CHRISTIANS REJOICE AT THEIR CHOICE OF A MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN
Christians who enjoy life to the fullest love to socialize. If Jesus ever turned down an invitation to a banquet, the Bible does not say so. He showed up at the homes of the rich and famous, at every Jewish feast, and frequented the homes of ordinary folks.
His most famous social outing was the Wedding Feast at Cana where He performed His first miracle – turning the water into wine. A good time was had by all I’m sure!
God our Creator meant for His people to be happily engaged in friendships - but also relationships of the intimate kind! Thus, God created two persons of the same human qualities, yet distinctively different! God created man, then woman. When He presented the woman to the man, Adam said, “Wow!”
Joking aside, Adam exclaimed how delighted he was to have an “ishshah” – a unique human “corresponding” to him - to be his “helper”. (The Hebrew word for “helper” is the same word often used to refer to the “help” or the “support” provided by the Lord God to His chosen people! So, Adam saw Eve as God-like – an angel!
God created them separately in His image but, in keeping with His plan and purpose for mankind, He joined them together (united them) as one in a bond of mutual love - a physical-social-spiritual union which the civilized world would call “marriage” – derived from Latin “matrimony” (“mother role or status”)! The Lord God united them in matrimony (mother-making) and awarded them a Honeymoon in Paradise . . . !
Marriage celebrations in the time of Jesus lasted several days, initiated at the close of the betrothal period by a parade beginning at the home of the bride, ending at the home of the groom. Merry making began shortly thereafter and continued until the day of the wedding.
Likewise, weddings in our day are stretched out over a long period of time, considering all the planning that goes into a Church Wedding followed by a Reception. If your husband was (is) anything like my wife’s husband, you probably would agree that the best part of a wedding for a man is the party! All the rest is drudgery! Nonetheless, everyone puts a lot of time, energy and money into making it the best!
As for you and me, it could be said that the best is yet to be! For most of us, our weddings occurred long ago . . . We cherish the memories as we reflect on the “best years of our lives”. Some of us are still in the process of making memories!
Whether long ago or still in process, we cling to the marriage IDEAL which the Lord our God initiated – a great IDEA (a great gift of intimacy for the making of other great gifts – precious babies created in the image of God for growing and developing in wisdom and stature . . . for becoming mature persons rightly related to God and others.
Our printed lesson topic suggests we are living in a day when “marriage” is being “questioned”. Politics woven into the conversation confuses a lot of people. The Supreme Court’s unwise ruling on gay marriage made matters worse.
As a minister who has officiated at many weddings over a sixty-year span, no one ever “questioned” a marriage performed by me – at least not at the time of the ceremony. “If there is anyone who can show just cause why these two persons should not be joined in holy matrimony, let him or her now speak or forever hold their peace.” Silence!
In today’s murky climate of political correctness, however, methinks the question that could be asked of me might be: “Why did you decline to “marry” two “gay” individuals who say they love each other?”
In the beginning God created man and woman, male and female created He them, then - Genesis 2:18-25 . . . The concept of joining (uniting) two persons into one bond of love for the purpose of procreation as well as pleasure is as old as Creation itself, intended by the Lord our God to be lived out in time, but also, to simulate that future union of the Bridegroom and His Bride prophesied to occur in the hereafter when time shall be no more. That IDEAL God-ordained Union which we call Marriage” was:
Initiated and instituted by the Lord God our Creator . . .
Designed and defined by Him as the union of one man and one woman . . .
Entered into by one man and one woman, to love and to cherish . . .
Avowed by Jesus to be sacrosanct . . .
Likened by Christ in The Revelation to the Marriage of the Lamb . . .
From the beginning the Lord God designed marriage to be a permanent, lifelong relationship between one man and one woman.
In His teaching on marriage, Jesus affirmed the priority status to be given by both partners in the marriage to each other - Matthew 19:4-6 . . . not social but emotional separation from any entity that could threaten the unity of a marriage.
That one flesh mindset has to do not only with the obvious fulfillment of the command to “be fruitful and multiply” - but also suggests an emotional union that is essential for staying committed to each other through sunshine and shadow.
Marriage is not a requirement for righteousness nor is it an expectation for everyone. Staying single for some can be a good thing. However, we who love the Lord and belong to the fellowship of believers – whether single, married or widowed – will one day enter into a spiritual union as if it were a marriage relationship!
When the first couple lived according to God’s design, they experienced the paradise of a perfect setting in the Garden of Eden plus the fulfillment of being in a perfect, harmonious relationship of a marriage made in Heaven. They actually enjoyed that ideal that we pray for: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven!”
Then what happened? Sin tainted that which the Lord God had made and about which God had said, “It is good”!
Indeed two Christians in harmonious union with each other can - with God’s help and the Spirit’s guidance - make their marriage “good” as if it were indeed made in Heaven.
Whereas Christians do not condone, and certainly do not support efforts to redefine or reject God-ordained marriage as instituted in the beginning, Christians do exhibit love and compassion toward those who struggle with the issue. After all, people need the Lord . . . redemption and renewal that come only from an honest faith in Jesus Christ!
Let us pray for the misguided who need to change their thinking and ways to conform to God’s standards as affirmed by His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ!
Then together we who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ spend the time we have left on earth as the Bride of Christ engaged to be united with the Bridegroom when we all get to Heaven. What a day of rejoicing that will be!
Until then, we the bride set our minds on things above . . . patiently wait . . . in humility continue to serve . . . extend a helping hand . . . lend a listening ear . . . will be kind and tenderhearted . . . so love our Lord that we put away sin . . . become holy as He is holy . . . get ready for that day to come! Revelation 19:7 . . .
“When with the ransomed in glory, His face I at last shall see,
“Twill be my joy thru the ages to sing of His love for me.
“How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be:
“How marvelous! How wonderful is my Savior’s love for me!” Amen!
