Now as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
Mark 12:27-28 NET
One thing that we can all count on, if the Lord does not return first, is physical death. But then what? The Sadducees of Jesus’ day were a sect of Judaism who believed death was the end—there was nothing beyond the grave. And they came to Jesus with a hypothetical question concerning marriage. A question they thought demonstrated the foolishness of belief in a resurrection.
Jesus responded to their question by telling them that the relationships we have today do not carry over into our resurrected life. And then, he addressed the more important issue—the reality of the resurrection.
Jesus used Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush to demonstrate that death is not the end. During that encounter, God told Moses that “The LORD —the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Ex. 3:15 NET)” had sent him to deliver the Israelites.
As Jesus quoted this passage to the Sadducees, he made clear the present tense nature of the statement. It was not “I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” but “I am their God.” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not dead, but alive. Physical death is not the end of the road.
What awaits us beyond the grave is not clearly known. But Jesus’s words here make clear that the grave is not the end. Those who have walked in faith in this life will join that great cloud of witnesses (Heb. 12:1), which includes Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so many more faithful believers who have gone before us.
I do not have a clear picture of what my future holds. But I do know who holds that future. And I look forward to that day when I meet my Lord face to face, along with Abraham and so many more. What a glorious day that will be. When what I see so dimly now is made clear (1 Cor. 13:12).
