Matthew 22:23-33
"So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them."
(NUMBERS 6:27)
Some find offensive the custom of a woman giving up her maiden name to take her husband's, but in the Bible, Jesus seeks a bride (the church) and gives her His name. Christians are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. That name shows us to be part of the family, the church.
Yet we are not absorbed into God's name the way a Hindu is absorbed into nothingness, because, amazingly enough, God takes our individual name into His as well! Jesus argued with the Pharisees that if God calls Himself "the God of Abraham," then Abraham must still be alive, for God is the God of the living, not of the dead (Matthew 22:32). God even promises to give us a "new name" and to write His name on us when we are welcomed to our heavenly home. How proud we are to bear the name "Christian," especially because we know that such a privilege was bought for us. And at the very same time, Jesus took on Himself our name, "Sinner," when He "became sin for us" on the cross (see 2 Corinthians 5:21).
INSIGHT
PROVERBS 22:1 SAYS A GOOD NAME IS MORE DESIRABLE THAN GREAT RICHES. THE ONLY TRULY GOOD NAME IS THAT OF JESUS, AND HE GIVES
IT TO US!
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Ezekiel 9-10
Psalm 135
Ephesians 1-2
Matthew 22:23-33
New International Version (NIV)
Marriage at the Resurrection
23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”
29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’[a]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 22:32 Exodus 3:6
HOPE FOR YOUR PRODIGAL [PART 4]
with Barbara Juliani
Christians have read the parable of the prodigal son for centuries. Many can relate to the younger son. Some can relate to the older brother. But how can we identify with the father in this parable?
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