Imagine

Mat 22:23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, 24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 25 Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. 27 And last of all the woman died also. 28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. 31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 32 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.

John Lennon, in his song, Imagine, challenges his listeners to "Imagine there's no heaven." Obviously, he didn't want for there to be a heaven, for he knew if there was such a place, he wouldn't be going there. And if there was a heaven, there must also be a hell, and he sure didn't want to recognize that. So instead, he trusted his imagination, no matter how false.

Here, the Sadducees, who also didn't believe in heaven, are trying to imagine what heaven would or should be like if there was one. It would have been a heaven of their own making. In this heaven, marriages from earth would continue on for eternity.

Imagine a few other things:
1. This sect didn't believe in miracles
2. They didn't believe in angels
3. They did not believe in an afterlife of any kind.
4. They refused to believe in a resurrection.

Strange, that someone would profess belief in God, but none of the above, the supernatural side-effects of the existence of God. Of not believing in a resurrection, Paul declared, "We are of all men, most miserable." How unhappy these Sadducees must have been.

Could you imagine, these "learned" men were under the impression that others had always believed in the institution of marriage carrying over into heaven? Didn't they have a comparative religions class in their Yeshiva? Or did the Pharisees actually hold to the tenet that people remained married in heaven.

Well, now they all knew. They had it on good authority from the One Who came from heaven.