Question from a reader:
My wife had been widowed when we met. We were married for many wonderful years when she passed. On the New Earth, I understand the concept of our marriage being to Christ. But what will life be like? Will be a family again? Will we live together as before or more as a communal family with her first husband?
Answer from Stephanie Anderson, EPM staff:
I would encourage you to read this blog by Randy. Though we know that earthly marriage will end in Heaven, we also know that there will be continuity, and we will be the same people, but without the stain and brokenness of sin. We will not stop caring about people who were precious to us on Earth.
Randy writes, “There is continuity from this life to the next. Married people have shared experiences here on the present Earth, and I think we’ll look back on those times like we were soldiers in the trenches together: we had great times and we had hard times. We should expect those relationships with family to be special and continue forever.”
Randy also writes in another Q&A: “One of the things that I emphasize to people is that I think we miss something when we say there’s no marriage in Heaven. The Bible does not teach there is no marriage in Heaven. The Bible teaches there is one marriage in Heaven: Christ married to His bride, the Church. I remember when this dawned on me many years ago, and I said to Nanci, ‘Do you know what? According to the Bible we will be part of the same marriage forever. We are both part of the bride of Christ, and we will have as a bridegroom the only absolutely perfect, absolutely good, gracious Spouse in all the history of the universe. We have that to look forward to, and we’ll enjoy that together.’”
Those who were married more than once on Earth, and who know Jesus as their Savior, will be part of the same marriage (to Christ) and will all be part of the same family in Heaven. There will be no jealousy, strained relationships, or awkwardness. It’s hard for us to wrap our minds around here on Earth how those relationships will all work out, but we know that Heaven will be fullness of joy, and we will be completely happy, and with our Savior and those who love Him too.
Randy writes, “Scripture tells us we will all be living with the same person (Jesus) in the same place (Heaven) and will be seated at tables with the people of God of all times, and 1 Thessalonians 4 says we are to ‘comfort one another with these words’ about being together with the Lord forever. So clearly we will be spending eternity with our loved ones. Of course, we’re not told how much time we’ll spend with them, but we know that without the Curse, time will no longer be an enemy but a friend. I suspect it won’t be long before we will have spent more time with them there than we ever did here.”
He includes a longer excerpt from the book Heaven about families in Heaven.
And regarding homes in Heaven, Randy writes, “Perhaps you’re familiar with Christ’s promise in John 14: ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions. . . . I go to prepare a place for you’ (v. 2, KJV). The Vulgate, the Latin Bible, used the word mansiones in that verse, and the King James Version followed by using mansions. Unfortunately, that rendering is misleading if it makes us envision having massive lodgings on separate estates. The intended meaning seems to be that we’ll have separate dwelling places on a single estate or even separate rooms within the same house.”
Photo: Unsplash
