What Will Eternity Be Like? (Mark 12:18-27)

In Mark 12:18-27 Jesus encounters a group called the Sadducees. Their question to him causes us to seek an answer to a broader question: what will eternity be like?

What Will Eternity Be Like? (Mark 12:18-27)

• Pop culture references?
  • Agnostic answer: who knows?
  • Universalist answer: all roads lead to heaven
  • AI answer: Ah, the age-old question about eternity. Some people imagine it as an endless expanse of time, while others think of it as a timeless state where everything happens at once. I suppose it depends on your perspective. What are your thoughts on eternity?
    • Exactly! It’s up to you… or is it?

The Sadducees 

The Sadducees disagreed with the Pharisees on the doctrine of the resurrection, among other things. Their misunderstanding was rooted in their small view of scripture. Mark 12:18-23 

Mark 12:18-19 (NLT) Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question: “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name.

• (Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Abridged Edition (2 Volumes)) In the time of Jesus, the Sadducees were small numerically but exerted great influence politically and religiously. They were not, however, popular among the masses. They represented the urban, wealthy, sophisticated class and were centered in Jerusalem. When Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, they disappeared from history.
• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) They believed that at death the soul perished along with the body, and hence that there were no future rewards or punishments.
• Pharisees and Sadducees were both a part of religious leadership for Jerusalem. While they share some similarities when it comes to legalism, they didn’t agree on core doctrine.

Mark 12:20-23 (NLT) Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. So the second brother married the widow, but he also died without children. Then the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them, and still there were no children. Last of all, the woman also died. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.”

• (Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Abridged Edition (2 Volumes)) The case is so ludicrous it may have been a well-known Sadducean joke that was used for poking fun at the Pharisees’ doctrine of the Resurrection.
• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The custom of levirate marriage was not devised (as were polygamy and concubinage, for example) for the expressed purpose of allowing a man to have more than one wife, nor to condone sexual promiscuity or immorality. Levirate marriage was, rather, a compensatory social custom designed to prevent intermarriage of Jews and Gentiles and to preserve honor and property within a family line in cases where a woman’s husband was deceased.
• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) Their question is framed on the Pharisaic and rabbinic assumption that the world to come is essentially an extension of earthly conditions, including the married state, although under more glorious conditions.
  • (Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Abridged Edition (2 Volumes)) In the Resurrection there will be a new order of existence brought about by the power of God. 
  • (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The resurrected life is not a prolonged earthly life but life in an entirely new dimension (1 Cor 15:40-44). (More on this later…)

Acts 23:8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

• There are angels in the Torah/Pentatuech 
• While Pharisees accepted the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the oral “traditions of the fathers,” the Sadducees accepted only the Pentateuch (Genesis to Deuteronomy) as inspired Scripture.
• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) “Whoever denies the resurrection of the dead has no share in the world to come,” declares the Mishnah (Sanh. 10:1). This general belief in resurrection seems to have been extrapolated, at least among the rabbis, from the few OT allusions to it, from reason, and from the precedents of Enoch and Elijah, who were believed not to have died. The Sadducees, however, rejected the majority tradition on this issue, as their test of Jesus indicates. Strauss, M. L. (2014). Mark. (C. E. Arnold, Ed.) (p. 531). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
• The problem with a small view of scripture
  • Picking and choosing what you want

Resurrection

Jesus pointed out that they made a serious doctrinal error because they misread scripture. Yahweh is God of the living, not the dead, so a relationship with God extends beyond this lifetime. Mark 12:24-27

Mark 12:24-25 (NLT) Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.”

• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) Scripture (Torah) and power (Sanhedrin) were precisely the Sadducees’ stock-in-trade, the two matters in which they majored. In magisterial authority, Jesus asserts that what the Sadducees claim to know best they in fact know least. They are vulnerable not at their weak points but at their strong points. They have gone astray not at the periphery or in the incidentals of their belief system, but at the heart and center of their beliefs.
• The resurrection is not a major doctrine in the OT, but it is clearly set out in Dan 12:1–2: “At that time … multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” Though this is the most explicit statement, a number of other passages allude to the resurrection in one way or another (Job 19:26; Ps 16:9–11; Isa 25:7–8; 26:19; Hos 13:14). Second Temple literature, and especially the rise in apocalyptic thought, brought the resurrection to much greater prominence. Most Jews of Jesus’ day would have affirmed it.
• The Mishnah expresses strong polemic against Sadducean belief by pointing out that those who say “there is no resurrection of the dead prescribed in the Law” have no share in the world to come (m. Sanh. 10:1). The phrase “prescribed in the Law” may allude to the Sadducean denial of the resurrection based on its (purported) absence from the Pentateuch, which they viewed as the only authoritative Scripture. Strauss, M. L. (2014). Mark. (C. E. Arnold, Ed.) (p. 531). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Mark 12:26-27 (NLT) “But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—haven’t you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.”

• (Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Abridged Edition (2 Volumes)) He directed them back to the story of Moses and the burning bush (v.26; Ex 3:6), a part of the OT that was considered particularly authoritative by the Sadducees. The quotation may be understood as follows: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had long since died when God made the statement to Moses at the burning bush. Nevertheless, God said, “I am[not `I was’ ] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Thus the patriarchs were still alive in Moses’ time ; and if they were alive then, we may be sure that in the Resurrection God will raise up their bodies to share in the blessedness of eternal life. God is faithful to his covenant promises.
• Jesus schools some so-called conservative religious teachers after they engage him in debate. Their pride blinds them from seeing the truth about Jesus and his power.

1 Corinthians 15:52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

Back to our question: What Will Eternity Be Like? (Mark 12:18-27)

Heaven

Bodily resurrection is a core doctrine of the Christian faith. There are two kinds: one to everlasting life and one to everlasting judgment.

• From Sys Theo, Topic 11: What Happens After We Die
  • After the final judgment, every human being will be resurrected into an immortal body (Acts 24:15) and consigned to one of two eternal fates (John 5:28-29), which we know as heaven and hell.
  • Heaven will be established on this earth (Revelation 21:10-12), and will mirror the original creation in Eden (Revelation 22:2-3). In heaven, creation comes full circle and is fully restored.
  • The New Testament describes hell as a place of divine punishment, retribution and vengeance on sinners (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10). Jesus himself speaks of eternal fire (Matthew 25:41), outer darkness (Matthew 8:12) and eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46). 
  • The Bible also speaks of unending torment (Revelation 14:10-11) in a bottomless abyss (Revelation 9:1-2) or fiery lake. Called the “second death” (Revelation 21:8), this is an experience of eternal destruction and final exclusion from God’s presence (2 Thessalonians 1:9).
• See also Is Hell a Real Place for 4 views on hell

1 Corinthians 15:21-22 (NLT) So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.

1 Corinthians 15:43-44 (NLT) Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies.

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 (NLT) He will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.

Daniel 12:2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

John 5:25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

1 Corinthians 15:52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The doctrine of the resurrection is, in fact, only vaguely foreshadowed in the OT (Isa 26:19; Ezek 37; Dan 12:2; Ps 73:23). The view that typifies the OT understanding of the afterlife is not resurrection but Sheol, a nether world characterized by a pale and joyless existence. By Jesus’ day, however, there was a prevalent belief in the resurrection, not only among Pharisees, but among a majority of Jews.
• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The resurrected life is not a prolonged earthly life but life in an entirely new dimension (1 Cor 15:40-44).
  • (Pillar New Testament Commentary) For Jesus the taxonomy of earthly realities is insufficient to explain the life-to-come; an entirely new category, “‘like angels in heaven,'” is necessary to fathom resurrected existence.

Close

Ultimately, Jesus proved that resurrection is a real promise that he himself first took part in. Trusting in him results in eternal life, even after physical death.

John 11:25-26 (NLT) Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”

• (Pillar New Testament Commentary) The ultimate answer to the Sadducees, however, is not the exegesis or even authority of Jesus (neither of which they accept), but the life of Jesus, for the empty tomb will verify his teaching to the Sadducees (16:6). Jesus does not simply announce the resurrection – he is the resurrection (John 11:25).
• See Five Verses on Preparing for Eternity for yourself or to share with a friend. Download handout.