No Marriage In Heaven?

No Marriage in Heaven?
By Rev. D. Earl Cripe

(This article is in the form of a letter in response to a question from a
friend wondering if they would still be with their spouse in heaven.)

Dear (Friend):

As to your question, there is bad news and good news. The bad news is that there is no marriage between man and woman in heaven. The passage cited below, where the Pharisees were trying to trick Jesus, leaves no doubt about it.

St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 22

Matt 22:23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,

Matt 22:24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

Matt 22:25 Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:

Matt 22:26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.

Matt 22:27 And last of all the woman died also.

Matt 22:28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

Matt 22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

Matt 22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

Matt 22:31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,

Matt 22:32 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.

Virtually the same is repeated in the 12^th chapter of St. Mark’s Gospel.

The good news is that, in heaven, your relationship to your spouse will be better and more enduring than it was on this earth. Of course we do not understand that now. We cannot see how it can be better if we cannot have our husbands and wives. But there are two things to think about.

1. No matter how we look at our lives after a husband or a wife is gone, our marriage had tense moments and was not perfect in every sense. Your relationship with your spouse will be perfect in every sense and there will be no tense moments between you in heaven.

2. We walk by faith, not by sight. We who are finite cannot grasp the infinite, much less exhaust it. We do not know what a perfect world will be or should be, but God does. We have Jesus’ promise that it will be perfect, that we will be satisfied with it and that nothing will ever come along to destroy that bliss. We, who believe in God, rest in that blessed hope. We cannot understand it now and the rational mind does not accept it now, but we know it will be true because God, in His holy word, has told us so.

What will you be able to do together in heaven? Positively anything you want to do. There will be no unfulfilled desires. But I warn you not to try to envision that too narrowly or to come to any hard and fast conclusions. The whole thought process begins to tilt out of control when we try to do that. Let it be enough to know that it will be that way. Jesus said that you will not lose anything in the transition, but will gain a hundred times and more.

God bless you and give you peace in your lonely moments and in your sorrow. The God of all comfort can and will give you comfort. This world is a place of tears and that does not mean that all will be sweetness and light for the rest of your life, but it does mean that He will be with you and you will be all right.

Please contact me at any time at all when you have needs or questions with which I can help you.

Your Brother in Christ,

Earl