When we die in this life, believers go to a temporary Heaven (known as the 3rd Heaven), in this Heaven we will be as the Angels, we will be spiritual beings, Individual spirits.
There is no need for marriage in Heaven. We will be in the Eternal Presence of God.
Imagine from the scripture above, this lady would have seven husbands! Who would she Love? God!
Woman was formed from man as a companion for him, a helper and also so that together man and woman could multiply.
We will however be given new bodies, when the New Heaven and New Earth is formed, when satan has been defeated, we will be on Earth with God forever. The temporary heaven, (3rd Heaven as it is called), prior to being judged for the works we have done for the Lord, will pass away. But, even on the new Earth, with new bodies, there will be no marriage. Our loved ones who are born again will be there, the air will be full of love for one another and for God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Jesus called the temporary Heaven, Paradise!
How much better will be the New Heaven and New Earth and our new resurrected bodies.
Whoa! Brother Paul, where does the bible say anything about a temporary heaven? I know that the bible says 'To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord' but the third heaven ...This is where God and the holy angels (and creatures) and spirits of just men dwell. It is called “The heaven of heavens,” (Deuteronomy 10:14; 1 Kings 8:27; Psalms 115:16; 148:4). (1Kings 8:27) - “The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you.” (Psalm 2:4) The One enthroned in heaven laughs; The LORD scoffs at them.”
We are agreed though that we will no longer be married in heaven. To my chagrin! Probably a good thing for my wife...lol
Let me re-word the statement of a temporary heaven to... the present heaven (which is a temporary heaven)
The Apostle Paul considered it vital for us to know what happens when we die...
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NIV2011)
13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.
14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Paul initially speaks of those who have died before speaking of those alive when our Lord Returns.
So the place the born again believers go when they have died , the place of those fallen asleep is Heaven, but it is only temporary.
When a person dies the body goes back to the dust of the earth, from which it was created, but the spirit which belongs to God returns to God. He or she enters into an intermediate state, a transition period between our past life on earth and our future resurrected life on the New Earth. When we say a family member of friend has gone to Heaven, assuming they are born again, we are referring to the present Heaven, the one referred to by Paul. Life in Heaven that we go to when we die is the current Heaven, we are at that time spirits as we have not yet received our resurrected bodies. Hence the term defining this state and this period, intermediate, transition or temporary heaven, it is not our final destination. Don't focus on the terms mentioned describing the situation, focus on scripture and that we are at that stage spirits, in time we will have new, resurrected bodies and this will not be in the same place we go to if we die this side of the Rapture.
Philippians 1:23 (NIV2011)
23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;
Though the place we go, Heaven, will be wonderful, it will also be paradise. Jesus said to the dying thief on the cross next to him, 'today you will be with me in Paradise', but this it is not our final destination. We will in time have resurrected bodies and live on the New Earth, that will be even better. Although we go up to the intermediate, current Heaven, the New earth will come down from Heaven and God will come down and be with to us! Where we will live in the place God planned from the beginning, for all Eternity.
First we must accept what happens to us, as born again believers. When we die our spirits go the Heaven, our bodies go back to the dust of the earth, but we haven't at this stage got our resurrected bodies, so it has to be an intermediate state, until we will get resurrected bodies and live on the new earth. This confirms our final destination is another destination not the first one. Our Eternal location with resurrected bodies will be on the New Earth, God will come down to us on to the new earth, so in effect as we will be with God in this new location, this also has to be Heaven, as we know God lives in Heaven.
There is a lot more to explain and detail on this subject, all will be backed up with scripture, I need to come back to it as I have not got time now, but I wonder, would it may be better in its own thread. Comments welcome, continue as time allows here or start a new thread?
