“Now, God is not God of the dead, but of the living; because for him all are alive.”

Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Luke 20: 37-38. Indeed, now that the Lord has silenced the priests and scribes, it’s the turn of the Sadducees, the class of unbelieving reasoners then, who denied the resurrection. They formulate a question as subtle in appearance as that concerning the tribute to be paid; but in this way they expose their ignorance and their unbelief. This is what happens whenever the dark thoughts of human reason come into contact with the light of the Word of God.

For these reasoners quote to Jesus an ordinance of Moses in Dt 25.5-10: when a man died childless, his brother had to marry his widow and create for him a seed. They assume the case of seven brothers who all died childless, the wife of the first having passed successively to each according to the law of Moses. In the resurrection, then whose wife will she be? For the seven had her for a wife. Jesus answered them, the children of this world take wives and husbands; but those who are found worthy of having part in the age to come and in the resurrection of the dead will take neither wives nor husbands. For they will no longer be able to die, because they will be like angels, and will be sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

Because the state of affairs of the first creation, purely material, does not continue in heaven, we need a new, spiritual, eternal creation. In the beginning God said to man, “Be fruitful, and multiply, fill the earth, and bring it under subjection.” In heaven it will not be so. Indeed, the resurrection from the dead will bring those who are deemed worthy of part in it, body and soul, into a spiritual state, like that of the angels, final and glorious. Since they will no longer die, there will be no need to replace a departing generation with the next, as is the case now on earth.

There, nothing will spoil; nothing will end in the new earth; everything will stay there in eternal freshness. We read in Rev 21.4: “and death will be no more, and there will be no mourning, no crying, nor pain, for the first things are passed away.” Happy future where natural relationships will be replaced beneficially and gloriously by spiritual, heavenly and divine relationships, where Jesus, in whom God will be seen and known in all his glory, will absorb all thoughts and fill hearts in the rest of love divine!

Next, Jesus gives a proof of the resurrection, taken from the books of Moses, part of the Scriptures that the Sadducees admitted: “Let the dead rise, this is what Moses made known when, about the bush, he called the Lord. the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now, God is not God of the dead, but of the living; because for him all are alive. ” So the fact that God is called the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, when he reveals himself to Moses in the burning bush, in the desert of Midian (Ex 3: 6), when these patriarchs were dead for men for several centuries, is the proof of the resurrection. For God would not be called their God, if they had ceased to exist; he does not say that he had been their God, but that he is: “I am”, for God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Since he is their God, he will bring them and all who will be deemed worthy of having part in that age, the eternal age of glorious happiness, in the state of reunited body and soul, by means of resurrection from the dead, of which Christ was the firstfruits (1 Cor 15:23). For God wants to have in the eternal blessing, not only immortal souls, but men with their bodies, however in an infinitely better condition than in the present creation.

This is why the Evangelist Luke adds: “for for him all are alive”. Not only all those who have died believers, but all those who have died have not ceased to exist in their soul; they live for God, from whose eyes nothing is hidden, despite the momentary state of separation of soul and body, for the saved, as for the lost.

For at creation God formed man from a body drawn from the earth and from a soul constituted by the breath of the Lord, by which he became a “living soul”. As a result of sin, through death, the material part of his being, the body, returned to the land from which it came and “The spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ec 12.7). Note that this is the mind of every man; because “to return to God” does not mean: to be in eternal bliss, but simply to return to one’s origin, without prejudice to the consequences of what happened on earth. So for God, all the spirits that have left their bodies live; death only applies to the body, and that for a time.

For at God’s time, the spirits of all will join their bodies, some in resurrection of life, others in resurrection of judgment (Jn 5:29), these to remain eternally under the consequences of their sins, those for to be eternally under the glorious consequences of the work of Christ, in which they have believed. After hearing Jesus’ response to the Sadducees, some of the scribes, the religious class opposed to the Sadducees, said to Jesus, “Master, you have spoken well.” And they dared not question him anymore.

The importance of the resurrection of Christ: ‘I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,’ Jesus adds: God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. ‘God is not the God of the dead. He is the God of the living. ‘ This sentence is very important to understand the whole reasoning of Jesus. For the Lord meant to the Sadducees, ‘Regarding the resurrection, I bring you back to God’s statement to Moses in the burning bush incident. ‘I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,’ he revealed. This statement can be interpreted in two ways. Either Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still alive, or they are all dead. There are only these two possibilities. You Sadducees believe they’re dead. If so, if they are dead, it would mean that God has proclaimed in the Pentateuch to be the God of the dead. ‘I am the God of the late Abraham. I am the God of the late Isaac. I am the God of the late Jacob. 

‘You seem to imply with your story that there will be a very embarrassing situation in heaven if the resurrection exists. But let me tell you this: you find yourself in an even more embarrassing position. Because your denial of the resurrection forces you to believe in the God of the dead. And if God is really the God of the dead, there are only two possible explanations. Either he does not have the desire to raise them from death, or he does not have the capacity to raise them. Each of these possibilities leaves you in a desperate position. If God does not have the will to raise up Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, then he cannot be a God of love. And he can’t be a God of righteousness either. ‘

‘Indeed, what sort of God would he be if he left in their graves the bodies of men with whom he had made a covenant and made promises while he had the capacity to resurrect them? How can he say he loves them? Neither would he be a God of justice. Because it would be totally unfair for the life of the good and the bad to end in the same way. Why talk about the importance of righteous behavior if the bad guy doesn’t have to pay for his wrongdoing? A God who treats just and unjust without distinction cannot be a God of love or righteousness. ‘

‘What does the Bible teach? Quite the opposite. She asserts that God is love itself and that he is perfectly righteous. ‘ ‘Therefore, if you know the scriptures,’ Jesus said to the Sadducees, ‘you must rule out this possibility, i.e. the assumption that God does not desire to raise up Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So there remains only the second hypothesis, namely that God is not able to raise Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He would like to do it, but he doesn’t have the capacity. ‘ ‘If you knew the power of God, that idea wouldn’t even cross your mind. By saying that God does not have the power to raise the dead, we are arguing that death is stronger than God. But that’s not what the Bible says. ‘ You see why the resurrection of Christ is so important. It shows that God is righteous and merciful, and that he is almighty. It signals that God has the desire and the ability to raise up the dead.

But if God is the God of the living, then the situation is completely different. Because one day, we will be accountable to God for our actions. The scriptures teach that there will be a resurrection of both believers and unbelievers. All will have to face divine judgment. There will be no escape. John 5: 28-29: Do not be surprised at this; for the hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and come out. Those who have done good will be resurrected for life, but those who have done evil will be resurrected for judgment.

‘

The question of the Sadducees on the resurrection is also found in the Gospel of Luke where the possibility of life after death is mentioned more explicitly. In Luke 20:38 we read, Now God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living; for all live before him. ‘All live before him.’ Luc is the only one to mention this sentence. What does that mean? This means that all depend on the power of God to live and therefore all are indebted to God. God is the one who determines what lives and what dies. Whether a man has left his earthly body or not, everyone will live to be judged by God. The resurrection should not be linked only to the afterlife or to the end of time. Believing in the resurrection necessarily influences our outlook on life and our current way of living. Knowing that what happens in our present life will affect what will happen at the resurrection from the dead motivates us to conduct ourselves as those who will be resurrected for life. In this regard, the resurrection becomes a present reality, both spiritual and ethical.

The following verses have been compiled for your edification and put together for your better understanding.

• Inhabitants of heaven, a description of the saved:

Luke 13:29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Lc 20.35-36 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. Rev 3.4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. Rev 7.13-17 Then one of the elders asked me,

“These in white robes–who are they, and where did they come from?” 14 I answered, “Sir, you know.” 15 And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16 Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will

lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Rev 22.14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 

General resurrection of all humans: Dan 12.2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Jn 5.28-29 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out–those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. Ac 24.15 and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. 

• Conditions for receiving Eternal Life:

– renounce the world: Lk 18.28-30 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!” 29 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.”

-faith in Christ: Jn 3:14-15 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be

lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Jn 3.36

-spiritual work: Jn 4:35-36 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.

-abnegation: Jn 12:25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

– knowledge of God: Jn 17.3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

-sow for the spirit: Ga 6.8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

• Live for God:

Luke 20:38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”; Rm 6.11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Rm 14.8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 2 Co 5.15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. Ga 2.19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.

Finally, the Lord proves to the Sadducees the reality of the resurrection simply by this title that God gives to Himself: “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex 3: 6). When the Lord spoke thus to Moses, these patriarchs had left the earth long ago. But He still proclaimed Himself their God. So for Him they were still alive and they had to be resuscitated. These men of faith had become attached to “promised things” beyond the present life and showed that they awaited them with certainty. “Therefore God is not ashamed… to be called their God” (Heb 11.13-16). Let’s also apply ourselves to showing those around us that we have a living hope.

PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS ​​CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR

I now invite anyone who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me as follows: 

Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I acknowledge that I have sinned against you and ask forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as my Lord and personal Savior. I acknowledge that you died on the cross of Calvary and that you rose from the dead for me.

I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me each day to eternal life you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal to me and strengthen my heart and my faith so that your light may shine in my life right now.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me in your divine family so that I too can contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.

I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

To you all worship, power, and glory, now and forever and ever. Amen!

I would be glad to respond to your queries and comments if necessary, before sharing with you next week “the healing of ten lepers.”

May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you profusely.

David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.