Daily Devotional for Friday, May 1

The Resurrection and Marriage

“For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him,” Luke 20:38.

One of the tragedies of the Holocaust, or perhaps a devastating side effect, along with lost lives was the loss of names. In Jewish culture, names tie them to their history. A Jewish rabbi says, “As long as they remembered their names, they were part of the Jewish people and bound to the eternal covenant of being God’s people.” The Names Recovery Project actively attempts to recover names lost during the Holocaust to restore family heritages. Preserving a family’s name is important.

God’s levirate marriage Law in Deuteronomy secured a man’s name. If he died without children, his brother had a child to carry on his name. Deuteronomy 25:6 says this was done “that his name be not put out of Israel.”

The Sadducees used this thread of the fabric of Jewish culture to try to ensnare Jesus. They asked a convoluted question about levirate marriage in the resurrection, but they did not even believe in the resurrection. Jesus knew their hearts and worded His answer to shift their thinking. Praise God He shifts our thinking!

Luke 20:35 packs a punch. Jesus referred to those who are counted worthy to obtain the end age and see the resurrection. They will not die anymore and are children of God and children of the resurrection. Jesus focused on the truth of the resurrection instead of the Sadducees’ convoluted question. He proved it by God’s words at the burning bush. He is (not was; He said, “I am”—Exodus 3:6) the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living, “for all live unto him” (Luke 20:38). At this, none of them could argue. Well spoken.

God is our God after death on earth, so death is not the final word for us. Praise God we have eternal life in Him! We all live unto Him.

THOUGHT

“In the way of righteousness is life: and in the pathway thereof there is no death” (Proverbs 12:28).

Kelli Reynolds