Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: Acts 4-6
Acts 4:1
And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,
Wherever Christ is preached Sadducees will make an appearance. These were a group of religious leaders in Jesus’ day that rejected any notion of the supernatural. Later in the Book of Acts an overview of their belief system is recorded, For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both. (Acts 23:8) The spirit of the Sadducees is alive and well today.
No one claims the name, just as no one claims to be a Pharisee, but their belief systems live on. In Acts 3 a notable miracle took place. A man that was born lame, unable to walk, was healed. He stood up for the first time walking, leaping, and praising God. All that were there saw this take place and were moved with wonder. Peter took the opportunity to preach Christ to the gathering.
Then, while Peter was speaking, the Sadducees showed up. They brashly disrupted the activities and began questioning Apostles. They instantly arrested them and put them in the “hold.” The next day they questioned the followers of the Lord, threatened them, and even commanded that they cease preaching Christ (vs. 18). To which they responded, For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. (vs. 20).
So, it is today. Those that have enjoyed a steady diet of hearing and seeing things of the Lord cannot stop speaking about Him. Preaching Him, teaching about Him, and casually speaking about Him in everyday life brings about many results: one result is that the Sadducees make an appearance.
They are humanistic in the most basic sense. They believe only that which they can see, study, and prove with their mind (however limited it may be). They reject anything supernatural. They do not admit it, but live like it.
Consider the eternal judgment to come. Not the consequences nor the differences in the judgments, but the clear fact that there is a judgment after this life. Hebrews 9:27 states clearly, And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:. If there is no resurrection, no angel, no spirit, in other words no afterlife, then there is no judgment to come after this life. While not claiming the name of Sadducees, but living like there is no judgment in the next life, many are Sadducees in their belief system. The same with believing in the miracle of the new birth, or the supernatural blessings of financial offerings, or the need to lay up treasures in Heaven, or performing good works, or hundreds of other teachings of the Bible that have attached to them eternal rewards or loss thereof. Sadducees fail to live in light of the judgment to come.
The Sadducees may not display this title clearly, but just let a preacher preach on topics of the supernatural works of God: His miracles, the resurrection, the ministry of angels or any other being in the spiritual world. Sooner or later, the Sadducees will make an appearance.
Dr. William T. Howe
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