Will there be marriage in heaven?

The Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection, came to Jesus to entrap him with a question. 

“Teacher,” they said, ‘”Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?” 

Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” 

God invented marriage. He gave Eve to Adam as a helper and soulmate, saying, “It is not good that man should be alone…be fruitful and multiply.” 

One of God’s primary purposes in the institution of marriage was to perpetuate the human race. In heaven, there will be no reason to procreate. Since heaven is an abode of eternal bliss, it is reasonable to assume that a grieving spouse will be reunited with his/her departed loved one in heaven. Nothing, including death, can separate true love, for it endures forever, beyond the grave.  

Jesus reinforced the institution of marriage when He declared: “God made them male and female… and the two shall become one flesh… What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” Therefore, God can be trusted to ensure that the relationship we enjoyed in marriage on earth will continue in heaven. Should the surviving widow or widower remarry, again, we must defer to God to provide the perfect conjugal arrangement in heaven.

What if a person arrives in heaven and learns that his or her spouse is not there?  Some say the memory of that spouse will be erased from the mind of the heaven dweller.  This explanation is illogical. If a lifetime of remembrances were deleted from one’s memory, that person would no longer be the same person who existed on earth. Others reason that God’s presence in heaven will be so overwhelming that one’s thoughts of missing a loved one will regress to insignificance as he or she becomes caught up in worshipping the Creator and partaking in the glories of the celestial paradise. 

The doctrine of Purgatory provides a plausible solution. If a departed spouse is sent to Purgatory for a temporary period of cleansing prior to admission to heaven, then the loved one already in heaven would understand and eagerly await the arrival of the spouse who is paying his or her dues in Purgatory. In the hereafter, Almighty God, the creator and sustainer of life, will work this out. 

In concluding his response to the Sadducees, Jesus uttered a heart-warming statement of hope regarding the life beyond.  It involved Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all of whom had died centuries earlier. Jesus stated, “God is not God of the dead, but of the living”—meaning that these deceased patriarchs were very much alive with God in his eternal paradise. Regarding heaven’s glory, God’s word states that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard…the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”