A Wedding Reception That Will Change All Our Lives

This is the final post in a series on God, Singleness, and Marriage: How the Bible gives purpose and direction to singles.  

As a man, my perspective on wedding receptions is that they serve one main purpose: they provide food of some sort. I suppose I should be more biblical and affirm that receptions provide a chance for the community of God to celebrate the nuptials they just witnessed with the newly married couple. Even with these good purposes, most of us would agree that we have never been to a wedding reception that changed our life. But the truth is, if you are a Christian, there is a wedding reception which will fill your heart with such joy that you will feel as if your heart is about to explode out of your chest. Before we get to that, let’s watch Jesus demolish our shortsighted view of marriage that stops us from seeing the wonders of what is to come.

Human Marriage is a Picture of Something Greater

A group of Sadducees approached Jesus and the spokesman of the group stepped forward. You can almost see the glimmer in his eye as he put Jesus to the test. The group thought they had Him right where they wanted Him. This little think tank devised a scenario that they thought would prove that Jesus was not the Messiah and that there is no such thing as the resurrection from the dead. Rubbing his fingers through his beard, the spokesman confidently began his “question.”

“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring.  And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise.  And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife” (Mark 12:19-23, emphasis added).

I imagine that the group let out a collective chuckle and waited for what they thought would be Jesus hem hawing to buy time. But, what they got was quick and firm rebuke.

Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Mark 12:24-25, emphasis added).

There were two problems with the Sadducees’ presuppositions, and Jesus drops bunker-busting bombs on them both. First, they did not know the Scriptures. God’s Word clearly teaches that there is a resurrection. Second, they did not know the power of God. That is, they did not believe that God had the power to raise people from the dead and make the eternal state of their existence much more wonderful than the current one. They assumed this world was all there was. They were so caught up in the present that they refused to see the glorious realities of the resurrection.

They assumed that they could disprove the resurrection (and need for a Savior) by showing how crazy an eternal state would be. It would be ludicrous to try and sort out the woman’s relationship to these seven men if there were a resurrection. She would be polyandrous. Their critical error, however, was failing to see that marriage is a temporary reality pointing to an eternal reality. You see, no one is married in heaven because the shadow of human marriage will give way to the realities of heaven. That reality is of Jesus and His bride, the Church.

Don’t assume this means marriage in this life is unimportant to God’s eternal purposes. On the contrary, it was designed by God to testify to the reality and beauty of Jesus’ relationship to His Church. Ephesians 5:31-32 says,

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Men, if you marry, realize that the way you love, lead, provide for, and protect your wife has everything to do with picturing Jesus’ covenant with His Church. Women, if you marry, realize that the way you affirm and respond to your husband’s leadership puts the Church’s relationship with Christ on display.

But what does this mean for those who remain single their whole life? John Piper writes,

This has profound significance for singleness in this life. It means that if two wives will not be one too many [referring to those who remarry after the death of a spouse], then no wives will not be one too few. If love in the age to come is transposed into a key above and beyond the melody of marriage in this life, then singleness here will prove to be no disadvantage in eternity.[1]

I hope that you see that it is no disadvantage to be single now, either. Your singleness, just like marriage, serves to point to the eternal realities of the gospel message. How so?

For those who remain single by choice, you testify to the world that being part of Jesus’ family matters more than physical ties and offspring. Our world’s motto is, “You only live once.” And the perspective has been pervasive throughout the history of fallen mankind. But when you choose to live in a way that shows having spiritual offspring and contentment in your heavenly family is all you need, then you stand as a beacon of light for eternal realities.

For those who are single by trial and yet demonstrate contentment in the Lord, you too testify to the gospel. You bear witness that God is good and that your inheritance is not of this world. You prove that your own desires do not rule you, but Christ does. You demonstrate faith in God to a world which believes in only what it sees. When you seek to have spiritual offspring, even while your desire for physical offspring is unmet, you show that the family of God is more important than physical life. When you walk humbly with your Savior, even when you do not have an earthly spouse, you show that Jesus is your all.

The Banquet Hall of Heaven

As I said at the beginning of this post, there is coming a wedding banquet which will fill you with unspeakable joy. Marriage and singleness both point to it, and the married and single, rejoice when it comes. Here is the Apostle John’s description of it:

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God” (Revelation 19:7-9).

This is your wedding reception, Christian! True blessing, everlasting happiness, belongs to “those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” At this table will be gathered all Christians. At this supper, none of them will be married to each other, because they are all, together, married to Jesus Christ.

This is not some weird “Jesus is my boyfriend” type of thing. This is the glorious reality to which human marriage points. It is the fullness of the reality that we, God’s people, are one with our Savior. We belong to Him. His love, protection, and joy belong to us. Our allegiance belongs to Him, and our everlasting happiness is found in Him.

The Final Word

Your eternal state begins with our collective feasting at the marriage supper of the Lamb. We have covered many practical matters, which are important in this life. But do not lose sight of the purpose of marriage and singleness. He who finds a wife finds a good thing. The one who is seated at the marriage supper of the Lamb lacks no good thing. Now that is a wedding reception I look forward to attending.

Copyright Ben Khazraee. You may share this article with others, but please direct them to this blog rather than posting the text to your own website, blog, etc. You may share printed copies with friends as long as you do not charge more than the cost of producing the copies.

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[1] “For Single Men and Women,” in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, pg. 13.