Marriage is such an important life step for everyone who decides to take it. Two people decide to spend the rest of their lives together in a loving and life-long commitment. It’s a life-changing event where you are no longer by yourself; you have to think of your partner, too, when making certain decisions. When you enter university, you begin life as an adult and oftentimes parents or other people ask, “So when are you going to get married?”, especially as you grow older. And if you’re not married by a certain age, people may begin to wonder about you. I guess these days, that sort of pressure is lessened as more and more people are getting married later in life, or not at all.
As a single man in my late-30s, who’s also the oldest child in my family, I’ve definitely been asked more than once about when I’m going to get married and “settle down”. When I look at all my friends and younger siblings who’ve gotten married, and some who’ve gotten divorced, it makes me wonder if I really want that. But I’m not here to disparage marriage in any way. In fact, I think it’s a beautiful thing because it’s also an important thing to God and Jesus. There’s a deeper spiritual meaning to it all, so let’s find out what the marriage God and Jesus desire for us today.
1 + 1 = 1? Two Becoming One
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Genesis 2:24
I’m sure you’ve heard this verse quoted at weddings. I know I have. As this verse states, marriage is two people becoming one. Of course, they don’t physically merge into one being, that would be a gross misunderstanding. Instead, it’s about two people becoming united as one in a relationship. For that to happen, though, they must first leave their own families and live together as a new family. Sadly, at times, that relationship doesn’t always last for various reasons. Still, why is marriage such an important aspect of our lives? What does it mean for us as Christians?
I Will Betroth You To Me in Faithfulness
As Christians, we should understand that marriage between a man and a woman isn’t a worldly custom, but it comes from God. When we look in the Bible, God likens himself to be the husband of His people.
“For your Maker is your husband,
the LORD of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.”Isaiah 54:5
Have you ever thought about God like that? Why would God call Himself our “husband”?
God’s desire is to be with His people and love them as a husband loves his wife. When we think of marriage, we should remember that it’s a serious commitment. A husband and wife should be faithful to each other. God also desires His people to be faithful to Him.
“And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.”
Hosea 2:19-20
Yet, when we look throughout Biblical history, God’s people have not been faithful to God. When a partner is unfaithful in a relationship, it’s soul-crushing. That trust you had in your partner is now gone, and it’s hard to gain back. If you’ve experienced that sort of pain, I’m sorry. I have experienced that before, and it made it hard to trust people again. If we, as humans, understand how much it hurts to be cheated on, imagine how God must have felt when He saw His people “cheat” on Him with foreign gods.
Luckily, God didn’t give up on His people. Through the Old Testament prophets, God prophesied to send a Messiah who’d come, and through that person, the Jews could come back to God. Jesus Christ was the Messiah whom God sent. When Jesus was baptized, God’s spirit came down to be with Jesus, and they became one (John 10:30).
“I and the Father are one.”
John 10:30
Now this doesn’t mean they were the same being but were unified in one body and in a relationship – much like how a husband and wife are unified in a relationship. While we know Jesus was God’s son, in this instance, God was like the spiritual husband and Jesus was like the spiritual wife. The roles changed depending on the context – much like how you are a son or daughter, but also a husband or wife, a brother or sister, and so on – depending on who you’re around and what situation you’re in.
After a couple gets married, what usually happens (sometimes) soon after? They have children. Let’s try to think about this more deeply on a spiritual level as well.
Be Fruitful and Multiply, Fill the Earth…
When you hit your teenage years, I’m sure you got “the talk” by your father or mother (or both). You know the one: “When a man loves a woman…”, and they explain how babies are made. I don’t want to be graphic, but if we think about it simply, the man has the “seed” that the woman receives and together they produce children. Spiritually, if God is like the husband, then He is the one who gives His seed. How does God give His seed? Since God is a spirit (John 4:24), His seed must also be spiritual.
When we read Luke 8:11, we learn that God’s seed is His Word. Let’s go back to the relationship Jesus and God had at the first coming: God, being the spiritual husband, gave His seed to the one He was with. Jesus, being the spiritual wife, received God’s seed because God was with him. They became one and bore spiritual children – the 12 disciples.
The 12 disciples, and others who believed at that time, were like the spiritual children born of God’s seed given through Jesus. Physically, we know that a woman bears children through the father’s seed. Spiritually, that’s also true. God gave His seed (word) to Jesus, and through the words Jesus gave, he bore spiritual children who were the 12 disciples. What about after Jesus died, resurrected, and ascended to heaven? Well, at that time, Jesus’s disciples had God’s seed, and as they preached, they evangelized others. They were like spiritual mothers bearing new believers. The apostle Paul actually tells us this in Galatians.
“my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!”
Galatians 4:19
Here Paul likens himself to a woman giving birth as he is trying to evangelize new believers and help them have faith in God and in Jesus. Also, as a woman gives milk to her child, Paul talks about giving spiritual milk to those new believers.
“I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,”
1 Corinthians 3:2
Whether it’s Jesus, the 12 disciples, Paul, or believers today, we know it’s difficult to evangelize in a world where so many people are turning away from religion. Like how God didn’t give up on His people, we should also not give up on trying to understand God’s Word and evangelizing.
God and Jesus were, in a sense, “married” at the first coming. Jesus promised another marriage at the time of the second coming. Do you know about that marriage? Who is it for? How does that apply to us? Let’s find out.
The Marriage of the Lamb for Believers Today
Just like how God and Jesus were married at the first coming, there’s a wedding Jesus promised for the second coming. In Matthew 22 and 25, Jesus gives us two parables about this wedding, and what believers must do and have when that wedding happens. In these parables, which are quite long so I won’t go into them in great detail; you can read them on your own (Matt 22:1-14, Matt. 25:1-13). In the first parable, we read that the master (God) is preparing a wedding feast for his son (Jesus).
For the feast, the master has prepared his butchered oxen and fattened beast for the guests to eat. He sends out invitations and those who were invited reject it. So, the master brings in all kinds of people off the street – both good and bad – and tells them to come and fill the seats. But as the wedding begins, the master finds someone who’s there without the proper clothes. That person is tied and thrown out into the darkness.
That seems strange, right? This calls for some background knowledge about Jewish weddings. At a Jewish wedding, the host prepares the wedding clothes for the guest to wear. When the guests arrive, they are required to change into the clothes they were given. This parable is figurative for what we must do as believers when the second coming happens. In Revelation 19:6-10, we read about the wedding banquet of the Lamb (Jesus). This is a prophecy for us to know and follow today. In verse 8, it says,
“it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”Revelation 19:8
According to that verse, the clothes we are given to wear are righteous actions. Also, in Revelation 22:14 it says those who wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb are blessed. If we truly understand and obey Jesus’s words, not only the teachings he gave but also the prophecies, we are doing what God desires, that is, writing His word on our hearts and minds (Hebrews 8:10-12). According to that passage in Hebrews 8, when we write God’s law (His Word) on our hearts, our sins are forgiven.
In other words, our robes are washed clean – made righteous by the blood of Jesus. In the parable, the person who was thrown out didn’t change into the clothes he was given. Let’s try to apply it to ourselves spiritually. If we understand God’s word but don’t obey it, we won’t have those white robes needed for the wedding banquet when it happens.
In the second parable, we read about ten virgins. Five are considered “wise” and the other five are “foolish”. Why is that? In this parable, the ten virgins were told to wait for the groom to arrive. They were to have their lamps lit and enough oil to keep their lamps lit. Five virgins had enough oil, but the other five ran out. They asked the five wise ones if they’d give some oil, but the wise virgins told the others to go buy from the one who sells the oil. Eventually the groom comes. The five virgins who had their lamps and oil ready were welcomed, but the five who didn’t have enough were locked out. The last verse in this parable warns us,
“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
Matthew 25:13
In the wedding promised at the second coming, Jesus is like the groom. If we are the brides, then we must be ready and waiting for when the groom arrives. We must have the proper items ready: the lamp, oil, and wedding clothes, to enter the wedding banquet of Heaven. All these things have important spiritual meanings for us to understand and follow. If you want to know what they truly mean, then I invite you to study with us and find out. Let us be like those wise virgins who have their lamp, oil, and the proper clothes for the wedding at the second coming.
Written by Kenny
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Do u think a husband and a wife here will remain a husband and a wife there in heaven God’s Kingdom?
Thank U.