Resurrection of the Dead

Please open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 22.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand.

! We'd love to give you a copy that you can have.

My name is Sean, one of the pastors of Trinity Cambridge Church.

My great joy and privilege to preach God's word to you this morning.

We've been going through a series through the Gospel of Matthew.

We're nearing the end of it now, chapter 22.

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.

Heavenly Father,

we've gathered not to

hear the words of men,

but to incline our hearts and ears

toward the words of God.

So we open up your word together.

We ask that you speak to us as you always do.

Your word is living and active

and thereby demonstrate that you are

the living God.

Lord,

do that for everyone here who do not yet know you,

all those who doubt your power.

Reveal yourself.

Glorify your name.

Make those who are spiritually dead here this morning

awake and live

as they hear the voice

of the risen Lord

calling them.

In Jesus' name,

we pray.

Amen.

If you are able to stand,

please stand and join me

as I read Matthew 22,

23 to 33

to honor God

as we read from his word.

Amen.

The same day,

Sadducees came to him

who say that there is no resurrection.

And they asked him a question saying,

Teacher,

Moses said,

if a man dies having no children,

his brother must marry the widow

and raise up offspring for his brother.

Now,

there were seven brothers among us.

The first married and died

and having no offspring left his wife to his brother.

So two,

the second and third,

down to the seventh.

After them all,

the woman died.

In the resurrection,

therefore,

of the seven,

whose wife will she be?

For they all had her.

But Jesus answered them,

you are wrong

because you know neither the scriptures

nor the power of God.

For in the resurrection,

they neither marry

nor are given in marriage,

but are like angels in heaven.

And as for the resurrection of the dead,

have you not read

what was said to you by God?

I am the God of Abraham

and the God of Isaac

and the God of Jacob.

He is not God of the dead,

but of the living.

And when the crowd heard it,

they were astonished at his teaching.

This is God's holy

and authoritative word.

Please be seated.

Every major religion in the world

seeks to answer

three overarching questions,

at least three overarching questions

regarding humanity.

One is,

where did we come from?

Another is,

how should we live?

And another is,

where are we going after we die?

What happens to us after we die?

Our origin,

our morality,

and our destiny.

This passage hones in

on the third question.

What happens after we die?

A famous atheist,

Christopher Hitchens,

was asked this question

whether he fears death or not.

And he answered,

I am not afraid of being dead

because there's nothing

to be afraid of.

I won't know it.

I fear dying.

It's something to be terrified of.

He believed that there's nothing after death.

He would simply cease to exist.

So then,

what is there to be afraid?

He won't be aware of anything.

He won't be alive to know it.

But he was afraid of how he might die,

what the dying process might entail.

But,

even if a quick,

painless death

could be guaranteed,

it would not completely dispel

the fear of mortality

and existential angst

that plague

everyone

who doesn't know God.

There's only one true solution

to the fear of death,

and that is

knowledge of the God

of the living.

And the main point

I want to drive home

to you this morning

is this,

our God is the God

of the living

who raises the dead.

First,

I'll talk about life.

Secondly,

I'll talk about the afterlife.

And thirdly,

I'll talk about resurrection life.

I'm going to spend

probably most of the time

in the first point.

Let's talk about life,

how our future death

affects the way we live

in the present moment.

In the preceding passage,

we saw how the Herodians

and the Pharisees

tried to team up

to trip Jesus up

and to get him

into trouble

with the authorities.

They failed.

And in our passage today,

the Sadducees

take a stab at it

themselves.

The Sadducees

were a rival

Jewish religious faction

to the Pharisees.

According to

first century

Jewish Roman historian

Josephus,

the Pharisees

were more popular

among the common people,

but the Sadducees

dominated the ruling classes,

the elites.

They made up

the majority

of the Sanhedrin,

which was the highest

Jewish religious,

political,

and legal council.

And Matthew explains

in verse 23

that the Sadducees

say there is

no resurrection.

This is an abbreviated

summary of the Sadducees'

theological position.

Luke tells us

in Acts 23, 8

that in fact,

the Sadducees say

that there is

no resurrection,

nor angel,

nor spirit,

but the Pharisees

acknowledged them all.

The idea of souls

or spirits

or angels

are intimately connected

to belief

in the resurrection.

These beliefs

go hand in hand.

They form an

interrelated

constellation

of beliefs.

Let me explain

to you what I mean.

Take Buddhism

and Hinduism,

for example.

They believe

that human life

consists of

an endless cycle

called samsara.

Every creature

that dies

is reincarnated

into another life form

and continues

that endless cycle.

And because

they believe in that,

they believe in

dharma

and karma.

If every creature

is reincarnated,

then what determines

the new form

that they take

in the new life,

in the next life?

If they follow

the dharma,

which they believe

is the universal duty

and order of nature,

and then karma,

which is the universal law

of cause and effect

or retribution,

will dictate

a higher form of life

if you follow

the dharma.

But if you did not

follow the dharma,

then karma will dictate

that you take on

a lower form of life

in your reincarnation.

And this belief

in reincarnation

requires that

the most consistent

and logical form

of Buddhism

and Hinduism

become vegetarian.

Most idealistic forms

of Buddhism

and Hinduism.

because the chicken

that you eat

can be a reincarnation

of your dead uncle.

You see,

one belief

depends on another.

And they form

this interrelated

constellation of beliefs.

It's the same

for the Sadducees.

So,

Pharisees,

if you can call them

dualists,

they believe

that the soul

and the body exist.

They are one

in a living person,

but they can be separated.

They're distinct.

Sadducees were monists,

meaning that they believed

that a person

was made up of

just only the body

and the soul

that's within the body,

they cannot ever

be separated.

They're not distinct.

And so,

when a person dies,

they simply cease

to exist.

Like Christopher Hitchens.

There can be

no disembodied soul

separate from the body

in the afterlife,

according to their belief.

And if there is

no soul

that continues

to live

after physical death,

then that makes

resurrection

all but impossible

in their worldview.

You can think of it

like a seed.

Even if,

like a dead body,

the seed is buried

deep into the ground,

as long as there's

still life in it,

when the rain falls on it

and the warmth of the sun

shines on it,

this seed will sprout

new life again

and grow a new body.

However,

if the seed itself

is dead,

not dormant,

but dead,

it will never sprout.

Similarly,

if there is

no living soul

after physical death,

then there is

no prospect

of resurrection life

in the Sadducees' belief.

This is why

they say

that there is

no resurrection,

nor angel,

nor spirit.

Their disbelief,

their materialistic belief,

lack of belief

in the spiritual realm

and spirits

leads to their disbelief

in the resurrection.

And so,

in this passage,

when they speak

of the resurrection,

they are actually speaking

of the afterlife

in general

and not specifically

about the bodily

resurrection

at the end of the age.

But wait a minute,

don't the Sadducees,

aren't they Jews?

Don't they believe

in the Old Testament?

What about Daniel

Daniel 12:2

chapter 12,

verse 2?

It says explicitly,

and many of those

who sleep in the dust

of the earth

shall awake,

some to everlasting life

and some to shame

and everlasting contempt.

Clearly,

there is life after death

according to the Bible.

What about

Genesis 35, 18?

It says that while

Rachel was giving birth

to Benjamin,

her soul was departing.

They would just

dismiss that

as metaphor.

Or 1 Kings 17, 22,

when Elijah raises

the dead son

of the widow of Zarephath,

it says literally

that the soul

of the child

came into him again

and he revived.

Right?

In all of these instances,

the Old Testament

teaches clearly

that there is

a post-mortem existence

of the soul.

The soul exists

apart from the body

after physical death.

Or what about

1 Samuel 28,

the famous passage

where the witch

of Endor

calls up

the soul of Samuel

from the dead.

The Bible speaks

repeatedly and clearly

about the immortality

of the soul

in this sense

and resurrection

from the dead.

However,

the Sadducees

were fundamentalists.

They believe

that only the first

five books

of the Old Testament

were inspired by God.

The books written

by Moses,

the Pentateuch,

that Jews call

the Torah.

Genesis,

Exodus,

Leviticus,

Numbers,

Deuteronomy.

And because of this,

they were able

to dismiss

all of the main

Old Testament passages

that address

the resurrection.

And the Sadducees

were quite convinced

and snobby

in their beliefs.

They rejected

and ridiculed

the Pharisaic belief

in spirits

and the resurrection

as syncretistic

and as superstitious.

So it's no surprise

that when they come

to test Jesus,

they go to their

pet topic,

their favorite subject.

And I'm sure

they've asked

this question

many times

to other Jews

and to the Pharisees

in debate

and they did not

answer this question

satisfactorily

to their liking.

And so they go back

to their,

to the tools

that they know.

Ha, we know

what question

to ask Jesus.

The Pharisees

could never answer

this question

so let's pose

to him the same question.

Expose just

how silly

is this belief

in spirits

and the angels

and resurrection.

They say

in verse 24,

Teacher,

Moses said,

because they only

believe in the Moses books,

five books,

if a man dies

having no children,

his brother must

marry the widow

and raise up offspring

for his brother.

They're alluding here

to a passage

like Deuteronomy 25

which stipulate

levirate marriage.

If a man dies

without leaving children,

then it was his brother's

duty to continue

his name and line

by producing children

for him

by taking his brother's

surviving wife,

the widow,

as his own wife.

This was important

because the children

would,

not having children

would mean

that you would be

blotted out

permanently

from the nation

of Israel.

How so?

Because normally

inherent is passed

down through the male heir

and if there's no heir

to receive,

Numbers 27 specified,

God said,

if you don't have

a male heir,

you can pass it

on to your daughters

but if you have

neither sons

nor daughters,

then you have

no one to pass

your land to,

it goes to your brother

and then you don't

have anyone

to carry on

your name

and you don't

have any land

within the promised

land of God

in your name

and that means

you are excluded

from the covenant

of God.

So this is why

Le'Veeret marriage

was,

it existed

and it was important

for the Jews

to be cut off

from that generation,

the generations

of Israel

would have been

a catastrophic

outcome.

So taking this

practice of Le'Veeret

marriage,

the Sadducees

framed their question

this way in verses

25 to 28,

there were seven

brothers among us,

the first married

and died

and having no offspring

left his wife

to his brother.

So to the second

and third

down to the seventh

and after them all

the woman died

in the resurrection

therefore of the seven

whose wife will she be

for they all had her.

Their question

takes the logical

form of reductio

ad absurdum,

it takes a philosophical

premise to its

logical extreme

in order to show

that doing so

results in an absurdity

and therefore proving

the premise to be false.

If it is true

that the soul

lives on after death

then what happens

to a woman

who was widowed

six times

and therefore

seven men

had been her legal

husband during her

lifetime

through Le'Veeret marriage?

In the afterlife

which one of the

seven men

is the woman

married to

or is she married

to all seven?

That's absurd.

This would have been

unthinkable for the Jews

and that's their argument.

You see your belief

in the resurrection

your belief

in spirits

and afterlife

make no sense

but our position

if you die

and you cease to exist

well that's simple

and that's neat

and it makes

perfect logical sense.

We don't have to deal

with messy

afterlife

philosophical conundrums.

For people who

don't know much

about the afterlife

this could be

a serious question.

Over 20%

of US adults

have been married

at least twice.

What happens

after they die

if they have

more than one spouse

in the afterlife?

Ed brought it

to my attention

that there's actually

a romantic comedy

that came out

last year.

It's called

Eternity.

Have you guys seen it?

I haven't seen it

but the premise

of the movie

is shamelessly

ripped off

of this Bible passage.

In the movie

a couple that

has been married

for 65 years

Larry and Joanne

die and end up

in the afterlife

where they must

each choose

where they want

to spend eternity

and complicating

this decision

is the fact

that Joanne's

first husband

to whom she was

married for two years

before he died

in war

as a soldier

in war

is also there

and he had been

waiting for her

for 67 years

so they can choose

the same place

to spend eternity

with.

Now Joanne

how romantic

must choose

which of the two

husbands to spend

eternity with

or how unromantic

rather I don't know

how you look at that.

I know it's crazy

they should list

Matthew 22

in their credits.

The Sadducees

are surely smug

at this point

they're thinking

that they've asked

Jesus an airtight

unanswerable question

but Jesus

unexpectedly

challenges

one of their

presuppositions

in verses 29

to 30

you are wrong

because

you know

neither the scriptures

nor the power

of God

for in the resurrection

they neither marry

nor are given

in marriage

but are like

angels in heaven.

There is

no marriage

in the afterlife.

We become

like angels

in heaven

who do not marry.

By saying this

Jesus is also

challenging

the Sadducees

denial of angels.

He's saying

angels do exist.

This verse

has often been

misunderstood

to mean

that when Christians

die they become

angels.

Have you guys

heard of that?

Or maybe some

of you guys

think that

that's not okay.

You may have

heard that

some people say

that after

passing of a loved

one they say

oh heaven gained

another angel.

Or if you've

ever seen

a 1940

Christmas classic

It's a Wonderful Life

it's my favorite

Christmas movie.

The dead human

Clarence

has become

an angel

and now

he must

earn his wings

by saving

George Bailey.

This is

it's a good movie

but it's bad theology.

Hebrews 1.13

says angels

are all

ministering spirits

sent out

to serve

for the sake

of those

who are to

inherit salvation.

In other words

God created angels

to serve

and minister

to humans.

Humans do not

become angels.

Angels do not

become humans.

But when humans

die we become

like angels

in the sense

that we

do not marry.

But why

is there no

marriage in heaven?

In the parallel

passage in Luke

20.34-36

Jesus is fielding

this exact same

question

it's a parallel

passage

and we get

one extra

detail from Luke.

Jesus says

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.

In the

afterlife

in heaven

there is

no more

marriage

because

Jesus says

we cannot

die

anymore.

let's

try to

follow

Jesus'

train

of

thought

why

does

no

more

death

mean

no

more

marriage

marriage

uninterrupted

by death

isn't that a

dream come true

why can't we

just be married

forever

live happily

ever after

no Jesus

says

marriage

is an

institution

that God

intended

only for

a world

where people

die

why

think of

what one of

the main

purposes

of marriage

is

God

creates

Eve

to be

a

help

meat

for

Adam

so

that

they

can

fulfill

the

cultural

mandate

to be

fruitful

and multiply

and fill

the earth

and subdue

it

in Malachi

2.15

the prophet

says that

God

brings

together

one man

and one

woman

in holy

matrimony

so that

they might

produce

godly

offspring

procreation

is not

the only

purpose

of marriage

but it

is

one of

marriage's

main

purposes

death

claims

people's

lives

every

single

day

and the

only

way to

sustain

humanity

on earth

is by

giving

birth

to

new

people

every

single

day

ten years

ago

when I

first

started

doing

premarital

counseling

it was

common

for people

in Cambridge

to worry

about

overpopulation

and minimizing

your carbon

footprint

and they

thought

it was

virtuous

to choose

not to

have

kids

this was

only ten

years ago

but that

has been

shown to

be

short

sighted

it's a

short

sighted

view

that forgets

how fragile

human life

is

in countries

like South

Korea

Taiwan

China

and Japan

the total

fertility

rates

are

perilously

low

around

one

or below

one

and that

means an

average

woman will

have one

kid

or less

which means

there are

twice as

many deaths

as there

are births

and the

total population

is halved

every generation

it's

crazy

in Japan

where the

population

has been

declining

since 2011

economists

at

Tohoku

University

established

a countdown

toward

national

extinction

estimating

that Japan

will only

have one

remaining

child

in 4,205

many of

the European

nations

are at

1.1

or 1.2

which is

not much

better

and even

here in

the US

we are

below

replacement

level

and we're

flirting

with the

first ever

population

decline

in our

history

in many

cases

falling

fertility

rates

are

directly

related

to

low

marriage

rates

because

that's

the

context

in which

most

people

have

children

more

and more

people

are

getting

married

late

and

many

are

not

getting

married

at

all

these

realities

demonstrate

the truth

of what

Jesus

is

saying

here

there

is

marriage

on

earth

because

people

die

!

procreation

is

necessary

for

humanity

survival

and

marriage

exists

in part

to ensure

that people

created in the image

of God

continue to

populate the

earth

and bring

glory

to him

but in

the absence

of death

there is

no more

need

for children

and parents

instead

there is

one

father

in heaven

God

the father

and all

of his

children

I

received

a

fundraising

letter

from

Plant

Parenthood

this

week

not

because

I've

ever

given

to

them

but

because

I

live

in

Cambridge

they

sent

to

everybody

assuming

that

it's

a

favorable

audience

in the

letter

they

boasted

that

they

have

guided

more

than

171

thousand

people

who

live

in

the

states

where

abortion

is

limited

to

out

of

state

abortion

services

since

the

landmark

Dobbs

decision

Supreme

court

decision

2022

they've

given

people

3.7

million

dollars

to

help

them

travel

to

get

an

abortion

they

boasted

that

they

completed

434

450

abortions

over

this

past

year

that's

a

half

a

million

babies

dead

and

we

live

in

a

culture

that

celebrates

that

what

is

this

but

a

culture

of

death

we

live

in

a

country

where

the

department

of

defense

posts

hype

videos

on

social

media

sharing

real

world

combat

footage

of

US

missile

strikes

in

Iran

overlaid

with

visuals

and

music

from

video

games

like

Call

of

Duty

our

doctors

talk

less

and less

about

the

sanctity

of

life

and

they

speak

more

and

more

about

quality

of

life

not

valuing

life

for

its

own

sake

but

commodifying

life

and seeing

it as

disposable

and

dispensable

when

it's

too

costly

or

burdensome

or

meaningless

this is

the mentality

that leads

to assisted

suicides

the devil

has so

deceived

us

that people

celebrate

death

sometimes

in our

culture

but

God

is

on

the

side

of

life

what

about

you

do

you

see

children

primarily

as

expenses

and

burdens

!

Or

do

you

see

them

as

blessings

as

the

Bible

does?

I'm

so

grateful

that

we

have

a

growing

number

of

children

in

our

church

with

several

more

expectant

mothers

some

of you

guys

are

very

do

there

is

no

marriage

in

the

afterlife

because

there

is

no

need

for

children

because

there

is

no

more

death

there

is

another

important

reason

it

says

in

Ephesians

531

that

a

man

and

a

woman

being

joined

together

in

marriage

through

self-giving

love

points

to

this

eternal

spiritual

union

that

we

have

between

Christ

and

the

church

as

the

book

of

Hosea

reveals

God's

intention

from

before

the

foundation

of

the

world

has

been

to

marry

off

his

son

to

his

people

the

people

of

God

to

envelop

us

by

doing

so

in

that

eternal

self-giving

trinitarian

love

and to

make

his

marriage

proposal

the

marriage

proposal

of

his

son

so

obvious

to

us

he

created

marriage

on

earth

to

be

a

picture

of

the

gospel

of

Christ

redeeming

love

for

his

people

for

his

bride

the

church

and

because

marriage

is a

picture

and a

foreshadowing

of that

greater

ultimate

reality

that we

have

in our

union

with

God

in our

marriage

to

Christ

in the

afterlife

there is

no

marriage

in the

afterlife

when

the

substance

arrives

the

shadow

fades

there is

no

need

for

shadows

there

will

no

longer

be

any

need

for

grooms

and

brides

in the

afterlife

because

Christ

will

be

our

sole

bride

groom

and

all

his

people

the

church

will

be

his

bride

perhaps

the

idea

that

there

is

no

marriage

between

man

and

woman

in

heaven

is

a

great

disappointment

to

some

of

you

!

If so

then you

need to

ask

yourself

whether

you

have

made

the

temporary

provision

of

marriage

an

ultimate

desire

in

your

heart

does

a

dream

of

being

married

to

a

certain

kind

of

man

or

a

certain

kind

of

woman

preoccupy

your

mind

more

than

the

thought

of

being

married

to

Christ

your

bride

groom

then

speak

the

truth

of

God

to

yourself

and

teach

your

heart

to sing

the

praises

of

Christ

there's

a

dear

sister

in

the

church

who

struggles

time

to

time

with

her

singleness

who

fights

for

faith

valiantly

by

reciting

to

herself

Psalm

Psalms 45:2

45

verse

2

which

says

of

our

messianic

king

you

are

the

most

handsome

of

the

sons

of

men

grace

is

poured

upon

your

lips

therefore

God

has

blessed

you

forever

there

is

no

husband

more

handsome

!

more

powerful

more

generous

more

gracious

than

our

Lord

Jesus

Christ

Jesus

continues

his

response

to the

Sadducees

in

verses

31

to

32

and

as

for

the

resurrection

of

the

dead

have

you

not

read

what

was

said

to

you

by

God

I

am

the

God

of

Abraham

the

God

of

Isaac

and

the

God

of

Jacob

he's

not

God

of

the

dead

but

of

the

living

Jesus

said

early

in

verse

29

that

they

are

wrong

the

Sadducees

because

they

do

not

know

the

scriptures

and

as

a

case

in

point

Jesus

takes

the

Sadducees

straight

to

scripture

have

you

not

read

what

was

said

to

you

by

God

and

knowing

that

the

Sadducees

only