Marriage in the future

The prophet Hosea contains the historical narrative of a man whose life was parable. He married a woman who became a prostitute to show how Israel and Judah were betraying the Lord because they had lost their pure devotion to Him. We also read that the Lord asked Judah where was their bill of divorce (Is 50:1, “Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.”) This gives a picture of the same image, that of marriage, but of a rebellious partner seeking to betray the One Who loves them. When the Lord Jesus Christ was on this earth as a man, He used another image to give the same picture, (John 10:16, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.) This shows that the Lord had a very close relationship with the sheep of His fold and the sheep are dependent upon the Shepherd but the Shepherd cares for them and provides them with everything that they need. However, this also shows that there is a larger fold than just Israel. We can conclude, then, that the marriage relationship, discussed earlier in the Bible will be of the same kind. There will only be one wife but that wife was not yet ready for marriage during the time that the Lord Jesus Christ was alive on the earth.

We do know, however, that there was more than one stage in the marriage process in that culture. We know that Joseph was legally committed to Mary when she conceived the Saviour by the power of the Holy Ghost (Mat 1:18–20, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”) This means that the Lord God was committed, exclusively to His one bride from the very beginning. We also know that the bride is not yet ready to finalise the marriage because the sheep belonging to the Lord’s one fold are not yet complete.

Eph 5: 31, 32; 2 Cor 11: 2 “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

“Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”

Paul’s letter to Ephesus can be, broadly divided into two sections. The first section from chapter 1 to chapter 3 tells us about our riches in Christ while the second section chapter 4 to chapter 6 tells us about our responsibilities in Christ. The first passage we read is part of the section on our responsibilities in Christ. The verse we read begins with the words, “for this cause...” This means we have to go back and find out the connection or we won’t understand what we are reading.

This section begins with the statement, “Submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of God.” So we must understand this in the context of submission. The letter was written to the church in Corinth so this doesn’t meant that every Christian has to submit to everyone they meet in the world. It means that Christians should deal with each other in a spirit of submission, that is, being willing to see each issue from another’s point of view (compare Rom 14:1, “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.”) Unity in the church is not the same as uniformity. We are not to have fellowship with other Christians with the view to making them exact clones of ourselves.

The first time that we discover submitting in the Bible is in when Hagar tried to run away from Sarah when she was found to be pregnant with Abraham’s child. (“And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.” Gen 16: 7-9) There is not a lot of confusion as to how this should be interpreted. The Lord didn’t tell Hagar to return to Sarah and minister to her by showing her how she should live. Hagar was a slave and the angel told her to accept her status and do what her mistress told her to do.

The passage then moves on to a more specific cause for submission. This is something that occurs in the marriage relationship. Wives are told to submit to their own husbands. There is a school of though that suggests the previous statement should qualify this and means that both husbands and wives should submit to each other equally. However, this is not logical, why would Paul make the general statement and then add a modification if the modification was just given without any force?

The Lord gave us an ordered world; we can discover this by reading the Ten Commandments. The first commandment tells us that there is One God, the second commandment tells us that we are not to reduce this One God in our minds by assuming that He is something less than He is. The third commandment tells us that God is consistent and we are not to use God to justify our actions when they are not consistent with the Lord’s nature. The fourth commandment is pure grace as the Lord recognises that we need to rest on a regular basis to refresh and recharge. The fifth commandment, to honour our fathers and mothers tells us that we live in ordered world and the Lord expects that we submit to His order in this world.

The marriage relationship is also part of this ordered world and anyone involved in marriage and wants to honour the Lord needs to accept the Lord’s order, after all, the submission is not to another person but to the Lord Himself.

 This doesn’t lead to a commandment for the husband to dominate his wife. The apostle Peter had something to say about this, (“Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” 1 Peter 3: 7) The husband is obliged to give honour to his wife or his prayers will be hindered.

There is also a strong modification place on the husband’s behaviour in the passage we are considering. The husband is told to love his wife, as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. The Lord’s love is the kind of love that gives without expecting any return. Of course, each Christian is just another sinner, saved by grace, and cannot reach perfection without grace from the Lord.

Paul’s attention turns to the Lord Jesus Christ at this point in His argument. The Lord Jesus Christ gave His sinless life for the church so that we might be set apart for His glory, washed by the purity of His Word. This is so that, in the final analysis we might be presented to Him as pure and holy, without blemish or wrinkle. This is the argument that led up to the apostle's statement in Eph 5: 31.

Everything that we do as Christians should be governed by the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ loves us enough to die for us and cleanse us from our sins so that we might be reconciled to Him.

When a person is born, they belong to a family. Even today, every person has a biological mother and father anything else is impossible. When a man or a woman reaches a certain stage in his or her life, he or she is ready to leave the place that they belong to and establish a new home of their own. They make a public declaration that they are leaving their home and then they establish a new home of their own. When they have established their new home they become joined together in the Lord’s sight.

Paul didn’t just use this argument as and end itself. He used it to show that marriage is picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. The Lord Jesus Christ has chosen the church and paid a huge price for our redemption so that we might be joined with Him. This is not possible while we are still in our sinful bodies but, legally, the price has been paid and we belong to the Lord God as though we are sinless. This means that one day, when we leave this sinful bodies behind we will be one with Him.

The verse in 2 Cor 11: 2, further explains this last concept. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth to deal with some problems they were having with the truth. One of the issues that Paul dealt with was the fact that they had begun to treat Him like a second-class apostle and, so, they didn’t have to accept his teaching. Paul, however, explained to them that he preached the gospel to them so that they could belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was jealous for them, in the same way that the Lord God is a jealous God (see Ex 20:5–6, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”) The Lord loves His own people so much that He doesn’t want any of us to have less than the very best that He has to give us. The only way that we can prevent ourselves from allowing us to enjoying the Lord’s goodness and love is by rejecting Him and His ways.

Paul knew that the Christians in Corinth were rejecting some of the truth that he had taught them about the Lord Jesus Christ. This meant that they would soon be estranged from the benefits os His goodness as well.

This passage also shows that the arrangements during the church age had not yet reached the state of final consummation. The Church has been promised to the Lord and the Lord, having paid the full price, is committed to marriage. However, the marriage is still to take place.

At some stage in the future, according to the Lord’s perfect timetable, this marriage will be finalised and consummated. The church will be perfect and joined to the Lord for eternity. If the marriage had already been finalised then the Lord’s integrity would be compromised because He would be committed to another marriage in the future.