READ: Mark 12:18-27: … He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.
The Sadducees do not believe in resurrection. They try to trap Jesus with an apparently unsolvable problem, aiming to ridicule His teachings (see, for example, John 5:28,29; 11:25,26; 14:19). They first point to the levirate marriage (cf. Ruth 4:1-8) as described in Deuteronomy 25:5,6. By depicting seven consecutive marriages with one woman, they attempt to make the concept of resurrection absurd: whose wife will she be then?
But Jesus provides an immediate and decisive answer: there will be no marriage at the resurrection. His argument disarms them entirely. Firstly, there is no need for marriage, as immortality makes the reproduction of offspring (Gen. 1:28) unnecessary. At the resurrection, humans are like immortal angels, who are also not married.
Secondly, they are mistaken; they do not know the Scriptures or the power of God that can grant immortality.
Nevertheless, Jesus patiently imparts further teaching on the resurrection of the dead and their immortality. He does not introduce anything new but refers to what is written in the Scriptures. There is no stronger evidence against false teaching.
At the same time, he issues a serious reproach to the Sadducees: “Have you not read?” They could have corrected themselves but use a text (Deut. 25:5,6) for a serious error (v.27), detached from the entirety of the Scriptures, to trap Jesus.
The devil uses a similar method when tempting Jesus in the wilderness (Matt. 4:3-10). There is sufficient evidence for resurrection in the Old Testament (Job 14:14; 19:25-27; Ps. 16:9-11; Ps.17:15; 73:24-26; Dan. 12:2, and others, see also Gen. 2:7; Heb.11:19).
However, Jesus highlights how God revealed Himself to Moses when speaking from the burning bush (Ex. 3:6). He wasn’t just the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. He still is because they live before Him: God is the God of the living (see also Luke 20:38).
How well do we know the Scriptures?
Singing: Ps. 17:6