Spouse Relationships in Heaven?
Sometimes, if there was more than one spouse during a lifetime, due to death, we wonder which one will we be with in heaven. This exact question was asked by the Sadducees to Jesus.
The Sadducees said to Jesus, “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her” (Matthew 22:24-28).
The Sadducees are said to have praised themselves on being more thorough students of the Old Testament than the Pharisees. But Jesus, here, affirms that in spite of all their claimed knowledge of the Scriptures, they are greatly ignorant. Theological ideas that are founded on hypothetical concepts derived from wrong information can sure lead people away from the truth. Believers, today, should take heed lest they, too, “err, not knowing the scriptures.”
The Sadducees forgot that the Lord who is strong enough to resurrect the dead, has also the wisdom and power to create a new and complete system of society in the future new earth. In addition, all who are redeemed will be satisfied with the amazing realities of the new earth, even though they cannot fully comprehend in this life what the future will be like.
Marriage in Heaven
Jesus had quite an interesting answer to the Sadducees: “Ye do err not knowing the scriptures for in heaven they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels” (Matthew 22:29). It appears that marriage in and of itself is an earthly union designed to protect and guide families through the temptations of the world and also made for procreation to populate the earth (Genesis 1:28).
Clearly, in heaven, there will be no need for marriage, because a different order of life will be there. Those who have overcome sin through the power of Christ, will unite together in holy socialization. It will make sense that those who we marry will be the closest to us in heaven, since they are familiar best with our characters. However, marriage under its earthly definition may not be practiced in heaven as it is here on earth. Further, there will be no more need for procreation since the earth is already populated.
Some have been troubled with thought of no marriage in heaven, since many feel sex is a need and a deep desire of the human body. However, humans underestimate what heaven will be like. There, senses will be heightened and there will be new forms of pleasure that we don’t fully understand now. These future experiences will eclipse the pleasure of the sexual union.
The Lord granted sex and marriage as a blessing on this earth and as mentioned earlier, a form of protection from temptation. So, we can only imagine what He has prepared for His children in the eternal life. The Bible gives us a faint glimpse of what life then would be like in the following verse: “Eye hath not seen, neither has entered into the heart of man the things that the Lord has prepared for those that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). No one can visualize the inexpressible awe, beauty, and joy of God’s eternal kingdom of glory.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
