In Matthew 22, the Sadducees approached Jesus and attempted to “outsmart” Him. The Sadducees were a powerful political and religious group among the Jews, but they claimed there was no resurrection (Matthew 22:23).
This was their challenge to the Lord:
“Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her” (Matthew 22:24–28, NKJV).
They believed their example demonstrated their superior intellect and the foolishness of the resurrection.
But Jesus responded to their challenge by saying:
“You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:29–30, ESV).
After calling out the Sadducees’ ignorance of the Scriptures and of God’s power, Jesus explained that “in the resurrection” things are different than they are in this life.
Then the Lord addressed their rejection of the resurrection:
“And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Matthew 22:31–32, ESV).
Jesus quoted Exodus 3:6, when God identified Himself to Moses from the burning bush. The emphasis is on the phrase “I am,” which is in the present tense. Although Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had all died by the time God spoke to Moses, He said, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
So what did this mean? It means God “is not God of the dead, but of the living.” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were still alive when God spoke to Moses in Exodus 3—hundreds of years after their bodies had been buried in the cave of Machpelah (Genesis 50:13).
We may do our understanding of the resurrection a tremendous disservice when we always speak of our loved ones who have passed from this life in the past tense.
While the body returns to the earth at death, the spirit returns to God (Ecclesiastes 12:7), still very much alive. At the resurrection, our bodies will be raised from the dust, our spirits will reunite with our bodies, and we will be changed—made incorruptible and immortal (1 Corinthians 15:50–57).
“And so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17, ESV).
Take the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and insert the names of your own dearly departed loved ones. The meaning remains the same: “He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
