NLT Matthew 22:30
For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.
Photo by Ryan Brisco on Unsplash
Why is this ponderable?
In context, this is the response to a hypothetical situation presented to Jesus by the Sadducees. They did not believe in the Resurrection but were attempting to catch him contradicting what Moses, the great Lawgiver, had said.
The question itself was based upon the teachings of Moses: “If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.” (Matt. 22:24; see also Deut. 25:5–10.) In the hypothetical case suggested by the Sadducees, in which seven brothers each had been married to a woman in turn, the question was, “In the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven?”
The answer Jesus gives is straightforward, yet it is also ponderable because it hints at what life after death might be like for believers.
Luke tells us, "they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain the world to come, a future state of happiness, and the resurrection of the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. So they shall not enter into any such natural and carnal relation. This agrees with the notion of the Jews, who did believe in the Resurrection.
``In the world to come, there is neither eating nor drinking , nor intercourse or increase of children, no commerce, nor envy, nor hatred, nor contention.''
But Jesus did not stop there. He compares saints in a
state of immortality, to angels F6.By making mention of
angels, Jesus dispels another notion of the Sadducees, that there were
no angels, ( Acts 23:8 )
In pondering this brief exchange between Jesus and those who did not accept resurrection of the dead nor angels, we are given a glimpse of the "new heaven and new earth" that John speaks of in Revelation 21. In a non-material sense that new earth will be no different from the old earth. People will retain their identity and personality but, will not require sustainence to maintain their resurrected body. They will dwell with the angels and kindred spirits in the abode that Jesus has prepared for them.
