The Best Is Yet To Come!
Marriage at the Resurrection
18 Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26 Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
Reflection:
The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, so it is clear they are not really trying to understand it, but trap Jesus by their supposed logical arguments based on the Mosaic Law. But by Jesus' answer we get a bit more of a window into what life will look or not look like in heaven. When Jesus says there will not be marriage in heaven, I don't think he is disparaging the institution of marriage. He is pointing out that our existence in heaven will be much different than here on earth.
Then, he uses the analogy that we will be like angels in heaven. What do we know about angels? They have personalities and names. They worship and glorify God day and night around His throne. They serve God and are messengers for God. They are powerful, yet still under the power of God the Father and God the Son. The passage says we will be like angels, so that doesn't mean there aren't other aspects of our existence in heaven beyond what angels are and what they can do. For instance, we know angels are spiritual beings, but we don't know a whole lot about their physicality. We know from our Creed that we believe in the resurrection of the body. So is just as Jesus had a body when he was resurrected, so will we.
While we would like to know a lot more about heaven, and there are lots more movies out lately about what heaven is like, part of the reason I think it is hard to grasp is our limitation as human beings. As 1 Corinthians 2:9 says,
"What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him."
While it is good to think about heaven and be confident we are going there because of what Jesus has done for us and our faith in Him, ultimately we fall short in our human mind conception because we have not been there yet. But the Good News is that the best is yet to come. We can be sure it will be better than anything we have experienced here on earth and no suffering is worthy to be compared with what God has in store for us.
Jesus help us to live with one eye on eternity, as we know the best is yet to come. Meanwhile may we give our best to you so that more people would hear the Gospel and come through you into the Father's house where we will spend eternity with you and all the saints. Amen.
18 Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26 Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
Reflection:
The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, so it is clear they are not really trying to understand it, but trap Jesus by their supposed logical arguments based on the Mosaic Law. But by Jesus' answer we get a bit more of a window into what life will look or not look like in heaven. When Jesus says there will not be marriage in heaven, I don't think he is disparaging the institution of marriage. He is pointing out that our existence in heaven will be much different than here on earth.
Then, he uses the analogy that we will be like angels in heaven. What do we know about angels? They have personalities and names. They worship and glorify God day and night around His throne. They serve God and are messengers for God. They are powerful, yet still under the power of God the Father and God the Son. The passage says we will be like angels, so that doesn't mean there aren't other aspects of our existence in heaven beyond what angels are and what they can do. For instance, we know angels are spiritual beings, but we don't know a whole lot about their physicality. We know from our Creed that we believe in the resurrection of the body. So is just as Jesus had a body when he was resurrected, so will we.
While we would like to know a lot more about heaven, and there are lots more movies out lately about what heaven is like, part of the reason I think it is hard to grasp is our limitation as human beings. As 1 Corinthians 2:9 says,
"What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him."
While it is good to think about heaven and be confident we are going there because of what Jesus has done for us and our faith in Him, ultimately we fall short in our human mind conception because we have not been there yet. But the Good News is that the best is yet to come. We can be sure it will be better than anything we have experienced here on earth and no suffering is worthy to be compared with what God has in store for us.
Jesus help us to live with one eye on eternity, as we know the best is yet to come. Meanwhile may we give our best to you so that more people would hear the Gospel and come through you into the Father's house where we will spend eternity with you and all the saints. Amen.
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