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.
Jesus is speaking to a group called the Sadducees — Jewish religious leaders in first-century Israel who did not believe in life after death. They had posed a trick question about marriage and resurrection to make the whole idea look absurd. Jesus responds by quoting a scene from the book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible, where God spoke to Moses from a burning bush and identified himself as 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were the founding fathers of the Israelite people, and they had been dead for hundreds of years by Moses' time. Jesus' argument is subtle but stunning: God speaks of them in the present tense — which means they must still exist, because God is not in relationship with the dead.
God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob — God of me — thank you that your relationships do not end at the graveside. Hold close everyone I have lost, and hold close my own quiet fears about what lies beyond. You are the God of the living, and I want to live like I believe that. Amen.
Jesus doesn't argue philosophy here or produce a logical proof for the afterlife. He just points to a sentence most people would have skimmed past in a familiar text: 'I am the God of Abraham.' Present tense. Not 'I was.' If God is still identifying himself by his relationship with Abraham centuries after Abraham died, then something is happening that death hasn't ended. The implication is staggering: God doesn't let relationships die just because people do. He is, right now, the God of everyone who has ever trusted him. If you have lost someone, this verse is worth sitting with quietly. Not as a logical proof of heaven, but as a picture of who God is. He is not the God of distant history or theological abstraction. He is the God of people — specific people with names and stories and complicated lives. He knew Abraham, and he knows you, and the relationship he begins with a person is not something death gets the final word over. That isn't a greeting card sentiment. That's the most radical thing Jesus said to the Sadducees that afternoon.
Jesus uses present tense — 'I am the God of Abraham' — not 'I was.' Why does the tense of that one verb matter so much to his argument about resurrection?
Have you ever really sat with the idea that God relates to you personally — not just to 'humanity,' but to you, by name? What does that feel like when you consider it honestly?
The Sadducees had genuine reasons for their disbelief in resurrection. What doubts do you carry about what happens after death, and how honest have you been with God about them?
If God values his specific relationships with specific people enough to define himself by them, how might that shape the way you show up for the particular people in your own life?
Is there someone you have lost whose story you want to bring to God this week — to sit with the truth that he still calls himself their God? What would it look like to pray that grief or that hope out loud?
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
Exodus 3:15
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Hebrews 8:10
Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.
2 Kings 20:5
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
Zechariah 13:9
Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
Exodus 3:6
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2 Timothy 3:16
But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Matthew 9:13
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
Genesis 17:7
'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living."
AMP
‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
ESV
'I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB '? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.'
NASB
‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
NIV
‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
NKJV
‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So he is the God of the living, not the dead.”
NLT
'I am—not was—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.' The living God defines himself not as the God of dead men, but of the living."
MSG