Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to test your knowledge of God's word.
This week's question:

When Jesus was on trial before the council in the courtyard of Caiaphas the high priest who advised the Jews, "You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.' Now this he did not say on his own initiative; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation." (John 11:49-51). And in the courtyard, "Now the chief priests and the whole Council (Sanhedrin) kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death; and they were not finding any. For many were giving false testimony against Him, and yet their testimony was not consistent. And some stood up and began to give false testimony against Him saying, 'We heard Him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.'' And not even in this respect was their testimony consistent. And the high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus saying, 'Do You make no answer? What is it that these men are testifying against you?' But He kept silent and made no answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?' And Jesus said, 'I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the Right Hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.' And tearing his clothes, the high priest said, 'What further need do we have of witnesses? You have head the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?' And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death. And some began to spit at Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat him with their fists, and to say to Him, 'Prophesy!' And the officers received Him with slaps to the face." (Mark 14:55-65).

That brings us to our question, "Who was on trial for the resurrection of the dead?" Just as Jesus faced His trial at the hands of godless men, so did many of His followers after His crucifixion as we see in Stephen, "And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. But some men from what was called the Synagogue op the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. And yet they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. And they secretly induced men to say, 'We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.' And they stirred up the people, and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and dragged him away, and brought him before the council. And they put forward false witnesses who said, 'This man incessantly speaks against this holy place, and the Law; for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.'" (Acts 6:8-14). At the end of his defense, Stephen was stoned to death.

And so it is not a mystery that an apostle of Jesus is too brought before the council and he says, "Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day." (Acts 23:1). The high priest, Ananias has him struck on the mouth at that point. So, for our answer we read, "But perceiving that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the council, 'Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and the resurrection of the dead!' And as he said this, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees; and the assembly was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. And there arose a great uproar; and some of the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, 'We find nothing wrong with this man; suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?' And a great dissention was developing, the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him back to the barracks." (Acts 23:6-10).

So there we have the answer to our question as it is Paul who was on trial for the resurrection of the dead!

May we be as cunning and use the wisdom of Faith that comes from hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17) to be able to contend for the faith (Jude 3) and be able to answer those who question our belief in God and why we walk in Him for life (1 Timothy 2:15).