(18) Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, (19) Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. (26) NOW there were seven brethren and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. (21) And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. (22) And the seven had her, and left no seed, last of all the woman died also. (23) In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife. (24) And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? (25) For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels which are in heaven. (26) And as touching the dead, that they rise; have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? (27) He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Ye therefore do greatly err.
I detain the Reader, at the entrance, upon this most beautiful discourse, of the LORD JESUS, to remark to him, how graciously the LORD made every occasion minister to his glory, and his people's welfare. Here were the captious Sadducees, the free-thinkers of our LORD's generation, who came to him for no purpose, but to entangle Jesus in his talk. And observe, what a very blessed opportunity the LORD made of it, to speak upon that interesting subject, concerning the resurrection. It becomes a confirmation of that precious scripture; Surely, the wrath of man shall praise thee, the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. The LORD will use just so much of man's wrath, as shall minister to the LORD's purpose, in the promotion of his glory; and all that is over and above, as the violent stream at a mill, shalt be turned into another channel. Psalms 76:10
The junction of those different sects of men, Sadducees with the Herodians, was simply with a view to gall CHRIST. Everyone will join in the attempt to crush CHRIST; however like Herod and Pontius Pilate, in other matters, they are at enmity between themselves. Luke 23:12. So was it then, so is it now, and so will it be, during the whole of the present world, it is blessed to know this, and blessed to prove it. The most violent enemies against CHRIST, while the LORD was on earth, were the self-righteous Pharisees; and the greatest opposers to his purest truths now, are the same characters.
The question put by those men, was founded in consummate ignorance; and as our LORD told them, because they knew not the scriptures; that is, they knew nothing of the scripture, but the mere letter; and had never felt the power of GOD in them, by the LORD's teaching. Seven brethren marrying one and the same woman, or had the case been seventy times seven if possible, it would have been the same thing; for all the connections of nature in this life, are wholly for, the purposes of this life, and are dissolved at death.
Our LORD therefore in declaring the children of the resurrection to be as the angels, gave a full and decisive answer to this, and every, other question of the like nature. But the occasion was too fair to stuffer it to pass unnoticed, as the subject might be made to minister to his people's comfort; and therefore the LORD JESUS not only proceeded in it, by way of establishing the certainty of the doctrine itself, but of throwing some divine light upon it, which have proved ever since, and ever will, until the whole conic to be realized in glory, of the most blessed, and unspeakable joy to his Church.
The LORD, takes only a single circumstance from the Old Testament scripture, in confirmation of the soul refreshing doctrine, as in itself more than sufficient for this purpose; namely the call of GOD to Moses at the bush. No doubt it was JESUS himself, who in his covenant relation as GOD-Man Mediator, before his more open revelation of himself in that character, which spake to Moses at the bush. So Stephen believed. Acts 7:30. where he calls him an angel (or Messenger) of the LORD. And so in fact the LORD JESUS himself intimated, when in his conference with the Jews, he declared his existence to have been before Abraham, and called himself I AM. Compare John 8:58, with Exodus 3:14. But passing this by, for the present if we consider what the LORD JESUS here saith to the Sadducees, we shalt discover that nothing can be more decisive in confirmation of the resurrection. The LORD quotes the expressions made use of by the LORD to Moses at the bush. I am the GOD of Abraham and the GOD of Isaac and the GOD of Jacob. Now at the time that these blessed truths were delivered, these Patriarchs had been long dead, and their bodies mouldered into dust. And yet, GOD declares him, self as much their GOD as ever. The LORD doth not say I was their GOD, when living in their bodies; but I am so now. A thing in itself impossible, if Abraham, though dead in body, was not then living in spirit. Hence the LORD adds, GOD is not the GOD of the dead, but the GOD of the living: and as Luke hath the words in his Gospel, it is added, for all live unto him. Luke 20:38. And Paul, under the authority of the HOLY GHOST, was directed to teach the Church that whether believers lived, or died, they were the LORD's. For (said he) to this end, CHRIST both died, and rose and revived, that he might be LORD both of the dead and living. Romans 14:8-9. I pray the Reader by the way, to join this blessed passage with the two just before referred to. John 8:58. with Exodus 3:14, in confirmation that it was our LORD CHRIST, who spake to Moses at the bush; and may the LORD give hint a right understanding in all things.
Now then from the whole of this most blessed, and highly interesting passage, I venture to believe the following conclusions are undeniable. First, that the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were in their spirits, living in a state of separate existence from their, bodies, at the time the LORD spake to Moses from the bush, when he called himself their GOD. Secondly, that the LORD in this call to Moses, declaring himself as he did in his covenant relationship to those Patriarchs, most fully and plainly implied his engagements with the whole persons of each, both soul and body; and therefore the LORD could not be supposed to be understood, as solemnly acknowledging this relationship, which was made at a time when both existed together, if one part of the being of those persons was annihilated, never more to exist. Thirdly, the very recognizing this glorious title of the Patriarch's GOD in covenant, at a time their ashes were in the dust, solemnly confirmed the assurance of their resurrection. And, fourthly, the fulfillment of GOD's covenant made with those Patriarchs, depended upon the soul and body of each being again united; since not only without it, the covenant promises of GOD could only be with one part of their persons; but also the happiness of each could only be in part, if the body forever remained separate from the soul. Reader! ponder well these things: give thyself wholly to them. In JESUS, behold the resurrection and the life, And oh for grace from GOD the HOLY GHOST, to have part in the first resurrection; on such the second death haft no power! Revelation 20:6; See Mark 16:9; 1 Corinthians 15:20.