Question:
Members of the Restored Church have “eternal” marriages.
Doesn’t the Bible tell us clearly there is no marriage in heaven?
“And again, verily I say unto
you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and
everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise,
by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power, and the keys of
this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them- Ye shall come forth in the
first resurrection…” Doctrine and Covenants 132:19
The Restored Church's most
well-known and unique doctrine is the principle of eternal marriage. Members of the Restored Church believe that husbands and wives can be married for eternity, with the children
being sealed to them in a family relationship.
No doubt this is a beautiful and attractive doctrine. Many say that such a doctrine is not
biblical. As proof of this they cite the New Testament texts found in the
gospels where the Lord Jesus Christ is being asked a question about the
resurrection.
It begins with the Sadducees
of the New Testament, who did not believe in the resurrection, asking the Lord:
"Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his
wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife,
and raise up seed unto his brother. … And the seven had her [to wife], and left
no seed: last of all the woman died also. In the resurrection therefore, when
they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to
wife." Mark 12:19, 22-23
The point of this question
for the Sadducees was to trip up the Lord, and prove there was no resurrection,
or no eternal life. The Lord responded:
"Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the
scriptures, neither the power of God? For when they shall rise from the dead,
they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are
in heaven." Mark 12:24-25
The Lord Jesus said it
Himself. In the resurrection people live again, but just become angels. They
aren't married. How can members of the Restored Church then believe in an eternal marriage?
There is one major problem
with that text being a proof of no eternal marriage. At the beginning of that
block of scriptures the Sadducees are bringing up a form of marriage that Moses
had told the people to do.
Moses told them to do it. It
was the Law of Moses.
These hypothetical people the
Sadducees are questioning the Lord about are under the Law of Moses, an
unfulfilled law. The Lord Jesus Christ is very aware of the Law of Moses and
that it is an unfulfilled law.
“Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.
And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? And they said,
Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus
answered and said unto them, For the
hardness of you heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of
the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one
flesh: so then they are no more
twain, but one flesh. What therefore God
hath joined together, let no man put asunder.” Mark 10: 2-9
The Law of Moses is an
unfulfilled law that was the result of the people of ancient Israel rejecting
the fulness of the gospel.
"For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto
them: but the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."
Hebrews 4:2
The ancient Israelites were
under a lesser law, with marriage only for mortality. Under the Law of Moses
these people cannot have an eternal
marriage. So what is marriage according to heavenly law? We can learn some
important clues about the heavenly law of marriage from what God commanded man
and woman before the fall of man. In the Garden of Eden after all creation,
after the woman had been taken from the man's rib, they were then joined back
together in marriage. Adam said:
"This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh:
she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a
man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Genesis
2:23-24
Before man fell, when Adam and Eve were
immortal beings who dwelt in the presence of God, they were joined in an
eternal marriage. They could not die, so were forever to be husband and wife.
When they fell from God's heavenly law, they fell from God, they also lost
immortality. Condemned to death they also lost their eternal marriage. Someone
was needed to restore what had been in the garden. Jesus Christ is the restorer
of heavenly things, including heavenly law and eternal life, and eternal
marriage.
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfil." Matthew 5:17
The Lord Jesus Christ did not
come to destroy the law of marriage, He came to fulfill it. In the Lord's
atonement, in the Lord's law, there is marriage.
"Nevertheless neither
is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord."
1 Corinthians 11:11
“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
not are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, ... I say unto you, if a man marry a wife, and
make a covenant with her for time and all eternity, if that covenant is not by me or by my word, which is my law, and
is not sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, through him whom I have anointed
and appointed unto this power, then it is
not valid neither of force when they are out of the world, because they are not
joined by me. … I say unto you, if a
man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting
covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who
is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power, [then the marriage will
continue into the eternities.]” Doctrine and Covenants 132:15-16, 18, 19
The Lord gave His apostles
the heavenly authority to bind and seal on Earth, and it would be bound and sealed
in heaven as well.
"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth
shalt be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:19
"But from the beginning of the creation God made them
male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and
cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more
twain, but one flesh. What therefore God
hath joined together, let not man put asunder." Mark 10:6-9
"I know that, whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing
taken from it. ..." Ecclesiastes 3:14
Through Jesus Christ,
husbands and wives are able to regain the blessings first given in the Garden
of Eden.
"Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the
wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as
being heirs together of the grace of life. ..." 1 Peter 3:7
In the Lord, in His atonement
and law, man and woman are just as they were at the beginning of all creation,
before the fall, married as one flesh again, with eternal life.
Polygamy existed in
the early history of the Restored Church.
It is well known that polygamy existed in the Bible. In the Restored
Church’s book of scripture, the Doctrine and Covenants, God commanded the men
and women of the church to partake of polygamy.
He promised the women He would bless them if they were obedient in
bringing forth children into His church. Remember that we must be obedient to
God in order to find eternal life, performing whatever sacrifice He requires.
“[T]hey are given unto him to multiply and replenish
the earth, according to my commandment, and
to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of
the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men. …” Doctrine and Covenants
132:63
This latter-day
polygamy was prophesied of in Isaiah. It would happen during the process of the
humbling and purification of the daughters of Israel who were scattered, and before
the redemption of Zion. It would happen before the return of ancient Israel’s
protective cloud that had covered them in the wilderness and was also in and over
the ancient temple of Jerusalem.
“Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched
forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a
tinkling with their feet.” Isaiah 3:16
“And in that day
seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and
wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our
reproach. In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and
glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them
that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass that he that is left in
Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one
that is written among the living in Jerusalem: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of
Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by
the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will
create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a
cloud and a smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon
all the glory shall be a defence.” Isaiah 4:1-5
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Watch- Eternal Marriage