"Mommy, will my toys go to Heaven?"

When kids ask the questions we all want to know.

Last night, my eight-year-old daughter was worried about whether her stuffies and toys will be with her in Heaven.

As soon as she asked, I remembered, as a child, wondering the exact same thing. I remember being told, “Toys don’t have souls.” And while that’s true, it didn’t answer my underlying questions:

• Will God take care of me?

• Will God provide for me?

• Will I be happy and safe?

Parents and grandparents give children toys because they love them. Each toy is an emotional reminder to the child that they are loved, that they are safe, and that they are not alone.

When our children come to us with these seemingly simple questions about God and the Bible, it’s wise to look for the question underneath the question.

Was my daughter really concerned about whether her aqua dinosaur will go to Heaven, or was she concerned about feeling safe, loved, and provided for when she gets there? I believe it was the latter.

I read her John 14:2-3, where Jesus promises:

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

And I told her, right now, Jesus is preparing a place for you. He’s getting Heaven ready, setting up a beautiful home for you with him. He knows you better than anyone in the whole world and he loves you, so I’m sure your home in Heaven will be full of all your favorite stuffies and toys. Heaven will be even more wonderful and perfect than anything you can possibly imagine or dream of, so there is no need to worry.

Our Questions Underneath Our Questions

As adults we often have similar questions about God. Sometimes we ask them out loud. Other times, we keep them to ourselves, embarrassed to admit that we aren’t entirely confident. Our questions are usually more rooted in pain than those of a child, but while they may seem more complex, they’re not.

For example, I have often wondered, “If there’s no marriage in Heaven, how will I be happy? How will I feel whole if Jason, my husband, doesn’t have this relationship with me anymore? Won’t I be lonely?”

Deep down, this is just a grown up way of asking the same question my daughter was wondering.

• Will God take care of me?

• Will God provide for me?

• Will I be happy and safe?

So, let’s analyze the words of Jesus and examine God’s promises.

If there’s no marriage in Heaven, how will I be happy?

In Matthew 22:15-22, Jesus tells us there’s no marriage in Heaven. But why? And what do these verses actually mean? Context is key here. Let’s read:

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One day, the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question.

“Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.

There were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died.

Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

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In these verses, Jesus is primarily focused on affirming the reality of life after death. Right off the bat in this account we are told that the Sadducees don’t believe in the resurrection. They don’t believe in life after death at all, let alone marriage in Heaven.

They think death is The End.

Nevertheless, the Sadducees pitch Jesus this ludicrous scenario in which one woman is widowed seven times in a row.

By the way, if that were to really happen, the logical question to ask Jesus would be, “Is she a serial killer?”

Seriously, what was this woman putting in her matzah ball soup?! You’d think that after the second and third brother keeled over, the fourth brother would be dragging his heels and calling for some kind of investigation. But seven brothers? Why did they keep marrying her? She’s probably a black widow, or best case scenario, some kind of Typhoid Mary.

Nevertheless, the Sadducees ask Jesus, “Which husband will she be married to in Heaven?”

You see, the Sadducees are trying to trick Jesus. They want him to endorse polygamy or sexual sin, so that they then can brand him a heretic before the people and destroy his ministry.

But Jesus is God and Jesus sees through their game.

Not only does he affirm that there is absolutely life after death, but he says that we “will neither marry nor be given in marriage,” because we “will be like the angels in Heaven.”

“God,” he says, “is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

And here’s where we should be asking ourselves an interesting question.

What are angels like? In what way will you and I become like angels?

In the Bible, angels often take the form of people. Sometimes they have wings. Sometimes they blow trumpets. Sometimes they are overwhelmingly powerful and terrifying. Sometimes they look so much like regular human beings that nobody around them realizes what they are.

The one consistent factor throughout the Bible is that angels don’t sin. They obey all of God’s commandments and follow his laws perfectly.

And this, I think, is what Jesus means.

In Heaven, we will be holy like the angels are holy.

The Sadducees were apparently thinking along these same lines, because in verses 37-39, they follow up with another question. They ask Jesus, “What is God’s greatest commandment?”

In other words, “So Jesus, if we’re going to keep God’s commandments like the angels do, how will that happen? What will our behavior look like?

Jesus replied, “You shall ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

In other words, in Heaven, we won’t need marriage, because in Heaven, we will be holy. No one will cheat, abuse, abandon, or neglect another. We will love each other so perfectly and completely that conjugal vows will be unnecessary. Contracts, licenses, and prenuptial agreements will not be needed because sin and failure won’t exist for us anymore.

From a symbolic and theological perspective, the purpose of marriage here on earth is to prefigure the coming union of Jesus and his Bride. It’s a picture and a reminder of the joy and fulfillment to come at the resurrection. God and his people will be united in love. Once that happens - once Jesus returns and makes all things new - there will be nothing left to prefigure. The promise and hope of marriage will be fulfilled.

From a practical perspective, marriage is intended to give us security and assurance. Our spouse promises to take care of us, protect us, be faithful to us, and never abandon us. In Heaven, we will be perfect, incapable of even being tempted to sin. The sting of betrayal and fear of abandonment will be no more. Not only will we love each other, but we will love each other perfectly.

In Heaven, we will be like the angels. We will follow all of God’s commandments. We will love each other wholly and truly in a way that we cannot currently fathom.

There will be no marriage in Heaven, because in Heaven, we will enjoy an eternal love that is far better, far stronger, and far more profound.

God will take care of you.

God will provide for you.

God will comfort you.

And so will your spouse and everyone around you.

Perfectly.

Forever.

Without fear.

Without fail.

Our God is not the God of the dead, but of the living and of the loving.