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Welcome back to our study of Matthew chapter 22. This is day three of that
study. We're going to focus on verses 23 to 32 today.

Yesterday we began a look at a series of questions in this chapter that were
asked by the religious leaders that were designed to trap Jesus. The Pharisees,
the Herodians, asked this question about taxes. Today, because they failed, the
Sadducees come in and they have a question about the resurrection.

Verses 23 to 28. That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,
came to him with a question. "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?

Oh, what a question. You probably had a hard time keeping up with it even as I
read it. It's like this brain-twisting puzzle that the Sadducees came up with.

The Sadducees, by the way, were the ruling class of the religious leaders. They
often disagreed with the Pharisees. For instance, they believed only in the
first five books of the Old Testament as being the books that were truly God's
Word.

They didn't believe in the resurrection like the Pharisees believed in the
resurrection. They often argued about this and so they come with this question
about marriage that is designed to absolutely prove there cannot be a
resurrection. In the Mosaic law, there is a law that if a man dies, his brother
is to marry that woman so that then she can have children and that the family
can continue on.

So they have this very detailed question about seven brothers and seven deaths.
I mean, just the thought that this could happen, but they have this detailed
question and so they're trying to show that there obviously can't be a
resurrection because God couldn't figure this out. How in the world could he
figure out who in the world this woman would be married to when they got to
heaven?

Jesus has an answer, very clear. He has an answer that's about marriage and he
has an answer that's about hope, about the resurrection. Now let's first of all
address the one about marriage.

It's probably going to be the one that interests you more. What does Jesus have
to say about marriage here? They're saying how is it going to work?

Who's she going to be married to? God could never work this out. Jesus looks
them in the face and he says in verses 29 and 30, "You are in error because you
don't know the scriptures or the power of God.

At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but
they'll be like the angels in heaven. " They've got this long involved story and
Jesus says, "Are you crazy? You don't understand God at all.

There's not going to be marriage in heaven like there is on earth. What are you
talking about? " He cut through everything with a clear teaching.

Now this answered their question, but the truth is it leaves some questions for
us. What is Jesus talking about here? And I want to take a closer look at what
he says about neither marrying nor being given in marriage in heaven because
there's some things about heaven here that we have to be careful to understand.

For instance, Jesus says there is no marriage in heaven. So what does that mean?
And for some of us, we hear that and think marriage, that's the greatest
relationship that I have on this earth.

What's heaven going to be like if I can't have this closeness with another
person? Now I know other people think it would be heaven not to suffer the hell
that I'm suffering in my marriage right now in all reality, but that's a
struggle on the human plane. There is such a thing as a good marriage.

And we think, will that not be taken into heaven? And then I know you're
hesitant to ask this question about heaven, but the fact that there won't be any
marriage in heaven, does that mean that there's no sex in heaven? Mark Twain
famously commented that we talk about a heaven, but we leave out of it the
greatest pleasure that we have on earth, sex.

I know we don't even want to think about this, but it's a very genuine question
that many people have. Let's take a look at it closely. First, will there be sex
in heaven?

Will there be marriage in heaven? Well, we will still be men and women in
heaven, so we will still have a sexual identity in heaven. God created us to be
male and female from the beginning, and that creation of us, we're going to get
resurrected bodies in heaven that are male and female bodies to reflect his
image.

He created us as male and female to reflect his image in perfection in the
garden, and we will be male and female in eternity to reflect his image. I
believe that with all my heart. I don't have a lot of biblical proof for that
beyond what the scripture teaches in the book of Genesis, but I think it's a
pretty clear teaching that's at the heart of how God has created us.

Well, okay, if we're male and female, does that mean that we'll have some kind
of a sexual relationship in heaven? No, I don't believe that we will. That's why
Jesus is saying here there's not marriage nor being given in marriage.

I know some people think, "Well, okay, wait a minute, it would be better than
maybe if we were like sexless somehow. We were all the one unisex in heaven. "
Peter Kreft said about this, "The body is not a mistake to be unmade or a prison
cell to be freed from.

It's a divine work of art designed to show forth the soul as the soul is to show
forth God. " So this body that God has given you, it is going to be resurrected
as it is. So then we think, "Well, how could you have an eternity in a male
body, a female body, but there is no sex?

" C. S. Lewis talked about this.

I think he has one of the clearest things to teach about it. He famously talked
about a child and sex and teaching a young child about what sex could be like
between adults. They don't quite understand it yet.

And so this young child asks, "Well, are you able to eat chocolate while you
have sex? " Because for the child, the highest physical pleasure is eating
chocolate. They can't understand a pleasure above that.

They can understand you might not want to eat chocolate at that time. And so C.
S.

Lewis says, "The boy knows chocolate. He does not know the positive thing which
excludes it. " And we're in the same position.

We know the sexual life. We do not know, except in glimpses, the other thing
which in heaven will leave no room for it. So this to me goes to the question of
people who ask, "When I get to heaven, will I know my husband?

Will I know my wife? " We were married for 30, 40, 50 years. Will we not know
each other in heaven?

Will we have a relationship in heaven? And although the Bible doesn't speak
specifically to this, based on the characteristics of God and the
characteristics of heaven, my educated guess about something I know nothing
about until I get to heaven would be, "Of course you'll know them. " Paul said
he would know the people that he served on this earth.

He'd take great joy in his relationship when he got to heaven and the fact that
they came to Christ through his ministry. So of course we'll take great joy in
the relationship that we had. You will not lose your relationship with your
spouse.

You'll see it transformed into something you could only have in heaven,
something above and beyond what we can conceive of right now. I like what Randy
Alcorn says about this. He says, "The Bible does not teach that there is no
marriage in heaven.

The Bible teaches that there is one marriage in heaven, Jesus to the church.
There is a relationship of Jesus and his church in heaven that's above and
beyond what we can imagine on this earth. " And when we get there, we'll
understand it.

We don't quite understand it yet. Jesus just gives us a glimpse here. Now he
does say at the end of this glimpse something that has confused people.

He says, "You're going to be as the angels. " Some people think that means we're
going to be angels when we get to heaven, but no, that is not at all what he's
saying here. The Bible clearly says we're not as the angels when we get to
heaven, that we're going to have resurrected bodies while angels are spiritual
beings.

He's just saying you're going to be as the angels in regard to this one aspect,
the relationship of marriage. Our connection, our communion with God and with
one another is going to be so deep, so wonderful that marriage is not needed any
longer. Now I know that's hard to conceive of on this earth, but it's what's
going to happen in heaven.

So there's a taste of heaven, the taste of what we're looking forward to. Now
about the resurrection, he's answered the question about marriage. Now about the
resurrection, Jesus says in verses 31 and 32, "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, the God of Jacob. He is not the God
of the dead, but of the living. " They had been arguing for centuries.

The Pharisees, the Sadducees continued this argument. There could be no
resurrection stories found in the first five books of the Bible, so there must
be no resurrection. And Jesus here says, "Do you not understand the main truth
of the first five books?

God says, 'I am the God of Abraham. '" How could he be the God of somebody who's
dead? He doesn't say, "I was the God of Abraham.

" He says, "I am the God of Abraham. " He clearly teaches the truth of the
resurrection, cuts through all their arguments in one simple, powerful phrase.
Now what I love about this is that Jesus is strongly affirming for us here the
truth of the resurrection.

Not just his own resurrection, but our resurrection. He's strongly affirming for
us here the hope that we look forward to in heaven. He answered this question.

Is there going to be a resurrection, or do we just pass from this life and we
don't know anything any longer? And Jesus, who knows far more about it than
anyone else who's ever walked this earth, because he came from heaven. He didn't
begin on earth, he came from heaven.

He teaches us, yes, there will be a resurrection. Yes, God says, "I am the God
of," and you can put your name in there, because he is your God for now and into
all eternity, because we'll enjoy a resurrection of hope as we believe in him.
So right now, when we close this time, Jesus's truth about marriage,
resurrection, hope, and heaven, let's take a moment to talk to him.

And Jesus, as we talk to you, we want to end this study by thanking you. You
were resurrected so we can be resurrected. You gave your life and were
resurrected so that we could give our lives back to you and enjoy this
resurrection.

Thank you for life. Thank you for hope that's found in you. Thank you.

We don't have to live without knowing, but you've clearly told us we can look
forward to the hope of a resurrection. Jesus, thank you for the resurrection
life that we can begin to live even right now. And today, I pray that you would
help me to live with the hope of the resurrection.

No matter what I face, help me to live with the hope of the resurrection, I
pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow, we're going to see Jesus answering a
question that tells you and I the greatest use of your life.