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What About Marriage and Family in Heaven?

But the Bible does not teach there will be no marriage in Heaven. In fact, it makes it clear there will be marriage in Heaven. What it says is that there will be one marriage, between Christ and His bride—and we’ll all be part of it. Paul links human marriage to the higher reality it mirrors: “‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:31-32).

The one-flesh marital union is a signpost pointing to our relationship with Christ as our bridegroom. Once we reach the destination, however, the signpost becomes unnecessary. That one marriage—our marriage to Christ—will be so completely satisfying that even the most wonderful earthly marriage couldn’t be as fulfilling. Earthly marriage is a shadow, a copy, an echo, of the true and ultimate marriage. Once that ultimate marriage begins, at the Lamb’s wedding feast, all the human marriages that pointed to it will have served their noble purpose and will be assimilated into the one great marriage they foreshadowed. Drake W. Whitchurch writes, “The purpose of marriage is not to replace Heaven, but to prepare us for it.”

The joy of marriage in Heaven will be far greater because of the character and love of our bridegroom. I rejoice that Nanci and I will both be married to the most wonderful person in the universe. I fully expect that she will remain my closest friend besides Jesus Himself. And I expect other family relationships not to be lost, but to be deepened and enriched.

Thank you, Jesus, that you promise reunion with loved ones who have gone on ahead. Thank you that the best of relationships here will be so much better there, in a world where things will never again take a turn for the worse.

This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.