In Christian marriage, God is drawing a picture of his character, promises, and redemptive work in the world. We don’t always see that represented very well, and maybe we haven’t upheld that picture very well, but it is true nonetheless. It’s revealed in Ephesians 5:31-32, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”
Marriage is a portrait of the marriage of Christ to his Church, which means that marriage is all about the gospel. Marriage is not ultimately about relational fulfillment or sexual fulfillment or procreation. All of those wonderful things are tied up in it, but the ultimate purpose of marriage is to serve as a portrait of the eternal marriage of Christ with his bride, the Church.
The covenant of marriage and the marriage bed are pictures of Jesus and his covenantal faithfulness and their eternal wedded bliss. Our future and eternal hope is rooted in his unwavering faithfulness. The man leads, loves, and serves his wife because that is how Christ gives himself to his bride. And the wife respects, submits to, and helps her husband, because that is how the Church follows the risen Lord Jesus. Jesus and his bride cherish and adore each other.
In this world, a marriage isn’t a perfect thing, but through the power of love it can grow and deepen and strengthen throughout life. This is a picture of how Jesus takes his people, an imperfect bride, and through his perfect love transforms us, culminating in our own perfection in eternity, as we see depicted in Revelation 19 at the eternal marriage supper of Christ and his bride. The glory of marriage is a picture of the glory of the future.
This is marriage done God’s way, according to his plan and purpose. Biblical marriage displays the gospel to the watching world, even as it hears the gospel coming from our lips. In both ways, the glory of God in his redeeming work through Christ is prophetically and beautifully presented.
The best place to start, strengthen, or save a marriage is by shaping marriage around its God-ordained center: Jesus Christ and his gospel. The starting place for marriage is the gospel. You would be wise to start there, too.
If marriage is a picture of Christ and his love for his Church, then much more is at stake than my happiness. If our marriages aren’t filled with kindness and joy, why would anyone want what we offer? But when they see in us a mutual delight, a gentle and easy trust in one another, they can’t help but ask, “What’s your secret?” And we can tell them that it’s no secret at all. It’s Jesus.
Older
Top
