His Glory My Joy, a blog of Author Luana Ehrlich

After my husband and I saw the movie, Interstellar, the question of “Whose wife will she be?” was introduced into our discussions concerning the movie.

What does a question the Sadducees asked of Jesus have to do with a secular movie about intergalactic space travel, wormholes, and quantum physics?

Although the movie’s basic plotline centers on mankind being forced to search for a new Earthlike home because this present Earth’s resources have been devastated, several questions were raised by the characters in the story as to a “Being” or a “They.” At least one of the characters believed “They” were trying to help earthlings leave the planet for a better existence far beyond Earth’s present galaxy.

(At the end of the movie, a definite conclusion was reached about this “They,” but, in case you haven’t seen the movie yet, I won’t spoil it for you by revealing the identity of “They.”)

What most moviegoers have difficulty dealing with in the movie—besides its three-hour running time—is the physics of space, time, and gravity. These concepts are an integral part of the story, and, yet, they don’t concern most of us as we go about the reality of our everyday lives. In fact, many of us can’t begin to connect with these scientific facts and/or theories, even when they are presented in a movie through entertaining methods.

After watching the movie, I pointed out to my husband I felt Jesus encountered this same difficult-to-grasp concept when He tried explaining to his disciples the life awaiting those who accept His offer to live with Him in His Heavenly Home for trillions upon trillions upon trillions of years—eternally, forever, infinitely.

I referred him back to a gospel  story in Matthew 22 describing how the Sadducees attempted to trap Jesus by describing a scenario involving multiple husbands. They asked Jesus, “Whose wife will she be in the resurrection?” When Jesus gave his answer, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God”(Matthew 22:29), it completely silenced these learned men.

I believe they were silenced because they couldn’t—like all of us—begin to grasp the concept Jesus described—a place where the relationship between a man and a woman, whether husband or wife, was really relevant to human existence.

The possibility of living eternally with the Creator of the Universe in His home, as His child, in a perfect environment, without sin and without evil, is as remote to some people as the possibility of traveling through a wormhole. Yet, scientifically speaking, although there is a possibility the latter does exist, Jesus guaranteed the former isn’t just a possibility—it’s a promise He made to us and for us, and He paid for it with His own blood.

Even though such a way of life is as foreign to us as life on the other side of a wormhole, we are given a few pinhole glimpses in His Word to the world awaiting those who believe. I find these descriptions as interesting and intriguing as black holes, space travel, and exploding nebulae.

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer, will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 22:1-5)