Powerless! - Mark 12:24-25

"Jesus replied, Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven" (Mark 12:24-25, NLT).

The Sadducees based their views on the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, and they were fond of debating about Jewish religious teachings. They didn't believe in the resurrection from the dead and so they asked Jesus a question about resurrection and framed it as a question about marriage.

Jesus recognized their hypocrisy and addressed their real question directly from the very Scriptures they purported to believe.

But, Jesus prefaced His remarks with a scathing accusation--you don't know the Scriptures and so you don't know the power of God!

What a scathing indictment for a group of people who claimed to be knowledgeable of the Scriptures and to know God!

According to Jesus, their theological position had no basis in Scripture; it was entirely an intellectual argument lacking any personal knowledge of God. And one misunderstanding led to the other.

Their deficiency in understanding the Scriptures limited or prohibited their experience with God.

So, they were powerless!

When you don't know what the Scriptures say or you misinterpret them to support your own intellectual leanings, it is difficult to develop a personal knowledge of God .

If you don't know what God is saying in the Bible, then how can you experience His redemptive, sanctifying, and resurrecting power in your life?

You are spiritually powerless when you don't know God's Word, but conversely, you are powerful when you do!

"So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ" (Romans 10:12, NLT).

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