IN OUR LAST study and the present one we examine the teaching of Christ on that which probably was the last day of His personal ministry, Tuesday of Passion Week. In studying Christ's parable of the vineyard found in Luke 20:9-18, we investigated the three parables that Jesus spoke on this occasion when He was challenged by the scribes, chief priests, and elders concerning the authority by which He did the things which He said and performed at the Temple. These three parables were a complete refutation of the leaders of the Jews and a vindication of our Lord. They were stung to the very quick by the complete defeat, which they suffered at His hands. They had been discredited in the eyes of the masses. What they could not gain by argument and disputation, they sought to achieve by laying their hands on Him violently. The only thing that prevented their doing this was their fear of the people (20:19).

Still smarting under their humiliating defeat, they sought to ensnare Him in His words in order that they might falsely accuse Him to the Roman governor. They therefore sent spies to Him who feigned themselves to be righteous, whereas their hearts were reeking with hatred and evil. It is appalling to see what religious people sometimes will do in an effort to carry out some diabolical plan or purpose. What they cannot get with hook, they attempt to capture by crook.

Those spies came to Jesus bringing a small Roman coin. They began their conversation by complimenting Him, though they did not mean what they said. By their flattery they thought that they could disguise their plans and could more easily ensnare Him. To Him they therefore said, "Teacher, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, and acceptest not the person of any but of a truth teachest the way of God: 22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?" (vss. 21, 22). Jesus indeed spoke and taught rightly and did not respect persons, that, is, cater to people; but He spoke forth the message of God in sincerity and in truth. People should realize that there is but one way to act and speak; that is, righteously and correctly. They should be sincere in what they say. To be hypocritical is to be an abomination in the sight of God.

The question asked Jesus was very cleverly put. It was designed to ensnare Him with the Roman authorities. If He said that it was all right to do so, then He would incur the displeasure of the zealots, the party that was especially patriotic, and that opposed everything Roman. On the other hand, if He said that it was not proper to pay tribute to Caesar, then His answer could be distorted and could be interpreted to Pilate as a case of sedition and an attempt to foster an insurrection against the Roman authorities. It is a very easy matter to take the statement of another, regardless of how clear and pointed it is, and twist it to make it mean something entirely different from the facts intended. Frequently, all one has to do is to report a statement verbatim apart from the context or setting in which it was made. When the connection is not presented, an exact statement can mean something else. It is most important quoting others to give the background or setting so that there will be no distortion of any statement that is made. Men and women should be scrupulous on this point.

Perceiving their hypocrisy, Jesus asked His enquirers to show Him a coin, which thing they did. He then asked, "Whose image and superscription hath it?" And they immediately replied, "Caesar's." Then Jesus said, "Then render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's (Luke 20-25). The civil powers are ordained of God to establish government and to maintain a peaceful order in which Christians may live quiet, peaceable lives in all gravity and godliness. (Read carefully Rom 13:1-7; I Tim 2:1,2.) All too frequently there are even Christians who think nothing of trying to cheat the government out of taxes. Regardless of the justice of the taxes or tribute required, it is for Christians to "Render to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor" (Rom. 13:7).

Jesus answer to these spies refuted their evil designs and put forth the fundamental truth concerning our obligation to pay our taxes, whatever they may be. The reader should study Mark 12:13-17 and Matthew 22:15-22 in connection with the matter of paving tribute to Caesar.

After Jesus had completely answered the spies on the matter of paying tribute to Caesar, the Sadducees came to Him with a question in regard to the resurrection. The Sadducees were one of the parties, or sects, of the Jews, the others being the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Herodians. The Pharisees were the strictly orthodox group that held to the letter of the law and were the flower of the Jewish nation at that time. The Essenes were the recluses who withdrew from society and lived a monastic type of life. The Herodians were Jews who were in favor of the Romans; hence they were more of a political party. Yet it was impossible to separate religion from politics in the State of Israel at that time. The Sadducees, on the other hand, were the wealthier and more influential class. They were less in number than the Pharisees, the popular party. The Sadducees were the materialists of that day and time denying the existence of angels and spirits and the possibility of the resurrection. According to them, when a person died, he ceased to exist. Their disbelief in the resurrection of the body was one of the cardinal doctrines with them. Anyone who does not believe in the resurrection of course cannot live daily in a close walk with God. The denial of the resurrection removes a great restraining power that otherwise influences and dominates the life of the one who believes in the resurrection and one's having to meet God the Judge of all.

The Sadducees, seeing that Jesus had routed the Pharisees, came with a question which they thought would more than refute His statements and silence Him. They made up a case concerning which they spoke to Him. They called attention to the legislation of Moses concerning a man who died without children. According to the great lawgiver, in such a case, the younger brother was to marry the brother's widow and raise up seed to him. The Sadducees therefore said that there was a man who had died without posterity. His brother married his wife according to the law. He likewise died without children. Then the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, and finally the seventh brother married the widow. They wished to know then, whose wife should this woman be in the resurrection, because all seven brothers had had her as a wife. We may be certain that those who put this question to Jesus were absolutely confident that He could not reply to them.

His answer was this "The sons of this world marry, and are given in marriage; 35 but they that are accounted worthy to attain to that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage; 36 for neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels: and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection" (Luke, 20:34-36). When God created man, He intended that men and women should marry, be fruitful, and replenish the earth. Such is the divine purpose of the institution of holy matrimony. It seems that this generation has lost sight of this divine ordinance. In the days of Jesus the parents made the marriages for the children. Thus they married and were given in marriage.

But in the resurrection, that is, after the resurrection which takes place at the second coming of Christ, those who have lived before that time and who are raised from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. They therefore will not rear famines in the resurrection as they should do at the present time.

Jesus asserted that those that are accounted worthy to attain unto that world, or age, and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. The era concerning which He was speaking is the great Millennial Age that will be ushered in by the second coming of our Lord. Since, at the beginning of that age all the righteous saved people from all ages will be raised and will receive their immortal bodies, that era is called "the resurrection," or, the era of the resurrection. All of the saved from Adam to Moses went to that apartment of Sheol or Hades which is known as Paradise, and were kept there in confinement until Christ died on the cross for all men. When He did that, He opened up the new and the living way; and, when He came forth from Hades and was raised from the dead, He liberated all the spirits of the saints that had been incarcerated in Hades and took them home to glory. Since His resurrection all the saved, upon death, go immediately into the presence of Christ. When the Lord comes for His saints before the Tribulation, He will raise the bodies of the "dead in Christ" first and then catch up the living saints. During the Tribulation many will be won to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ by the preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists of whom we read in Revelation, chapter 7. Those turning to the Lord during the Tribulation are known as Tribulation saints. Many of them will be martyred during that time. Those who thus suffer will go immediately into the presence of Christ. At the end of the Tribulation, when Christ comes all the way to the earth, He will raise the bodies of the Tribulation saints and catch up the living Tribulation saints that survive to that time and will immortalize their bodies. Thus all the saved from Adam to the second coming of Christ will be raised and will have their immortalized bodies. Hence, the period ushered in by our Lord's return is called that age, "the resurrection from the dead" (vs. 35)

All of those who are thus counted worthy through the merits of the blood of Christ to attain that age, will not marry; neither will they die any more, for they are equal to the angel in that they cannot and will not die. They are therefore sons of God, "being sons of the resurrection."

There will be those who will still be in the flesh and who will survive the Tribulation. When Christ thus comes according to Matthew 25:31-46, He will gather all of those who thus survive the Tribulation before Him and will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put some on the right hand and some on the left. Those put on the right hand will be placed there because they have been kind to His brethren--His Jewish brethren and His brethren in a spiritual sense, the Tribulation saints. Those put on the right hand will be put there because of their kindly attitude and actions toward His brethren.

Remember that these put here on the right hand will still be here in the flesh and will be allowed to continue to live. Hence, they will enter the millennial reign of our Lord still being in the flesh. These will marry and will be given in marriage and will re-populate the earth. There is no doubt concerning the proposition that there will be millions and billions of people upon the earth by the time the Millennial Age closes. But the saints who are accounted worthy to attain unto the age and the resurrection will have their resurrection bodies. They will not marry, but will be equal to the angels, and they will be in the category of the sons of God, because they are "sons of the resurrection." Our Lord continued His discussion of the resurrection by calling attention to the fact that Moses showed in Exodus, chapter 3, that there is to be a resurrection of the dead. In Exodus 3:6 we see that the Lord spoke of Himself as being "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Luke 20:37). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all dead when God spoke this sentence to Moses; but He spoke of Himself as being the God of these three patriarchs at the time of His speaking. Jesus therefore saw in that statement the existence of the servants of God after death and the proof of a resurrection. Since at that time God was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, therefore these men, together with all the other saints of God, were in existence and God was their God, who will bring them into the fullness of life by a resurrection from the dead. "Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him" (vs. 38)

Those who asked these questions saw force of His arguments and the correctness of His statements. They therefore admitted that He answered them correctly. No one after that time attempted to ask Him any further questions.

One should read and study Matthew 22:23-33 and Mark 12:18-27 in connection with the passage which we have just studied.

After Christ had silenced all His opponents, He asked them a question; "How say they that the Christ is David's son? 42 For 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 the footstool of thy feet.
44 David therefore calleth him Lord, and how is he his son?" (Luke 20:41-44).