Understanding Marriage (part 2)
What is marriage and what is the purpose of marriage? In the Book of Genesis we read:
Genesis 2:18, And the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him a help meet for him.”
God looked at everything that He had created and He is telling us that the man Adam had no suitable companion. No one his equal. God knew that Adam needed a natural way to multiply his species and to have a counterpart in the likeness of himself. If the males and females who were physical and to be fruitfuland, multiply and have dominion, Genesis 1:26, then how will fruitfulness and multiplying come about without an equal counterpart for Adam?
Genesis 2:21, 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 He a woman and brought her unto the man.
The males and females in Genesis 1:26 are to bring forth the natural fleshly life and the woman, (womb-man), we read about in Genesis 2:23 is for the purpose to bring forth the spiritual life. The spirit life comes through a spiritual womb for the purpose for God Himself, Who is Spirit, referred to as the Tree of Life, to fill His people with Himself because they are as empty vessels, 2nd Corinthians 4:7. This is not the life we see as grass, trees, animals, and men which will eventually cease to exist, but the Zoe life which is the eternal life. The same life that God has.
1st Corinthians 15:50, “Now this I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit corruption.”
The Apostle Paul tells us that we have a natural body as well as a spiritual body:
1st corinthians 15:44, “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body, 46. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.”
Christ and the Church
A physical earthly marriage is a pattern and illustrates a marriage in the spiritual realm. However, both earthly marriages as well as spiritual marriages are subject to the same conditions. A divided marriage, either in the physical realm or in the spiritual realm, divided against itself can’t stand, Mark 3:25. However the same purpose we see in the Book of Genesis saying, while Adam slept, God brought forth a suitable companion for him continues even today.
Romans, 11:8, ( “According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear”), unto this day.
Today, most of the people in the world are in a spirit of slumber. The people of the world see the natural created life, but know nothing of the spiritual life. The Spirit of slumber will remain upon them until our Heavenly Father is sure that each one of His children will be able to enter into the Kingdom when He draws them. He knows who will be able to have success or who will not. His purpose is to save all men in the order He has proposed,1st Corinthians 15:23.
Just as Jesus Christ will build His church, the husband in a godly marriage will build his wife. and the wife will be a proper help-mate by her building up her husband.
Ephesians 5:22, “Wives, submit youselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23, For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is head of the church, and He is the saviour of the body. 24, But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be subject to their husbands in everything.”
It is through the wife and her submission to her husband will she, in faith, bring forth the next generation of Christians. This will never happen by submitting to another man, whether he is a pastor, minister,or a spiritual giant. The two in Christ, husband and wife, need to become one, a godly husband and a godly wife, then the next generation of children will follow their example.
The mystery of the church is nothing more than knowing that the church is made up of males as well as females, both having a spiritual womb in which Christ, the Word, is built up as the bride of Christ, Revelation 21:2. This is The New Jerusalem. This New Jerusalem is a city in which there is only oneness.
Ephesians 4:4, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5, One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6, one God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
An earthly marriage will never have this oneness but with God’s Spirit and help, the marriage unit will eventually grow into oneness.
Because of the Angels
1st Corinthians 11:10, “For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.”
The laws of submission to one another can be very impressive to the angels because they lacked that quality within themselves during the age that was, 2nd Peter 3:6. The basic reason we are going through this 2nd earth age is for all of God’s children to forsake their ungodliness and learn discipline, 2nd Peter 3:7. The followers of Christ were His disciples from which the word discipline is taken.
1st Peter 3:7, “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 not hindered.”
We are all vessels to be filled with truth as God intends for us to gain knowledge and understanding according to His will. The wife is the weaker vessel because in christ, her husband is her head. As was said in the 1st post, many women would not accept this kind of arrangment. Are the males offended because they have Christ as their head? Of course not! Some women would consider her husband as one who is not perfect and falls short of perfection, or not as brilliant as she is or for some other reason. God wants us to stop having our opinion or to have a reason for neglecting to submit to one another.
In the Old Testament, many of those who came out of Egypt, men as well as women, rebelled against Moses not considering that God had given Moses authority over the people. Those who rebelled had to be rebuked or suffer the consequence.
1st Corinthians 10:11, ” Now these things happened unto them as ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
There is a spirt in every human being. That’s what makes man different from the animals. Every human has the potential to be a heir of the kingdom when they witness the spirit led household receiving blessings for obedience because of their dependence on God, doing things His way. God blesses us according to how we progress in our home, job, and community. Our blessings will be an example for others to follow whether they be our uncoverted mate, children, peers, as well as others.
God loves all His children, as souls, 1stPeter 3:20, as sons of God, Job 1:6, or as stars or angels, Revelation 1:20.
The Glorious Church
Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it; 26, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
We should keep in mind that God’s life is according to His law. He will not be able to bring forth children, utilizing His Spirit, until His wife hath made herself ready and a marriage takes place.
Revelation 19:7, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.”
The physical marriage will never be perfect because we are still flesh and blood mortals. But it is in type, a marriage union to strive for.