Consider this text: “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel” (Deuteronomy 25:5-6). This duty of the second brother is the basis upon which the Sadducees argued that there is no resurrection in Matthew 22:23-33).
The Sadducees posited a hypothetical example of a widow of all seven brothers, none of which gave her an heir, which “proved” that the very idea of a resurrection was untenable. Consider, very religious people arguing vociferously from ignorance. That is what Jesus, in a decidedly pointed response, told them! “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:29-30).
Their specific error was assuming that heaven was an analogue of the present life here on earth. Religious people do that today. I remember attending a funeral where a Baptist preacher told the group, “I can just see old ‘Dave’ up there in heaven, strumming his guitar and singing with Elvis Presly!”
The scriptures teach that we will have a transformed body, and exist in eternity, basking in God’s light, ever joyful, inhabiting our abode with no tears without the limitations or regrets that come from the life that we live here below. How can that be? We ask incredulously!
So, what is the truth? Jesus said, “But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching” (Matthew 22:31-33).
Don’t be ignorant! Study God’s word and recognize the power of God to do whatever is in His mind, regardless of whether we can grasp it or not. Quit trying to rationalize God’s omnipotence, or to demonstrate what is supernatural by using natural arguments or human opinions. Too many reject what the scriptures say because they personally can’t see HOW it could be! With God, all He determines is not only possible, but inevitable!
