God Has Spoken. What Else is needed?

Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying: “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her as wife, and he died childless. Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife.” Jesus answered and said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.” Then some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.” But after that they dared not question Him anymore. (Luke 20: 27-39)

Jesus had been questioned about His own authority, then about Caesar’s authority, now He was presented with a “challenge” by the Sadducees, or so they thought. The formulated a question to which any answer would be unsatisfying, “if a woman was married to 7 brothers, whose wife would she be in the resurrection? Since the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead, his question probably implied that they not only denied the possibility of a bodily resurrection, but also the continuation of the soul after physical death. Jesus, who masters all things spiritual, pointed out two faults in them: they were ignorant of the Scriptures and as a result they were ignorant of God’s power as well.

There is no marriage or engagements in heaven

Matthew Henry’s commentary points out the main purpose of marriage in this world: to perpetrate human life. As many die every day, many more are born as to perpetrate the human race. There is no need for this in heaven, because in heaven nobody dies! So, the idea of people marrying in heaven and forming families is utterly absurd, as it is unnecessary. Furthermore, while we live in our physical bodies we are subject to passions that we will no longer possess in the afterlife. We will be like the angels in heaven, whose only purpose is to praise God and serve Him. There is no way that someone in the presence of God and beholding His glory will have passion for anyone or anything else but Him. His beauty will outshine every vestige of human passion in us.

God’s people are alive after physical death

When God talked to Moses in the burning bush, He called Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; but these men were long gone, these people were dead! So, when God talked about them as people who were alive is was because they were.

Every believer who has ever died is alive today. We cannot see them, but we can be certain of this, because God has revealed it to us in His Word. Nothing is impossible for Him. He possesses infinite power. This is a fact that the Sadducees ignored, because of their poor knowledge of the Scriptures.

This one passage demolishes the idea of posthumous marriage practiced by the Mormons, and makes completely unnecessary every afterlife-experience book that you may possess. God has spoken, what else is needed?

Today’s practice

I will put my trust not in human words or teachings, but in the Word of God, whose wisdom is sufficient and whose knowledge is infinite.

“For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.” (Romans 3: 3-4A)