June Blog
“Will I Be Married in Heaven?”
You know, lately I’ve been thinking about heaven, and people tend to do that when you’ve lost a loved one. Heaven seems a lot closer than ever. In fact, some people call that space between what we can see with our natural eye and what we can’t see in the spirit, they call that the thin space.
And I know from personal experience that space is very thin, because years ago, I had a near death experience where I actually did go to heaven—I don’t know how long I was gone—but I actually did die, and then the Lord brought me back. And I went from tremendous distress to the most unbelievable peace I’d ever experienced before in my life.
So, I know that our loved ones who have died in Christ, died believing in Jesus as their Savior. Even though they may have had a tumultuous time in their last days or hours, they are completely at peace with Jesus. In fact, some people have compared earth to being the womb of heaven. And you know how babies go through a lot of squeezing and contracting before they’re born, and we tend to go through birth pangs being born into heaven as well.\
But some people have asked, “What about marriage? Will I be married in heaven if my spouse has preceded me? Will they know me? Will I be special to them in heaven?”
And of course, the answer is “Yes.” There won’t be marriage in heaven, but of course they will know you, because the Bible says that we will be like Jesus, because we will see Him as He is. But also, the Bible says we will know and be known in heaven.
So… but as far as marriage in heaven, there were some people who came to Jesus and tried to trap Him about this question, because these religious leaders were called the Sadducees and they didn’t even believe in the resurrection of the dead. So, they posed this question to Jesus in Luke 20, and they said, “Teacher, Moses gave us a law, that if a man dies leaving a wife but has no children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name. Well, suppose there were seven brothers, the oldest one married and then died without children. So, the second brother married the widow, but he also died. Then the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them who died without children. Finally, the woman also died. So, tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.”
Jesus replied, “Marriage is for people here on earth.”
You know, years ago, after my father died, my sweet mom would walk up to people wherever she saw them, in a restaurant or walking down the street, and she’d say, “Excuse me, but are you married?” And if they said yes, she would say, “My husband just died. I just want to tell you, please just love each other while you can. And treasure your marriage.”
So, Jesus said that marriage is for people here on earth, but in the age to come, those worthy of being raised from the dead—in other words, those who believe that Jesus Christ is their Lord and have accepted him as their Savior—those will be, will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they will never die again. In that respect, they’ll be like angels. Now, we don’t become angels, but in this respect, we’ll be like angels in that we will never die again. They are children of God and children of the resurrection.
But now, as to whether the dead will be raised, even Moses proved that when he wrote about the burning bush, long after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had died, he referred to the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And this is key. So, He is the God of the living, not the dead, for they are all alive to Him.
You know, a few weeks ago, my little four-year-old granddaughter, just abruptly said, “Grandma, my mom’s dad is dead!”
And I said, “Well, yes. His body died. But he’s actually alive in heaven with Jesus.”
And those of us who know Jesus as our Savior have that assurance that we will see our loved ones again. But there will be no need of marriage in heaven, for one thing, nobody down here has a perfect marriage. So it wouldn’t fit in heaven. But besides that, in heaven, Jesus is the Bridegroom, and all of us who believe in him are his bride for all eternity. And we will experience such peace and love and joy, that any marriage on earth could never compare.
So be encouraged, be of good cheer. Yes, our loved ones will know us in heaven. And there will be no need of marriage because Christ Himself will be our heavenly Bridegroom.
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