A Marriage Question

Q

Thank you for your website, it has helped me greatly in my understanding of the Bible. I tend to agree with you on most everything and I really enjoy the ‘Ask A Bible Teacher’ section.

I have a question about marriage and the rapture. When my husband and I were married last year we took vows to God that said “till death do us part”, should we happen to be raptured live into Heaven will we still be married?

A

The phrase “Till death do us part” is partly intended to relieve the surviving spouse of any further contractual obligation to the deceased. This frees the survivor to go on with life and even re-marry if it seems appropriate. In that sense the word death means the death of the physical body.

Whether raptured or resurrected we discard our earthly bodies for new heavenly ones. The type of relationship we call marriage doesn’t exist in Heaven because there’ll be no need to bear children, but that by no means will diminish the value of our relationships. In fact all it will do is eliminate the bad parts, like jealousy, dependence, communication issues and the other relationship problems we all endure here. If anything your love for your husband, and his for you, will become purer and more fulfilling.

But in addition, you’ll enjoy meaningful relationships with many others as well. God created us to be social creatures, and so our eternity will be filled with friends from all ages who will become as close as family without ever threatening those very special relationships we formed here on Earth.