Read Matt 22:23–46
Mat 22:29-32 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. (30) For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. (31) And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: (32) ‘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.”

Is Jesus saying that we become angels here? Well, no. There is simply a point of comparison. That point of comparison is that at the resurrection there will be no more institution of marriage. Marriage is part of this world, this age. When Jesus returns, raises the dead and ushers in a new heavens and a new earth, there will be a new order of things. In that new order, we will be like angels in that we will be not getting married nor will we be married. We will not be bodiless spirits like the angels. But we will have bodies just like Jesus has. When Jesus was resurrected from the dead, he had flesh and bones. You too will rise bodily from the dead on the last day.

Secondly, there is the whole aspect of what death is. In the garden, God had told Adam and Eve that the day they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they would surely die. They did eat and they did die. While they continued on for another nine hundred years in what we like to call life, they were actually dead. You could say they started the undead apocalypse. They did die that day; they died spiritually. St. Paul tells us, Eph 2:1 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins.”

And while Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s tombs are with us to this day, Jesus says they are alive. God is a God of the living. How can this be? Jesus tells us, Joh 11:25-26 “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, (26) and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.’” And again, Joh 6:40 “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” And again, Joh 6:47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.” They all were shown Christ Jesus and were given the promises just as we are given the promises. They believed those promises and were given eternal life. Everyone, like them, who puts their trust in Christ Jesus possesses eternal life now and will be resurrected to eternal life at the return of Christ. We will be immortal like the angels but greater than the angels. We shall see God as His children and reign with God over creation. Our current mortal bodies will become immortal, imperishable and glorious like Jesus’ resurrected body. And so we say Christian fall asleep. They do not die. They possess eternal life, how can they die? They do not. That is our hope as Christians.

Lord Jesus Christ, continually give us faith in you and your promises that we may possess eternal life now and be raised bodily like you in your resurrection when you reveal yourself again at your second coming. Amen.