MATTHEW 22:30, 32, C. H. Cayce For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
What gave rise to this expression may be seen by reading the verses preceding, beginning with verse 23. The Sadducees denied the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and went to the Saviour with a question which they thought would overthrow that doctrine. They presented a case wherein one woman had had seven brothers for husbands, and after they had all died then the woman died. They asked whose wife she would be in the resurrection. They did not understand or know that in the resurrection earthly ties and relationships are done away. In verse 29 the Saviour said:
Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.
Then follows verse 30, as quoted above, “In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage.” Fleshly ties and relationships are done away. The Saviour here clearly teaches the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Verses 31 and 32 read.
But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spolcen unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
It is true that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had passed out of this earthly mode of existence, yet in spirit they were resting in the presence of God in the better world, with the promise of the resurrection of their bodies from the grave, or from the dead. Mark relates the same circumstance, and we find this language in Mark xii. 26:
And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
Luke also gives his account of the same matter. In Luke xx. 34-38 we have this language:
And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry and are given in marriage: but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto Him.
To our mind this all teaches the truth of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, or the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead, and that in the resurrection fleshly ties and relationships will be done away. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ was not raised. If Christ was not raised, then He was an impostor. If He was an impostor, then the Bible is not true. If the Bible is not true, then there is no God, and we do not know where we came from or where we are going. We are at sea without chart or compass. But Jesus was raised a living man. Therefore, the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is established, and what Moses taught concerning the same is proven true. Then Jesus was not an impostor, and the Bible is true. The Bible being true, then God is, and is the God the Bible describes. All this being true, then God’s children will all be raised in the likeness and in the image of the glorified Redeemer, and heaven is their home, and all that it contains will be theirs to enjoy—and that to all eternity, for they cannot die any more. May this be the happy lot of our readers, according to the will of God, is our humble prayer. Sometimes we feel a desire to leave this world of persecution and distress and to cross over the dark river and enter into the joys beyond. We do not know how it will be when we reach the end of the way, but we feel that we are willing to risk our case in the hands of a merciful and loving Saviour. The Primitive Baptist, October 10, 1929.