Matthew 22:23-33

Matthew 22:23-33
The Sadducees were a sect of the Jews who came into being somewhere in the mid to late second century before Christ. They had been strongly affected by the Greek influence of that time which may in some way explain their lack of belief in the supernatural or life after death. More significantly their rise may have been in reaction to the beliefs of the Pharisees who thought that most all the incidents in life were foreordained and in some way affected by angels and spirits. The Sadducees were more naturalistic believing that man was left on his own to succeed or fail and that the physical world was not being affected by the spirit world.
The Bible teaches that the truth is somewhere in the middle between these two extremes. The scriptures teach that there are five possible reasons things happen in life:
1. Things may happen because of the consequences of our own actions or the actions of others. This is the key to the book of Proverbs. The path we choose in life and the specific choices we make affect our future whether for good or bad. The choices of the people around us also affect us in a positive or negative way.
2. Satan may actually cause bad things to happen. In the first two chapters of Job, it is was Satan who brought all the evil down on Job’s head. Job apparently never did know that Satan was behind his trial.
3. God causes things to happen in this life. He raises kingdoms up and tears kingdoms down (Dan. 7:14). In His providence we see the incidents in the life of Joseph and in the life of Esther take place as He worked out His plan for the redemption of man.
4. God answers prayer (Phil. 4:6-7).
5. Time and chance happens to all (Eccl. 9:11-12). In other words, a person can be at the wrong place at the wrong time or in the right place at the right time. It is just the luck of the draw.
The difficult part about any of these is that we cannot always know which is taking place. But we do know that what ever happens, God will help us through and we can learn from the difficulties of life if we serve Him and put Him first (Rom. 8:28).
Berry Kercheville