Sermon: Glimpse of Heaven Mark 12:18-27

Have you ever had anything that was heavenly? I think of things I might consider heavenly. Smoking a brisket or a rack of ribs, in my smoker is heavenly. The smell of coffee brewing early on a chilly morning is heavenly. Sinking into my bed at the end of a long day can also be heavenly. But really those things are nice, I really enjoy them. What about the ‘heaven’ moments in life? Where you catch a glimpse of something magical, supernatural, something so special you cannot express it in words. Like the birth of a child and the first time you look down at them, lying there and they grab your finger…the moment you connect. The first time you fell in love, when you looked at her and you knew she was the one. Stepping out on a mountain top and seeing beauty overwhelming. Seeing someone you love and have prayed for truly given their lives to Christ.

But these moments are only fleeting, they are like a mist on a summers day. You always remember the feeling, the moment. In the Bible I think we also see ‘glimpses’ of heaven. Jesus is again confronted by another group of teachers called the Sadducees. In answering their question Jesus gives us a glimpse of heaven. Mark 12:18-27:

Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. "Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?" Jesus replied, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising--have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!" (Mar 12:18-27 NIV)

Here the teachers who don’t believe in the resurrection asking a question about the resurrection! In the Old Testament, if a brother died another brother would merry the widow and to produce children to care for her and keep the family line alive. The Sadducees only followed the first five books of the Bible and nothing else. So they didn’t believe in the resurrection or any life after death. So Jesus answers their question, he rebukes them for not knowing Scripture and for underestimating God.

Don’t we still underestimate God? We place him in boxes; we think he is like us. But nothing is impossible for God, nothing. He is all powerful! That is important because in the next line he says, “When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven”. First we have to recognize God has the power to raise the dead. He defeated death through Jesus Christ, the Bible says, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1Co 15:26 NIV), Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1Co 15:54-57 NIV).

The second part I have given a lot of thought too. “neither marry nor be given in marriage” Firstly marriage is the strongest bond of love we can experience here on earth. All through the Bible marriage is used as an illustration of the relationship between God and man. But here the bond is marred by sin, it is not perfect, it is broken because we are broken. In heaven we will recognize our spouses but the bond will be overshadowed by a new order. We will no longer be broken; we will be made whole again. We will be in the presence of God, we will live with God. There is nothing that can compare to that. It is this thought that should give us hope, it should drive us to live for Christ and to make him known to others. Let me further illustrate this thought.
Yellow is not my favorite color. But Vincent van Gogh saw yellow differently. This famous Dutch painter, sadly, abandoned his faith he had grown up with in a Christian home and sank into depression and destruction. By the grace of God, as he later began to embrace his faith again, his life took on hope, and he gave that hope color.

The best-kept secret of van Gogh's life is that the truth he was discovering is seen in the gradual increase of the presence of the color yellow in his paintings. Yellow evoked (for him) the hope and warmth of the truth of God's love. In one of his depressive periods, seen in his famous The Starry Night, you finds a yellow sun and yellow swirling stars, because van Gogh thought truth was present only in nature. Tragically, the church, which stands tall in this painting and should be the house of truth, is about the only item in the painting showing no traces of yellow.


But by the time he painted The Raising of Lazarus, his life was on the mend as he began to face the truth about himself. The entire picture is blindingly bathed in yellow. In fact, van Gogh put his own face on Lazarus to express his own hope in the Resurrection. It was this glimpse of heaven that changed van Gogh, it gave him hope. That no matter what happens here, there is going to be a day when everything will be made right. It is this thought that we can start painting yellow into our own lives, knowing we have a fresh hope and the hope of new beginnings.

Listen to how Jesus finishes this question: Now about the dead rising--have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!" Jesus is telling us the key to all of this, it is what van Gogh grasped, God is not the God of the dead, but of the living…he is the living God, he is about life! We will raise again with him in heaven.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Rev 21:3-4 NIV)

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. (Rev 21:23 NIV)

It is the glimpse of heaven in our lives that are there to remind us of things to come. They are there to give us hope in a dark world. In answering the question of the Sadducees, Jesus gives us a glimpse of heaven. He gives us a peek of things to come. But we will only see it if we are in relationship with Him, if we know Jesus.