1669. V. In Denying Spirit or Angel, the Sadducees Deny Both Heaven and Hell

V. In Denying Spirit or Angel, the Sadducees Deny Both Heaven and Hell

If there is no resurrection, if there is neither spirit nor angel; there can be neither Heaven nor hell. This is the necessary conclusion of Sadduceeism.

1. There is no Heaven. The Sadducees would have told the fathers of old that they followed a will-o'-the-wisp, when they journeyed toward a city whose builder and maker was God–there is no such city.

The Sadducees would tell Job that he was following a maid-of-the-mist, when he said, "Yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself * * and not another" (Job_19:26-27)–there is no resurrection.

The Sadducees would tell David that he was pursuing a mirage of the desert when he said, I saw the Lord always before my face, therefore did my flesh rest in hope (see Psa_16:8-9)–there is no hope in death.

Moses was wrong when he forsook Egypt, despising her riches and her pleasures; thinking that he saw the recompense of the reward, which Christ would give him when He came.

Paul, centuries after Moses, was just as deceived when he counted all that had been gain to him but refuse, setting his face toward the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Peter was quite as foolish as Moses and Paul, when he said: "We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2Pe_1:16).

All the saints of old who died in faith, not having received the promise, will, according to Sadduceeism, never receive the promise.

The martyrs of the coming tribulation, will never live, and reign with Christ.

The New Jerusalem will never descend from God out of Heaven, The children of God will never enter in through the gates into the city.

His saints will never see His face nor serve Him.

2. There is no hell. According to Sadduceeism, hell must be relegated to oblivion.

No matter what Christ said, it is better to follow the strong delusions of science, falsely so-called.

No matter what your own deeper sense of truth says, it is far more comfortable to believe a lie.

No matter what the Holy Spirit says, it is preferable to be "tossed like a wave, and carried about with every wind of teaching, by the artifice of men in cunning craftiness, according to wily error" (Eph_4:14, \1911 Bible).

Sadduceeism, in setting forth that there is no hell, places the sinner under lasting obligation to itself.

According to Sadduceeism, the sinner can live as he lists, and, when tired of life, end it all and cease to exist.

There is no hell–then, the sinner will never reap the harvest of his deeds.

There is no hell–then, sin will never receive its wages.

There is no hell–then, one sinned against will never be vindicated because of his sufferings.

The Sadducee would write upon the tombstone of the wicked this epitaph:

The one who lies here has ceased to exist, he has entered the land of eternal forgetfulness. He has no memory of the past, no knowledge of the present, and no hope of the future.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR