A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on September 27, 2026.
There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.” And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” For they no longer dared to ask him any question (Luke 20:27–40).[1]
In the preceding passage, Jesus stumped and silenced the nefarious spies, brilliantly responding to their question, whether to pay Rome’s tax or not. You will recall his memorable response: “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (20:25). What is and is properly due Caesar is under the ultimate authority of God. And everything, including life itself, is God’s. Jesus’ answer, Luke tells us, left them marveling in silence.[2]
But the silence didn’t last long before Jesus was approached with another question, this time from the Sadducees. Less referenced in the Gospels than the Pharisees, the Sadducees were no less important. They were the ruling aristocracy and governing party of first-century Israel. They were also materialists, those who did not believe in the spiritual realm, or angels, or the resurrection. For the Sadducees, life was this life alone, concluding at death.
Their religion was one of heritage and societal benefit, excluding the rewards of heaven. They held to a literal interpretation of the Mosaic law, subscribing to the necessity of its form and function. They even served priestly functions in temple worship, including the office of high priest.
Like some today, they saw great benefit in living the faith of their fathers, even if they didn’t have faith in the God of their fathers. And we see this clearly in the question they ask Jesus.
Perhaps impressed with Jesus’ previous answer regarding Caesar’s tax, they pose a theoretical scenario, likely posed many times before, followed by a question:
“. . . if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife” (20:28-33).
In its original context, the passage deals with lineage not marriage, so what is their intent in all of this? To validate their denial of a resurrection from the dead. In other words, it is a question shaped by unbelief.
A Question Shaped by Unbelief (28-33)
We often think of the answer to a question as the revelation, but in this case the question itself is revealing. It comes in the form of what J.C. Ryle calls “a favorite weapon of sceptics,”[3] a supposed case, a theoretical question. Derived from the law in Deuteronomy 25, the premise is the protection of a family line. Since the family line was established by the father, having no children meant his lineage ceased at his death. This presented a problem not only in name but in land and wealth. But if the surviving brother married his sister-in-law he could provide for her and perpetuate his brother’s lineage.
In the Sadducee’s sad scenario, though the widow was married inexplicably seven times, the hope of progeny ceased at her death. But we need not analyze their scenario too deeply, because their concern is not for the widow or a family’s lineage. The scenario is a set-up to refute the resurrection. And so, they ask, “In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be?” Will she be married to the first or the last, or maybe one in between? It was a conundrum the Sadducees presumed proved the fallacy of life after death.
But before we consider Jesus’ response, let us consider the integrity of their question. Any time someone uses the Bible to undermine biblical truth, we should immediately question their intent. Knowing, according to Luke, that they deny the resurrection, it is clear their question is shaped by their unbelief. But Jesus does not respond to their question merely to prove them wrong. There is something greater at stake here than winning an argument, namely the gospel.
The gospel is the good news that sinners, like you and me, may be forgiven of our sin and reconciled to God through faith in Jesus, his righteous life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection. “But,” the apostle Paul says, “if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. . . . And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:13, 17). In other words, if there is no resurrection, then Jesus’ death accomplished nothing, his life leaves merely the memory of a good man, but, there is no good news for sinners. Thankfully, as the historical records reflects, “in fact Christ has been raised from the dead” (1 Cor. 15:20), and so will all who trust in him. Therefore, we should not hear Jesus’ response to the Sadducees as simply theoretical banter but as gospel necessity.
A Life Greater than Today (34-36)
Now, listen closely to Jesus’ response: “‘The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection’” (20:34-36). He continues onward with an expositional proof, but it’s this direct response to their question that I want us to consider first. Note first the distinction between the “sons of this age” and “that age,” life as we know it today and eternal life. There is a life, for all who believe on Christ, greater than today. This age is not that age; there is a difference between life on earth and eternal life in heaven. For example, and in keeping with the Sadducee’s scenario, there is marriage for some in this age but for none in the next. God’s elect in eternity will “neither marry nor are given in marriage,” as the purpose of marriage is fulfilled for Christ’s bride at the resurrection. Therefore, the premise of the Sadducees’ question is false, because the widow and her seven husbands will not be married.
Let me pause here and acknowledge that this may be disconcerting for those of us who have enjoyed happy marriages. But we need not interpret Jesus’ words as dismissive of our happy relationships but rather understand that he is revealing something about eternal life, “as we look,” Paul says, “not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18). The right understanding of marriage in this age, with all its joys, is it ultimately “refers to Christ and the church” (Eph. 5:32). Our Christian marriages should preach Christ and him crucified today, for we will be married to Christ for all eternity. In the eternal kingdom, when every believer has been “raised up in glory,” we shall not only be “openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment” but also “made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.”[4] We will all enjoy perfect union with God, so we will not experience marital loss but heaven’s gain.
Now, returning to our passage, note second what Jesus says about those who “attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead”: They are “those who are considered worthy” (20:35). But who are those who are worthy? Is anyone worthy of heaven? Scripture is quite clear: “‘None is righteous, no, not one . . . no one does good, not even one’”; and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:10-12, 23). Since no heir of Adam is worthy, Jesus must be referring to an alien worthiness, imputed to us by one who is worthy. And there is only One, Jesus Christ the righteous, who not only atoned for our sin upon the cross but also imputed his righteousness to us, secured for all eternity through his resurrection. We, who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, are considered worthy to inherit eternal life for the sake of Christ alone.
Thirdly, note that Jesus says we are “equal to angels” in our immortality. This does not mean we become angels but, like them, it will be impossible for us to “die anymore” (20:36). In addition to immortality, one commentator notes other points of comparison: “Angels were made for the glory of God, and so are we. Angels devote their worship to God, and so do we, if we know the living God. Unfallen angels never sin, and neither will we, when we finally reach the glories of heaven.”[5] But the main point of comparison is just as angels never die nor will we.
Fourthly, note that Jesus says we “are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection” (20:36). Though every human being is created by God, not everyone is a child of God. In fact, apart from God’s grace in Christ, Scripture says we were alienated from and enemies of God.[6] It is only by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit that we are “born again” (John 3:8) and so become the children of God. It is only by God’s gracious redemption that we are adopted as his own. And we are redeemed alone by Christ’s atoning death and victorious resurrection. And as he was resurrected from the dead so will we be. We are then not left to the wages of our sin but are children “of the resurrection” (20:36), to be resurrected from the dead on the last day and “made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.”[7]
But the question Jesus was asked denied all of this, because the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection (20:27). And this denial informed more than their question and presumption. They denied heaven, hell, and human immortality. According to Josephus, they believed, “The soul perishes along with the body.”[8] And this belief informed their hearts, their minds, how they lived, and how they worshiped. They were dead spiritually and so was their religion.
But Jesus addresses none of this, because their traits are merely symptoms of something greater. They did not believe in the resurrection, because they did not believe in a living God. Though they regarded the Scriptures, they did not regard the God of the Scriptures. And so, Jesus says to them, as Matthew records it, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matt. 22:29). Therefore, the true and living God is the God who raised the dead.
A God Who Raises the Dead (37-40)
To be clear, Jesus is not saying they are not students of the Scriptures. But their understanding of Scripture is faulty, likely because of preconceived notions about the spiritual realm. They did, in fact, know the text of the Torah well, and they were convinced that not one of the five books contained evidence of a resurrection. But Jesus proves them wrong, saying, “But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him” (20:37-38).
Jesus takes them to a familiar passage in Exodus, where Moses stands barefooted before a burning bush, and the Lord reveals himself saying, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:6). Jesus draws their attention to the fact that God does not say, “I was,” but “I am,” present tense. In context, God was telling Moses something about himself: He is not a dead and lifeless idol of a bygone era. He is the eternal God, Creator of heaven and earth, who remembers his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (Ex. 2:24), those who received and believed the promises of God, and who continue to live.
As the Lord is God today, so he is the Lord of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for all eternity. Were this not true, then he would merely be the God of men who no longer exist. But “he is not God of the dead, but of the living” (20:38).
And how does believing he is God of the living tell us about the truth of the resurrection? Consider God’s covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: a Promised Land, where not one of them settled, and then they died; promised children, like the stars in the sky or sand of the seashore, that they did not see, and then they died; God promised them the nations, but all three only lived nomadic lives in a small part of the world, and then they died. Did God fail to fulfill his covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? If the soul perishes along with the body, then yes, God failed. But he didn’t.
He who promised is faithful, and he who is faithful is the living God. And when the dead are raised to new life in glory, these men along with all who trusted in the promises fulfilled in Christ, will enter the eternal Promised Land. We will be joined in the eternal city by multitudes upon multitudes of their promised children. And all of us, from every tribe, tongue, and nation, very much alive, will worship the true and living God as one!
Jesus confronted the unbelieving Sadducees then with this truth, and he confronts us today. While we may believe in heaven, hell, life after death, and the resurrection, how often do we live like this world is all there is? How often do we treasure our relationships in this life more than our relationship with Christ? How often is our hope bound up in what we want today rather than hope in the resurrection? How often does our sinful flesh distract us with the immediate leading us to forget about the eternal.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, there are indeed beautiful things about this life. But we need not deny the blessings of God today to fix our hearts on the pleasures of heaven. This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it (Ps. 118:24). And we rejoice and are glad in it, because God is “preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17). Amen.
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
(Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] Luke 20:26
[3] J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke, Vol. 2 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), 252.
[4] The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 38, https://opc.org/sc.html.
[5] Philip Graham Ryken, Luke, Vol. 2 (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2009), 381.
[6] Col. 1:21-22
[7] The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 38, https://opc.org/sc.html.
[8] Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews and The Wars of the Jews, quoted in Philip Graham Ryken, Luke, Vol. 2 (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2009), 375.
