Jump Starts Daily

Jump Start #3886

Jump Start # 3886

Matthew 22:32 “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

  Our verse today is encased in the answer Jesus gave to a hypothetical question that the Sadducees asked. The question was not legit. It was a setup. The question was intended to trap Jesus. The Sadducees, the wealthy and materialistic segment of the Jews did not believe in resurrections. Once dead, always dead, was the thinking of the Sadducees. Yet, their question and made up situation involved a resurrection.

  In their made up story, a woman’s husband dies without leaving her a child. According to the law, she could marry his brother. Well, she did. He dies without giving her a child. There were seven brothers. She eventually married all seven and all seven died. What a bizarre story. She outlived them all. Finally, she dies. The question is, “Who will she be married to in the resurrection?” She surely can’t be married to all seven. What a crazy story and Jesus took the time to answer this.

  His answer has three layers.

  First, Jesus says in His polite way, “You don’t know the Bible.” The text quotes the Lord saying, “you are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures.” Jesus knew that this was a setup. While the Sadducees implied following the Law, they didn’t know the God who wrote the Law. In the Hoosier dialect, this would be translated, “You are dumb as a brick, not knowing the Bible!” The Bible held the answer to their question. Had they spent more time in the word than dreaming up with hypothetical story, they would know the answer. But, they weren’t looking for an answer. This wasn’t a real concern for them. They wanted to trip Jesus up. They thought that there is no way He could answer this right. In a corner is where they were trying to put Jesus. You are mistaken. You are wrong. And, the reason is because you don’t know the Bible.

  Second, Jesus says that there is no marriage in Heaven. We’ll be like the angels, which is something that the Sadducees questioned. No marriage in Heaven completely unravels this long made up story about a woman marrying all these brothers. Jesus did not deny that there was a Heaven. There is. We simply will not have marriage in Heaven.

  Third, and most importantly, Jesus shows that there is life after death. Our verse, using present tense, shows that. I AM the God of Abraham. If Abraham was no more, then the proper language would be past tense. I WAS the God of Abraham. Nor, does Jesus use future tense. I WILL be the God of Abraham. I AM. Right now. Today. Abraham had been dead for centuries, yet God was still his God. He is the God of the living and not the dead.

  We must be careful and not use “was,” when God uses “is.” There is no past tense to us. We live on and on and on as the hymn reminds us. When we talk about history, which is in the past, it is so easy for us to use “was,” when referring to people. Sometimes we even do this when talking about family members who are on the other side.

  Abraham is, because God is. Dead for centuries, no longer a presence on this side of life, Abraham had simply gone into another room in God’s house. There was no “The End,” to Abraham’s story. There is no final page to Abraham’s life.

  As this section of exchange with the Sadducees ends, Matthew reveals that the multitudes were astonished at the Lord’s teaching. Courageous. Kind. Bold. Easy to understand. The Lord revealed that the Sadducees were mistaken, misguided and wrong. There is a resurrection. Abraham lives. And, crashing down came the empty theology of the Sadducees. They were not on the same page with the Lord. Their trap trapped them. In our verse today, Jesus quotes from Exodus, a book the Sadducees would have accepted and believed. They should have known this. Jesus says, “Have you not read that which was spoken to you by God,” revealing both the inspiration of God and their ignorance of God’s word.

  Now, some thoughts for us today:

  First, sit in a Bible class on the topic of divorce and someone will bring up a hypothetical and complex situation that tries the class, tests the teacher and exposes the ignorance of the person asking. What does the Scriptures say? That’s the answer. Some love to stretch the envelop, push the buttons of patience and stump the teacher. Such does not make good learning. “Have you not read that which was spoken to you by God,” remains the best answer.

  Second, the O.T. paints several pictures of life after death. This is not a N.T. concept. Abraham, in offering Isaac, understood that somehow God would bring Isaac back if he were to kill him. The heart and faith of the Sadducees was not in a good place, that’s the problem.

  Third, without realizing it, our language and use of “was,” instead of “is,” can trip us up. Don’t use “was,” when God uses “is”. That’s more than good advice, that reveals a heart that believes in resurrection and life after death. He is merely in the other room, is how the righteous understands the death of a Christian.

  Some spend so much energy trying to trap Jesus and disprove the very words that will bring them life, peace and hope. Some things never change. The same is true today.

  Roger