Family members in heaven

I understand that when God brings us to heaven solely through Jesus' merit we will experience perfect joy and happiness basking in the glory of the Lord. I also realize that marriage is an earthly institution only. However, I am troubled by the concept that my wife and children will be no more special to me than some other believer that I never met. What am I missing?

You are correct in understanding that the Bible speaks of marriage as “an earthly institution only” (Matthew 22:30). What the Bible does not do is provide many details on the eternal life we will enjoy with God and fellow believers.

Some point to the account of Jesus’ transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36), where Peter, James and John recognized Moses and Elijah for who they were on earth, as an indication that in heaven we will appreciate greatly those fellow believers who were earthly family members. Others refer to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 to demonstrate that God will bring together his believers of all time. And that certainly includes family members. Passages like these can suggest that earthly family members will indeed be “special” to us in heaven. But of course, our God will be our number one love (Revelation 5).

Any specific questions about our eternal life that the Bible does not answer now are addressed in general by these words: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). How we long for that day!