Whose wife of them will she be?

Luke 20:27–40. The Sadducees, the heretics of the time, approached the Lord with a difficult question they felt was based on the word of God. Their aim, however, was to justify their false doctrine rather than to learn the truth. Like the devil when trying the Saviour in the wilderness, they resorted to quoting scripture, choosing a passage that deals with levirate marriage, Deut. 25:5, 6. They thought they could debase the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. It was obvious that the case they put before the Lord was factious, yet they felt they could silence Him.

Their hopes, however, were soon dashed when they heard the Master’s reply. He told them that the root of their opposition to the truth was simply their ignorance; firstly, their ignorance of the status of human beings in the other world, beyond death; secondly, their sheer ignorance of the scriptures.

The Lord in His answer explained how there is a clear distinction between the situation here on earth and that which exists in heaven. ‘The children of this world’ are married and given in marriage so as to maintain the perpetuity of the race, since they are all subject to death. On the other hand, those who are accounted worthy of resurrection life cannot die any more. Therefore, there is no need for marriage in the heavenly realms. They are all equal unto the angels and are children of resurrection. Thus, the Saviour exposed the thought of any similarity between the status on earth and in heaven as a misconception.

Furthermore, the Lord went on to show how the truth of the resurrection of the dead was a clear scriptural doctrine. Hundreds of years after the death of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jehovah appeared to Moses in the burning bush, Exod. 3:3. There He describes Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was speaking about men of whom He is not ashamed to be called their God, Heb. 11:16. Is it conceivable that those dead patriarchs did not continue to exist? Is He the God of the dead? God forbid; they all live unto Him, Luke 20:38. He is indeed the God of the living. Well did Christ say of them, ‘Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God’, Matt. 22:29.

Mikhael, B. (2010). August 7th: In Resurrection Whose Wife of Them Is She? (Luke 20:27–40). In K. Totton (Ed.), Day by Day: Bible Questions (p. 238). Bristol, UK: Precious Seed.