In Luke, the 20th chapter and the 27th through the 38th verses, we have a familiar portion of Scripture here; but we want to consider it again. We trust that the Lord will give us food for our soul and enlightenment for the heart and mind from His Word. Beginning with verse 27, we read, “Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him, (28) Saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man’s brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother, (29) There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children. (30) And the second took her to wife, and he died childless. (31) And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and died. (32) Last of all the woman died also. (33) Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? For seven had her to wife. (34) And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: (35) But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage: (36) Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. (37) Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. (38) For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.”

Those verses are packed with truths, definite truths that need to be considered in this day and time in which we are living. As bad as I hate to say it, in almost every verse down through there, many religious teachers have gotten some kind of questionable teaching going regarding them. Every one of us, I’m sure, realize that when the Master opened His mouth and began to speak, He spoke words of truth, deep truths that had an everlasting meaning. Thank God, that when we possess the Holy Spirit, we are able to lay hold of truth that will guide us right through the most trying and most troublesome times. Oh, how many hearts are confused and some even fret and fear about some conditions that might exist out ahead of us in the thought of God’s plan for mankind. But brother and sister, we are glad that we can come right back to the truth and nail some things down in a definite manner and let our hearts be at peace about what lies in store for us. In verses 34 and 35, I invite you to look with me for just a little bit. “The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: (35) But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage.”

I’d like to say, first of all, that the Gospel just comes out “flatfooted” and talks about three worlds. Let me tell you, you talk about something profound, deep, or broad, there’s nothing any greater than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We get all worked up sometimes and say we want to hear the news. We don’t want to hear from a “small timer” in some little old town that knows only what’s going on down the street. We want to hear international news. Well, I’m hoping to give you interworld news, and it’s taken from the only place you can read about it. In a day when men are looking down their noses and thinking that the Gospel should be put out of the country, they scratch their heads and look back and say, “Why do people want to go hear the Gospel?” I tell you, it’s the only Book wherein you can hear anything about interworld news. Man is certainly limited in this day in which we are living, in talking about this world; but the Bible just plainly and freely talks about three worlds and what goes on in each of them. I’m thankful for that. Someone say, “Brother Wilson, Why in the world does that help you any?” Brother, let me tell you, I like to study about what happened in the old world, and I like to study about what’s happening in this world, and then, I like to know something about that world, which is to come. I’m glad that God and His Word can give us enough understanding, not everything of course, because we couldn’t comprehend it, or we couldn’t hold on to it. However, He gives us enough, thank God, that we can understand some things.

I make mention of three worlds. There are too many people who do not know that the Bible talks about three worlds. In 2 Peter, the 3rd chapter, and the 3rd verse beginning, He said, “knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, (4) And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (5) For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: (6) Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.”

Now, there he talked about the world that then was, the Antediluvian world. In other places the Bible calls it the old world. The world that God saw had been so ruined by sin that He saw best to take it away with a flood, sparing seven people besides Noah. My heart always gets stirred when I read in Matthew’s Gospel where, even thought they had no other preacher to preach righteousness and to declare unto them, yet Jesus said, “They knew not when the flood came and took them all away.” Think about how many kinds of people there were living then. There were educated people living then, but the flood came and took them all away---mothers with children, families…the flood came and took them all away. The then-known world perished. There is one world. We read in the text, Luke 20:34: “The children of this world marry. (35) But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world…” The Word sets three worlds in order before us and gives us some interworld understanding. Whether we realize it or not, we are in the end of this world. God set the bounds of the habitation of this world. Beginning on the Day of Pentecost, the Scripture talks about being in the end of the world. Hebrews 9:26 says Christ, once in the end of the world, offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin. His very crucifixion was ordered in the last dispensation of time, the Holy Ghost dispensation. First Corinthians 10:10-11 says those things that happened back there happened for our admonition on whom the ends of the world is come. We have been living in the end of the world since A. D. 33. Christ in His lesson speaks of this world, and the world that is to come.

In Matthew, the 22nd chapter, Jesus likened the kingdom to a marriage supper. When He finished this lesson, the Pharisees took council to entangle Him. (18) “But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? And they left Him, and they went their way. As soon as He got rid of the Pharisees, the Sadducees came. They didn’t believe in the resurrection. Jesus laid straight truth to them, by telling them that there was another world after the resurrection of the body. He let them know also that they had no part in it. It was for people who were accounted worthy. God ordained a way where every man and woman can be worthy to obtain that new world through the ceaseless ages. These Pharisees and Sadducees were bound with the pleasures of the earth. They said, “If there is going to be another world after the resurrection, who’s going to get that woman?” In Matthew 22:29, “Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, not the power of God.” These are two of the things that are causing confusion over the land in the ranks of religion. We are living in a time when people are being turned to forms of godliness, but denying the real power of God.

Luke 20:35-36: “But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: (36) Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.” This does away with the need of marriage altogether at a time when men do not die anymore. Hebrews 1:5, “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?” God did not say to the angels, “Thou art my Son”; but He will say unto you, “You are My son. The angels are My baby sitters.” The angels are sent to take care of those that are the heirs of God. We can look into things the prophets couldn’t look into. The angels desired to look, but God wouldn’t let them. I not only can look into it, but I’ve gotten into it. We will be like the angels in one way: we won’t marry, nor be given in marriage. How come? Because when we get to that world, no man or woman ever dies. The only reason for marriage is to replenish the earth.

It is hard to think in terms of “no time”. Someone may ask, “If a child is four years old and he dies, how old will he be in the resurrection?” We determine age by time, and there will be no time in the world to come. God drew Paul so close to Him that He let him take a look into the third Heaven, and Paul saw things for which there was no vocabulary to explain them.

Jesus didn’t bring us up to the brink and let us stand at the river with everything blanketed before us, and say, “You can’t know,” Through His love and mercy, He uncapped hell and gave us a look at what hell looks like. He uncapped Heaven and said, “See Abraham and Issac and Jacob over there,” telling us what the grave holds for us. What a morning we’re going to have when He comes back and the graves lose their power.

When I was a boy, I read about Samuel Morris, a missionary from Africa. My, what that boy did when God got hold of him! He came to America and went to a funeral, and there he saw people weeping. He got up in the preacher’s place and told them: “Don’t weep and cry. What if you were over in Africa where I came from, where no one knows anything about what happens to the dead: whether we will ever see them again, and where they don’t know about the resurrection. You have the Gospel. You know that when you lay your dead away, you are going to see them again, that they are going to live again. You shouldn’t be sorrowing like this.” God has been kicked around like a rubber ball. When these times of sadness come, He is there waiting to help; but we don’t appreciate Him as we should.

People hope that something will happen to cause God to change His mind, or that at death’s door, they will be changed. Jesus’ Word still rings down through the corridors of time. The only ones that are going to enjoy “that world” are the ones that get ready here in this time world before they die. Some of the religious teachers tell people that they will be born again when they get their new body if they make a profession of Christ here. We must be worthy here, before death comes.

In Matthew 10:7-8 we read, “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. We can only operate in that power, under the authority that God gives us. In 1 Corinthians 12 the Holy Ghost gives out gifts according to His will. We need to keep the channel between us and God clean. Go as He sends you. First Corinthians, the 12th chapter, gives us more understanding about the working of God’s Spirit through these vessels then Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John ever knew anything about. Jesus said to the disciples, “I have many things I’d like to say unto you, but you can’t bare them now.” What were these things Jesus spoke of? The things of the Spirit, how He would work through the individual life. Paul got the understanding of it, and he wrote it in 1 Corinthians, the 12th chapter. What do you tell the devil when he tells you at a funeral that you should raise the dead? Tell him that you can’t raise the dead, but you can raise the devil. Now get out of here! God gives every Christian power over the devil.

The Word of God is the discerner of the heart. The Word of God is the test to show whether or not we are worthy. Matthew 10:9-10: “Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, (10) Nor scrip for you journey, neither two coats, neither shoes…” Now, if that applies to me, I’m going to have to take my shoes off and go barefooted, too, if I’m going to be a preacher of the kingdom. This Scripture was given to a particular people. Back now to Matthew 10, last part of verse 10 through verse 15: “…nor yet staves; for the workman is worthy of his meat. (11) And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. (12) And when ye come into an house, salute it. (13) And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. (14) And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust off your feet. (15) Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.”

What makes us worthy? Brother, it is our attitude toward the preached Word. Matthew 2:2-8: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, (3) And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. (4) Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. (5) But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: (6) And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. (7) But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. (8) Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.” How did they show their unworthiness? In rejecting the invitation into the Kingdom of God. The Gospel is an invitation to leave the kingdom of Satan and to come into the Kingdom of God through a new birth. When we turn down the preaching of the Gospel, we’re not worth of that new world that awaits us. Matthrew 22:2-8 tells what happened to the Jews. He came in His own person when they spitefully used the prophets and killed them. Another reason: He sent His son and they killed Him. What did He do then? He said He would burn their cities. Did He do it? He burned Old Jerusalem. He scattered them, and they were thrown into torment. In the midst of it, they were made to see that they were not worthy of that new world.

Paul told the Jews that they judged themselves unworthy. I’m going to prove to you that you judge yourself by your attitude toward the Gospel. Acts 13:42-46: “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. (43) Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. (44) And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. (45) But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. (46) Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” In the 42nd verse, we see the Jews leaving. They didn’t care for that kind of preaching. The Gentiles asked if the message could be preached to them the next Sabbath. Self-righteousness hindered the Jews. Luke 15:7, “Ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” The reason they needed no repentance tis that they were self-righteous.

If you understand 1 Timothy, the first chapter, the commandment was given in the beginning for one reason. The end of that commandment was to be love. The commandment wasn’t supposed to produce something in hears and lives until Jesus came and fulfilled the old law. The end of that commandment was love to God and love toward our fellowmen. People wanted to hold on to the commandment back there, as well as today, and turn down that which is the end of the commandment to everyone who believes. Christ came to shed the very love of God abroad within our hearts. They were unworthy because they felt worthy. If we are to be worthy of Heaven, we are going to have to feel our unworthyness. If we really feel unworthy toward Christ every day, it well cause us to look to Him; it well cause us to obey Him in a greater way. Some feel that after they find the way, they can go on their own without the help of God.

Read Luke 7:1-7. The reason people err is that they do not know the power of God. The centurion saw Jesus Christ as under authority. Nothing can “raise up” against Jesus. Read James 1:21-22. We must receive the engrafted Word and become doers of it. When you become a doer of it, you will know the power of God. The Word of God received, believed, and acted upon is the channel through which the power of God reaches your soul and brings deliverance to you.

We must have faith in the power and the authority of God. We must have faith in the One who spoke the Word, not just the work itself. Read Luke 7:8. He likened Jesus to a man set under authority. Ephesians 1:22 tells us very plainly that God has put all things under His feet. The basic falseness of the millennial stand is the teaching that Jesus is coming back to take over the kingdom of the world. The Bible proves that God has never lost His hold on the kingdom of the world. The whole world is under God’s moral law. The kingdom that Jesus came to set up is a new kingdom. There is a domain that God never has had control over completely. What is it? That domain of your soul, that portion where He gives you the right of choice. God has taken national leaders off the stage of action because they were moving too fast, I believe. Read Mark 10:23-30. We need to trust in the power of God and give up all. Luke 20:36, “Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God.” We become the children of God by becoming the children of the resurrection. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” We are children of the resurrection. We are actually children of God. God is a Spirit. If we are born of God, we are born of the Spirit of God. Ephesians 2:1-2: “And you hath he quickened, who were dear in trespasses and sins; (2) Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” You can’t walk according to the course of this world and be worthy of that world. First Peter 1:14, “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in you ignorance.”

To the Sadducees, Jesus said: “You fellows are worrying about a dead man’s seed and whose name is going to be carried on?” But there’s only one name. No Wilson’s! Just the family of God! Brother, you have to lose your identity. Ephesians 3:14-15: “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, (15) Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” God’s family is being made right here on earth. Ephesians 3:21, “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” In John 17 Jesus prayed, “Father, I want You to glorify Me with the glory I had with You before the world was. I want You to give them the glory that Thou hast given Me, that they may be one even as We are one.” Paul prayed about the church also. He said, “Let there be glory in the church throughout all ages, world without end.” Second Corinthians 5:14-16a: “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: (15) And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (16a) Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh…” Will we know people after the flesh over in eternity? When God gets the church where He wants her, she will not know anyone after the flesh right now. This is what makes division. Second Corinthians 5:16b, “Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” We won’t even know Christ after the flesh. Second Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away…” Someone says, “It’s going to be different out there.” Dear one, it’s different now, right here. What are we going to be like over in Heaven? Just like the church is here, brothers and sisters. Revelation 3:4, “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.” Luke 21:34-36: “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. (35) For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. (36) Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

Let’s watch how we live…that God may count us worthy to escape these things that are wreaking people’s lives and drawing their attention from God.

Every 2,000 years something happens. At the end of the first 2,000 years, the earth was destroyed. At the end of the second 2,000 years, Jesus was born. When that work was completed, God told us where His time clock stood. From the very minute Christ went to the Cross, we stepped into the end of this world. Now we have been in the end of this world over 1900 years. Before the 2000year comes around, there is going to be some outstanding event.

If you ever truly see Heaven, you will never again feel at home in this world. Note the words of the songwriter: “Once Heaven seemed a far off place, Till Jesus showed His smiling face. Now it’s begun within my soul, Twill last while endless ages roll.”

In John’s Gospel we find him standing there and saying, “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” That’s what shook them. He was standing right there in front of them, saying, “I’ll be in heaven right now.” What heaven was He in? The same one you and I are lifted to when we are quickened from a dead condition in trespasses and sins and are lifted to heavenly places in Christ Jesus. [ The End ]