The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent -agent- during the 2007-2008 League.
Sanctity of Marriage
Marriage is the strongest of all human relationships. It is an institution that was created by God, and it remains sanctified by Him. God designed it as a permanent union between one man and one woman for life. The Bible is replete with instructions and cautions regarding marriage. Of these I have included only several passages among countless others dealing with this all-important topic.
The first thing that should be known about marriage is that God created it. Genesis 2: 21-24 records this event:
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib that the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
God created marriage, therefore it is something that He naturally protects and sustains. God also put in place certain rules about marriage, as well as providing advice (via the Bible) on how marriage ought to be.
One of the most fundamental aspects of marriage is its permanence. God created marriage to be a lasting relationship between one man and one woman for a lifetime. Jesus tells us this in Matthew 19:6, "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."
Our world increasingly scorns this "passé" notion of marriage for life, as evidenced by a 45% divorce rate in the United States and an apathetic attitude regarding the morality of divorce. Such blatant disobedience of God's explicit instructions will certainly not go unpunished.
In the course of my research for this essay, I became intrigued by some of the parallels between biblical marriage and Jesus' relationship with the church. These include:
a) A betrothal period where the bridegroom and bride would be separated before the wedding, much as the church is separated from Jesus during the church age.
b) The church's responsibility to Jesus is to be faithful to Him during this period, just as the bride must be faithful to her betrothed.
c) At the Second Coming of Christ, the church will be united with the Bridegroom, the official "wedding ceremony" will take place and, with it, the eternal union of Christ and His bride will be actualized.
Another instructive biblical marriage custom occurred when the bridegroom would come to claim his bride. A herald would precede him, proclaiming to everyone to prepare, that the bridegroom was coming. In much the same way, Jesus will return someday for His bride, the church. His coming will be heralded by the sound of resounding trumpets. The celebration of this event, the marriage supper of the lamb, will be unrivalled in all of human history. What a wondrous promise to us, His chosen bride.
Ephesians 5:23-27
For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
