According to Matthew 22:23 and Acts 23:6-8, the Sadducees believed that there will be no resurrection. To me, this indicates that when the Sadducees questioned Christ about marriage after the resurrection, they were very sincere. They said, when talking to Christ, that when a man dies, the custom is for his brother to marry his wife. There was a woman whose husband died, so she married his brother. The brother eventually died, so she married another brother. She ended up married to all seven brothers at one point or another because they kept dying before she did. The Sadducees ask Christ who she would be married to after the resurrection. I believe that she will be married to the first one, assuming that she married him in the House of the Lord: the temple.
In Matthew 22:30, Christ says to the Sadducees in response to their questions about marriage after the resurrection, "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." It seems to me like Christ says that there will be no marriages performed after the resurrection. I think this verse actually means that there will be no temporal marriages after the resurrection. There will be marriages, but they will last for eternity, not just until death.
Elder James E. Talmage comments that, "In the resurrection there will be no marrying nor giving in marriage; for all questions of marital status must be settled before that time, under the authority of the Holy Priesthood,
which holds the power to seal in marriage for both time and eternity." This reaffirms to me that marriage really can last for eternity. When most people get married, the one performing the marriage ordinance says, "Til death do you part." Their marriage will last until death. Those who are married in the temple with the proper authority will have a marriage that lasts beyond the grave, as long as they remain worthy of that blessing.
Doctrine and Covenants 132:15-16 reads, "Therefore,
if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me nor
by my word, and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world and
she with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are
dead, and when they are out of the world; therefore, they are not bound
by any law when they are out of the world. Therefore,
when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in
marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are
ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far
more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory." This helps me understand Matthew 22:30 better because it explains what Christ means by those who marry outside the temple being, "...as the angels of God in heaven." Their marriages will not last for eternity, and they will be helping those who were married in the temple. That's kind of a sad thought to me. When I fall in love, why wouldn't I want to be with him forever?
No comments:
Post a Comment