Luk 20:27-40 | KingComments | STEP | The fourth topic in the temple teaching given by the Lord is about the resurrection and about life in the world of resurrection. The reason for this is the question of another group of opponents that presents itself, because satan has more accomplices. The Sadducees come forward in the fight to overthrow the Lord Jesus. These people are the rationalists. They only believe what they can reason with their intellect. That’s why they say that there is no resurrection ( ), for there is no proof for it, they claim. The Sadducees come to the Lord with an ordinance from Moses about the duty of a husband’s brother ( ; ). They do not doubt this ordinance, but in their unbelief they do signal a problem here when they think of the resurrection. That they present to Him as a trap. To ridicule the resurrection, they present Him with the imaginary case of seven brothers who all marry the same wife one after the other to comply with the ordinance of Moses. They indicate that the first one marries, but dies after a short time, childless. According to the duty of a husband’s brother, the second of the seven brothers takes her, but he also dies after a short time, also childless. So it goes on until all seven brothers have had her and all have died childless. Finally, the woman dies. Then they ask their question. We can imagine the hidden smile of someone who thinks that the other one has no solution. The question that the Sadducees ask is who of the seven she will be married to in the resurrection. She was the legal wife of all seven brothers. How should this be done in the resurrection? She can’t be married to all seven men at the same time there, can she? The law is clear about that too. With this difficult, if not unanswerable question, they think that the Lord is at a loss for words. With this example, they have cleverly demonstrated that the resurrection is nonsense. Satisfied they cross their arms and wait for His reaction. It comes faster than thought and overpowers them.

‏ Luke 20:27-40

Question About the Resurrection

The fourth topic in the temple teaching given by the Lord is about the resurrection and about life in the world of resurrection. The reason for this is the question of another group of opponents that presents itself, because satan has more accomplices. The Sadducees come forward in the fight to overthrow the Lord Jesus. These people are the rationalists. They only believe what they can reason with their intellect. That’s why they say that there is no resurrection (Acts 23:8), for there is no proof for it, they claim.

The Sadducees come to the Lord with an ordinance from Moses about the duty of a husband’s brother (Gen 38:8; Deu 25:5). They do not doubt this ordinance, but in their unbelief they do signal a problem here when they think of the resurrection. That they present to Him as a trap.

To ridicule the resurrection, they present Him with the imaginary case of seven brothers who all marry the same wife one after the other to comply with the ordinance of Moses. They indicate that the first one marries, but dies after a short time, childless. According to the duty of a husband’s brother, the second of the seven brothers takes her, but he also dies after a short time, also childless. So it goes on until all seven brothers have had her and all have died childless. Finally, the woman dies.

Then they ask their question. We can imagine the hidden smile of someone who thinks that the other one has no solution. The question that the Sadducees ask is who of the seven she will be married to in the resurrection. She was the legal wife of all seven brothers. How should this be done in the resurrection? She can’t be married to all seven men at the same time there, can she? The law is clear about that too.

With this difficult, if not unanswerable question, they think that the Lord is at a loss for words. With this example, they have cleverly demonstrated that the resurrection is nonsense. Satisfied they cross their arms and wait for His reaction. It comes faster than thought and overpowers them.

Teaching About the Resurrection

In His answer, the Lord first refers to the age in which they now find themselves as the age in which is married and given in marriage. It is part of life on earth, on this side of death. Then He speaks about the age and the area after death. The Spirit also speaks about this through Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. The Lord says here, and Paul through the Spirit there, that on the other side of death very different ordinances apply. It is the same body, but after the resurrection it is no longer natural but spiritual (1Cor 15:42-44).

Those who attain to the resurrection are “those who are considered worthy”. These are the people on earth who have chosen Him and shared in His rejection. “That age” is the future age of the kingdom of peace, but then the heavenly side of it, where all those who have risen from the dead or changed at the coming of the Lord are to be found (1Cor 15:51). The resurrection from the dead means a resurrection from among the dead, a resurrection whereby others remain in death.

The dead who remain in death are the dead who are not considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection. They are “the rest of the dead” (Rev 20:5), by whom are meant those who died in unbelief. They only become alive after ‘that age’, that is after the millennial kingdom of peace, to appear and be judged before the great white throne (Rev 20:11-12).

In the resurrection, for those who are considered worthy to attain to it, the circumstances are completely different from those on earth. One of those changed circumstances is that there is no marriage anymore. Marriage is purposed by God to populate the earth (Gen 1:28) and since the Fall also to preserve the human race. In the resurrection, however, it is so that no one can die anymore. There is no decrease in the number of people who participate in it and therefore there is no need to provide for offspring through marriages. In this respect the believers are like angels.

However, they are much more than angels. They are sons of God, for they are sons of the resurrection. They have left death behind them and everything that goes with it and have been brought into connection to God as His sons.

God is the God of the resurrection. The Sadducees had appealed to Moses for their cunning questioning. The Lord now also points them to Moses, namely to a statement by Moses at the burning bush (Exo 3:6 ; 15-16). He uses this statement to make it clear that Moses also believed in the resurrection. This is evident from the fact that Moses calls the Lord, Who is the LORD, Yahweh, “the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”.

It is remarkable that Moses here calls God the God of each patriarch individually and not of them together, as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God is in a personal relationship with each of them individually. The Lord says that Moses said this, while in Exodus 3 it says that God says it (Exo 3:15). That is because Moses wrote it down and agreed to it.

Another important aspect of this quotation is that it shows that with death man does not cease to exist. The moment God makes this statement to Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have long since died. But to God they are not dead, because for Him they are alive, they live in His presence.

The Sadducees assume that the relationship that is formed between God and man in this life is only temporary. That is not the case. Because God is eternal, the relationships He forms with someone are also eternal. God has no connection with those who are dead, that is to say those who died in unbelief, but with those who died in the faith. To Him, all who have died in faith, live.

Some of the scribes think this a wonderful answer to their doctrinal enemies, the Sadducees. They are complimenting the Lord for it. They judge He has spoken well by taking the Sadducees down. They are indeed silenced and remain silent, afraid to ask Him something else so as not to suffer another defeat. For the scribes, who enjoy the Lord’s answer, the Lord in His turn has a question.