QUESTION: Please explain, "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (Matt. 22:32). Luke 20:38 adds, "For all live unto Him." See also Romans 14:9.
ANSWER: To men, the departed are dead, and their graves are with us where the body is sown in corruption, but they live to God, as may be seen in Moses being with Christ on the mount. So then while they are dead as to the body, they are alive as to the spirit. Matthew 22:32 and Romans 14:9 are in perfect harmony. God is the God of the living as to departed spirits, and in that sense Jesus is the Lord both of the departed dead, as to their spirits, and also of those who are still here alive in the body. He is also Lord as to those who have eternal life and will be raised at His coming. And He is Lord of "the rest of the dead" who "lived not again until the thousand years were finished" (Rev. 20:5). "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God" (Rev. 20:12). Men may despise and reject Him now; they will have to stand before Him then.