[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] Amazing facts devotion: ARE ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB ALIVE IN HEAVEN RIGHT NOW?

[Shelly Duffy]

ARE ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB ALIVE IN HEAVEN RIGHT NOW?
June 19, 2021 

Average reading time is about 5 minutes


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In this passage, Jesus is talking about the future resurrection. He did not mean that Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob were alive, but rather they would be alive at the time of the resurrection—because He is the God who can give life to the dead. 

Jesus does not look upon deceased believers as the dead but rather sleeping. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus died, Christ said, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps” (John 11:11). The context for Matthew 22:32 is Jesus speaking to the Sadducees, who did not believe in any type of resurrection whatsoever (see v. 23). 

Here’s the full text that clarifies the matter: “But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living’ ” (Matthew 22:31, 32, my emphasis). The topic under discussion was the resurrection, not the state of the dead. Jesus is speaking about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as patriarchs who will take part in the resurrection. 

The assurance of this promise is so strong, there are times when the Bible speaks of it as though it were already accomplished. Notice how Paul writes it: “As it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’ … in the presence of Him who he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did” (Romans 4:17, my emphasis). 

Another example is in our relationship to Christ. “God, who is rich in mercy, … made us alive together with Christ … and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4–6). Because of the death of Christ on Calvary, we are assured of eternal life, even if we are laid down in the sleep of death. 



KEY BIBLE TEXTS 
"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."
Matthew 22:32



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Shelley Duffy