Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living." -Matthew 22:29-32
In this passage of the Bible we find an instance where some religious leaders tried to draw the Lord Jesus into an argument. The argument came from a religious group known as the Sadducees, and we find out in Scripture that they held to a belief that there is no resurrection. This goes against what we find in the New Testament where the Scripture clearly teaches that a great resurrection will take place one day: “Behold, I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed…the trump will sound and the dead in Christ shall rise and we shall be changed" (I Corinthians 15:51, 52).
The Sadducees failed to comprehend that God has the power to raise the dead. What had Jesus been teaching? He had taught that the Son of Man would be crucified and then on the third day He would rise again. Such talk got these religious leaders upset. So they tried to use some bizarre illustration, something they didn’t believe themselves, to trap Jesus in His words. Matthew 22:23-28 describes their illustration, which involved this odd story about a man who had 6 brothers; his wife died, the next brother married her, then he died, then the next married her, and so on until finally the woman died. So whose wife would she be after the resurrection? Oh my; what a silly argument these supposedly educated men tried to throw at the Lord. Not only were they attacking the Lord, but they were distorting and belittling the Word of God.
Jesus pointed out to them that they were in error, and He pointed this out to them in no uncertain terms. They neither knew the Scriptures or the power of God. These religious men had studied the Scriptures, but they didn't know them. Indeed there is a difference. If we truly know the Scriptures then we will have them in our hearts and will accept the truth God has given. To have the power of God working is us we must know the Scriptures and we must as much as is possible comprehend the power of God. He is able to not only raise the dead, but to sustain the living. The power of God not only sustains us through life, but will keep us through all eternity.
Some years ago someone posed to me a question; he asked me if God could create a boulder that He Himself could not lift. I gently said that I would not be lured into some pointless circular argument – that was what the Sadducees tried to do with Jesus. However, I told the man who posed the question that God can create a boulder that only He can lift.
