The scene for this encounter with Jesus’ opponents is on the same day. Jesus is teaching in the courtyard of the temple.
The same day some Sadducees came to him saying there was no resurrection, and they asked him a question:
“Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.’
“Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married and died childless, leaving the widow to his brother.
“The second did the same, so also the third, down to the seventh. Last of all, the woman herself died.
“In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her” (Mathew 22.23-28).
The Sadducees asked Jesus about His position on a major theological issue that divided Jewish opinions.
The Sadducees and Pharisees were in conflict over the issue of the resurrection. The Sadducees held primarily to the first five books of the Bible and didn’t find a reference to resurrection there.
The Pharisees incorporated more of the Hebrew scriptures and believed in the resurrection.
The question posed by the Sadducees revolved around a teaching from Moses, designed to provide a continuing family line for a man who died childless, and to preserve his name and material inheritance (See Deuteronomy 25.5-6).
Even though the Sadducees were using their hypothetical illustration as a way to trap Jesus, most clergy have encountered many people who wonder if they’re going to have more than one spouse in the afterlife. Possibly one has died or they’ve been divorced and remarried, and they’re wondering how this will work in heaven.
Jesus’ Answer
Jesus’s answer solves both the question of the Sadducees and the wonderment of modern Christians.
Jesus answered them, “You are wrong because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.
“For in the resurrection people neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels of God in heaven.
“And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
“He is God not of the dead but of the living” (Matthew 22.29-32).
The Sadducees didn’t understand the power of God because they saw everything in terms of this world and didn’t reckon on any real divine dimension in the heavenly realm. Obviously, they were not able to understand life after death.
It is very hard to make the mental jump from what we know on earth to picturing life in heaven. We need to accept in faith that, by the power of God, He creates something different, fitted to heavenly life, which is not temporary, but eternal.
Jesus solves the problem of multiple marriages in heaven by declaring that there will be no marriage in heaven. Many people are disturbed by this thought. However, what is not absent in heaven is love.
The kind of love that a man has for his wife, or vice versa, is the kind of love that we will have for everyone in heaven. Love will not be exclusively surrounded by a few people, but extend to all in the powerful love of God.
Not the God of the Dead
At the burning bush, God told Moses that He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 3.6).
It’s worth noting that each of these great men was named. I take that to believe that there will be names in heaven.
Each person that we love and care about on earth will be identified in heaven. Our love will be a God-like love for everyone, but we will definitely know our loved ones and friends in heaven.
God walked with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was their friend and had a relationship with them. He does the same thing with us.
As we live with him in a personal relationship and we come to the end of our life, God doesn’t drop our hand and say, “Well, wasn’t that a nice trip?”
No, he takes us by the hand and he ushers us into heaven where we have a new dimension of life with him.
Death does not break that relationship. Notice how Paul captures this truth.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
Nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8.38-39).
Matthew records the response of the crowds: “And when the crowds heard it, they were astounded at his teaching” (Matthew 22.33).
Just as the crowds were astounded at this marvelous truth, we praise God for His gift.
As Bernard of Clairvaux said, “God loved us enough to give us life. But even more than that, He loved us enough to give the life of His Son, that we might live forever.”
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross and I discussed this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
Real Voices 