Day 98

Luke 20:27–40 (NIV)

²⁷ Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. ²⁸ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. ²⁹ Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. ³⁰ The second ³¹ and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. ³² Finally, the woman died too. ³³ Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵ But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, ³⁶ and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.

³⁷ But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ³⁸ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” ³⁹ Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” ⁴⁰ And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Pray for God to show you something to use from the passage

Read the Passage

Who is in the passage?

What action verbs do you see?

What other words stick out in your mind

Questions

So is the fact that there are no family relationships in heaven disheartening to you? Does that mean we love those we love here on earth less or that we love everyone more?

What does it mean that we are like the angels? In what way are we like them?

How does what is said to Moses at the burning bush prove there is a resurrection?

Notes

In Judaism just as in Christian circles there are areas of disagreement and conjecture. We deal with situations where we see in a mirror dimly, and not face to face. (1 Cor 13:12) For the Jews the idea of resurrection was an area they disagreed on. It was a major debate. The Pharisees called the Sadducees heretics because they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. So the Sadducees come to Jesus with a valid question, not meant to trip Him up so He could be arrested. They wanted to know where he stood on the resurrection of the dead.

vs 28-33 The Sadducees used a part of the Bible where it talks of a childless widow marrying the brother of the dead husband. (Deut 25:5) Two things were accomplished by this. First the widow was taken care of and secondly any children born of the second marriage were considered the children of the deceased and entitled to the deceased estate.

The Sadducees take this law to the extreme and say what if this happened 7 times. Whose wife would the six-time widow be? Their thought was that this proves there is no resurrection because of how absurd the situation would be in the afterlife.

vs 34-36 Jesus reply is that for those who are "considered worthy" to enter heaven there is no such thing as marriage. We are all God's children, i.e. relationships the way we see them in this world will not be the same in heaven. We are one big family. The love you have for one is as strong as the love you have for another. What Jesus says in Luke 8:21 becomes literally true. Doesn't that thought blow you away! Love isn't lessened between people it is expanded to the point of all being one family!

vs 36- "like the angels" we are like the angels in the fact of not dying. Jesus isn't saying we become angels!

vs 37- Jesus proof of resurrection comes from Moses (the greatest leader of Israel) when Moses talks to God at the burning bush. (Ex 3, especially vs 14,15) . God Himself refers to those who had died as their God also. If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not resurrected then God would not still be their God, But because they are resurrected God refers in the present tense as to being their God.

vs 39-40 the teachers of the law, who believed in the resurrection, liked Jesus' answer. The Sadducees like others who disagreed with Jesus having nothing else to say.