-Tuesday-
Jerusalem
(7) Sadducees Question the Resurrection of the Dead
(Exodus 3:6) Matthew 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-40 (focal passage)
Luke 20:27-40
27 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a Resurrection, came to Him and asked Him,
28 saying: “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, His brother should take His wife and raise up offspring for His brother.
29 Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children.
30 And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.
31 Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.
32 Last of all the woman died also.
33 Therefore, in the Resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife.”
34 Jesus answered and said to them, “The sons of tHis age marry and are given in marriage.
35 But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the Resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage;
36 nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the Resurrection.
37 But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’
38 For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.”
39 Then some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.”
40 But after that they dared not question Him anymore.
27 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a *Resurrection, came to Him and asked Him,
The opposition of the religious leaders to Jesus had been steadily growing because of His teachings and actions. Each opposing group attempted to discredit Him with the confrontational issues of the day. The Pharisees came with the issue of divorce (Mark 10:2); the chief priests, scribes, and elders raised the question of His authority (Mark 11:27, 28); the Pharisees and Herodians introduced the issue of taxes (Mark 12:13, 14); now the Sadducees addressed their favorite issue—the "Resurrection." The Sadducees did not believe in a Resurrection—“Then some Sadducees, who say there is no Resurrection, came to Him; and they asked Him, saying:” (Mark 12:18)—or the direct involvement of God in lives (Matt. 22:23–33).
The Sadducees and Pharisees were the two main religious parties in Jesus’ day. The Sadducees, though smaller in numbers were wealthier, and more powerful (socially and politically). During Christ’s time on earth, there was a close relationship between the Sadducees, the priesthood, and the temple.
The Sadducees were the liberal theologians of that day. They denied the Resurrection of the body, the existence of angels, and miracles. In fact, their denials of all supernatural occurrences were more numerous than their affirmations. They claimed that Moses did not write about any of these doctrines. The priestly party in Israel was composed of Sadducees, which explains why the priests opposed the apostle’s preaching of the Resurrection (Acts 4:1-2) and why they wanted to kill Lazarus, who was raised from the dead (John 12:10-11). The Sadducees maintained that only the five books of Moses had authority and that the traditions handed down by the rabbis did not. They accepted only the written word; not, like the Pharisees, who also accepted oral tradition. They said, “There is no Resurrection, neither angel nor spirit.” (Acts 23:6-8). They rejected the eternal divine decree, or as they called it “fate,” and accepted the freedom of the will. Politically, they supported the status quo, and they were satisfied to have matters remain as they were. Jesus warned against the teaching of both the Pharisees and Sadducees, mentioning both of them in one breath (*Matthew 16:6, 11). The name Sadducees means “righteous ones.” They claimed to be descendants of Zadok, who was the high priest under David. They were organized shortly after the Maccabean revolt (167–160 B.C.), but they disappeared in A.D. 70 when the Jerusalem temple was destroyed.
To the Sadducees the Resurrection was an irrational fantasy, but to the Pharisees it was a hope. The Sadducees did not reject the Old Testament Scriptures, but they did not discover in them the hope of Resurrection as the Pharisees did. The Sadducees were the liberal party within first-century A.D. Judaism, but he Pharisees were the more popular party. The doctrinal difference between them is defined by Luke in Acts 23:8 —“The Sadducees say that there is no Resurrection, neither angel nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both. Therefore, it should not be a surprise, that when Jesus, with His emphasis on the sincere religion of the heart, appeared upon the scene of Human History, he was rejected by both groups: by the Pharisees, who resented His exposure of their hypocrisy, and by the Sadducees, who considered Him a threat to their status quo. Besides, both parties envied Jesus (Matthew 27:18) because of His miracles and the crowds he attracted.
When the Sadducees came up to Jesus, it was not for the purpose of soliciting information, but instead, they probably intended to strike a double blow by exposing to ridicule Christ’s believe in a bodily Resurrection, and by appearing to be victorious over the Pharisees who likewise accepted the doctrine of life after death. If we are permitted to assume that news of the victory of Jesus over the Pharisees (and their allies) soon reached the ears of the Sadducees— in view of Matthew 22:3—not an unreasonable assumption, may we not also assume that the latter were also saying to each other, “We’ll show the Pharisees that we can do better?” Were they perhaps already chuckling over the prospect of “killing two birds with one stone,” that is, of exposing to ridicule both the Pharisees and Jesus?
Whether or not the dead would be raised was therefore an open question among the Jews. It is true that there is little in the Old Testament concerning Resurrection or a future life, still the doctrine is present in both testaments.
*Resurrection
Simply stated, Resurrection means being raised from the dead. Resurrection has three primary meanings in the Bible.
1. Miraculous healings. In this usage, Resurrection refers to individuals who have been brought back to life (resuscitated) in this present world. Such raisings were performed by Elijah on the Zarephath widow’s son (1 Kin. 17:20–24), by Elisha on the Shunammite woman’s son (2 Kin. 4:32–37), and the dead man who touched Elisha’s bones (2 Kin. 13:21), by Jesus on Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:41–43) and Lazarus (John 11:43–44), by Peter on Dorcas (Acts 9:40–41), and by Paul on Eutychus (Acts 20:9–12). In these raisings, there is no suggestion that the person will not again experience death.
2. Our Lord’s Resurrection. This Resurrection is clearly linked with the overcoming of the powers of evil and death. For Paul, Christ’s Resurrection is the basis for the doctrine of general Resurrection (1 Cor. 15:12–19).
3. The hope of a general Resurrection. Many of the Greek philosophers, such as Plato, believed that an immortal soul inhabited a body and that at death the soul left its bodily prison and soared upward to the divine spirit. By the time of Jesus, two positions were firmly entrenched within Judaism. The SADDUCEES, who were oriented to this world, rejected any belief in the Resurrection. They believed that such an idea was irrelevant to this life and was not part of the revelation in the Law that God gave to Moses. When they encountered Jesus, the Sadducees sought to trap Him by their question concerning the seven brothers who married one woman. Jesus criticized their view of Resurrection life by indicating that earthly marriage patterns are not repeated in heaven. He also condemned their understanding of Moses and the Scriptures (Mark 12:18–27). The PHARISEES, in contrast, believed in Resurrection. The Jewish Historian Josephus reported that the Pharisees held that the good dead are transferred into other bodies. Although this report is not very clear, it is certain that the Pharisees proclaimed a life after death that required a Resurrection. It was from the ranks of these scholarly Pharisees that the apostle Paul came (Phil. 3:5). Luke records that in His defense before the Sanhedrin (Jewish Council), Paul stressed that he was a Pharisee of Pharisaic descent and that he was on trial for affirming the Resurrection (Acts 23:6). Israel’s concepts of Resurrection were born out of her relationship to God in her tumultuous History. At first glance, the prophet Isaiah seems to express a view that the Resurrection is for the faithful and that the wicked may not arise (Is. 26:10–19). The Jewish loyalist of the apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees apparently agreed that for some there would be no Resurrection to life. But Daniel announced, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). The New Testament consistently teaches hope in the Resurrection of the believer based upon the Resurrection of Christ as the “firstborn from the dead” (1 Cor. 15:12–58; Col. 1:18; 1 Thess. 4:14–18; 1 Pet. 1:3–5). This idea of Resurrection is expressed in terms of such images as a transformed body (Phil. 3:21), a new dwelling (2 Cor. 5:2), and new clothing (2 Cor. 5:4; Rev. 6:11). The New Testament also contrasts Resurrection to life with Resurrection to judgment (John 5:29; Acts 24:15). Apparently a similar contrast lies behind the statements in Revelation 20 about “the first Resurrection” (20:5) and “the second death” (20:14). But not all who sought identification with the Christian church proclaimed a future Resurrection. Some preached a spiritual awakening, or Resurrection, that was already past. Such a view, adopted by Hymenaeus and Philetus and by later Gnostic heretics, was sternly condemned by Paul (2 Tim. 2:17–19).
*Matthew 16:6, 11
6 Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
11 How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Jesus compared false doctrine to yeast. It appears small and insignificant, but it grows secretly and soon permeates everything (Gal. 5:9). The only remedy is to remove it (1 Cor. 5:6–7).
Matthew 27:18
For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.
Public opinion had been molded in part by the chief priests, who were envious of Jesus.
28 saying: “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, His brother should take His wife and raise up offspring for His brother.
Some of the Sadducees came to Jesus with a trivial theological question, which included an extreme illustration intended to make the doctrine of Resurrection appear ridiculous, and they hoped that in His answer, He would say something they could accuse Him of; but His answers only exposed their foolishness and increased their guilt. They were fighting a losing battle, but they would not surrender. They reminded Jesus that in the Law of Moses there was a special provision for widows in Israel. It required a single man to marry His brother’s widow in order to carry on the family name and preserve the family property—“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as His wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her” (Deut. 25:5). It is called The Law of Levirate Marriage. The word levirate comes from the Latin word “levir,” which means “a husband’s brother.” This law was applied in the case of Ruth (Ruth 3:13–4:10). Under this law, they were to raise up offspring for His brother and designate the firstborn as the legal descendant of His brother. This ancient practice was recognized by the Jews but they rarely followed it in those days.
29 Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children.
30 And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.
31 Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.
32 Last of all the woman died also.
33 Therefore, in the Resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife.”
Here was a fantastic case in which a woman married seven brothers, one after the other. Then last of all she died being still childless. All seven brothers had been married to her. Now, they ask Jesus the question designed to humiliate Him, “Therefore, in the Resurrection, whose wife does she become?” Two husbands would have been sufficient to prove the Sadducees point. But seven makes the story more interesting and also might make belief in a physical Resurrection seem even more absurd. The story obviously was an invention aimed at exposing the absurdity of relationships after the Resurrection. If there really were a Resurrection, they conjectured, seven men would be married to one woman in heaven. In that case, the law would be promoting in the future life what it condemned in the present life. Such a conclusion would be absurd; therefore, according to their logic, there could be no future life. This extreme example must have been thought by them to be the ultimate proof of the foolishness of this doctrine. They thought they were so clever in putting forward such an unanswerable problem.
The Sadducees’ question reveals their unbelief in two fundamental areas: the Scriptures and God’s power. Surprisingly, these men held prominent positions among the chosen people, yet they did not recognize how foundational the Resurrection was in Old Testament doctrine and living.
Their problem began with the denial of the supernatural power of God and a misunderstanding of the Holy Scriptures. However, they were hoping that Jesus’ answer would get Him in trouble with Rome. After Passover, they could have Him arrested and tried. However, on this occasion their actions beg the question, how can mortal man question God and hope to win (*Job 38:1–3)? What arrogance—and what ignorance!
They must have snickered as they asked such a ridiculous question, but the smile would soon be wiped off their faces by Jesus’ reply.
Job 38:1–3
1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
2 “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge?
3 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.
The LORD Himself answers Job out of the whirlwind, a not uncommon vehicle for an appearance of God in the OT. Job had been darkening counsel by words without knowledge, that is, he had been foolishly questioning the justice of God’s dealings with him. Now the Lord will do the questioning, and it is time for Job to get ready to answer! He is saying, in effect, “Before you take it on yourself to criticize My ways, you should ask yourself if you could manage the creation as well as I do.” This, of course, can only show Job how powerless, ignorant, insignificant, inadequate, incompetent, and finite he is.
34 Jesus answered and said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.
35 But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the Resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage;
Mark reported Jesus’ answer this way; Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (vv.24-25). In Matthew 22:29, the reply begins with this important statement—“…You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures,” regarding the future state, “nor the power of God,” before which a thousand such difficulties vanish. The Sadducees had the right logic but the wrong premise. They were assuming wrongly that the conditions in the future life would be identical with those here. The change, which transpires in man going from earth to heaven, is extreme: they neither marry nor are given in marriage. In that respect, they will resemble the angels in heaven.
Jesus’ answer discloses that the marriage relationship was for this life only; it would not be continued in heaven. He did not say that husbands and wives would not recognize each other in heaven, but their relationship there would be on a completely different basis. They will not lose their distinctions as men and women, but they will not marry nor be given in marriage. Reason: they do not die; therefore, marriage with a view to the perpetuation of the race will not be necessary.
Resurrection is not reconstruction; it is the miraculous granting of a new body that has continuity with the old body, but not identity. Paul compared our present body to a planted seed and the future Resurrection body to the glorious flower and fruit (1 Cor. 15:35-50). Our Lord’s Resurrection body was the same as before His death and yet different! His friends recognize him and even felt him. He could eat food and yet he could walk through closed doors, change His appearance, and vanish suddenly
The future life with God is not a mere continuation of the present life only on “a higher scale.” We will maintain our identities and know each other, but there will be no more death—hence, no need for marriage and procreation. Christians do not become angels. In heaven, we will share the image of Jesus Christ and be much higher than the angels (1 John 3:2). Angels appear in Scripture as men, but they are spirit beings without sexuality. It is in this regard that we will be like them; there will be no marriage and no childbearing in heaven.
The expression “those who are counted worthy to attain that age (the age marked by the new heaven and earth)” does not suggest that any people are personally worthy of heaven: the only worthiness sinners can have is the worthiness of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Those are counted worthy who judge themselves, who vindicate Christ, and who believe that all worthiness belongs to Him.”
The phrase Resurrection from the dead refers to a physical Resurrection of believers only. It literally means Resurrection out from the dead ones. The idea of a general Resurrection in which all the dead, both saved and unsaved, are raised at one time is not found in the Bible.
36 nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the Resurrection.
Here we see the superiority of the heavenly state. There is no more death; in that respect, men will be equal to the angels. In addition, they will be known as "sons of God." Believers are sons of God already, but it does not show outwardly. In heaven, they will be visibly seen as sons of God. The fact that they participated in the First Resurrection insures this. “We know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 Jn. 3:2). “When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:4). The First Resurrection is the Rapture of the church. The Second Resurrection includes all those saved between the Rapture and the appearance of all the saints at the Bema Seat of Christ.
The infantile illustration of the Sadducees showed that they had no confidence in the power of a glorious Resurrection to a new life. They thought that a Resurrection would be the same kind of life as on earth and probably “spiritualized” their rejection of such a concept.
To be as the angels means that resurrected believers will have a glorified non-mortal body (capable of neither reproduction nor destruction). Angels cannot be participants of either funerals or weddings. The reference to angels is not intended to imply that glorified men become angels nor that all earthly family relationships are lost in heaven. In the Resurrection, we will be like angels in these two respects also—All resurrected (or raptured) believers will be in a state of perfect glorification and fellowship without any clannish prejudice. Though marriage as we know it will not exist in heaven, the lack of sexual relationships will in no way hinder the heavenly happiness and fulfillment God has planned for that blessed place. In fact, all relationships will surely surpass even the most joyous pleasure of intimacy on earth.
37 But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’
38 For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all (“All” here refers to all those who have received the righteousness of Christ) live to Him.”
39 Then some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.”
40 But after that they dared not question Him anymore.
Jesus further attacked the Sadducees’ major belief in no Resurrection at all, by quoting *Exodus 3:6, a statement from the only part of the Old Testament (see Ex. 3:1-4:17), where Moses quoted the Lord as calling Himself the God of Abraham, ... Isaac, and ... Jacob, which the Sadducees unquestioningly accepted. In the burning bush passage He did not say He was their God, but “I am” their God, indicating that their existence had not ended with their death. He related the eternal “I am” of God to the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) to demonstrate that they were of the living, or immortal (a fact unlikely to be denied by the Sadducees in a public dispute), and to show that Resurrection is an absolute necessity. Now if the Sadducees would just stop to think, they would realize that: (1) God is not the God of the dead but of the living. (2) Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all dead. The necessary conclusion is that God must have raised them from the dead. The character of God, as the God of the living, demands the Resurrection. God made covenants with these men, but they died before the covenants were completely fulfilled. How can God speak of Himself as the God of three men whose bodies are in the grave? How can He who cannot fail to keep His promises fulfill those made to men who have already died? There is only one answer—Resurrection.
It is a fact that the Sadducees did not have the New Testament, which mentions or implies the Resurrection (whether of Jesus himself or of His people or even of all the dead) again and the again. But even the Old Testament is not lacking in references to the bodily Resurrection. Clearest, perhaps, are *Psalms 16:9-11 (interpreted by Peter in *Acts 2:27, 31). Also, *Psalms 73:24-26, which clearly teaches the blessed after death experience of the believers soul in heaven. Does not this very existence of the soul in the intermediate state demand the Resurrection of the body? Two facts certainly point in that direction: (a) the creation of man as “body and soul” (*Genesis to 2:7), and (b) this very passage, “He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” Note also that Abraham surely believed in the possibility of a physical Resurrection (*Heb. 11:19).
The body, shares with the sole the honor of being “the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit” (1Corinthians 6:19-20). The body is “for the Lord and the Lord is for the body” (1 Cor. 6:13). God loves the entire person, and the declaration, “I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (note the triple occurrence of the word God, mentioned separately in conjunction with each of the three to stress the personal relationship with each), certainly implies that their bodies will not be left to the worms but will one day be gloriously resurrected. Those dear ones who have exchanged this life for the live hereafter may seem “dead” to us, but to God they are very much alive. The vital and glorious relationship between Himself and them cannot be broken. (See Rom.8:35-39). Hence, he will not forget their bodies!
He is not the God of the dead does not mean that He has no relationship to those who have departed; it means that the departed are not dead, and are therefore still responsible to the living God (*Heb. 10:31). Mark added, “Jesus said unto them, Is it not for this cause that ye err, that ye know not the scriptures, nor the power of God? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living: ye do greatly err. (Mk.12:24, 27) Basically, they argued that the idea of Resurrection posed insurmountable difficulties, hence it was not reasonable, and therefore it was not true.
Jesus answered that the difficulty was not in the doctrine but in their minds, they were ignorant of the Scriptures and the power of God. Is not God powerful enough to raise the dead and give them new bodies suited to their new environment? If today he can give different bodies to the various things in creation, why can’t He give people new bodies at the Resurrection? (1 Cor 15:35-44). In their attempt to be rational, the Sadducees denied the very power of God. They thought they were smart; but the Savior told them they were abysmally ignorant of both the Scriptures, which teach Resurrection, and the power of God, which raises the dead.
First, they were ignorant of the Scriptures. The Bible never says the husband-wife relationship will be continued in heaven. While men will be recognizable as men, and women as women, they will all be like angels in the sense that they neither marry nor are given in marriage.
Secondly, they were ignorant of the power of God. If He could create men from dust, could He not as easily raise the dust of those who had died and refashion it into bodies of glory? Only Luke records the phrase “all live to him.” All people, whether departed from their earthly bodies or not, are still living, and will live forever. No one is annihilated in death (*John 5:28-30).
Jesus had extreme contempt for the Sadducees because they made light of the Bible and the power of God (i.e., His Resurrection power, *Phil 3:10). This is His strongest recorded rebuke of this Jewish party. The Sadducees were the greatest enemies which Christ had and were the main instigators of the first persecution of the church. The Pharisees with the Sadducees were the leaders in the persecution of the Lord Jesus. After the death of the Lord, the Pharisees drop the entire affair. They were no longer interested in persecuting him or his followers; in fact, many of them became Christians. The Sadducees, however, went on with the persecution of the church. You can read about it in the third and fourth chapters of Acts.
The Resurrection was the acid test for the Sadducees and it is the acid test for the liberal today. They do not believe in a literal Resurrection. It is interesting that there is no account in Scripture of a Sadducee ever coming to Christ for salvation. A Pharisee named Nicodemus was converted, and acts 6:7 tells us, “…a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Many priests became believers, but there is no record of a Sadducee being converted.
Jesus affirmed what the Sadducees denied: the existence of angels, the reality of life after dead, and the hope of a future Resurrection, and He did it with only one passage from Moses! Of course, He could have referred to other passages that teach of future Resurrection, but He met His adversaries on their ground (*Job 14:14).
Jesus’ use of Scripture and logic was so correct and devastating that His opponents stopped questioning Him. The more questions He answered, the clearer it became that His understanding and authority were vastly superior to that of the scribes and Pharisees. Luke adds, “And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching” (Lk. 22:33). No wonder the multitudes were astonished at His teaching; we are too!
Exodus 3:6
Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid His face, for he was afraid to look upon God. There is no mistaking the plain sense of these words. The revealing person of the Godhead, the Second Person of the Trinity, here appeared to Moses. Moses, consequently, was afraid to look upon God.
Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The abiding lesson for all is this: do not be among those who fall into God’s hands for judgment because it is a fearful thing. This verse of Scripture was never intended to disturb and unsettle the minds of those who truly belong to Christ. The passage was purposely written in its sharp, searching, challenging style so that all who profess the name of Christ might be warned about the terrible consequences of turning away from Him.
Phil 3:10
that I may know Him and the power of His Resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, The power of His Resurrection is that power exercised when God raised Christ from the dead. Such power is available (Eph 1:19–20) and imparted by the indwelling, risen Christ.
Psalms 16:9-11
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.
10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Acts 2:27, 31
27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. –continued
31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
Psalms 73:24-26
24 You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
26 My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Genesis to 2:7
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Heb. 11:19 Concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
John 5:28-30
28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice
29 and come forth— those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
Job 14:14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes.