Matthew 22:31,32

Mat. 22:31, 32. "But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 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." The argument is very strong for the immortality of the soul, considering how often God manifested his great favors to those patriarchs in their life-time, time after time entering into covenant with them, and professing himself to be their God, declaring to them that he was God, all-sufficient, and that he was their shield and their exceeding great reward, promising that he would be with them and would bless them, and considering what great and manifold afflictions they met with while they lived, especially Abraham and Jacob, and how little good they ever saw of those promises that God had made in this life. God promised them the land of Canaan, but they were pilgrims and strangers in it; they had no settled habitation in it, but dwelt in tents, removing to and fro. Other people had the possession of the land, and oftentimes molested them, as Abimelech did in particular. They were driven out of the land by famines: all three of them were so. Abraham came from a far country; left his own kindred and his father's house, and went out, not knowing whither he went, for the sake of this land; but yet "God gave him none inheritance in it; no, not so much as to set his foot on." Jacob had the promise of this land; but yet he was still driven out of the land by Esau, that had no promise of it, and lived an exile from it twenty years, for fear of him, in a state of servitude, and in abundance of trouble; and in the latter part of his life he was forced to leave it to go down into Egypt with all his family, and posterity, and flocks and herds, and there he died. Though Canaan was the promised land, yet the principal quietness Jacob had in this world, was in Egypt, that seventeen years he lived there with Joseph his son, and not in Canaan. Another thing that was chiefly insisted on in God's covenant with them, was their being blessed in their posterity, that should be numerous and happy; but how little did they see of this while they lived! How long did Abraham wait before he had any child! and after he had one, he was obliged to cast out his first child, greatly to his grief; and he was a hundred years old before he saw one child in whom his seed should be called; and then God gave him but one, so that he saw nothing like a numerous posterity while he lived. And Isaac never had but two sons; and concerning his eldest and best beloved, it was revealed that his seed was not to be called in him, and he was obliged to disinherit him; and he had a great deal of grief in him and his wives: and his other son, that was to be his heir, he was obliged to part with into a strange land, and saw not for twenty years together. And Jacob, though he had a numerous family, yet he had an abundance of sorrow and trouble in them. His eldest son committed incest with his own concubine; his two next sons were guilty of barbarous murders. Judah, in whose posterity chiefly it was that Jacob's posterity were to be blessed, behaved himself very sinfully, and so as, doubtless, was greatly to his father's grief. Joseph, his best beloved son, he went long mourning for as lost, and having come to an untimely and sorrowful end. The sons of the handmaid seem to be none of the best beloved.

Esau's posterity seems to have come to greater prosperity than Jacob's, as Esau himself seems to have been vastly richer and more potent than his brother. Considering these things, how can it be that God's so often speaking of it as so great, inestimable, and distinguishing a happiness that he had admitted them to, that he was their God, and insisting on these covenant promises that he made to them, as so exceeding great and precious? I say, how can it be imagined but that God, in thus saying and promising, had respect to something that they should see and enjoy further than they ever enjoyed in this life?

The same may be argued, and in some respects were strongly, from God's still revealing himself as "the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, after they were dead." If was respect to the promises that had been made to them while living, of which it was known that they never saw the fulfillment, and never had received the promises, but had received a great deal of the contrary affliction; and therefore if their being was now finally extinct, and they no more capable of seeing and enjoying the fulfillment of any promise, why should God mention and insist on his friendship and love, and promises to them, as what still moved him to do great things for their sakes? and why should God still delight to characterize himself by his being their covenant God and friend, when there appeared so little foundation for it in any benefit that ever they had received by it, or were ever like to receive? It was because they were still capable of receiving the benefits of his favors and friendship, that he was not ashamed to be called their God. Hebrews 11:16, "But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city." If it had not been for this, God's being their God, spoken of so much, and as so great a thing, would come to a very small matter, hardly worth the mentioning.

From these things we may not only argue that the patriarchs continued to be, and did enjoy something after they were dead, but also that they lived to see and enjoy the fulfillment of those promises that were made to them, with respect to which it is that God calls himself their God, both before and after their death; and that their happiness in great part consisted in seeing the fulfillment of these promises in the course of his providence to their seed, and in the dispensation of providence towards the church. And so I would argue that the happiness of departed souls in heaven, in a most important degree, consists in beholding and contemplating God's glorious dispensations towards the church in this world, and in seeing his wonderful wisdom, and infinite grace, and other perfections, therein manifested. The principal employment of one great part of the heavenly world, viz. the holy angels, is about these things; that in which the angels do chiefly behold the manifold wisdom and other perfections of God, is in these things, and the same is that wherein chiefly the souls of departed saints do chiefly behold God's glory.

The fulfillment of the promises God made to him concerning what should be accomplished in and for his seed, and for the church of God after his death, he said was "all his salvation and all his desire;" and therefore doubtless great part of the happiness he enjoyed after his death, consisted in fulfilling that desire of his.

Mat. 23:34-35