Matthew 22:29-33: God of the Living

“He is not the God of the dead but of the living,” Jesus to the Sadducees in Matthew 22:32

“Earthly marriage is a shadow, a copy, an echo of the true and ultimate marriage.  Once that ultimate marriage begins, at the Lamb’s wedding feast (Revelation 19:7-9), all the human marriages that pointed to it will have served their noble purpose and will be assimilated into the one great marriage they foreshadowed.”   (Randy Alcorn, Heaven, p. 350)

“I have a tremendous amount of hope because I’m a believer in Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead. And I believe He is alive right now.”  (Billy Graham in an interview with Greta Van Susteren December 2010)

Jesus is in Jerusalem, days before His crucifixion.  Having cleansed the temple (Matthew 21:12-13), He is now teaching in it.  Group after group among Israel’s religious elite are trying to trap Jesus.   Now it is the Sadducees’ turn.  The Sadducees were aristocratic, liberal, materialistic and rejecting the supernatural, for they say “there is no resurrection,” (Matthew 22:23).  The Sadducees only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, as inspired.

They desire to prove their point of no resurrection by lifting out of context a verse from Deuteronomy 25; they create a scenario where a woman marries in succession seven brothers.  The Sadducees then snarl at Jesus “In the resurrection, whose wife will she be?” (Matthew 22:28), with all the sincerity of the person who asks, “Can God make a rock so big He cannot lift it?”   Jesus replies to them weightily, “You do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God” (v. 29).

Jesus continues, “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (v. 30).  Jesus is not saying we will be angels in heaven; rather, like angels, earthly marriage will not be part of our heavenly experience.   We will be married,  but to the Lamb.  And the greatest wedding feast ever awaits us! (Revelation 18:7-9)

But the heart of the matter in this passage here in chapter 22 is less about marriage in heaven and more about the correct way to use Scripture.  Jesus says, “But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God,” (v. 31).  Jesus gives them a sideways jab, for of course they have read what was spoken to them by God!  They are the Sadducees! The religious elite of the elite of Israel!  C’mon!

 

Jesus could have countered the Sadducees by quoting Old Testament passages about the resurrection.  For example, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2).  Yet Jesus chooses to quote from the Sadducees’ sacred writings, the writings of Moses, where God says, “I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (v. 32, Exodus 3:6).    

God does not say I was their God but I am their God. Present tense is used. This implies not only Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are currently very much alive but also that God is their God and He reigns in the resurrection over His people. 

 

Since the Sadducees accepted as authoritative only Moses’ words, Jesus bypasses most of the Old Testament and quotes only from Moses.  As John Piper says, “Jesus agrees to play on their court,” (A Godward Life, Book II, p. 224).  Hence, the crowds were astonished (v. 33), the scribes were impressed (Luke 20:39) and the Sadducees silenced (Matthew 22:34).

Christian, there is an answer to the critics’ boast.  Don’t be afraid.  Search.   Learn the language of the lost.  Build a bridge to him.  Speak to him from his truth, his writings, and his worldview, just as Christ spoke to the Sadducees and as Paul spoke to the men of Athens (Acts 17:22-32).   Above all, know that we serve not the God of the dead but of the living (v. 32).  For in a few short days after this conversation with the Sadducees, Jesus will be mocked, cursed and crucified.  But Christ has the last word.   For He has risen, He has risen indeed!   Christ has done what no other religious, military or political hero has done.   He is the first fruits of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20), for since He has risen, we too know that He will give life to our mortal bodies (Romans 8:11).  Hallelujah!  What an awesome God we serve!