Q. In Mark 12:25, Jesus says that when people “rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” So does this mean that the marriage relationship doesn’t exist in heaven? I love my wife dearly, so this is kind of hard, but faith directs me to 1 Corinthians 2:9, and I know eternity will be amazing beyond anything we can imagine.
I certainly understand and appreciate your question. My wife and I had a long and happy marriage before God called her home to heaven. (I tell our story in my other blog that is linked in the right sidebar, Endless Mercies.) The 34 years that we had together didn’t seem long enough, and even if we had been married for twice as long, that wouldn’t have seemed long enough either. So like you I struggle, from an earthly perspective, with the idea that we will no longer be married in heaven.
However, also like you, I am directed by faith to the heavenly perspective. My wife and I met as counselors at a Christian children’s camp. So our initial relationship was as co-workers for God’s kingdom, as brother and sister in Christ, and soon as good friends. And that is what we are again now. It’s just that she has gone to work in the heavenly expression of God’s kingdom, while I am still working in the earthly expression of it. (I tell people, “She’s no longer at this branch, she’s been transferred to corporate.”)
When we are reunited in heaven, we will still be all of those things, and more. I appreciated the way you referred to 1 Corinthians 2:9, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him.” I also think in this regard of Luke 5:9, “No one, after drinking old wine, wants new wine, because he says, ‘The old wine is better.’” (Or, as the Common English Bible puts it, “No one who drinks a well-aged wine wants new wine, but says, ‘The well-aged wine is better.’”)
In heaven, you and your wife will each be like well-aged wine—mature, developed, complex, fully come into your own. The love that you have for each other will not be impaired in any way by the human immaturity, brokenness, and sinfulness that unfortunately trouble our relationships on earth. And so your relationship there will be even better than it is here. It will be glorified, perfected.
And there is more. In a way that I admit I do not fully understand now, your relationship will become even more wonderful in heaven as the exclusivity that gives marriage its special character on earth is transformed into an inclusivity that will draw others in to bask in the love that you have for each other. A good marriage has been called a “circle of warmth and light”—something like a warm campfire that draws people in on a cold, dark night. Perhaps you are already having the experience on earth of people feeling comfortable, secure, and accepted when they are with you and your wife because you have created in your home your own small world of unconditional acceptance and love. Now imagine that world greatly expanded to make countless others realize their own security and acceptance in God, without taking anything away from the love you have for each other, and I think you will have a small glimpse into what the relationship in heaven of the having-been-married-on-earth will be like.
But really no eye has seen … no ear has heard … no mind has imagined. So ultimately we trust God by faith and know, as you say, that eternity will be amazing beyond anything we can imagine.
Good Question 
Thank you Chris, well said.
Wow. I’m sure I speak for all of us. We are deeply moved by your loss. So sorry, I didn’t know. But, like you say, we’ll all enjoy the fellowship with both of you in glory, what a blessed thought as we head towards “corporate.” What an amazing God!
Thank you for your kind sympathy and encouraging words.