Luk. 20:36 ... "Neither can they die any more, for they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection."
It was the week of Jesus' earthly ministry, and He was filling each day with the important work of teaching the great crowds which came to the temple to worship. The common people listened with wonder and admiration to His lessons, but those of the religious elite were envious and hostile. It is reported that "they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order that they might catch Him in some statement to deliver Him up to the rule and the authority of the governor," (v.20). At times they also challenged Jesus to debate on issues they had carefully planned to become snares to Him. One of these concerned the Mosaic doctrine of levirate marriage. If a man died with no son, it became his brother's duty to take the widow as his wife and have a son by her in the name of his dead brother. The Sadducees contrived a case where a woman was wife to seven brothers consecutively without having a child by any of them. They wanted Jesus to tell them which of these men would be the woman's husband "in the resurrection." These men were filled with insincerity and sarcasm, for Sadducees denied there was to be a resurrection. In His reply, Jesus referred to Exo. 3:6 to show that the resurrection will be a reality. Then He made the statement in Luk. 20:36.
Jesus' words reveal the true nature of the condition of the people who are admitted to dwell in heaven after the Judgment. First, He says, "Neither can they die any more." Death is a traumatic event for us. Even when the deceased has lived a righteous, God-fearing life in Christ, his/her departure fills those left behind with deep sorrow and grief, which indicate the love that bonded them. One of the sublime benefits of residence in heaven is that "there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain," (Rev. 21:4). The happiness of heaven will suffer no pause from the death of one of its inhabitants. No funeral procession will mournfully pass its streets.
Second, Jesus says that those who enter heaven "are like angels." In this world, even as God's redeemed, we are inferior in status to angels. The ancient psalmist wrote, "What is man, that You take thought of him? ... You have made him a little lower than angels," (Psa. 8:4-5). But when a person is received into heaven, he is elevated in status to that of angels, a grand honor for those who have struggled in the flesh in the sin of this earthly domain. Angels evidently have no gender and therefore no need for the marriage union, since Jesus said that they "neither marry nor are given in marriage."
Third, Jesus said that those who enter heaven "are sons of God." Because in this world Christians are already sons of God, this must refer to an advancement or perfection in their relationship with God. If we are the children of God there, then God is our Father. So, here we see an ideal family scene presided over by a perfect Father who always provides the best for His children.
Fourth, Jesus says that people in heaven are "sons of the resurrection." In the New Testament a Christian who has died is spoken of as being "asleep in Jesus," (I Ths. 4:14). Like all other people, Christians must also die, but their status in death is very different from those who are not in the Lord. When Jesus returns at the end, "the dead in Christ shall rise first ... and thus we shall always be with the Lord," (I Ths. 4:16-17). In that remarkable event we will exchange our corruptible human bodies for ones that are new and spiritual, (I Ths. 15:50-53).
