The Glory of Marriage and of the Church

One of the things that amazes me in this world is how spiritual reality is woven into nearly everything. In John 15 Jesus describes himself as a vine and we are branches who "abide in him". The vine exists to teach the truth that we are to abide in Christ and draw life and nourishment from him. In Psalm 23 the Lord is described as a shepherd and we are his sheep.  This teaches us to humbly follow Christ and depend on Him for provision and protection. It may be that the sole reason that God created vines, shepherds and sheep is so that they could be used as illustrations to help us understand our relationship with God. 

One of the most dramatic and powerful images that God has created for expressing the truth of who he is and how he relates with us is the institution of marriage. There are layers of eternal, spiritual truth that God has woven into marriage that are revealed throughout Scripture.

We have been in a series of sorts looking at what the Bible teaches about sexuality. A few weeks back we looked at the idea that God's view of marriage is that it is a sacred, inviolable covenant. An unbreakable vow. Christ allowed Himself to be broken on the Cross before He allowed His covenant with Israel and with the body of believers, the Church, to be broken.

In the book of Genesis, one of the first things that happens during the week of creation is a wedding:

Genesis 2:21-24

"21. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

22. And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made him a woman, and brought her unto the man.

23. And Adam said, This is now bone of bones and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

When God brought Adam and Eve together he set the theme that weaves its way through the story of the fall, redemption and glorification told in Scripture. 

We flip to the back of our Bibles to the book of Revelation and find a vision of the consummation of the theme that God began in the book of Genesis, bringing all of history to its most elegant conclusion:

Revelation 19:7-9

"7. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

8. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

9. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God."

On the last page of the last chapter of cosmic history we find a marriage and a wedding feast. Not between a man and woman, for that sort of marriage was always and ever just a shadow of things to come, on that glorious day, all believers will be unified with Christ for all eternity. At the bookends of human history we find weddings.

Traditionally, brides wear white on their wedding days. We usually say that this represents the purity of the bride. The origins of this tradition are found in this passage, and while it is fair to say that the whiteness represents, or should represent, the purity of the bride, the whiteness of the garment is better described as symbolic of the purity of Christ, or the fact that through the blood of Christ the church is purified from every spot of sin. This truth is also described in Ephesians 5:25-27.

One of God's favorite ways to communicate is through symbols. Jesus is the good shepherd, the Lamb of God, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. We see the Holy Spirit as a dove, a flame and a wind at different points in the Bible. The Word of God is described as a rock, a two-edged sword and a river of nourishing water. The whole system of temple worship and sacrifices in the Old Testament was meant to be symbolic of Christ's sacrifice on the Cross. Our sexuality, our bodies in their gender and sexuality are meant to be symbols of God's relationship with the church. The whole reason that God created human sexuality is to teach us about his sacrificial, eternal love for us. It is meant to express his faithful, fruitful, faithful love for us.

This nuptial symbolism is found throughout Scripture, most notably in the Old Testament as God describes His relationship with the nation of Israel, and in the New Testament that same language is used to describe His relationship with the church.

Consider these samples:

Isaiah 54:5 "For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called."

Isaiah 62:5 "For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee."

God loves the nation of Israel with a deep, passionate love like that of a husband for his wife. In the New Testament, all of the nations of the world are invited into that same covenant love through Christ, and have been organized into the church. God uses the marriage relationship to point out the depths of the love that he has for the church. He wants to woo us out of the world, out of our sin and depravity and into a holy, sacred and joyful relationship with Him. Just as a bridegroom radiates joy at the simple delight of gazing upon, embracing and celebrating his bride, so too God wants to delight and celebrate us, and draw us into his eternal embrace.

In our discussion of covenants we looked at Hosea 2:18, "And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely." We saw that God makes and keeps covenants regardless of the cost. Now look at the following verses, "And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord."

These verses show a transition, a transformation. God promises to "break the bow and sword and the battle out of the earth" and to betroth us to himself. He pursues us and persuades us and draws us in with his myriad charms. The light of his grace and mercy shined into our hearts and we are overcome.  One glimpse of his glory and we cannot help but be won over. He becomes our light and life and our truest delight. He brings us out of the world of our selfishness and sin, and into his righteousness and faithfulness. And it is there that we find desperate joy. 

This is why it is so important for us to maintain chastity before and during marriage. Our sexuality is not just about ourselves, it is about God and the cosmic reality he is trying to show to the world. Our marriages are meant to preach the eternal Gospel, but if we are not pure, we are not communicating this message.  Immorality corrupts this message.  Divorce destroys this message. Abortion and birth control both silence the message God wants to declare through our bodies and sexuality. 

God's desire is to love us with a depth and intimacy that is most closely paralleled in the marriage relationship. Of course, this is only an approximation, a vague illustration. A vine and a sheep cannot describe the true nature of our relationship with God, but it gives us a window, a glimpse into the reality He is trying to communicate.