Marriage in heaven?

The various Jewish religious leaders were forever trying to catch Jesus out. Most of these attempts came from the Pharisees, but in Luke 20:27-40 we read of the Sadducees having a go. The Sadducees denied the resurrection of the dead, amongst many other disagreements with the Pharisees. They were very much intellectuals and politically motivated. They had control of the Sanhedrin at the time. Luke mentions their disbelief in the resurrection of the dead as the Sadducees thought they had a knock-down argument with which they could catch Jesus out. Their argument rested on Deut 25:5,6, where it speaks of what happens if a brother dies, then his surviving brother must see to the continuation of the family, even to the extent of marrying the widow. Now this seems very strange, even objectionable, to us, but marriage in the Bible is much more than just a romantic matter. It is the foundation of family life and society, which is why as Western societies reject any meaningful definition of marriage they encounter ever increasing problems in society, as we are witnessing today.

The supposed knock-down argument was what happens if there were seven brothers. They all died, having married the same woman after her previous husband died. The Sadducees then asked whose wife would she be after the resurrection of the dead? She couldn’t be the wife of seven husbands! The Sadducees thought this proved the illogicality of the resurrection, and its conflict with the ways of God, therefore it could not be true. This is an example of a reductio ad absurdum argument.

In Matthew’s account (Matt 22:23-33) Jesus opens His answer by declaring that the Sadducees know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. Here in Luke we go straight into the theological explanation. Marriage is for this age, but in the age to come there will be no more marriage. Note first that Jesus says “those considered worthy of taking part in the age to come”. This is the question that the Sadducees (and everyone else) should have been focusing on. Would they be part of the age to come? This is particularly poignant for the Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife, in an age to come. They were entirely focused on this age. So their question actually betrayed their own lack of vision.

Then Jesus explains that the age to come will be vastly different from this age, and we will be vastly different. There will be no more marriage, we will never die again, and we will be God’s children. When a husband or wife dies people often talk about “seeing them again”. Well if we and they are believers we will see each other again, but we will not be married! Now this might upset some people, but if we are upset it is because we are thinking like the Sadducees, in an earth-bound manner. It will not be that we have lost anything, and certainly not that we won't love them, but everything will be infinitely greater. Marriage is only for this age, not for the age to come (except in the sense of the church being the bride of Christ). Will you love your husband or wife? Of course, but we have no conception of how different, how wonderful things will be in the age to come, and how wonderful we will be in the age to come. When Christ returns and the fulfilment of all things is achieved the question of marriage will look rather silly!