Luke 20:27-40 (ESV)

²⁷ There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, ²⁸ 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. ²⁹ Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. ³⁰ And the second ³¹ and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. ³² Afterward the woman also died. ³³ In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, ³⁵ 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, ³⁶ for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. ³⁷ 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. ³⁸ Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” ³⁹ Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” ⁴⁰ For they no longer dared to ask him any question.

The Sadducees were wealthy, well-respected men in the Jewish community who only embraced the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament written by Moses, as God’s word. They insisted that Moses made no references to afterlife and didn’t believe in heaven or hell, eternal rewards, or judgment. They asked Jesus a “trick question” to stump him, addressing the Old Testament custom of Levirate marriage, which protected a man who died without offspring. The dead man’s brother had to marry his brother’s widow to make sure that the family name would continue. The Sadducees fabricated a hypothetical situation in which a childless but married man died and his brother took the widow. What if this happened seven times over so that seven brothers ended up married to the woman? When the woman died, which brother would be her husband in heaven? Clearly, they thought Jesus’ concept of the afterlife was nonsense. But instead, Jesus told them that their idea of the afterlife was foolish. In heaven, marriage does not exist, because death does not exist. Without death, there is no need to repopulate, and so no need for the union between a man and a woman. Jesus went on to explain that in the Torah, God declares, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex 3:6), all of whom were dead at the time. Saying “I am” the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob made no sense if the men were not alive. If they were truly dead, God would have said, “I was,” but instead he declared, “I am.” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were (and are!) alive in the next age, according to God.

Jesus clearly taught that the afterlife is real. What takes place in this life will impact what happens to us in the life to come. Those who do not trust in the person and work of Jesus will be found guilty and end up separated from the Lord eternally in a miserable existence. But  those who follow Jesus will experience more wonderful joy when all failure is done away with than our minds can yet comprehend or imagine.  If you feel discouraged, thank God that one day you will be totally liberated from sin. You won’t want to live selfishly, you won’t struggle with making decisions, and you will be free to love and serve God without any hindrance. And best of all, you will be with Jesus forever. Look forward to heaven.