What Does Jesus Have in Store for You?

3rd Sunday of End Time, Saints Triumphant, 11/17/19
Luke 20:27-38


What Does Jesus Have in Store for You?
I. Your resurrection in glory on the Last Day
II. An extraordinarily different life


I think the older you get, the more you feel like the Apostle Paul. I know I do. Just what do I mean?

Paul once wrote to the Christians in the city of Philippi, “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body” (Php. 1:23). Paul wanted to go to heaven, but he also wanted to remain here on earth in order to continue carrying on the work that Jesus had given him to do.

There are times in my life when I feel just like Paul did. How about you? But my desire to remain on this earth is often for less noble reasons than Paul just stated. There are times when I really enjoy what this life offers me. When I’m enjoying good times with the people I love the most, I just can’t imagine anything being any better, even in heaven. And, since this life here on earth is the only life I know, I wonder about life in heaven, which is the unknown. It makes me wonder what life will be like in heaven, especially after the resurrection of the dead on the Last Day.

Have you ever wondered that same thing? Are there times when you’re torn between living here and living there? Perhaps if you understood a little more about your life in heaven, you would be more like Paul in wanting to depart this life. So, have you ever wondered what Jesus has in store for you in the life to come?

If so, then today’s worship theme and the scripture readings which support it are just what you need. Not that Jesus tells us everything we want to know about the life to come after the resurrection on the Last Day, but he does tell us what we need to know. So, let’s take a look at one of those sections of God’s word in which Jesus shares with us information on that life to come. What does Jesus have in store for you? May the Holy Spirit open our hearts and minds to his answers in his word before us this morning.

Part I.

We live in a world in which people will go to extremes to attack their opponents publicly. Don’t believe me? Just watch the national news. Verbal assaults are a daily occurrence.

But they’re nothing new. Jesus faced them regularly during his earthly ministry. He was the target of one of them on this day as related to us by St. Luke. To help you get your bearings a little, this event occurred on Tuesday of Holy Week. Within the next five days Jesus knew that he would be crucified and then rise from the dead. On this day, a group of men from the Sadducees confronted him. The Sadducees were comprised of wealthy, powerful Jewish men. Spiritually speaking, they were rationalists in that they denied the existence of angels and the life after this one. So, they also denied the resurrection of the dead on the Last Day. That put them at odds with Jesus.

In an attempt to discredit Jesus, they attacked him with a ridiculous hypothetical situation. God had commanded in the Old Testament, that, if a man died without producing a son to carry on his name and inherit his property, his brother should “marry” his widow with the intention of producing a son who would be legally considered the dead brother’s son.

The Sadducees took this law and extended it to the ridiculous. Seven brothers married the same woman and they all died childless. One bride for seven brothers. The absurd question: Whose wife will she be after the resurrection on the Last Day?

Recall, these Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection on the Last Day. With their question they intended to show how ridiculous this teaching was. For them, this life was it. When you die, there’s nothing more. Imagine that—living this life as if there isn’t a better life to come. Imagine dying without the promise of the resurrection.

The resurrection of the body on the Last Day is unique to Christianity. It sets Christianity apart from every other religion. Only Christianity promises that, after you die, the Lord Jesus will return and raise your body from the grave. And the firm foundation for this astounding truth is none other than the truth on which our faith rests—the resurrection of Jesus himself.

To refute the false teaching of the Sadducees, Jesus used the infallible word of God. He stated, “But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” If this life were all there is, then the Lord would have stated that he was the God of Abraham, because by the time of Moses, Abraham had been dead 400 years. But Abraham lives with God and awaits his resurrection on the Last Day.

Christianity promises you what every human being desires—a perfect life which never ends with a perfect body. Amazing! But just what will that body be? The Bible simply says that our lowly bodies will be transformed like Christ’s glorious body. No more sickness, sorrow or death. No more temptation, sin or frustration. No more limits of time. A holy body which we enjoy forever. There really are no words to describe it fully. And since the only body we know is plagued by sin, we can’t imagine it. But since our Lord Jesus promises it, we believe it.

So, when this life is over for you, just what does Jesus have in store for you? Your resurrection in glory on the Last Day.

I’m going to guess that, in some aspects of your life the realist comes out of you. You know that things could be better with your job, your relationships, your health, your house, your vacation choices. But you’ve learned to settle for less than the ultimate. Everyone has to do that. No one gets everything they want in life. No matter what they tell you, nobody has the perfect life. So, we settle for the way things are in this life.

But could the same be true in the next life? Would we settle for just a little more happiness and a little less trouble in heaven? Do we hear what Jesus is promising to us here in these words about the resurrection on the Last Day, but we have our doubts? After all, our experience is that no one gets everything they want out of life. We’ve all learned to settle.

Rest assured, Jesus isn’t blowing a pipedream your way this morning. He has no intention of asking you to believe a fairy tale. When he speaks about the resurrection in glory on the Last Day he’s dead serious. No, he’s life serious; eternal life serious. He’s not asking us to settle simply for something better. He’s promising us something perfect, eternally perfect—raising our bodies from the dead in glory. And he backs that promise up with his own resurrection. We believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. That’s what every moment of your life is headed towards by faith in Jesus. That’s what Jesus has in store for you.

Part II.

But what will that life with our resurrected bodies be like? What does Jesus have in store for you in heaven with your glorified body? Jesus shares a few details with us here in Luke 20. First, he debunks a couple false ideas.

And the first false impression is that we become angels after we die. You know—we grow some wings and fly to heaven. The number of angels in heaven is fixed. As I stated earlier, after the Last Day we will enjoy heaven with our glorified bodies, not as newly transformed angels.

Jesus does say, however, that we will be like angels. In what way? Listen again to his words, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels.” “They are like the angels.” In what way? In that there won’t be any need for marriage in heaven with its corresponding purpose of producing children. Contrary to what one world religion teaches, in heaven women will not give birth eternally. I’m guessing many of you are glad to know that. And one of marriage’s other purposes—companionship—also won’t be needed in heaven, because the Bible describes heaven as a place in which all Christians will have an eternally close and loving relationship with one another.

Our Lord also shares this information about heaven with us. We will live a life which is eternal, not bound by time. Think about that for a moment. I just did it—I set a boundary of time to your thinking. That won’t be the case in heaven. It’s eternal—which is really no time. That’s beyond our comprehension.

And your life in heaven will not be marred by aging or death. Unless the Last Day occurs first, death will claim us all. It’s inevitable and unavoidable. But not in heaven. In heaven we will never gather to say good-bye to a single Christian. Our bliss-filled life in heaven will continue to go on forever.

I know; it’s hard to imagine. It’s impossible to comprehend fully. But that’s what Jesus promises. That’s what he has in store for your life—an extraordinarily different life.

There are billions of people in our world today who deny the resurrection on the Last Day. And, plagued by a sinful flesh as we are, there are times we may have our doubts, too. In fact, because of our sinful flesh, we may even have times of wishing that we could just stay here in this life. In other words, we struggle with this truth.

But notice this: when attacked by the Sadducees about the resurrection to glory on the Last Day Jesus never flinched. He didn’t stammer for an explanation, not even for a moment. That’s because his purpose for coming to this earth was to win that life for you. He did it by suffering and dying for you on Calvary’s cross. He guarantees that life to you by his resurrection from the dead. He has won eternal glory for you which he will bestow on you when he raises you from the dead in glory on the Last Day.

That’s what Jesus has in store for you. Live in the confidence and joy that the resurrection on the Last Day gives you! Amen.