Matthew 22:31 “But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 32 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.”
While answering a question concerning marriage in Heaven, our blessed Lord took the opportunity to tell us what to expect in death. He takes us all the way back to the time when Moses was attracted to the burning bush in the wilderness that was not consumed (Exodus 3). When Moses went to see the bush, God spoke to him out of the bush and identified Himself by declaring, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”. Notice that this declaration is in the present tense, but these three men had been gone from this earth for hundreds of years. But, God spoke of them as being still alive. Then Jesus plainly declares that “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living”. Solomon tells us that when our bodies die, “the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). When Jacob’s wife, Rachel died, we are told that “it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died)” (Genesis 35:18). Our Lord told one of the men that was crucified with him that “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43)! Well, we know that his body died because the soldiers broke his legs to makes sure of it (John 19:31-33), but that very day his “spirit”, “soul” was alive and well with the Lord in His “paradise”. And, we are not left to wonder what those Children of God who have departed this present world are doing in our Lord’s “paradise”! In one of those magnificent scenes of Heaven revealed to John; he declared, “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9); they are in perfect joy, worshiping God! It is no wonder that Paul so jubilantly proclaimed, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) and “I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:23)!