Scripture
“So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.”

Observation
The Sadducees now try to trap Jesus in a theological error. They pose a question based on the law of Moses.

In their hypothetical, the Sadducees tell a story of the oldest of seven brothers who marries but dies without children. Under the law of Moses, the widow is passed down to the next brother with the idea of providing descendants for the first brother. However, the same thing happens again and so on down through all of the brothers.

The Sadducees then ask whose wife she will be in the resurrection. Jesus says that they are wrong to think that there will be marriage in the next life.

Jesus also says that God has described Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the God of the living not the dead. So therefore their disbelief in the resurrection is incorrect.

Application.
The Sadducees were the pragmatists of Jesus’ day. They controlled the temple and the Sanhedrin. They controlled both the civic and religious power in Jerusalem and they were concerned to keep on good terms with the Romans. They only accepted the five books of the law as being inspired Scripture. They did not believe in eternal life.

Jesus showed them that their objections to the resurrection were false on two counts. Firstly, they had a wrong concept of the nature of life after death. Secondly, their objections were wrong because the doctrine was implied in the law by God’s self-description of “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Since God is a God of the living, these men must still be alive.

Prayer
Thank you, Lord, for the assurance that I will live forever with you. Amen.