A Marriage Made in Heaven

I give you me; You give me You.

 

"For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.  This is a profound mystery -- but I am talking about Christ and the church (Eph. 5:31-32).

 

Marriage is the most profound reality and mystery we have of God's union with each one of us.  We give our spouse "us," whoever we are as the world sees us.  The world may see us as undesirable according to its own standards for whatever reason, but to our spouse, we are a gift from God:  whoever finds a wife finds a treasure and receives favor from the Lord (Proverbs 18:22).

 

There is so much more to the mystery of the Incarnation than just a good man showing us the way to live -- God Himself took on human flesh so that He could become "one flesh" with us.  He was not satisfied to "tell us how to live;" He wanted to live and love in us and through us and with us.  He wanted to be one spirit with us all the days of our lives.  He wanted to "take up all the causes of my life" (Lamentations 3:58), and make them His own causes. 

 

My husband loves what I love; he puts aside his own interests for my interests; he supports my causes in life and goes where I go.  He does what I do. In fact, I think he is much better at marriage than I am. In the Book of Ruth, Ruth gives utterance to what could well be a marriage vow, even though she speaks it to her mother-in-law:

 

Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay.  Your people will be my people, and your God my God.  Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.  May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.

 



I think this is a good description of a marriage, and I think we would do well to consider before we marry, "Who / What is the God of my partner?" because in all likelihood, his/her God will be our God also.  If we do not consider the spirit of our partner before we marry, we are liable to be linked to a spirit that is alien to our own, one that we cannot abide for very long:  Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised -- and the same could be said of the man who fears the Lord.

 

When we think about Jesus' relationship with us, it has always been (in Scripture), a marriage -- this is why His first miracle took place at the wedding of Cana, and why He turned water into wine -- a very great deal of wine, in fact.  He was espousing to Himself each one of us -- where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay.  Your people will be my people, and your God, my God.  Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.  In the book of Isaiah, God says, As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you (Is.62:5).

 

He came to take up our lives, our deaths, our sorrows and our griefs.  He entered the grave that buries our souls -- and brought us back to the life He lives with the Father in heaven.  "You shall NOT die, but LIVE, and proclaim the works of the Lord," He says to us, no matter how far gone we are into death and hell.  After the Resurrection, He tells Mary Magdalene, "Go tell my brothers, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God"......"and where I am, you also shall be" (from the Last Supper discourse).  In the custom of the time, the man always brought his bride home to dwell in his father's house -- the house that would be his when his father died.  It is still this way in many far and near Eastern countries.

 

A man who finds a wife has a gift from the Lord -- Jesus embraces us as a bridegroom his bride.  He gives us all of Himself in exchange for whatever of ourselves we can give Him.  What a Marriage, if we can but accept it!  The robber, the thief, the great deceiver would do anything to separate us from the Bridegroom and espouse us to himself, and then to accuse us for letting it happen.  But God is greater than any who would accuse us, and He says we are His.  In fact, He faced the powers of hell to deliver us from evil and to take us back from the Destroyer:

 

You will be called by a new name

that the mouth of the Lord will bestow...

No longer will they call you Deserted,

or name your land Desolate...

for the Lord will take delight in you,

and your land will be married (Is. 62).