The Reflection of Marriage

Several years back I was in a Christmas play at my local church. It was a lot of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I played one of four Nutcrackers and before each performance began, we would stand in the foyer, opposite one another, and pretend that we were statues. Of course, the children liked to come up and poke us to try and get us to move. We would remain motionless until it was time for the play to start, at which point I would yell like a soldier and march toward the platform. It was great to be on stage and I'm glad I was a part of it. Just like the play I was in was meant to represent God's love for us in sending His Son into the world, our marriages are God's play to the rest of the world.

Marriage for a Christian is not only a blessing, if done right, it should also be a great representation of the relationship between the Church and God. The blessing, of course, is that God unites us as one and we get to share our lives with the person we love. And I am so thankful that God bestowed such a huge blessing on me, that He gave me such a wonderful wife. But as great a blessing as it is, I must never forget that it's also God's cosmic play to represent Christ and His bride.

When the outside world looks at us, they should be able to see what it is like to have a proper relationship with God. In this play, the man represents Jesus and the woman represents the Church. How you play your role is critical to the development of the story. Let's take a closer look to get a better understanding of our "roles".

"For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything." (Ephesians 5:22-24 NLT)

This passage has been very controversial over the ages as husbands have abused and twisted what this Scripture is saying. They believe submission is domination and that can't be further from the truth.

Think of it like this, Jesus submits to the Father and He did so even to the point of death on the cross (Philippians 2:8). Jesus is in no way lesser than the Father as they are equal in all things (John 10:30). Jesus submits to the Father without losing His equality, and the wife does so in the same way. Jesus is a willing participant, there is no power struggle between the two because, and I can not stress this enough, they are equal. Jesus submits to bring ultimate glory to God, in which He is a part of, and so brings glory to Himself. The submission of the wife is a reflection of the Church's submission to Christ. So wives, by allowing the husbands the leading role, you are giving others a sight into what it means to be a Christian.

"For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her." (Ephesians 5:25 NLT)

Husbands, the greater responsibility is on our shoulders. To love our wives as Christ loves the Church is impossible, and yet, it is required of us. There is no greater love than that of God, for God is love (1John 4:8). We are to love them so much that we give up our lives for our wives, to devote ourselves to the ministry of marriage. The reason...

"To make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault." (Ephesians 5:26, 27 NLT)

It is our duty to ensure that our wives have every available resource to grow in her relationship to God and to not be a hindrance. Being the spiritual leader in the home is not about dominance but about love, we are to love our wives as ourselves.

"In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church." (Ephesians 5:28, 29 NLT)

In every way our wives are our first and primary ministry. We must love them, cherish them, and spend more time with them than our hobbies and friends. We must put our wives needs first. Repent of pornography and the sin of lust (Matthew 5:28). We must listen to them. Being submissive does not mean that our wives have no say or authority. They are equal to us in every way and God has so much for our wives to teach us. We can not be foolish in this. Remember, this ministry is a reflection of the love between Jesus and the Church. It is evangelism to the world around us and believe me, the world is watching you. If the world around you can not say, "Wow, Jesus loves me that much!" than you are not fulfilling your role in God's cosmic play.

"So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." (Ephesians 5:33 NLT)

Repent and believe before it's too late

Photo source: First and Second

 

The Beauty Of Marriage

My wife and I have been married for just over seventeen years now. But if you ask me, it seems like it was only yesterday that we said our vows before God, our families, and our friends. I cherish every moment I have with her and I am beyond thankful to God for bringing us together and making us co-heirs (1 Peter 3:7) of eternal life. Marriage is beautiful in itself, but it can also be a reflection for others to see what a proper relationship with God is like. That's why this is going to be broken up into two posts. This post is going to take a look at the gift of marriage, while the second post will look at how marriage glorifies God.

Lets take a look at Genesis 2:18;

"Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.'”(NLT)

What is so striking to me is the fact that at the conclusion of the sixth day of creation (Genesis 1:31), God surveyed all that He had made and declared it to be good. Everything was perfect except one thing... man was alone. It's the first thing that God declared was "not good" in all of creation. Adam had perfect fellowship with God, work in the garden, and plenty of animals to tend to, but he had no one he could relate to. God knew that Adam needed that special someone, a "helper", to make him whole. While it may look like an oversight, you can rest assure, God had planned this before He even started creation. After all, God is omniscient and nothing takes Him by surprise. Let's continue reading;

"So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him." Genesis 2:19-20 (NLT)

There's no denying that there is a special connection we have with animals. We grow extremely attached to them over the years, some even call them their children. But a relationship with an animal can never bring us true love, companionship, or help. It's interesting to me that God brought the animals to Adam before creating Eve. It seems that God was making the point that no animal could compare to His next creation.

"So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening." Genesis 2:21 (NLT)

This is a very symbolic action, God took a rib out of the side of Adam... Notice that it was from the side, showing the equality of man and woman, not from the head as if women are superior to men, or from the foot as if men are superior to women. Remember this, it's very important and will come into play in the next post. For now, let's read on.

"Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and He brought her to the man. 'At last!' the man exclaimed. 'This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’” Genesis 2:22-23 (NLT)

After all the animals passed by, Adam must have been ecstatic to see such a perfect compliment of his very being. His excitement is evident as his first recorded words are celebratory words regarding Eve, a celebration of what women bring to men.

Creating Eve from Adam is covenant in nature. It represents the union between a man and a woman. "Bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh;" bone representing strength and flesh representing weakness. This is a "sickness and in health" or a "strength and in weakness" type of vow. As we can see, the best thing that God wanted for man is woman... not another man and certainly not ourselves. The sexual union between a man and a man, or a man and himself, goes against the union God originally set for us, one man and one woman.

"For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh." Genesis 2:24 (NASB)

"For this reason..." This is more covenant language. It is the breaking of the parental covenant between the parents and children and the making of a new covenant between a man and a woman. "Shall leave" is best represented when the Israelites would break their covenant with God, and to "be joined", is best represented as a cementing of, a for all-time type of covenant. God intended for marriage to be unbroken from the very beginning.

This next part is very strong covenant language, "and the two shall become one flesh." Until brought together by God, we are just individual parts, waiting to be made whole. This is not just talking about procreation. It's talking about solidarity. Each part of the one flesh relationship is a compliment to the other; physically, spiritually, mentally, and sexually. The other brings fulfillment to the unfulfilled and a balance to the short comings that the other might have. My wife and I like to tell each other that we love "meyou" a lot because we know that we are one, co-heirs of the promise. Marriage is a very beautiful gift from God.

Repent and believe before it's too late

Photos: My son and his new bride!