St. Matthew, Chapter 22, verses: 29; The Power of God.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Christ's answer) Part 1.  

They came with their question about marriage and the issue of heirs.  Hidden in it was the question of the resurrection.  They did not believe in the resurrection but they wanted to know the answer from Christ.  They wanted to know his thoughts on the resurrection so that they could trap him.  

He saw them coming.  He knew of their deceit.  He knew of their lies and their plans to trap him.  Each group came with their questions hidden with their traps.  Yet they did not understand who they were speaking with, who they were talking to.  They knew not, they thought not, they perceived not.  But Jesus answered and said to them, "You err because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God." 

They had read the scriptures.  They had read them over and over again but they knew them not.  They did not understand them.  They did not truly comprehend the depth of the knowledge of what they had read.  For the power of God was in the scriptures and was far greater than their imagination could conceive.  They did not believe in the knowledge of what they read in the scriptures.

The scriptures tells of the many miracles wrought by God for his chosen people.  He brought plagues upon those who were against the Jews.  He brought death to the first born, he fought battles to save the people.  He parted the waters of the Red Sea and crushed the Egyptian army to save the Israelites.  Yet they did not know the scriptures and the power of their God that he would do anything for his people.

They brought a question of conflict to Christ because this is how they perceived it.  Who will the widow belong since all the brothers had her?  This would create conflict on earth, but not in heaven.  

This was conflict on the physical plain not on the spiritual.  For we are spiritual beings in a physical body.  When we leave the physical we continue in the spiritual and there is no conflict in the spiritual.  There are no physical ties in the spiritual.  We become free from the physical plain.

Christ is our guide, the first born.  He leads the way, he opens the doors to the kingdom of heaven to the spiritual realm.  When we leave the physical realm we move to the spiritual realm to be with him and all those who have gone before us.  We rejoice in the union of our past and are filled with the spirit of life from the heavenly realm of God.  The path is ours.  The choice is ours.  Come!  Choose!  Do not Err!

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.  

St. Matthew, Chapter 22, verses: 27-28; The Resurrection and the wife.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The Sadducees question Christ) Part 4.  

They did not believe in the resurrection but they structured their question around it.  The Sadducees came to Christ with this question of marriage they constructed based upon what Moses had given them concerning a widow and the issue of an heir.  They stretched their question so that it would seem almost ridiculous in that it concerned seven brothers who had the task of inheriting a widow from one of their brothers.  They were not concerned about the question of heirs but only about the question of resurrection.  So this is how they structured their question to seek an answer from Christ.

They did not believe in resurrection after death.  And they wanted to question Christ on this issue so that they could take issue with his answer with the rest of the Sanhedrin about his teachings.  So they put the question to him:  "And last of all the woman also died.  At the resurrection, therefore, of which of the seven will she be the wife?  For they all had her."  

Husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father, all earthly names that we give to the earthly flesh that we live with here on this rock.  What will we be when we leave it?  What will we become when our flesh is returned to the dirt from which it was formed and our souls go to another place?  Are we just the flesh that we see or are we more?  Who are we?  Where do we come from?  What are we now?  These are all questions that we can ask ourselves.  We seek to find something more than just the flesh that we are in this world we live.  The flesh is pain.  The flesh is weak.  The flesh is vulnerable.  The flesh grows old and dies.  Is this all that we are?  Or are we more than the flesh?  Our search will lead us on a path of discovery to find the truth of who we are.

There are many paths to discovery in life.  Much has been written on the subject.  And there are many established institutions that we can follow.  There is but one established institution , however, that claims to have God that came down from heaven to walk among the people of the earth to teach them how to live.  And Christ came to open the doors to heaven so that anyone and everyone could have the opportunity to enter the kingdom of heaven. 

The choice is yours.  The directions are laid out, the path is clear for those who want to follow.  Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you, ask and it shall be given to you.  These are the words that were spoken and written for us to read, for us to follow, for us to understand today.  They are simple and clear.  Seek them and you will know for yourself.  The truth awaits. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.  

St. Matthew, Chapter 22, verses: 25-26; His Seven Brothers and the Widow Issue.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The Sadducees question Christ) Part 3.  

They came with what they considered a true concern or at least they thought that it was true enough to question Christ.  They had a foundation, handed down from Moses.  They built their premise upon this concern so that it would seem legitimate.  But their whole concern was with resurrection because they did not believe.

They started with a man and his wife with no heir.  The husband dies leaving a widow with no son to carry the family name.  That leaves, according to custom, the wife to be handed over to the brother to take the wife and have a son.  Here is the premise:  "Now there were among us seven brothers.  And the first after having married a wife, died, and having no issue, left his wife to his brother.  In like manner the second, and the third down to the seventh."  

This is the kind of question that was brought to Christ by the leadership of the Jews.  They concerned themselves with the minutia of the Law to confuse and constrain the people to keep them under their control.  And they used the same tactics with Christ.  But they did not know.  They did not understand.  They did not see nor did they hear his words.  Their eyes were blinded and they could not hear the truth of the words of the Son of Man.

God gave us eyes to see and ears to hear but he gave us hearts to know the truth of who we are. We believe with that which he has given us and it is with the heart that we know the truth.  Sometimes the heart can be deceived but with an open mind the truth will be known to those who seek it.  For the heart knows the voice of the one who calls us.  We hear his words when they are spoken to us.  We see the truth when it is given to us in plain sight.  And the light of the world will be revealed to those who seek to know who they are in his sight.

My heart compels me to write because much has been given me.  A new life, a new sight, a new me I now see.  No longer am I just flesh alone.  No longer am I without form or fashion.  My God has given me newness of life.  Christ Jesus has saved me from damnation and it is through his passion and his love that I am here today.  The infinite mercy of God forgives me of my sins for I am but a sinner.  And I write that I might be a witness to others who are lost in the darkness.  I have found the light and you can too.  Come!  Follow the path.  The truth is there waiting for you to see, waiting for you to know, waiting for you to become who you are.  

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.