Is Marriage Really Forever?

[Sage]

Matt22:30For in the resurrected state neither do [men] marry nor are [women] given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven.

I have taken this to mean that marriage is not eternal and there is no sex in heaven.  Add to this that life in the garden, before the fall, included a intimate and physical relationship between Adam and Eve.

Gen: 21-24 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and while he slept, He took one of his ribs or a part of his side and closed up the [place with] flesh. And the rib or part of his side which the Lord God had taken from the man He built up and made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. Then Adam said, This [creature] is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of a man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

How do we reconcile this? I believe my purpose is eternal but I am not sure whether marriage is. Why does it matter? People invest a whole lot in the language about "the one" and I have been the pre-destined wife for many a misguided brother using the wrong language to express their interest or lust as the case may be.

[ethereal]

The way I see it is: There's a"forever" that spans our human years and then there's "eternity" which spans everything after that. That's probably why there's no "forever" anywhere in the marriage vows, just "until death do you part".

[Sage]

I hear what you are saying - something like "love for a lifetime'. But the question remains as to God's original intent as demonstrated in the Garden (Adam and Eve were given to eachother) and what we end up with in our resurrected state as spoke by the Lord (there will be no giving in marriage). I don't see how to reconcile the two. Jesus came to reconcile us back to the Lord and to that orginal state. . .so I find this an adventurous question in terms of God's nature and His intent.

[Forum Administrator]

Matt22:30For in the resurrected state neither do [men] marry nor are [women] given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven.

I have taken this to mean that marriage is not eternal and there is no sex in heaven.  Add to this that life in the garden, before the fall, included a intimate and physical relationship between Adam and Eve.

Gen: 21-24 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and while he slept, He took one of his ribs or a part of his side and closed up the [place with] flesh. And the rib or part of his side which the Lord God had taken from the man He built up and made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. Then Adam said, This [creature] is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of a man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

How do we reconcile this? I believe my purpose is eternal but I am not sure whether marriage is. Why does it matter? People invest a whole lot in the language about "the one" and I have been the pre-destined wife for many a misguided brother using the wrong language to express their interest or lust as the case may be.

God uses everything He has created to demonstrate His love for us and to draw us to Himself, into His presence. When He created mankind (Adam and Eve), He walked with them and talked with them. He fellowshiped with them because He wanted them to know Him and to be in His presence. God decided to use marriage to show man (Adam) what it's like to be in an intimate relationship with someone he loves (Eve).

Just as God created Eve as an embodiment of His love for Adam, God created us as the embodiment of His love for His Son, Jesus Christ, the "Second Adam." And, just as God presented Eve to Adam, God will one day present us, the Church, as the Bride of Christ. That is how marriage becomes a picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church.

Marriage, as God intended, is one of the most powerful illustrations of the love God has for us, and the intimate fellowship that He desires to have with us. God uses marriage to demonstrate His love, and to draw us closer to Himself, into His presence. If God purposes you to marry, His desire is to demonstrate His love for your spouse through you and vice versa. Marriage, when it's carried out as God intended, becomes a reflection and a conduit of God's love, not just for the benefit of those who are involved, or the children that may be produced as a result of the marriage, but for the benefit of the whole "world" to see. It is love that God uses to draw mankind to Himself.

But, marriage, as powerful of an illustration as it is, cannot fully capture the depth of God's love, nor the consummate intimacy of being close to Him, nor the joys and pleasures of being in His presence. Marriage is a representation of those things. But, when we get to heaven, we will no longer need that representation; we will be in His presence and we will understand completely His measureless love, and the only appropriate response will be to worship and glorify Him forever.

Our whole purpose is to glorify God on earth and in heaven. This is why we were created. Your purpose is eternal, and God will use whatever will best and most effectively bring His glory out of you. Marriage is one of the ways He can do that. If marriage will effectively cause you to fulfill your purpose of glorifying Him while here on earth, then He will ordain it to be a part of your life. Most people (like some of those misguided  brothers you mentioned) see marriage as an end: the end of celibacy; the end of loneliness; the end of whatever else causes them to desire marriage. But marriage is a means to an end, and the end is glorifying God.

[Sage]

Wow. Thanks for a balanced, insightful and chewable answer. Blessings!