Author: Bill Hall

But those who are counted worthy to obtain that age, and the resurrection of the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage.

Luke 20:35

It is very interesting how Jesus words this. We often use the terminology, ‘those who are saved’ but the redeemed are referred to in many ways in the New Testament, and we should learn from them all. Jesus is not teaching works salvation here, but He is highlighting the fact that the saved are considered ‘worthy’, meaning that the work of grace made possible by the cross does include justification. Justification is the key to understanding how imperfect people are made perfect by the blood of Christ. And, thus, due to the righteousness imputed to the saints, we are accounted ‘worthy’ to obtain that future resurrection.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the many things You teach us in Your Word. You have given us so much to consider and learn from. Almost daily I am presented with things from Scripture I had never before considered. Thank you for the constant stream of Your beautiful wisdom and understanding from Your Truth! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Answering, Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage,”

Luke 20:34

Marriage is a function of our current situation. The Lord has given it to us as a picture of His working in our lives. It is the best illustration of the relationship between Christ and the church that we have on this earth. It is not planned as an eternal institution. There are several things that the New Testament confirms we will be doing in our future eternal state. Marrying and procreating are not among these.

Heavenly Father, thank You for marriage! You are wise and good and have given us such a wonderful thing in marriage. It brings us closer to you, and closer to another person than we would otherwise be. What a joy! Your love for us is great to give us this freedom. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Therefore, in the ressurrection, whose wife does she become? For, the seven had her as wife.

Luke 20:33

Here is their conclusion for this strange thought project. The Sadducees very likely used this particular puzzle regularly to confound their opponents. They were impressed by their own cleverness and did not expect Christ to respond the way He did.

Heavenly Father, thank You for today and for Your blessings! Each day that we open our eyes and walk into a new day is a gift from You. I can never thank You enough for Your mercy, peace, grace, and love! You are amazing! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

And after all of them, the woman died also.

Luke 20:32

The idea here is to set up a conundrum. Due to the misinterpretation of some passages of the Old Testament, the Sadducees thought they saw inconsistencies. Since the husband and the wife become ‘one flesh’, they wondered how that would carry over into the afterlife. This puzzle would exist if just two brothers had been married to the woman. But seven made the issue seem more impactful.

Heavenly Father, Your wisdom is a great comfort to us! Thank You for loving us and giving us Your wisdom in Your book. You alone have given us the answers we need. Thank You! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

And the third received her just the same; in this manner the also did the seven, they left no children and died.

Luke 20:31

What an epidemic! In any case the point is to set up a logic trap to support the belief of the Sadducees that life after death was not biblical. They were no doubt impressed by their own cleverness.

Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding us that You are in control. No matter what we want, we can be sure that You will be leading if we will be listening. And, we know that You have supplied to Your children power through walking in the Spirit by Your grace. Thank You! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

And the second took the wife, and he died childless.

Luke 20:30

This is where the Sadducees story begins to take on its true nature. Though theoretically possible, it is not very likely that this scenario actually happened. At the level of the second or third brother might be plausible, but all seven is a bit of a stretch.

Thus we see that the Sadducees were introducing one of those ‘what if’ arguments intended to confound their hearers. For example this is much like the old ‘if God can do anything, what if God makes a rock so big He cannot lift it’ scenario. The solution to that one is our human limitations surrounding the understanding of infinity. In the same way, the Sadducees had created this conundrum which really did not have the sharp point to it that they had hoped for.

Heavenly Father, in our human limitations, we think we know so much that we really do not understand. Thank You for helping us see Truth that would otherwise alude us because we get enamored with logical fallacies. Life can be scary, but You do not change and You are abundant in loving kindness. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

There were seven brothers; and, the first born took a wife, and died childless.

Luke 20:29

At this point the story of the Sadducees is clear and is something that may have happened regularly in Israel at the time. Many sons was very desirable and not uncommon.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your revelation of Yourself to us. Even though we don’t often think about it, the consequences of evil also show us that You are real. Pain, death, sorrow, poverty, and the corruption of evil people all remind us that this world is not what it should be. Though it is hard to do, I thank You for it. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Saying, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies having a wife, and the brother dies childless, that he should take his brother’s wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’

Luke 20:28

This command comes from Deuteronomy 25:5-10 and the Sadducees are not incorrect up to this point.

Heavenly Father, You are perfect! Your are powerful! You are pure! Thank You for power in our lives through the Spirit. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Then some of the Sadducees, who speak against there being a resurrection, approached to put a question to Him,

Luke 20:27

The Sadducees were different from the Pharisees. For all the things Jesus had to say about the Pharisees, the Sadducees were even further from the truth due to their interpretations of Scripture. They rejected the idea of human bodies resurrecting, and they did not accept the concept of the Spirit of God indwelling anyone.

The only possible reason they would have had to ask this question would be to try and make Jesus unpopular. Unless, they just did it for the fun of it. Either way, it backfired.

Heavenly Father, thank You for helping us see the error of our ways. Without Your revelation, we would all live lives full of corruption. You are the Pure One. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

And they were not able to catch Him in his words in the presence of the people. And, being silent, they marvelled at His answer.

Luke 20:26

Being silent is an exercise all of humanity could use practice at. Of course, these folks were silent simply because they had no idea what to say.

It is best if even the servants of God understand that His wisdom is such that we will always find ourselves holding our hand to our mouth at some point.

Heavenly Father, thank You for caring for our souls! You give us Your peace and truth and love and for that we are eternally grateful. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.