27 There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, 28 and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29-33  Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second  and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterwards the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”

34-36 And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 

37-38 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.  Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” Luke 20 :27-38 (English Standard Version)

Earlier in this chapter Luke told how when Jesus came to Jerusalem the scribes and chief priests were seeking to arrest Him. They watched him carefully and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, to try and catch Him in something He said of a political nature so they could deliver him up to the Roman authorities.  In today's section we see how a group known as Sadducees also came with a trick question. This time it was of a religious nature. Perhaps they were hoping to brand Him as a heretic who deserved to die. They quoted (correctly) a verse from the Bible and asked Jesus His opinion. This trick is still used by unsaved people today to try and trap Christians with what is called a 'gotcha question'!

Why do I refer to those Sadducees as the same as 'unsaved' people today? (vs 27)

Even though they could accurately quote parts of the Bible, they didn't believe it's message that people who have died will be raised again. So, in His reply, Jesus went straight to the heart of their problem, their unbelief. He reminds them of what Moses called God when God appeared to him at a bush that was on fire, yet not consumed by the flames. This was the same Moses they had quoted from. Moses' reference to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob implied that the spirits, or souls, of those people were still alive, even though their bodies had been buried.

What is the glimpse Jesus gives us of what life will be like when He returns, and the bodies of those who died in faith are raised? (vs 34-36)

It will be different from what this world has been. Our resurrected bodies will be more like the angels than the bodies we currently have, which grow old and die. Jesus said that our resurrected bodies 'cannot die anymore.' What a glorious truth that is.

Sadly, there have been people since those Sadducees of old, who claim to be religious and can quote parts of the Bible, but who also deny the resurrection of the body. The apostle Paul spoke of that in his letter to the Church at Corinth. He said: “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead - how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14) 

That our bodies will be raised at Christ's return is one of the vital truths of the gospel. We serve a living God – and He is also God of the living. The souls of believers who died are already in His presence, and at Christ's return their bodies will be raised, and they will never die again! They will be equal to the angels.