Season 4 Podcast 187 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 22:23-33, Pt 4, “Resurrection.”
Season 4 Podcast 187 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 22:23-33, Pt 4, “Resurrection.”
To understand Matthew 22, it is useful to go back to the story of Adam and Eve and their relationship as husband and wife. The tradition of the resurrection and the eternal nature of the marriage covenant begins with the story of Adam and Eve who were married by the Lord.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Before they are cast out of the Garden of Eden they are referred to as husband and wife.
20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. 21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”
There is no more enigmatic prophet in the Old Testament than Elijah who, like Enoch, was taken up into heaven without tasting death. The last chapter of Malachi, speaking of the return of Elijah, also refers to the eternal nature of the family.
“5 ¶ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
Heaven patterns earth and earth mirrors heaven. Earth is a shadow of heaven. We were a family in heaven. We are all spirit children of God. He is referred to as our father, making us all brothers and sisters. We came to earth to gain a physical body with the charge to Adam and Eve, our first parents, to “multiply and replenish the earth. Who comes to earth through the lineage of Adam and Eve? None other than all the other children of God who are still spirits living with God. Elijah is intimately involved in the family relationships as revealed in Malachi’s prophesy. Regarding the eternal nature of marriage, Jesus said, as recorded in Mark 10
2 ¶ And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. 3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? 4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. 5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. 9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
As with Adam and Eve who were married by God himself, Christ announces the doctrine, “What God hath joined together let no man put asunder. In other words, the marriage covenant was meant to last forever, but it had to be performed under the power of God. That is why that binding power, which had been lost because of apostasy, was given to the apostles.
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