Top o’ the Mornin’ to Ya!
TLDR: Marriage is till death do us part—it doesn’t continue in heaven. Jesus said when we rise from the dead, we neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
On that sour note title, but marriages are not a heavenly thing. They’re not gonna last. Till death do us part, and that’s how far they last. Reading in Mark this week about Jesus dealing with the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the scribes, and they keep coming back to Him with these marriage and divorce things.
God’s picture of marriage is man and woman coming together to become one. They were testing Jesus and asking, “Is it okay to divorce? Because we got some rules that say that.” And Jesus goes off and says, those aren’t God’s rules. Those are the rules Moses created that God permitted or settled for because of the harm caused by divorce.
Mark 10:2 says, “Some Pharisees came to Jesus testing Him and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife. And He answered them and said, ‘What did Moses command you?’ And they said, ‘Moses permit a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.'”
In the house, the disciples began questioning Him about this again. He said, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.”
The reason I mentioned this is my daughter of our new marriage after my wife’s divorce asked about my opinion and my parents’ opinion. She said, “Are grandpa and grandma mad because you married mom?” And I said no, they’re not mad. We read the Scripture together. I told her that grandpa and grandma are fine. I actually came and read this Scripture when I was determining whether or not to marry my wife, Leah, at the time.
Marriage isn’t heavenly. Marriage isn’t something that goes on or continues up in heaven. Mark 12:18 says, “Some Sadducees who say there is no resurrection came to Jesus and began questioning Him saying, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote that if a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child, his brother should marry the wife and raise up children to his brother. There were seven brothers, and the first took a wife and died, leaving no children. The second one married her and died, leaving no children. The third, likewise. And so all seven left no children. Last of all, the woman died also. In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one’s wife will she be? For all seven have married her.'”
And Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”
The footnote here talks about that spiritual connection, that just full-on joy that sex apparently isn’t a thing because above and beyond all I can ask or think is the glory of heaven.
“But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, you have not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ (Not I was the God of them, but I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are greatly mistaken.”
Wherever you’re at, whether you’re going through divorce, a lot of the men I talk to these days are struggling with divorce and marriage. Whether you’ve been divorced and remarried, repent of your sins. Go and sin no more. My interpretation of Scripture is growing every day. I am being sanctified every day, and I get convicted every day, and I go and repent, and I pray to go and sin no more.
And in some cases, I’m through. And in some cases, it takes a few tries. But I’m always seeking first the Kingdom of God. That’s my intention. That’s my plan. And that’s so exciting and so beautiful. Jesus died for your sin so that you can wipe any sin away, except blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, and be clean and pure in God’s eyes.
You be blessed!
