Written ~ 03-28-2024
Read Luke Chapter Twenty
Luke 20
For this Bible Study I decided to choose a topic that I haven’t delved into before. I will be using Commentary notes and Study Bible notes just so we all can have a good understanding of the verses we will be looking at today. (Further study can be found in Matthew 22:23-33 and Mark 12:18-27)
Verses 20:27-40,
27 Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. 28 They posed this question: “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife but no children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name. 29 Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. 30 So the second brother married the widow, but he also died. 31 Then the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them, who died without children. 32 Finally, the woman also died. 33 So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her!”
34 Jesus replied, “Marriage is for people here on earth. 35 But in the age to come, those worthy of being raised from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. 36 And they will never die again. In this respect they will be like angels. They are children of God and children of the resurrection.
37 “But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—even Moses proved this when he wrote about the burning bush. Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, he referred to the Lord as ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38 So He is the God of the living, not the dead, for they are all alive to Him.”
39 “Well said, Teacher!” remarked some of the teachers of religious law who were standing there. 40 And then no one dared to ask Him any more questions.
First off – who were the Sadducees? We read about the Pharisees quite often, but not as often do we hear about the Sadducees. The Sadducees were a much stricter sect of Jewish Priests and much more conservative than the Pharisees. They only studied the first five books of the Old Testament written by Moses called the Pentateuch or Torah. Because of how strict their study was, they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead or an afterlife. That’s why they came to Jesus with this hypothetical scenario about resurrection. The Sadducees thought they could disprove the idea of the resurrection of the dead by telling Jesus their story.
In verse 20:28 it says,
28 They posed this question: “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife but no children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name.
The law they said Moses gave to them is alluded to in a story written in Genesis 38:1-30. And then again briefly in Deuteronomy 25:5-10.
So let’s go over the story the Sadducees brought to Jesus.
Verses 20:29-33,
29 Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. 30 So the second brother married the widow, but he also died. 31 Then the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them, who died without children. 32 Finally, the woman also died. 33 So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her!”
Since the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection, this story seemed to prove their point, they thought it was preposterous, because how could this woman be married to all seven men in the resurrection of the dead.
The reply Jesus gave is perfect (of course)…
Verse 20:34-36,
34 Jesus replied, “Marriage is for people here on earth. 35 But in the age to come, those worthy of being raised from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. 36 And they will never die again. In this respect they will be like angels. They are children of God and children of the resurrection…”
One of the reasons the Sadducees had a hard time believing in the resurrection is because they limited their study to the first five books of the Scriptures. In Matthew 22:29 Jesus says, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.”
Look at what it says in Acts 13:32-37…
32 “And now we are here to bring you this Good News. The promise was made to our ancestors, 33 and God has now fulfilled it for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus (from the dead). This is what the second psalm says about Jesus:
‘You are My Son. Today I have become Your Father.’ (Psalm 2:7)
34 “For God had promised to raise Him from the dead, not leaving Him to rot in the grave. He said, ‘I will give You the sacred blessings I promised to David. 35 Another psalm explains it more fully:
‘You will not allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.’ (Psalm 16:10)
36 This is not in reference to David, for after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed. 37 No, it was a reference to someone else – someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay.”
Luke 20:32 says, “…the promise was made to our ancestors…” But the Sadducees did not study past Deuteronomy, so it’s possible they did not have the knowledge of the promises given to their ancestors by the prophets of the Old Testament, they would not have read the Book of Psalms or the Books from Isaiah or Jeremiah, or any of the other prophets.
Jesus’ reply in verses 20:34-36 gave several answers to their inquiry…
- Marriage is for people on earth
- In the resurrection they will neither be married nor be given in marriage
- They will be like angels
- They are children of God and children of the resurrection
Marriage on earth between man and woman is primarily for procreation, in the age to come, after the resurrection of the dead, there won’t be any need for procreation as we will live for eternity. Our role will then be fulfilled as children of the Almighty God.
In Romans 8:23 it says,
“…We, too, wait in eager hope for the day when God will give us full rights as His adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us….”
Also in 1 Corinthians 15:53-54 it says,
“For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
‘Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting?’” (Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14)
Jesus continues His response in Luke 20:37-38…
37 “But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—even Moses proved this when he wrote about the burning bush. Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, he referred to the Lord as ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38 So He is the God of the living, not the dead, for they are all alive to Him.”
The Sadducees absolutely revered Moses, his words were the absolute authority to them. Knowing this, Jesus points out that even Moses believed in the resurrection of the dead. Here is what one Bible Commentary had to say about this:
- Jesus gave an argument for the resurrection based on the law of Moses. At the burning bush God had said: ‘I—the God of Abraham’ (Ex. 3:6). In a Hebrew sentence of this kind, there was no verb expressed, and Jesus was implying that the present form of the verb ‘I am’ must be supplied (as in the Greek translation of the OT), showing that God still said that He was the God of Abraham centuries after his death—with the implication that Abraham was still alive and able to worship Him. The God who was Abraham’s God during his lifetime would not let death interrupt the relationship but would resurrect him.
When Abraham, Isaac and Jacob gave their last breaths here on earth, it says here in verses 20:37-38 that they were alive and worshiping God in Heaven.
It was important for Jesus to get the point across that God is “…the God of the living, not the dead, for they are all alive to Him.”
So when we die, we are alive in Christ. Our bodies are transformed so we will live for eternity!
But things that we know here on earth will be different in Heaven. Our primary intention will be to worship the Lord!
In verses 20:39-40 we have the final remarks from the Sadducees,
39 “Well said, Teacher!” remarked some of the teachers of religious law who were standing there. 40 And then no one dared to ask Him any more questions.
They were satisfied by the responses Jesus had given them.
In our study of the Word of God, we too, should be satisfied with what we hear from Jesus and all the other prophets and apostles throughout the Scriptures.
This portion of Luke 20 was quite heavy, my prayer is that the Lord would give us understanding as we study His Word.
Praying for you all!
~AMEN~