Matthew 21:45–46 (ESV)
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
Matthew 22:15–16 (ESV)
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians…
(religious Jews loyal to Roman government)
They ask the tax question – trying to trap Jesus, “Stump the Messiah” – make Him look bad.
4 groups of people trying to trap Jesus
Pharisees
Scribes
Herodians
Sadducees
Matthew 22:23–28 (ESV)
23 The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, 24 saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. 26 So too the second and third, down to the seventh. 27 After them all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”
Levirite marriage – Husband’s brother (pre-dates Mosaic law, Onan refused to impregnate Tamar and died)
Deuteronomy 25:5–10 (NLT)
5 “If two brothers are living together on the same property and one of them dies without a son, his widow may not be married to anyone from outside the family. Instead, her husband’s brother should marry her and have intercourse with her to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law. 6 The first son she bears to him will be considered the son of the dead brother, so that his name will not be forgotten in Israel.
7 “But if the man refuses to marry his brother’s widow, she must go to the town gate and say to the elders assembled there, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel—he refuses to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law by marrying me.’ 8 The elders of the town will then summon him and talk with him. If he still refuses and says, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ 9 the widow must walk over to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she must declare, ‘This is what happens to a man who refuses to provide his brother with children.’ 10 Ever afterward in Israel his family will be referred to as ‘the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off’!
Matthew 22:29–33 (ESV)
29 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” 33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
WOW!
"Now, remember, these are the religious experts. These are the guys who pride themselves on knowing the Scriptures.
"And Jesus says, essentially, 'You've got two problems. You don't know your Bible, and you don't know God.'
"Other than that, you're doing great!"
1. No marriage in heaven – they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels.
1 Corinthians 13:8–13 (ESV)
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Matthew 22:29–33 (ESV)
29 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
Baptism is an expression of our belief in Resurrection
Romans 6:3–5 (ESV)
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Matthew 22:34–40 (ESV)
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Deuteronomy 6:4–5 (ESV) - SKIP?
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Matthew 22:37
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
HEART — What I desire
Love God with my affections, motivations, and will.
SOUL — Who I am
Love God with my entire life, identity, and existence.
MIND — What I think
Love God with my understanding, reasoning, and thoughts.
STRENGTH — What I do
Love God with my energy, abilities, actions, and resources.
God doesn't want to be a part of your life. He wants to be the love of your life—and the Lord of every part of it.
Matthew 22:38-40 (ESV)
38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 7:12 (ESV)
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Other cultures had a negative version of this:
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow." (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a)
“Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself.”- Confucius
Matthew 5:43–48 (ESV)
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
JESUS STANDARD OF LOVE IS SO MUCH HIGHER THAN OURS!
Story of Good Samaritan defines who my neighbor is, but the point is We are to love God and love others
John 13:34–35 (ESV)
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another."
Jesus says there is a new standard for love.
The question isn't merely, "Who deserves my love?" It's, "To whom can I show the love of Christ?"
APPLICATION
Do you love like Jesus?
ULTIMATELY, TO LOVE LIKE JESUS IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT JESUS!
Romans 13:8–10 (ESV)
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Galatians 6:1–2 (ESV)
1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Law written on the heart of all:
Romans 2:14–15 (ESV)
14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them
God commanded Noah and his descendants to multiply and fill the earth, prohibited eating blood, and established accountability for the shedding of human blood.
Genesis 9:6 (ESV): "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."
The covenant also includes God's promise never again to destroy all flesh by a flood, with the rainbow as its sign.
Later Jewish tradition developed the Seven Noahide Laws, which include prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, sexual immorality, theft, and eating flesh taken from a living animal, along with a requirement to establish courts of justice.
However, the seven-law formulation is a later rabbinic development, not an explicit seven-commandment list in Genesis 9.
THEN MOSES – 613 laws – civil, ceremonial, moral – cultural (to keep them distinct from the idolatrous nations around them)
· Before Moses: God held humanity accountable for moral conduct.
· Under Moses: Israel received a comprehensive covenant law governing its national and religious life.
· Under Christ: Believers live under the New Covenant, guided by Christ's commandments and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 7:6 (ESV)
6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
Mark 12:32–34 (ESV)
32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
NOW JESUS ASKS THE PHARISEES A STUMP QUESTION!
Matthew 22:41–42 (ESV)
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”
Psalm 89:3–4 (ESV)
3 You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever,
and build your throne for all generations.’ ” Selah
Psalm 89:35–37 (ESV)
35 Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
36 His offspring shall endure forever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.
37 Like the moon it shall be established forever,
a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah
Amos 9:11 (ESV)
11 “In that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its breaches,
and raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old,
Ezekiel 37:24–26 (ESV)
24 “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. 25 They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore.
Matthew 22:43–45 (ESV)
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, 44 “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” ’? 45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
The Originally quoting from Psalms
Psalm 110:1 (LSB)
1 Yahweh says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.”
Psalm 110:2 (LSB)
2 Yahweh will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Have dominion in the midst of Your enemies.”
Psalm 110:4 (LSB)
4 Yahweh has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”
Priests were to come from the Tribe of Levi – this is signaling a different type of priesthood. A forever priesthood as explained in Hebrews chapters 5-7
Psalm 110:5-6 (LSB)
5 The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings in the day of His anger. 6 He will render justice among the nations, He will fill them with corpses, He will crush the head that is over the wide earth.
Psalm 110:1 (LSB)
1 Yahweh says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.”
One of the greatest barriers to learning truth is the assumption that we already have it.
Isaiah 9:6–7 (LSB)
6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will accomplish this.
Proverbs 9:10 (NLT)
10 Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.
Know God, Know His Word, Know Him – not just about Him.
Know His love, know what He loves, love what He loves
Who do you need to love today?
Who did you not love today?
additional notes
1. What are the Noahide Laws?
The Noahide Laws are seven basic moral commandments that Jewish tradition teaches God gave to all humanity through Noah.
The idea is that before God gave Moses the Law specifically for Israel, humanity was already accountable to God for certain fundamental moral obligations.
According to traditional Judaism, these seven laws apply to everyone, not just Jewish people.
The seven Noahide Laws are:
Do not worship idols.
Do not blaspheme God.
Do not murder.
Do not engage in forbidden sexual relationships.
Do not steal.
Do not eat flesh taken from a living animal.
Establish courts to administer justice.
Important distinction: The Bible does not present these seven commandments together as a formal list. The list was developed and systematized in Jewish rabbinic tradition, drawing on Genesis and other passages.
Genesis 9 explicitly includes commands concerning blood and human life, while other moral principles appear elsewhere in Genesis.
Genesis 9:1–7 (CSB)
1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority. 3 Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything. 4 However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it. 5 And I will require a penalty for your lifeblood; I will require it from any animal and from any human; if someone murders a fellow human, I will require that person’s life. 6 Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, for God made humans in his image. 7 But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.”
Romans 2:14–15 (ESV)
14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them
2. What is the Talmud?
The Talmud is a massive collection of Jewish rabbinic discussions about how to understand and apply God's Law to everyday life.
Here's a helpful way to explain the relationship:
What it is
Torah
The first five books of the Bible, containing God's Law given through Moses
Mishnah
A written collection of Jewish oral legal traditions, compiled around AD 200
Gemara
Rabbinic discussions and analysis of the Mishnah
Talmud
The Mishnah together with the Gemara
There are two major Talmuds: the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud became especially influential in rabbinic Judaism.
The Talmud contains legal arguments, interpretations, stories, ethical teachings, and disagreements between rabbis. It is not simply a second Bible or a single unified law code.
The traditional seven Noahide Laws are listed in the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 56a.