Jesus points out something that should be obvious, but was not to the Sadducees: there is a difference between this life and the next.

In saying that "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage," Jesus reminds us that God does indeed give us good gifts in this life, but that it would be wrong to cling to them, to believe that those gifts are so important that they are all Jesus gives, that He has nothing greater prepared for us.

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The saints John sees are those who followed Jesus in this life and who bore the brunt of the world's refusal to acknowledge Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The saints that John sees are those who have passed through death from this life to the life that is to come. The saints John sees are all those who have clung fervently to Christ, trusting in Him and His grace to carry them through to eternity. The saints John sees, then, are you . . . me . . . everyone who will die in the faith . . . everyone who has died in the faith. What John sees is the ones—all of the ones—who by the time eternity comes will have died in Christ.

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For the pastor this means but one thing: he has but one thing to preach. The pastor speaks not from worldly wisdom, he speaks not from philosophy nor from psychology, but he speaks as the very voice of God speaking to the world. The pastor speaks the word, and he speaks it at all times. In season and out of season; a harsh word of rebuke when necessary, an encouraging word of exhortation when needed. The pastor speaks only the word of God, for he has been given nothing else to give.

But for the people this means two things. The first is a charge as solemn and serious as the pastor's: the charge to the people is to expect—and even demand—that their pastor speak nothing but God's word. Your task as the people of God is to expect nothing but the word of God from me, and to stop your ears should I—or any pastor—preach anything else.

But the second is even greater. The task of the people is to hear the word of God and believe upon it. To lean upon it as you lean upon nothing else, to hunger and thirst for God's word to the extent that nothing else satisfies, that nothing else is even desired.

This podcast can never be a substitute for in-person attendance at a local church. Click here to find a local church you can connect with! Find a Lutheran church near you!