Tuesday - Q & A With Jesus

Okay, let's open our Bibles to Mark chapter 12 this evening as we continue our journey through the life of Christ. We are on Tuesday of what is often called the Passion Week or the last week of our Lord's life. And we're going to see what I'm calling the Q&A with Jesus. Question and answer time which takes place in the temple on Tuesday of our Lord's last week before his death. I'm not a big fan of TV game shows. I just don't take the time to watch them but I have occasionally seen a few that do a question and answer format like Jeopardy that of all the game shows when we would go to visit Jeannis dad. He loved Jeopardy every evening. I had to watch Jeopardy and I got kind of intrigued with that game. It was interesting. A lot of games shows like that that are geared toward a question and answer format. Can you imagine if Jesus was answering the questions? Can you imagine if he were being asked the questions and we're answering them? Well that's exactly what we're going to see this evening. We're going to see that questions are thrown at Jesus and he has the answer and he will flip that over on the questioners and do a Jeopardy format. He will ask them the question. His answer is actually a question in some cases and so we'll see that a little bit tonight as well. Remember what's happened on Tuesday? Jesus goes into the temple. He begins to teach the chief priest and and scribes and Pharisees begin to ask him by what authority he's doing that because he has basically taken control of the temple and they ask him by what authority are you doing this and remember he answered them with a question and basically put them in a corner where they couldn't answer that and then he fired off three straight parables designed to unmask their hypocrisy and wickedness their treachery and those three stories we looked at last week. The story of the two sons, the story of the tenant farmers and the story of the wedding banquet and all three of those were designed to show how they were rejecting their only hope in the Messiah in Christ and how because of that they would be judged and the gospel would actually be given to other people meaning Gentiles. So those stories were designed to get across those those points. I kind of made the analogy last time that it was like a boxing match. You know Jesus had had given them a left jab and a right hook and an upper cut and then they were against the ropes and but they're going to get back up and back in the fight because what we're going to look at tonight is they come right back with three carefully orchestrated questions for Jesus. So they're going to play Q&A with Jesus and they're going to get more than they bargained for. We're going to look at the first two of those questions tonight. The first one is a question about authority and you can see on your notes that that account is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I've got Mark underlined in your outline which means that's the passage we're going to look at. So we're in Mark 12 to look at this question about authority. It's fascinating really fascinating to watch this Q&A because Jesus does not have to pause to think about his answers. He's very confident in his head. Doesn't even have to use a lifeline or anything like that. He knows exactly what he's going to say and his answers are clear and confident in Christ and then he will actually put them in a corner on a couple of occasions where they cannot answer. Their questions are designed to trap him and they make no headway at all. They do not accomplish what they hope to do. They have about as much chance of trapping Jesus as I have winning a one-on-one game with LeBron James. They're really mismatched. That's about the way it is. So let's look at this first question, a question about authority. In verses 13 to 17. Let's pick it up in verse 13. Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians, still on Tuesday, but a little bit later after Jesus has given them his three stories. Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. So the questions are going to follow. You can see are introduced with their motive. Their motive is not to learn. Their motive is not, we have some honest, sincere thought-provoking questions that we would like for you to answer so that we can learn more and we can come to understand more. That's not their motive at all. Their motive is to ask him the kinds of questions that will put him in an awkward position. Hopefully trap him or discredit him and cause him to look bad or maybe even say something that would get him in an equal trouble and the Romans might even arrest him and would do the dirty work for them. So that's really their purpose. Their purpose is treacherous, it's deceitful, it's hypocritical, and notice how they begin. The question basically in this passage is in verses 14 and 15 is basically, what is your tax plan? Okay, that's the way it's going to be presented to Jesus. What is your tax plan? But there's a motive behind it which is not interested in finding out at all what he believes about taxes. Okay, their motive is to trap him. We see it there in verse 14. Oh, by the way, let me back up just a little bit. Pharisees and Herodians, that is quite a combination. They come together to ask Jesus this question. Now do you remember who are the Pharisees? Give me some descriptions of the Pharisees. Religious leaders, okay? What else? Teachers of the law? Yes. Hypocritical for sure. Yes. Kind of like, I'm sorry, crooked Jewish preachers. I like that. That's a great description. Crooked Jewish preachers. We need to write that one down. That's a great description. In the eyes of the people, they would be seen as representing what wing of the religious party? What kind of folks are they now? In the eyes of the Jews? They're the real strict fundamentalists. If you want to call them that, the real conservatives, you know, they believe in all of the Old Testament law. They have very strict interpretations of it, very legalistic interpretations of it. In fact, but they would be considered the ones who would uphold the Bible, who would take seriously the Word of God. In the Jewish mind, that's how they would be seen. Now, Herodians help me out there. Remember who the Herodians are? Pardon me? They like Herod. They like Herod. What does that tell us about them? They were really a political group, exactly. And what does their alignment with Herod politically tell us about their belief system? Pretty liberal. Yeah. Pretty liberal. I mean, what Jew in the religious landscape in Jesus' day is going to align himself or herself with the people who support the Roman government, the Herodians. The Herodians are people who are supporters of Herod, who is a puppet of Rome. I mean, you're talking about people who are on opposite ends of the spectrum politically, religiously, in every way you can think of, the Pharisees are on the extreme right, the Herodians are on the extreme left, and they would never be seen doing something together unless it has to do with Jesus. The one thing that binds them together is their common hatred of Jesus and their desire to see Him dead. So they join forces, very unusual, strange bedfellows to use a common phrase. So they come to Him in verse 14, they came to Him and said, teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by others because you pay no attention to who they are, but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. What are they doing there? Flattery? You think so? Setting Him up, okay? Yeah. Both are true. I think that's exactly what's happening here. I think they're trying to use flattery to set Him up, to cause Him to drop His guard a little bit, to maybe begin to think about, you know, the average person would begin to think, well, you know, that's really nice of you to say that. That's really kind and gracious of you to say that about me, and you've let your guard down and you're open for the real shot across the bow. You know, you're really open for the real test. Kind of catch you off guard a little bit. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. Yes, they may be in Trojan horses. So yeah, that's the idea here. There's really flattery being used. Do they really believe He is a man of integrity? Do they really believe that He teaches the truth of God? I don't think so. They certainly have not responded Him that way at all. So really, this is just flattery to try to set Him up for the real question. Now, the ironic thing is what they say is true. He is a man of integrity and he is not swayed by others, including the Herodians and the Pharisees, and he will not pay attention to who they are in the political or religious scheme of things. And it's really not going to pay attention to that, but he's going to teach the way of God according to truth. What they say about Him, even though they don't mean it, they're using His flattery is exactly true and they're going to see in a moment, it is true. He doesn't care who they are. He's going to speak the truth. Okay. That's very ironic to me that they are using this in a flattering way, but Jesus is going to show them, you're exactly right. What you're saying is exactly right. Now, here's, that was the setup. Here's the trap with the question. The end of verse 14 and verse 15, first part of verse 15, is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn't we? Okay. What they're asking is, is it right? Do you support paying taxes through Rome, the imperial tax to Caesar? Now, it's phrased as a yes and no question. Is it right to pay taxes? That's a yes or no question. Should we pay taxes? That's a yes or no question. But this, they know and they've devised it this way is a question that cannot be answered with yes or no, because either way, you're in big trouble. If Jesus says, yes, we should pay taxes, then he's unpopular with all the Jews, right? If he says no, we should not pay taxes, then Rome comes down on him. He's an insurrectionist. So either way, he answers. They think they've got him. It's one of those questions that you can't really answer without some kind of, I got to explain this a little bit. It's kind of like somebody asking someone, asking a man, have you stopped beating your wife? I didn't answer that. Yes, I have. I mean, I did beat her enough. Stop. No, I haven't stopped beating her. It wasn't when I'm still beating her. It's just no way to answer that question. Yes or no, you have to say, don't wait a second. The question's not fair. And that's exactly what we've got here. You can't answer this. Yes or no, you're in trouble either way. So I just imagine them with very smug smiles on their face, just waiting for him to answer and get himself in trouble. And Jesus, as always, masterfully turns them into knots. Notice what he does. The answer basically, Jesus says in his answer, if I can summarize it, there are two kinds of authority. Two kinds of authority. And Jesus is going to show us how those two kinds of, what they are and how those two kinds of authority work. Okay, middle of verse 15, but Jesus knew their hypocrisy. Why are you trying to trap me? He asked. Okay, the very first thing he does is he unmasked their hypocrisy. He, he exposes the, the reason, the motivation behind their question. Why are you trying to trap me? He knew exactly what they were doing. And he makes it clear to everybody else what they're doing. So he exposes their hypocrisy. And then he, he answers it so brilliantly. He says, bring me a denarius and let me look at it. They brought the coin and he asked them, whose image is this? And whose inscription? Caesars, they reply. Then Jesus said to them, give back the Caesar what is Caesar's and the God what is God's and they were amazed at him. Now let's think this through a little bit. I want you to see, I want us all to see how amazing this answer really is. Jesus says, give me a coin. They give him a denarius. Now in, in Roman times in the first century, a denarius was a silver coin, a small silver coin that would be used primarily to pay the common tax to Rome. On one side of a denarius would be this inscription, a Tiberius Caesar son of divine Augustus. And also on that side would be a picture of Caesar. Okay, so you've got to get in mind what's on this coin or to understand what Jesus is going to do with it. There's a picture of Caesar and this inscription, Tiberius Caesar son or son of the divine Augustus Augustus Caesar, the first real Caesar was considered to be a God and the others claim to be a God. On the other side of the coin would be a woman in a judges bench and over top of that would be the words high priest. Okay, so this coin, that's what the coin would look like. That's what it would have on it. And so Jesus, Jesus says, give me the coin and then he says to them, whose image is this on the coin? Okay, and whose inscription? Okay, the images that of Caesar, the inscription is that of Tiberius Caesar son of Augustus, divine Augustus. Okay, that's the inscription, that's the picture they both have to do with Caesar. Okay, so so that you can see exactly what they saw on that coin, that's what's happening when Jesus holds it up and asks those questions. They give the obvious answer, Caesars. And then Jesus says, give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God, what is God's. Jesus is going to describe two different kinds of authority. And by the way, it was it was understood in that day with with any nation in that time that whoever's image was on the coin, whatever nation's currency it was, that money belonged to that nation and to that king. And so they would not be surprised at his answer that this is Caesar's, so it belongs to Caesar. The coin belongs to Caesar since it has his picture and his inscription on it. But what Jesus does next is he takes that very commonly known truth and adds something to it and ends up making basically the single most profound political statement in human history. And I did not schedule this tonight to happen, the night after the election. It really didn't, just the way it's fallen. This is study number 95. I couldn't have figured that out, you know, two years ago. But honestly, this is the single most profound political statement in all of human history. It was this statement that framed Paul's view of human government and responsibility to God in Romans 13. It is this statement that basically framed the Western world's view of the relationship between politics and religion, which we know today as separation of church and state, not separation of God and state, separation of church and state, that the state should not establish any religion or prohibit the free exercise of it. That's what our first amendment says. So Western governments like the United States have basically based that view on this statement. This is the single most profound political statement ever made. And the relationship between religion and politics. Now, what Jesus is saying is this. There are two kinds of authority. First of all, there is the authority of government. He says, give back to Caesar what is Caesar's. So he is assuming the validity of human government. Even, now listen to this, even when the man at the top thinks he's God. Okay? Now, I'm not trying to draw any direct parallels. I'm just saying no matter what you think of the person at the top, Jesus validates the place and the validity of human government as a whole. Caesar was a terribly, all of the seizures except for maybe one, were terribly wicked, ungodly, licentious, pagan individuals. But they were a valid representation of human government. Okay? That has a legitimate place and a legitimate claim on our behavior. Jesus says human government does have a certain claim on us. Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. And that has to do not only with paying taxes. It has to do with obeying the law. It does have to do with paying just taxes. It does have to do with respecting the position of officials over us, participating as citizens, be involved in the process. It involves praying for our rulers. All of the things Paul will say later on in Romans 13 for Timothy 2 are drawn from this kind of statement. There is a legitimate authority of government over us, regardless of who the person is at the top. The concept of human government is a valid, God ordained institution. And Jesus is reaffirming that by saying give back to Caesar what is Caesar's. Yes, you should pay the tax. In other words, whose inscriptions on this coin, Caesar's. Okay, that belongs to him. But then the next statement is so priceless. And to God, what is God's? Okay, there is the authority of government, but there's also the authority of God. Jesus recognized that there was only one God. Remember Caesar claimed to be God? It was inscribed on the coin, Tiberius son of divine Augustus. Okay, the Caesar's claimed to be gods. And Jesus basically was a statement is saying, okay, he may be Caesar, but he's not God. There's only one God. And he's different from Caesar. Give the Caesar what is Caesar's, but give to God, what is God's? God, okay, Caesar government has some legitimate claims on our behavior, but God has legitimate claims on our life. That's what Jesus is affirming here. He has the right to have authority, divine authority on our lives. And we're to give him what belongs to him. Now, the coin was Caesar's, Jesus said because it bore his image, right? Jesus took the coin and said, whose image is on this? Okay, so give the Caesar what belongs to Caesar. And this belongs to Caesar because his image is on this. By the same token, God has every right to exercise authority over us. And he deserves claims on our lifestyle and behavior indeed our whole lives. Why? Because we are made in his image. His image is stamped on us all the way back to Genesis 1. God made man, may own female, he made them, made them in his image in the moral likeness of God. And so God has the right to have a claim on our lives because we are made in his image. His image is stamped on us. Now, that image obviously is marred by the fall, but it is not completely obliterated. James says in James 3, you know, when he's talking about the tongue, he says, how can you at one time say something good, bless someone, and then a few moments later, you're cursing someone who has made in the image of God, who bears the image of God. We still have, even though it's marred by the fall, we still have within us the image of God. It is a part of our nature. It means that we have the capacity to have a relationship with him. We have something in common with him, even though it's been marred by the fall and by sin entering the human race. Jesus came to bring us back to God and restore us to his likeness. When the Holy Spirit, when we get saved, the Holy Spirit comes in, he becomes what? The seal. You know, the Bible calls him where a seal with the Holy Spirit, he is the seal by his presence. He is a seal. There's so much here. A seal in Roman times was stamped with the ring, had the image of Caesar in it. The Holy Spirit is God's seal to show that we belong to him. He owns us. He has rightful claim on our lives. We are made in his image. As the Holy Spirit does his work of helping us to grow in Christ, we are transformed little by little more and more back into that image of God, the moral spiritual likeness of God. Now lots of verses teach that. I'm going to give a few of them on the screen for you. Look at Romans 8.29. For those God for new, he also predestined, marked out ahead of time, what was the purpose? What did he mark us out ahead of time for? What was the goal of that? To be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the first born among many brothers and sisters. In other words, that he might be the first born, the one that has the highest rank of many ones who are in the family who look just like him, who bear his image. Part of what God is doing in us, what he has marked us out for ahead of time in salvation is so that the end result might be that we bear his image again. We look like him. Think like him. Act like him. We are bearing his image against 2 Corinthians 318. We all, who with unveiled faces, contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. This is part of God's process in sanctification. Causing us to grow is to be more and more, little by little, glory to glory, increasing incremental steps. We become more like him. We look more like him. We are more in his image. Paul says much of the same thing in Ephesians 4. You were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. Now here it is, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self created to be like God. Some translations actually say created in the image of God, in true righteousness and holiness. And then in Colossians 3, Paul says it this way. Do not lie to each other. Since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, this is the new person you are in Christ, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator. So you see, we still have the image of God in us. It's been marred by the fall, but God is in the process of restoring that little by little as we grow in Christ because he has a claim on our lives. So this is such a profound statement that Jesus made. Government has a proper sphere of authority in our lives. God has a proper sphere of authority in our lives. And God's claim on us is because his image is in us. He created us in his image. Yes, we have certain responsibilities to government, but we also have spiritual responsibilities to God. And that balance in those two authorities is beautifully described in this statement. And they were amazed at him, verse 17 ends. There they came to him with a question they thought would surely trap him, and he makes the most profound statement about the role of politics and religion in our lives, ever made in human history, and they just are flabbergasted. They don't know what to say. So they kind of slink back into the darkness, and someone else comes to the front to ask a question. But before we get to that one, any questions about this interaction with the Pharisees and Herodians? Okay. Look at who comes next, verse 18. Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. Okay, they're up next. They're going to come to him, and they're going to come to try to trap him in the same way. Now the Sadducees, you remember who they are? They don't believe in the resurrection, okay? They're religious groups, like the Pharisees. How are they different from the Pharisees? If the Pharisees are the fundamentalists, the Sadducees are the liberals, exactly. The Sadducees only believed in the first five books of the Old Testament. That's all they accepted. The five books of Moses. Everything else was not of God. So they were very much like the modern-day liberals, and they're denial of much of scripture in their day. They did not believe in anything miraculous or supernatural except the existence of God himself. So as we see here, they did not believe in the resurrection, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. They did not believe in angels. They did not believe in life after death. They did not believe in divine judgment. Anything after death, they believed in no resurrection as we see here. So basically they're the religious liberals of the day. Now they're going to come at him with a question. Here's the question. The question basically is this. How did I put it on your outline? One bride for seven brothers. One of our favorite all-time movies, I should say one of Genie and Missies, all-time favorite movies, is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It's the corneous thing you ever saw, but it really is funny. It's kind of funny, and we get a kick out of it, especially the music. Bless your beautiful hide and those kind of songs. It's really, really funny. So when I think of this story, I think of that movie, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, but you'll see little different twist. One bride for Seven Brothers here. Verse 19. 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 raise up offspring for his brother. And by the way, Moses' law did teach that, that if a man died childless, his brother was to take the widow as his wife. There are two reasons for that. To keep the family name going and to keep the family property in the family. We can't go back into all the mosaic law and the reasons for that, but that was very important in Jewish culture. The family identity and the family property. And so that's the reason for that. What they're saying there's true, but from that, they draw a scenario that is designed to make the resurrection look ridiculous. Now that's the purpose of their question. They've designed and devised a question that is designed to make the resurrection look ridiculous. There can't be any resurrection. What would happen if this were to happen? Verse 20. 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 had any children, 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? I tell you what, if I heard that story, that would not be my question. My question would be, what's she putting in the beef stew? That would be my question. Right? This kind of fishy, isn't it? Seven Brothers, Mary, she outlives all of them. They all die. I wouldn't be wondering about who's wife. She's going to be in a resurrection. But anyway, that's their question. They're trying to make the resurrection. The whole concept of the resurrection look ridiculous. Now here's how Jesus answers them. Again, this is so beautiful. The answer basically is, if I can summarize it this way, ignorance is not bliss. Jesus replied, are you not in error because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God? He wasn't missing any words, was he? He said, basically, you're ignorant. You're just ignorant. You don't know the scriptures, and you don't know the power of God either. Only someone who doesn't know the scriptures and doesn't know the power of God would make such a foolish statement. Basically, what are you saying? Now, we're going to take them in the order. He goes on to explain how they're ignorant of both, and we're going to take them in the order in which he gives them. Because he says in verse 25, when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They will be like the angels in heaven. That's being ignorant of the power of God. What God is able to do in his power in the resurrection and with the resurrection body. But we're going to look first at verses, I'm troubled seeing the text here. Verse 28, is it? 26, sorry. Now about the dead rising, have you not read in the book of Moses in the account of the burning 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. In verses 26 and 27, he deals with being ignorant of the scriptures. He says, you don't know the scriptures, do you? The fascinating thing is, here again, remember, they don't believe in the resurrection. This whole question is designed to make the whole concept of the resurrection look ridiculous to try to prove to him nobody should believe that stuff about the resurrection. So what Jesus does is he goes back to the book of Exodus. Now do you see the brilliance there? He goes back to the one part of scripture they do acknowledge. They will admit the first five books of the Bible are scripture. So he's going to say, you don't you don't know the scriptures. Don't you know what Exodus chapter 3 and verse 6 teaches? Exodus 3, 6 and Jesus quotes it. When when God is speaking to Moses in the account of the burning bush, he says to Moses, I am present tense is the critical point here. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Okay, Moses day, Moses lived around 1500 BC, something like that. Abraham lived around 2100 BC, 600 years before. So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have been dead for hundreds of years. But God says to Moses, I am their God. Not I was their God back when they lived. Now that's what you would expect if there is no resurrection or no afterlife. If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob just died and their body was gone and they're gone and there's nothing still existing, then God would be required to say, I was their God back when they were living. But he says, I am their God 600 years after Abraham died. Now Jesus point is this and he goes on to say it. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. In other words, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by God's statement in Exodus 3, God was telling Moses they're not dead. They're still alive. But they're alive in heaven. So there is an afterlife. There is a resurrection. There is a future after death. That's the point Jesus makes from Exodus chapter 3. And it is just absolutely brilliant. So he says, first of all, you're ignorant about the scriptures. The scriptures do teach a resurrection. I'll show you one place in the part of the scriptures. You do accept Exodus 3, 6, teaches the resurrection or teaches the afterlife, teaches the supernatural. So you're badly mistaken. Your whole theology is wrong. But he also said to them, you don't understand the power of God either. You're ignorant about the power of God. And that's back in verse 25. When the dead rise, okay, and Jesus mine, that's a given. The resurrection is a given. When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They will be like the angels in heaven. So Jesus point is this. You've raised this ludicrous story about this woman going through seven husbands. And then if there is a resurrection in their mind, resurrection and resurrection, whose wife is she going to be? She's got seven that she had. Who's that Jesus, Jesus basically says, you don't understand anything about God's power in the resurrection. Because what God does with the body in the resurrection is totally different than what you're saying in your story. Because when the dead rise, when we have a resurrection body, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They will be like the angels in heaven. Now, basically, Jesus is saying we will be like angels. There will be no marriage in heaven. And so you've asked a question that just shows your ignorant about what happens in the resurrection. She's not going to be up there trying to choose between the seven because there is no marriage in heaven. Now, when Jesus says we are like the angels in the story that he's telling, the story he's responding to, obviously the key thought is that there is no marriage there. Angels don't marry. Now, I know for some of you that makes you real sad. For some of you, it makes you real happy. And I'm not going to ask you which camp you're in. Okay, we're not going to try to decide that tonight. But there is no marriage in heaven. And for a lot of people, that's kind of a downer. People say, well, you know, I love my husband. I love my wife. I don't want to think of not being with them in heaven. Again, I would encourage as I have a number of times to read Randy Alcorn's book on heaven. He has a whole section of a chapter actually has a whole chapter on human relationships in heaven. He does a good job of dealing with this. There is there is there is marriage in heaven. Do you know that? They're to the lamp to Christ. He is our bridegroom and we are all the bride. And you know what? The Bible teaches in Ephesians 5 that our marriages today are basically a picture of the one perfect true marriage of the bride and his the bridegroom and the bride of Christ. And so when we get married to him, we'll all be his bride and there'll be no need for human marriages there. What human marriage pictures will be fully fulfilled in our relationship with Christ. The other thing about is that or one of the other things I think about heaven and relationships is that all of our relationships there will be perfect. Please don't feel like you're going to be cheated in heaven. All of our relationships there will be perfect. Whether they are friendships or relationships with our family, they will be perfect in heaven. And so we're not we're not going to be lacking anything. We're not going to be feeling like we missed out on anything. What the kind of intimacy that marriage is designed to provide today will be fully fulfilled in our relationship with Christ in heaven. Will be his bride. But we'll have the most rich relationships with our family and friends that we've ever had because they'll be perfect much richer than they were even here on earth. So we're not going to miss anything. Everything's going to be magnified and heightened and better there in heaven, even in our relationships. So don't take this statement to be, oh wow heaven's going to be a pretty miserable place, right? No, not at all. Now obviously we'll be like angels in a couple of other ways too. Please, please know this does not say we will be angels. Please don't make the mistake of when a when a child dies saying they become an angel in heaven. We don't become angels in heaven. You will still be uniquely. It's part of the it's part of the resurrection that we have our body. Our human body will be resurrected. It will be glorified and perfected. But everything that is unique to you will still be you in your glorified body. You will be recognizable. There will be some things that we touched up a little bit. I'm sure with all of us, you know, because because being perfect is going to be some things that need to be touched up about me. I know. But we will still be recognizable. I think even our personality will be the same. If you were a person of real wit, you'll still have a great wit in heaven. But it will be perfect and it will be noble and glorified like Christ. I mean, just we just can't even imagine what that place is going to be like. But it is going to be perfect and it is going to be everything we ever dreamed and hoped for. Will we know each other in heaven? Yes. Yes. We'll be like the angels. We're not we're we're not like the angels in the sense that we become angels. We're still humans. We still have our unique identification and we're not going to be any dumber up there than we are here. Surely we'll know each other. You know, we'll know each other of course. But what a wonderful wonderful prospect that is heaven. Our time is up and the kids are screaming to go home. So we've got to go. But what a what a great prospect to look forward to, right? There's so much more I'd like to say about little children in heaven and so forth. We don't have the time. Let's pray. Father, thank you for our Lord's masterful dealing with those who tried to trap him. Lord, give us just a glimpse a little bit of the kind of wisdom that Jesus had to know how to deal with people. I thank you, Father, for our Savior and that even in the shadow of the cross He was still teaching. He was still modeling for us what it means to to stand for you and your truth. Thank you for him. Maybe be more like him. It's in his name we ask. Amen.