27 And there came to him certain of the Sadducees, they that say
that there is no resurrection; 28 and they asked him saying,
Teacher, Moses wrote unto us, that if a man’s brother die, having
a wife, and he be childless, his brother should take the wife, and
raise up seed unto his brother. 29 There were therefore seven
brethren: and the first took a wife, and died childless; 30 and
the second; 31 and the third took her; and likewise the seven also
left no children, and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33
In the resurrection therefore whose wife of them shall she be? for
the seven had her to wife. 34 And Jesus said unto them, The sons
of this world marry, and are given in marriage: 35 but they that
are accounted worthy to attain to that world, and the resurrection
from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: 36 for
neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels;
and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But that
the dead are raised, even Moses showed, _in the place concerning_
the Bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not the God of the
dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. 39 And certain of
the scribes answering said, Teacher, thou hast well said. 40 For
they durst not any more ask him any question.
Jesus had foiled the scribes and the chief priests in their plan to entrap
him in his public teaching. He was now attacked by the Sadducees who were
the priestly and most powerful party among the Jews. They denied the
immortality of the soul and believed neither in angels nor in spirits;
they represented the modern materialists. It is to be noted that the
question with which they approached Jesus was not one which referred only
to immortality but specifically to the resurrection of the body. They
proposed the case of a woman married successively to seven brothers from
each of whom she was separated by death; and they asked, “In the
resurrection therefore whose wife of them shall she be? for the seven had
her to wife.” They hoped that Jesus would either deny the orthodox belief
as to the resurrection or would make some statement which would contradict
the Law of Moses in accordance with which the successive marriages were
made. They implied that this accepted Law was inconsistent with the belief
in a resurrection.
In his reply Jesus declared that in the resurrection life will be
regulated by larger laws than are known in this present age. Those who
will share the glory of that age, and who will experience the blessedness
of “the resurrection from the dead” will be immortal in soul and body.
Marriage, which is now necessary for a continuance of the race, will no
longer exist. The relationships in that life will be higher than even the
most sacred relationship of the present life. Those who have a part in
this resurrection will be “equal unto the angels,” not in all particulars,
but in the fact that their state will be deathless. In that larger sense
they will be “sons of God” and “sons of the resurrection,” for death will
have lost its power over them.
Such a reply should be carefully weighed by men of the present day who
deny miracles and refuse to believe in resurrection and immortality. Many
beliefs which are now ridiculed because they seem to contradict
established laws of science will some day be vindicated by the discovery
of higher and more inclusive laws than are now known.
In his answer Jesus already had rebuked the Sadducees for denying the
existence of angels. He next established the fact of the resurrection by a
quotation from the very Law on which they had depended to show that
resurrection was impossible. He recalled the words recorded by Moses in
reference to “the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob.” He then added, “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
Jesus meant to establish the fact of the continued existence of the dead;
yet not merely this, but to prove the resurrection of the dead. The latter
was the question at issue. The word “living,” as used by our Lord,
indicates those who are enjoying a normal life, not that of disembodied
spirits, but of immortal spirits clothed with deathless bodies. Therefore
Jesus added, “for all live unto him.” In the mind and purpose of God all
are to be raised from the dead and to enjoy that complete and blessed
existence which resurrection implies. The confident expectation of such a
future state is based on our relation to God. If he is truly our God and
we are his people, the triumph of death is not real and permanent but will
be ended by the glorious immortality of the body and of the soul.