Marriage In Heaven?

[Doc]

The Bible tells us, “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). This was Jesus’ answer in response to a question concerning a woman who had been married multiple times in her life —whom would she be married to in heaven (Matthew 22:23-28)? Evidently, there will be no such thing as marriage in heaven. This does not mean that a husband and wife will no longer know each other in heaven. This also does not mean that a husband and wife could not still have a close relationship in heaven. What it does seem to indicate, though, is that a husband and wife will no longer be married in heaven.

Most likely, there will be no marriage in heaven simply because there will be no need for it. When God established marriage, He did so to fill certain needs. First, He saw that Adam was in need of a companion. “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’” (Genesis 2:18). Eve was the solution to the problem of Adam’s loneliness, as well as his need for a “helper,” someone to come alongside him as his companion and go through life by his side. In heaven, however, there will be no loneliness, nor will there be any need for helpers. We will be surrounded by multitudes of believers and angels (Revelation 7:9), and all our needs will be met, including the need for companionship.

Second, God created marriage as a means of procreation and the filling of the earth with human beings. Heaven, however, will not be populated by procreation. Those who go to heaven will get there by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; they will not be created there by means of reproduction. Therefore, there is no purpose for marriage in heaven since there is no procreation or loneliness.

 

[Dr. K.R. Allen]

Therefore, there is no purpose for marriage in heaven since there is no procreation or loneliness.

Dr. Randy Alcorn's most excellent book, Heaven, talked a lot about the pleasures of heaven and the fact of reduplication, i.e. any small pleasure here is only magnified there in the new estate that transcends the mirror here.

Is it possible then that covenant unions are not in existence there in the sense they are here because everyone is in a covenant union with Christ as the head? Thus, would not all of the people there be one together as all members of Christ today are baptized into his one body? Thus, could that then not mean the people there have no need to define those relationships by a covenant status (to make happen and to be given for it to happen) because they all are of one status already, family, under the one head Christ? Would it be that no one can join there because everyone is already joined under Christ's headship in his union (see Rev. 19:7)?

 

[MarvelousMarvin]

Doc wrote:

Evidently, there will be no such thing as marriage in heaven.

Read that passage again. Jesus plainly said that in the resurrection there will be no marriage. He said nothing about after the resurrection, when we are in Heaven.

The resurrection will last for a very brief time...an eye blink is estimated to be one millisecond (.001 second, or 1/1000 second.) We will be in Heaven for just a little bit longer than that... :lol:

And, in fact, if we who believe in the premillennial rapture are correct, there definitely will be marriage after the resurrection - in the Millennial Kingdom, if not in Heaven.

But maybe Doc's analysis is correct. We are not told much at all about life in Heaven.

In any case, all we can do is speculate.

 

[Anonymous]

Read that passage again. Jesus plainly said that in the resurrection there will be no marriage. He said nothing about after the resurrection, when we are in Heaven.

I have always understood Jesus to be saying, in the life after the resurrection, rather than just the twinkling of an eye time frame. After all, why would He describe something that has so little duration as the instant of the resurrection moment. Am I missing something in original language?

 

[steve]

the question was asked specificaly about in the resurrection, not about the time to follow. could it be that in answering that exact question, Yeshua gave an answer that we assume covered more than it was intended to? that he was not answering a question about heaven?

 

[Dr. K.R. Allen]

I think this is where we have to understand the Hebrew mindset. When God said to the Pharisees here the word resurrection they in their minds took that term to mean the next age where the kingdom of heaven was here. In their worldview it was this age and then the Messianic Age to come that merged into eternity, i.e. one that never ended. So it would be correct to take this verse to apply to the eternal life era.