 |  |
In the first sentence of His reply, Christ puts his finger on the cause of the opposer's
ignorance. "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures, or the power of
God." This is still the chief cause of ignorance and declension from Christian standards
today. Few, even among professing Christians, seriously study the Word of God and
when one considers the lack of expository teaching in the pulpits, the Bible is largely an
unknown Book.
When will people learn that if they turn away from this Book of God, they can never
know God or His truth? Being religious is no substitute for a knowledge of the Holy
Scriptures. If this book could be blotted out, Christianity would not exist, for a
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ would be impossible.
All sorts of ideas are proposed to remedy the spiritual coldness that we see all around
us and the moral declension that abounds. Some insist that we need a revival by the Holy
Spirit, but how can this take place if the Word of God is ignored or banished from our
lives? It is the office of the Holy Spirit to work upon God's Word, to convict, enlighten
and convince. If we want a revival of interest in the Truth of God, then the sooner we put
the Word of Truth in its rightful place, the sooner this may come.
But if it doesn't, it is still the duty and privilege of all who call themselves Christians
to hold fast to the Word of God and seek by every legitimate means to make it known.
Paul's last command to Timothy was to "preach the Word" (II Tim. 4: 2) and to pass on
that Word of Truth to "faithful men who shall be able to teach others also" (2: 1, 2).
There can be no substitute for this if we want Christian truth maintained and spread, and
it is the greatest antidote to error.
The Lord Jesus constantly set the example to us by His constant appeal to the written
Word, the O.T. Scriptures. In the passage before us He does so to combat the shocking
ignorance of the Sadducees. Matt. 22: 32 is often misinterpreted. It certainly deals
with life after death, but stresses the only thing that makes this possible, that is,
resurrection. "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (32), thus verse 31 states
"as touching the resurrection of the dead" God said He was not the God of the dead but
of the living.
Luke's account also makes this clear:
"Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the
Lord `the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob', for He is not the
God of the dead, but of the living . . . . ." (Luke 20: 37, 38).
To introduce any other reason for life beyond the grave is to ignore the words of
Christ and substitute fallible human opinion (see the booklet by the author, Resurrection
and the Purpose of the Ages).
The Evangelist records another problem addressed to the Lord Jesus by a Pharisee
who was a specialist on the law given through Moses: