Marriage and Tribulation

And why does Jesus talk about angels and marriage?


In ancient times people thought a time of tribulation was often a judgment against them that came in the form of a war or a natural disaster. When they saw the signs of tribulation coming they would act accordingly and those who were not married did not plan on getting married until the tribulation was over.

By not getting married they would make both the time during the tribulation and after easier. If one were to get married before, then one had the difficult task of providing for a family during hard times. They could lose their husband in battle or their wife could be raped and killed after the battle was lost. It became difficult for a woman to get married again after she had already been married and lost her virginity. So if she lost her husband somehow, life would then become incredibly difficult for her.

Paul is concerned about avoiding marriage during hard times so that things will be easier:

1 Corinthians 7:25-28
Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are. Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.

I’m not sure what the crisis was that Paul was referring to but I don’t think he was referring to the tribulation that will occur when Jesus returns (although it may refer to that in a multi-dimensional way).

Jesus points out that the people in Noah’s time did not see the disaster coming or else they would have acted accordingly:

Luke 17:27
People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

Marriage carried with it an additional burden since, if they were fulfilling their marriage duties, children would probably come soon after. Having children during tribulation is also difficult. This is why Jesus says things like:

Matthew 24:19-20
How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.

Luke 23:29-30
For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' Then
" 'they will say to the mountains, "Fall on us!"
and to the hills, "Cover us!"

After the bad times were over, God would assure His people that it was over and encouraged them to act accordingly and that it was okay to get married. See what God says after Jerusalem was destroyed and the people were exiled.

Jeremiah 29:4-6
This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.

Also, after the flood, God says something similar to Noah:

Genesis 9:7
As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.

But notice that God also says this to Adam and Eve. This may imply that a judgment (against Lucifer) had happened just before God created them and would lend support to the Ruin-Reconstruction Theory, sometimes referred to as the Gap Theory.

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Jesus talks about marriage in what I think is one of the most misinterpreted verses in the Bible:

Matthew 22:30
At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.

People have used this verse to say that there will be no marriage in heaven or that angels do not marry. That may or may not be true but I don’t think that is what Jesus means to communicate. The full account in Luke makes things a little more clear.

Luke 20:27-33
Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. "Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?"

As Jesus often did, he answered the question by not answering the question. The Sadducees question had to do with what happens after marriage, after the resurrection.

Jesus’ answer is focused on before marriage, before the resurrection – during the Great Tribulation.

Luke 20:34-36
Jesus replied, "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection.

When tribulation is coming people should act accordingly as they would with any other coming tribulation – by not getting married.

But why does Jesus reference the angels? Not because they do not marry but because “they can no longer die”. We become immortal after the resurrection, just like the angels.