Resource Detail

MARRIAGE AT THE RESURRECTION

 

Matthew 22:23-46

Key Verse: 22:30

 

      "At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given

       in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven."

 

STUDY QUESTIONS

 

1. Read verses 23-28. Who were the Sadducees? What question did they

   ask Jesus? What did they believe about marriage? About heaven?  What

   kinds of thoughts occupied their minds?

 

2. Read verses 29-33. According to Jesus, what was lacking in their

   faith? What does this mean? What did Jesus teach about marriage in

   heaven? What did Jesus teach from the Bible about Abraham, Isaac and

   Jacob? About God?

 

3. Read verses 34-36. How were the Pharisees different from the

   Sadducees? Describe their attitude. What question did the Pharisee

   Bible teacher ask Jesus? Why did he think that this was a hard

   question?

 

4. Read verses 37-40. How did Jesus answer? What is the main point of

   the first part of the Ten Commandments? The remaining Commandments?

   What does it mean to love God? To love others?

 

5. Read verses 41-46. How did Jesus silence the religious leaders? What

   does Psalm 110 teach about the Christ?

 

 

MARRIAGE AT THE RESURRECTION

 

Matthew 22:23-46

Key Verse: 22:30

 

      "At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given

       in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven."

 

     In the last passage we learned that God wants to bring us back to

the kingdom of God, missing no one. He wants to invite to the kingdom

of God anybody and everybody and all the people of the world. Jesus

also explained that the kingdom of God is like a wedding banquet for a

crown prince. But people did not want to be invited because they had to

do something in the world: buying and selling, fighting and cheating

and being cheated, and going to many parties---especially proms. Today

Jesus teaches spiritual reality to the Sadducees. Let's think about

what kind of people the Sadducees were, and what it means to have

spiritual reality. People of the world all want to be kind of

Sadducees. They reject spiritual reality. But we must open our

spiritual eyes to see spiritual reality in this passage.

 

First, the Sadducees' grotesque question (23-28). Look at verse 23.

"That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to

him with a question." In the Bible, the Sadducees were known not as

religious people, but as aristocratic people, and mainly they were

political figures.  For example, they did not believe in any spiritual

beings---God or angels---and especially not the resurrection. In view

of history, however, they had held the high priest's office through

their political intrigue; it is comparable to a non-Christian becoming

a pope in the Catholic Church.  One day, the Sadducees came to Jesus

with a very logical and eloquent question in order to harass him. Look

at verses 24-28. "`Teacher,' they said, `Moses told us that if a man

dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have

children for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one

married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his

brother. The same thing happened to the second and the third brother,

right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the

resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them

were married to her?'" Their question was so well organized, eloquent

and systematic that we cannot cut their story. So we quote their

question entirely. But when we think about their question, it is very

grotesque and eerie. There are two points. The first is about

marriage.  One woman married seven brothers in a family according to

Jewish tradition. The Jewish tradition was that if a man marries a

woman and dies, his younger brother has to marry the widow and have

children for him.  This tradition is well explained by Judah and

Tamar's story in the Old Testament (Ge 38). However, the Sadducees'

marriage problem doesn't make sense. How can one woman marry seven men?

And finally the woman died too.

 

     In their question, the marriage problem was one of the main

points.  They thought about the marriage problem day and night. As a

result, the marriage problem of the woman who married seven brothers

came out of their mouths in their question. They were aristocratic

people. Their lifestyle was luxurious and what they mainly did was to

seek pleasure, and engage in debauchery and immoral behavior. Their

life pattern seems to be the goal of modern people. But their practical

life was not a happy one because they did not believe spiritual

realities. These people thought about the marriage problem from the age

of four. The other day, one of the genius boys, who is age four, said

he was going to marry a beautiful girl, Miriam, age seventeen. He

maintained this idea for several months. But now he has decided not to

marry her, because when he grows up she is going to look like a

middle-aged woman. These aristocratic and unspiritual people think a

lot about the marriage problem. Their idea is that if they marry, it

will be like living in paradise. They think marriage is everything.

But it is not. As we know well, Clara Schumann married Robert Schumann

and had seven children. Her husband died young because of his jealousy

toward Johannes Brahms; he sensed that his wife liked Brahms' music

talent. Clara Schumann was ten years younger than Robert Schumann, and

Johannes Brahms was ten years younger than Clara. After Schumann died,

Brahms, a genius musician, proposed marriage to Clara Schumann. But

Clara sorrowfully rejected his proposal. Then Johannes Brahms lived all

by himself all his lifetime. This is a beautiful story about marriage

and a proposal of marriage. But these days marriages are not very happy

ones.  Prince Charles married Diana, the most beautiful girl in the

world. After this, photo journalists only focused on Princess Diana and

completely ignored Prince Charles. Then Prince Charles' pride was hurt.

After his pride was hurt, his pretty wife did not look pretty. Rather,

he was tormented by his own injured pride. Prince Charles became very

sorrowful even though he had two sons growing so handsome and energetic

to be his successors. Prince Charles in fact began to live as a man

without a wife. Prince Charles could have embraced his wife, Princess

Diana. But he was a petty man. So he did not admire his wife's

popularity. Suddenly, Princess Diana died in a car accident. And Prince

Charles will marry again.  He will not be King of England. In fact,

English Parliament wanted to stop kingship in Buckingham Palace, where

the royal family lives. But they cannot close Buckingham Palace,

because income from tourists is five times greater than the cost of

supporting the royal family. One decent girl thought she would be happy

if she married. So she really wanted to marry.  Finally she married.

She enjoyed her husband as much as she wanted.  After a year, a boy

baby was born. She was not ready to take care of the baby during the

night. So she asked her husband to do so. He was not ready to wake up

several times to take care of his baby because he grew up as the

youngest son out of seven brothers. The wife grew up as an only

daughter and she was completely spoiled. She did not want to take care

of the baby during the weekend. So she made many excuses and let her

husband babysit on the weekend for the last nine months. Her husband

gently babysat every weekend. But it was harder labor for him than

digging the ground. This woman was very gentle before people. But at

home she released her tension upon her husband. She said many harsh

words to her husband. Her husband was so gentle and didn't talk back to

her. But lately, her husband became mentally weakened to the degree

that he has to go to a mental hospital. Her idea that marriage would

give her paradise was broken. These days many middle-aged women become

divorced when their children are in high school or middle school. Their

adulterous husbands want to marry younger women who are like their

daughters.  These numbers amount to mountain-like divorce files. There

was a woman who visited her mother's home. Her three sisters who were

all divorced were there. They encouraged her to divorce her husband,

who was a little immature. So she filed for an uncontested divorce. She

took the children and moved far away. Still, her husband had to support

her, sending her half of his salary by court order. This is not only

her problem. The number of uncontested divorce files looks like another

mountain. Jean Jacques Rousseau lived among aristocratic women. Many of

them majored in piano.  But their piano performance was so poor that

Jean Jacques Rousseau became a piano tutor. He was so disgusted by the

aristocratic women that he married an idiot woman who could not even

tell time, and he lived with her throughout his lifetime. Four babies

born through her were all sent to an orphanage. He became famous by

writing Emile (the principle of education). His principle was so good,

but his life was so weird. We once loved Elizabeth Taylor so much

because her performance in movies is so excellent and her appearance is

mysterious as if she were a mix of West and East. She married more than

three times, but she was not happy. In the Sadducees' question, the

story about a woman's marriage was indeed tragic and extremely

miserable. To those who have no spiritual reality, marriage is the

highest goal. They only want to enjoy happiness through marriage. But

marriage gives them responsibility. And when they avoid responsibility,

many tragic events happen, even in this country.

 

     In the Sadducees' story the second major problem seems to be who

would possess her. It is common sense that such a sacrificial woman who

served all the brothers should be honored and left alone to get some

rest.  But the Sadducees asked Jesus, "Whose wife will she be of the

seven, since all of them were married to her?" Those who deny spiritual

reality are all devils who try their best to grab something with their

hands.

 

Second, no marriage in heaven (29-33). Look at verses 29-30. "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.'" In the

spiritual world, marriage is not the goal for man's happiness. At the

resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They

will be like the angels in heaven. This is a picture of the kingdom of

God. In the world, divorce, wife-beating and husband-beating, alimony

claims and payment and the custody of children, as well as babysitting

problems and teenager control, are grievances to spouses after

marriage. But those who believe the resurrection of Jesus Christ do not

have to worry about all these tragic problems. If they marry, they

marry to bear much fruit both physically and spiritually to extend the

kingdom of God. Those who believe in the resurrection of Christ marry

to establish a house church so that they can pray before going to bed

and share unutterable happiness together, whether their life situations

are good or bad. They share joy through hardship. They share joy

growing in the love of God. They share joy to see their children grow

in the knowledge of God. They share joy when their children are blessed

and become great and wealthy. But in heaven even this kind of joy is

needless because the kingdom of God has greater joys. We will all be

like the angels in heaven. In the Bible, angels are agents of God. For

example, when Mary was supposed to marry Joseph, the angel Gabriel

visited young Mary and told her God's plan for her marriage. Luke

1:35-37 says, "The angel answered, `The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to

be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is

going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren

is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.'" But Jesus

did not mention angels as agents of God. An angel was described as the

symbol of beauty.  You like beautiful girls and handsome men, right?

But nobody can look like an angel. People say, "Wow! She looks like an

angel!" It means she is the most beautiful girl in the world. If we see

a handsome man, we say, "He is like the angel Gabriel!" It means that

his handsomeness and dignity overwhelm all the women in the world.

Jesus said that at the resurrection people will neither marry nor be

given in marriage, but they will be like the angels in heaven. This

means that those who are in the kingdom of God by believing the

resurrection of Christ all look like the angels. "Like the angels"

means that each one's beauty and happiness and joy are boundless. Their

loving one another is the picture of an angel that nobody can paint.

They don't know the word "worry" or "burden" or "responsibility" or

"homework." But they think of the glory of God and his majesty on the

throne. They think of ruling forever with our Lord Jesus Christ. They

are face to face with Jesus who was slain for our sins, and they are

loved by him with no time limitation. We will each wear the likeness of

a little Jesus.

 

Third, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob

(32). Look at verse 32. "`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." This means that the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was

slain for our sins, will be forever. This means that the kingdom of God

is forever, not at all temporal.  People in this world are all

sorrowful because this world is temporal and what they have achieved

and acquired will vanish someday. But the kingdom of God is forever.

That our God is "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of

Jacob" means our God is the God of eternity. One Chinese king made a

Great Wall to protect his castle from enemy attack.  He sought an herb

medicine that would make him live forever. Now the Great Wall has

become a tourist attraction. He could not find the herb medicine and

died, and we may not be able to find even one of his bones.  But the

kingdom of God is forever. We don't have to be sorry because our

lifetime is like grass; it is temporal. The kingdom of God is as Jesus

illustrated: "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of

Jacob." It is a short example, but in the kingdom of God, God is the

God of Ron Ward. God is the God of Jenny Cook. In the kingdom of God,

God is the God of each of us. So in the kingdom of God, we are all

brothers and sisters to our Lord Jesus Christ who is risen from the

dead. In the kingdom of God, we are beautiful and happy forever. But

the Sadducees, who were aristocratic people, were all earthbound and

refused to know the spiritual reality. They were the most miserable

people. They were preoccupied with death. There are so many funeral

homes. We respect the funeral home directors of the world, whose number

may be more than one hundred thousand. How do they deal with each

corpse and dig the ground and put the corpse in it as their job? In

truth, those who have no spiritual reality are more miserable than all

of the funeral home directors of the world. Therefore, we must hear

God's word, "`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." Only the

kingdom of God is forever. We face a serious problem.  Many people want

to come to America, thinking that America is like a paradise. They are

greatly mistaken. It resembles Sodom and Gomorrah, where immorality and

violence rule. Japanese people don't immigrate to America.  Neither do

German people at present. But third-world country people want to

immigrate to America as a matter of life and death. Instead of trying

to immigrate to America, they must know the spiritual reality. Then

wherever they are they will be happy, longing for the kingdom of God.

 

Fourth, the greatest commandment (34-40). Look at verses 34-35.

"Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got

together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this

question."  When the rich Sadducees were silenced by Jesus, the

Pharisees, who were like old wineskins, came to Jesus to defeat him

with their superficial Bible knowledge and their dignity over poor and

suffering people. Look at verse 36. "Teacher, which is the greatest

commandment in the Law?" They asked this question thinking that all the

Ten Commandments are equally important and that Jesus could not answer

which one is the best. It is indeed a sophisticated question. How did

Jesus answer? Look at verses 37-40.  "Jesus replied: `Love the Lord

your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your

mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is

like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets

hang on these two commandments." Jesus answered their question based on

the Ten Commandments. The basis of the Ten Commandments is loving God

and loving one's neighbor. The answer to the question about the Ten

Commandments is one: to love.  First, love God. Second, love your

neighbor. How can we love God? Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God

with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This

is the first and greatest commandment." Here we learn a significant

spiritual lesson. We think we can love God when we go to church once a

week, after spending the weekdays working and watching all the TV

programs, especially violent movies. But we cannot.  When we are going

to love God, we must give all our hearts. When we are going to love

God, we must love him with all our souls. When we are going to love

God, we must give all our minds. To love God with our mind means that

we must study his word like a Ph.D. student struggles to find a theory

in the laboratory staying up all night. But if our minds are somewhere

else, we cannot love God who is almighty and holy. Loving is not

partial. Loving requires total commitment. We cannot love God only with

our mouths. We cannot love God only with our hearts. We must love God

with all our hearts and souls and minds. We are praying, "May God make

America a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." This prayer must be

more intense than obtaining a Ph.D. There is a great happiness in

having this prayer topic because it give us life direction, a goal, an

object of achievement and the meaning of life. Someone may say, "I love

God, but I hate you." It doesn't work like that. One boy was engaged to

a beautiful girl. He thinks he can love his wife and make her happy

with his own ability and let her do the work of God. That's a white

lie. When we don't love God, we have no source of love. Our love dries

up within two years at the most. After that a boxing match begins.

Therefore if one is going to love his or her spouse, he or she must

love God and receive the fountain of love from God. Then they can

maintain their love relationship. Therefore verse 39 says, "And the

second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

 

Fifth, those who do not know the spiritual realm (41-46). Look at

verses 41-42. "While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked

them, `What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?' `The son

of David,' they replied." Then Jesus asked them a counter-question.

Look at verses 43-44.  "He said to them, `How is it then that David,

speaking by the Spirit, calls him "Lord"? For he says, "The Lord said

to my Lord: `Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your

feet.'"'" This is a spiritual question about how the ancestor King

David calls Jesus "Lord." Jesus quoted from Psalm 110:1-2. These verses

say, "The LORD says to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I make your

enemies a footstool for your feet. The LORD will extend your mighty

scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies."

Spiritually speaking, David is the ancestor of Jesus Christ.  Matthew

1:1 says, "A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David,

the son of Abraham." Abraham and David are both great-great-ancestors

of Jesus Christ. But Jesus is the Father of them and the Lord of them

because Jesus is God, while they are the root of Jesus' genealogy.  To

the Pharisees, who wanted to defeat Jesus with their shallow Bible

knowledge, Jesus' counter-question was indeed inscrutable and puzzling

to their brains. How could Jesus be the Lord of David? That's a

ridiculous and indeed funny question, they thought. But in the

spiritual world, Jesus is the Son of God who came to this world

according to God's promises through Abraham and David. Jesus is the Son

of God who died for the sin of the world on the cross and rose again on

the third day. Now he is on the glorious throne of God judging and

advocating for all his people. The Pharisees and dignitaries of the

time, like the Sadducees, did not understand spiritual reality. So they

were also silenced. Jesus told them again in verse 45, "If then David

calls him `Lord,' how can he be his son?" No one could say a word in

reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions

(46).

 

     In this world, aristocratic people who have fame and wealth seem

to be happy. Those who have superficial Scriptural knowledge seem to be

holy. But that's not true. Those who have spiritual reality are indeed

happy, whatever situation they may be in. We are living in a material

world.  Spiritual realities are far away from us. Those who have

spiritual reality are known as cult members or mental patients. But we

must follow the Bible teaching that we must be men and women of

spiritual reality.