Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Hope of the Resurrection

Acts 23:6-9 
6 But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!”  7 And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and the assembly was divided. 8 For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection—and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both. 9 Then there arose a loud outcry. And the scribes of the Pharisees’ party arose and protested, saying, “We find no evil in this man; but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.”

Paul escaped a dangerous situation when he claimed his Pharisee upbringing to divert the two doctrinally opposed groups to look at each other instead.  By pointing to the resurrection of Jesus and others, the Sadducees had to argue, for they were like JWs who believed in annihilation instead of an eternal spirit of man.  So the Pharisees’ scribes suddenly saw Paul as innocent, and wanted to stop in case they were fighting God.  God moves the hearts of kings and peasants alike like a river to the course He sets.

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