GOD IS NOT GOD OF THE DEAD BUT OF THE LIVING
A. B. Parker
This scripture was used by the Lord Jesus in meeting the Sadducees’ attack on the truth of
resurrection. He said to them, “But that the dead rise, even Moses shewed … when he called the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob”, adding, “but he is not God of the dead but of the living”, Luke 20: 37, 38.
These three men were representative persons. God is said to be the God of others, too—“All these died in faith … wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God”, Hebrews 11: 13–16. But we know the histories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Abraham was a man of faith; he “believed God”, Romans 4: 3. Our dear brother was also a man of faith; he believed God; he lived by faith, and he died in faith. I have no hesitation in saying that God is not ashamed of him to be called his God.
Isaac enjoyed a peculiar place in sonship. Abraham was told, “Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, Isaac …”, Genesis 22: 2. And later, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from Isaac (Genesis 25: 6) that there should be no rival to Isaac, the only son of the free woman. It is a wonderful thing to have a sense of the Father’s love for His sons, so distinctly and uniquely set out in Christ, the only-begotten, but entered into by us through adoption, having received “a spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father”, Romans.8: 15. Our brother knew the blessed liberty of sonship.
Jacob is well known to most of us and much could be said about him, but I wish to be brief, so I will refer to what, possibly, was one of the most important experiences in the life of Jacob. When he came to Bethel, according to Genesis 35: 7, “He built there an altar, and called the place El-Beth-el”, meaning God of the house of God. He worshipped the God of the house of God! The
apostle Paul tells us that in this dispensation the saints are “built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”, Ephesians 2: 22. We are free to worship the Spirit of God. There are some believers who are not. Our brother was one who worshipped the Spirit of God, recognizing His place in Deity.
These distinctive features to which we have referred were seen outstandingly, in representation, in the three men of whom God said, “I am the God … of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”. They all were in their graves when God said that to Moses, but they were living for God, for “he is not God of the dead but of the living”. Our brother has died, but he is living for God. He has departed to be with Christ, of which Paul could say, “It is very much better”, Philippians 1: 23. He is living for God in conditions where faith no longer is needed, for things which he held in faith he now enjoys in reality; acceptance in sonship is now unhindered, and God is worshipped without let. And God is not ashamed of him to be called his God.
Words at the burial of Mr. P. W. Coombs, Plainfield, N.J.
18 February 1978