign, till he (God) hath put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he (God) has put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he (God) is an exception who did put all things under him (Christ).
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him (God), then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him (God) that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

And here we are given a clear timeline of both when Christ will have had all things put under his feet, that it will be the end of all things from that former age, and that once this occurs, Jesus will no longer remain at the right hand of God – the because the “until” moment would have arrived, and then God then would be all in all – by and through the finished work of His Son.

(Beat)

I am of the opinion, due to my eschatological position, that “the end” of everything has occurred because Jesus has had the total victory over all things that stood in the way between the reconciliation of the World to God.

These things are not materially based – they are principally based, powers of darkness and the like.

No longer does Satan win, reign or capture souls – Jesus has had the victory – even over the second death, as Paul writes that, “the last enemy is death.”

And I am fully committed to the idea that God is now all in all. Intercession is no longer needed or occurring. The victory has been had. And Jesus is no longer sitting at the right hand of power making intercession.

What is he doing? It seems that he is, with his resurrected body, overseeing His kingdom, his brothers and sisters by faith, the joint heirs with all that the Father has.

I have no idea what this looks like, but all the imagery taken from both the Old Testament (and what we call the new) has been fulfilled.

It does appear from Revelation that God the Father and Jesus His only Begotten Son dwell in the New Jerusalem above; that they are the light of that Kingdom, but everything else has come to pass.

(Beat) Ooookay, so Jesus now asks these men,

44 David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?

In other words, and again, “if the Messiah was David’s Lord, how was he also His Son?”

We know from Matthew that they could not answer him – and actually marvelled at his acuity. And after having said this, we read:

45 Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his disciples,

46 Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;
47 Which devour widows’ houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.

Now, in this same setting (in Matthew), Jesus rails on them long and hard, but Luke only has him say the following of them in these two verses.

46 Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;

These religious leaders, pious and cunning, had tried to push Jesus into a corner, and he adeptly handled their attempts, but now he gives them a warning, albeit brief her in Luke and says to watch out for the scribe because

“They enjoy walking in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts.”

He’s calling them straight out on the content of their hearts and their pride and elevations among the people. They LOVED these things, Jesus says, and the description is obviously counter to the way Jesus describes those fit for the Kingdom –

Humble
Broken
Not of this world
The last being first and the first being last.

He was not appreciative of religious pretense and honors – such things were far from the heart of our Lord, and was not supportive of people being whited sepulchers who were full of death.

And then he adds the last verse of this chapter, saying:

47 Which devour widows’ houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.

Keep the line, “which devour widows houses” in mind because it speaks both to their willingness to strip poor people of their belongings, but it also sets us up for what he will see, say and do in the first verses of chapter 21.

But adding to their religious pretense and piety, he says that they make long prayers to be seen of men and as a result of all of this they will receive greater damnation.

It is one thing to be hypocritical as a lay person, it is entirely different in the name and cause of God.

So, let’s go to chapter 21. After saying that these scribes devour widows houses we read:

Luke 21:1 And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.
Mr 12:41
2 And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.
3 And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:
4 For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

And then at this point Jesus enters into his explanation of the wrapping up of that age and speaks about the ornate temple surrounding them (which we will address next week.

In a Billy Graham publication, I read the following about the Widows mite:

“Regardless of how much we give to Kingdom work–whether it is $10 or $10,000–Jesus makes it obvious to us in Luke 21:1-4 (the story of the Widow’s mite) that He is most pleased with those who had to sacrifice to give. What is your “mite?” Are you sowing sacrificially from your resources?”

Obviously, this Billy Graham associate interprets the account of the widow’s mite as an endorsement for people to give sacrificially.

I want to speak to this story from a more contextual point of view.

?We first remind you that Jesus has warned the disciples that the scribes make “widows houses desolate.”

Then we read what he observes in the temple of a widow giving, and then we read:

5 And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said,
6 As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

In Marks Gospel Jesus is watching the temple donations (including the widow) then he condemns the Jewish leaders, and then he predicts the temples destruction.

His language is not talking about generosity or self-sacrificial love before or after the story of the widow. The context shows that he is talking about how corrupt the religious leaders who control the Temple are, then how the ornate Temple is going to be completely destroyed in a future act of divine judgment.

Again, in Marks account this is what Jesus says right after observing the widow, which are the same words we just read in Luke 20

“Beware of the scribes who like walking around in long robes and respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.”

The context surrounding the giving going on was all about the anger Jesus had for the scribes, and the coming destruction that was headed their way, NOT about the widow putting in her last mite.

In fact, the only time widows are mentioned in the context is when Jesus says plainly that the scribes DEVOUR widows houses.

Friends, the context is that Jesus is angry at the scribes who have persuaded widows to give all their money to the Temple bank account.

This was never God’s heart for the needed and poor and He sees a corrupt religious system that preys on people and that is why he is not impressed with the “wonderful stones” on the temple.

It is clear that Jesus is intentionally highlighting the widow’s gift to the Temple as an illustration of how messed up Jerusalem and Judaism is!

He is condemning Jerusalem’s leaders just like Amos and Isaiah and Ezekiel did before him. In fact, the widow’s gift is evidence of what Ezekiel saw in the Temple over 600 years earlier when he wrote:

“The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice” (Ezekiel 22:29).

These passages that mention the widow are examples of people NOT to follow. We do not hear Jesus saying after speaking of her, “Go and do likewise.”

In fact, in the language that Jesus uses, we hear his distain for what she was doing because of those men. Listen closely:

“out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”

That repetitive phrasing of “she put in” “all she owned, all she had to live on”
Was, to me, Jesus saying “because of these predators who devour widows houses this widow has nothing left to live on at all!

And it was not an inducement to giving, it was an indictment on the injustice of the religious leaders of his day preying on the poor.

And we will end here.

PRAYER