The Resurrection of the Dead

Matthew 22:23-33

a. The Setup (22:23-28)

b. The Correction (22:29-33) 1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. The Setup (22:23-28)

i. Verse 23 on that day, the Sadducees came to Jesus and questioned Him. It’s interesting here that it states that the Sadducees say there is no resurrection. This is how we know that the Sadducees were different than the Pharisees. The Pharisees were split on the resurrection. There were some that believed in the resurrection and others who didn’t believe in it. It’s ironic because up to this point, Jesus has mentioned that He would be killed and raised 3 times prior. In the book of Matthew, Jesus will proclaim this 4 times ( Matthew 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; 26:2). Clearly nobody understood what Jesus was talking about, not even the disciples.

ii. But clearly, here in verse 23, it tells us that the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection. So they came to Jesus to question Him and in verse 24, it tells us the question. They ask in verse 24, teacher, Moses said. They revert back to the Law and they go to Deuteronomy 25:5. If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry his wife and raise up children for his brother.

iii. The most interesting thing about this law in Deuteronomy that I realized and studied was that, the brother who had to marry the wife, would have to marry the wife even if he was married. Being married didn’t make you exempt from this responsibility. If your brother died, even if you were married, you had to marry his wife and raise the children. If she didn’t have children, then you had to have children with her and raise them as your own.

iv. If the man does not take the wife as his wife, then she shall go to the elders and tell them and they will pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face and the wife shall say that this man does not build up his brother’s house and in Israel, this man shall be called the house of him whose sandal is removed (Deut 25:6-10). What we see from this is, that this man will be shamed for not taking up the responsibility of prolonging the name of the family.

v. We see a similar instance of this take place in Genesis 38:1-10 where Judah, the brother of Joseph had a son named Er, and a second son named Onan and a third son Shelah (38:1-5). In verse 6, Judah took a wife for Er and her name was Tamar. Er did evil in the sight of the Lord so He took Er’s life. So in verse 8, Judah tells Onan, go and take your brother’s wife and have children with her but Onan didn’t want to have children with her because he knew that those children would not be his so God took Onan’s life as well.

vi. This is a very interesting story but what we see here is that, this was a big deal. It was a big deal to keep the law so when the Sadducees bring this case to Jesus, they wanted to see Jesus’s stance on this law. Jesus would have known about the story of Onan and Er so they were laying the trap.

vii. Similar to the previous Herodians, the Sadducees were arguing through the Torah and the Law to show that Jesus was a false teacher. So they say in verse 25-27 that there were seven brothers and they all married this wife because each brother died. So in the end, in verse 27, the woman died as well.

viii. So the question is, in the resurrection, who’s wife of the seven will she be? If they all married her, because each son died, who’s wife will she be? In the Sadducee’s mind, this question is unanswerable and it will discredit Jesus. Jesus will have to say something that others will disagree with and turn their favor against Jesus. An irony here is that, they quote it as the resurrection. It’s interesting because they didn’t believe in a resurrection, but they believed in it for their example. To be fair, they might believe in the resurrection, but they certainly didn’t believe in the significance of the resurrection. Most likely the Sadducees believed that if there is a resurrection, their lives are exactly the same.

ix. Again, their question is, if all the brothers die, and they are resurrected, who’s wife is she suggests the idea that nothing in the resurrection is different than life here. You would still live the same life and there’s nothing different in the resurrection. This is the point in which Jesus would show the Sadducees in which they misunderstood.

b. The Correction (22:29-33)

i. Verse 29, Jesus finally responds. Jesus says you are mistaken, there’s something fundamentally you are misunderstanding about the Scriptures, and the power of God. What could they be misunderstanding? These people were people who studied the scriptures and who’s whole life is founded upon the study of Scripture. They studied extensively on the books of Moses and yet, as we saw in verse 23, they denied the Resurrection. They were the modern day deists.

ii. Who were deists? Deists believed in a rational, creator God—often termed a "Great Watchmaker"—who established natural laws for the universe but did not intervene in human affairs. Emerging during the Enlightenment, they rejected supernatural elements like miracles, divine revelation, and scripture, favoring reason and observation of nature over organized religion.

iii. This philosophy heavily influenced many of the German theologians like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and others. One of the most significant theologians that was impacted by this was Friedrich Schleiermacher. Schleiermacher is known to be the father of modern liberal theology. He is best known for reconciling Christian faith with modern culture, initiating modern liberal theology. He defined piety as a feeling of "absolute dependence" rather than merely doctrinal adherence.

iv. This becomes the groundwork for Pentecostalism which focuses on feeling rather than doctrinal truth. He has heavy influence on other liberal theologians like Bultmann and Bonhoeffer. This has major impact in the church today where many denominations put their experience over the truth of God’s word. This is why people ultimately resort to saying that the Bible can’t say certain things because I don’t agree with it because it doesn’t make me feel good about myself.

v. Why is this important? Because the Sadducees were the first deists. They did not believe in the resurrection because it didn’t align with their philosophy. They could not accept the resurrection because they believed in natural laws. They denied the supernatural and could not accept that someone who dies can rise from the dead. They did not believe in miracles. This is why Jesus says you don’t understand the power of God.

vi. So in verse 30, what is the power of God? In the resurrection. When is this? This is after the people are risen from the dead, in Heaven. In Heaven, nobody is married. People in Heaven are like angels because they don’t marry or procreate. We are eternal. What’s important to recognize here is that, Jesus says that marriage will not exist in Heaven, but not love. Love will persist in Heaven, because we will have love for Him. We will even love each other. But what we won’t have is marriage. But the problem here is, what Jesus indicts the Sadducees of is, that their experience in life is the measure as to what is to come.

vii. What is the significance of this statement here in verse 32. Jesus quotes Exodus 3:6. Why is this chapter important? This is the scene where Moses climbs up Mount Horeb and he is met by the angel of the Lord who came as a blazing fire in a bush. He tells Moses to take off his sandals (3:5) for he is standing in holy ground. Then He says that I am the God of your fathers. Why is this significant? Because Exodus 3 doesn’t make any sense or should not make any sense to the Sadducees. How could a bush that is covered in fire, not be consumed? How do the Sadducees who don’t believe in the supernatural actually believe this to be true? This is why it makes sense here that when God speaks, He says what? That He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

viii. What is the significance of this phrase here, that He is not the God of the dead, but of the living? First, we see that Jesus quotes the Pentateuch which is the first five books of Moses and it was where the Sadducees accepted as the authoritative word of God. They could not deny that Jesus was not quoting what God had written through Moses. So upon that foundation, Jesus states that He is not the God of the dead but of the living.

ix. What does this mean? It means that God’s covenant, His promises don’t terminate by death. God extends His faithfulness through death unto life. What God is saying through this statement is, that even if we die, God’s faithfulness continues on through death unto life. God’s promises are not forsaken because of death. This is the significance of the resurrection. It is that despite death’s stronghold on men, God’s power is greater than the power of death. But not only that, it is not strictly about the fact that all those who die will stay dead. No, it is directly speaking to the reality that He will die soon and rise. Remember, Jesus had just told the Pharisees and the Herodians that He would be killed, that they will kill Him. He reminds them through the parable of the Landowner and the parable of the Marriage feast, that the son of God will be killed. And that they were trying to lay a trap on Jesus to murder Him. In that same way, the Son of Man will be killed, and now He is talking about resurrection. He will be killed and will rise, and yet the Sadducees could not accept this.

x. What does this mean for us? A major theme in my life lately has been joy in Christ. I’ve been mediating on joy in Christ. When times get hard, it is good for our soul because it enables us to soul search. It causes us to look deep within to see what is it that we believe in. In this season, I’ve been trying to see the good that God is doing in my life. Dr. Montoya lectured us telling us that when God refines us, He is doing so to bring about the person that God wants us to be. As I go through this season, I want to find joy through my difficulties. It’s not just going through it and dreading it, but finding joy.

xi. Yesterday we went through Hebrews 12:2 and it says that Jesus who for the joy set before Him endured the cross. There was a greater joy that He was looking forward to which caused Him to endure the cross. Romans 8:18, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. This is our hope and joy. Even as we go through hard times, there is hope and joy set before us. What is that hope? It is that I am and will be with my Savior. Living the Christian life should not be a burden. It should be a joy.

xii. What is the significance of this section here? We can be like the Sadducees and deny the existence of the supernatural. Yes, we believe in the resurrection, but do we? If we don’t have joy and hope, do we believe in the resurrection?  The practical implication of hope and joy comes from knowing that even if my life here is hard, I have eternity with Christ. Joy must look to the resurrection which enables us to not lose heart.

xiii. So much of our lives, we complain about things that are going on when we face difficulties. We struggle to live with joy and eventually become hardened and think it’s okay to be this way. It’s okay that we are sour and that becomes our disposition. We become negative people because we are jaded by reality and life. We fall prey to our logic.

xiv. It’s easy for us to believe God logically and think logically and this is why we don’t pray. It’s easy to reason and think about our problems and believe that God is too big for my problems. We think that God won’t answer our prayers. We think that God is not interested in my life.

xv. Well let me take you to Numbers 14. In Numbers 12, Moses marries an Ethiopian woman (12:1) and Aaron and Miriam complain. God comes down and talks to Moses, Miriam and Aaron (12:5) and it says in 12:9 that the anger of the Lord burned against them then a cloud withdrew over the tent and Miriam became leprous (12:10). So Aaron turns to his sister Miriam and cries to his brother Moses and begs for her. So Moses cries to God to heal her (12:13) and He heals her.

xvi. Numbers 13, this chapter is where certain men were chosen to spy in the land of Canaan. He sends out the spies in 13:17 and he says go scout the land. See if we can live there. So they go up in 13:21 and then in 13:25, they report the land after 40 days of scouting. They come back and say it is the land of milk and honey (13:27) so Caleb says we should go and take the land (13:30) but the men who scouted the land say in verse 13, that we can’t go because of the people who live there.

xvii. So in Numbers 14, they cry and weep. The people of Israel rebel against Moses and Aaron, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or that we would have died in the wilderness. Why would the Lord bring us to this land to fall to the sword? So in verse 4, they say let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt. The people were willing to go back to slavery instead of dying here.

xviii. So Joshua comes up and says that the land that the Lord has given us is good. If the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us into the land and give it to us (14:8). What does this sound like? It sounds like us. We face adversity and we don’t trust in God. We become like Sadducees and reason through our logic and fail to see God. Therefore, we complain and rebel and give up.

xix. So what do the people do? In 14:10, they try to kill Moses and Aaron and his supporters. So the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting before the sons of Israel. God responds to Moses and tells them, how long will you not believe in Me? God says that He will punish them and that He will slay these people. So Moses intercedes on behalf of the people and in 14:20-21, the Lord says to Moses, I have pardoned them according to your word.

xx. Verse like 14:20-21 help dispel this idea that prayer doesn’t change the heart of God. It dispels this notion that we are left to our own devices. God promises that He will be with us and demands that we trust in Him. He will listen to us when we pray to Him. We can’t be like the Sadducees who have given up on the supernatural. The Christian life is a life of supernatural power.

3. CONCLUSION