A Wedding Meditation
I would like to tell you a story. A true story! The Bible story! The Bible tells of the Almighty Creator God Who is perfectly Holy and Wonderfully Good. All that this Beautiful God does in time and eternity, flows from the perfect will of the Loving Heavenly Father, in and through the perfect Obedience of the Son of His Love, and by the Power of His Glorious Spirit of Love. All that God does, He does through the harmonious concert Of His three Persons. This God is absolutely One in His essential nature, and yet He ever lives in the humble relationship of these three unique persons who are distinct in role and operation. Consider our prelude music. If one member of the duet decides to forsake the musical score and go off in his own little world, we no longer have a duet—we now have a solo at best, an ear shattering noise at worst. Fortunately, our God ever works through the concert of the three persons, the Father's will being the "musical score” Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ever in perfect harmony! God is the One God, but there never is a solo or discord in God!
So what, you are wondering, does this have to do with marriage and this ceremony? Everything!!! This Almighty, Loving Relational God has created everything in heaven and earth according to His Character and to reflect His Person. His "Personhood" is the blue print, if you will, for all that exists in creation. And this blue print exalts marriage, for marriage is the first covenant relationship established by God, and it is the first reflection of this Relational God of Love. Genesis 1:27 says, "So God created man in His Own Image: in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Notice, man, that is humanity, is male and female! In designing humanity as "two-part", God establishes man as a relational being, just like God! The creation story speaks of Adam, the male, being created first. Significantly, in all of creation, there was no one for him to communicate with as an equal. Genesis 2:18 then says, "and the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone: I will make him a helper comparable to him." And so God created Eve. At that moment, aloneness was replaced by togetherness. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." There is no shame in God's design! Man and woman in marriage were to be one, comparable to one another, of equal value and essence, yet unique in role and design, bound together by love as one flesh...... this marriage covenant becomes the Divinely ordained object lesson set before humanity, to testify to the Relational God Who lives eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, One in essence, unique in role and operation. Man and Woman bound inseparably as one in the spirit of love, and as Genesis says, to walk with God in the cool of the day! This is the pattern of the One God. This is his design.
But Genesis 3 brings a dramatic and disastrous change to this creative order. Man makes his one and only free will choice, choosing to divorce himself from his Creator. He chose instead to write his own musical score. He became the center of his own universe, the supplier of his own need, and therefore, his own god, and because the Divine blueprint was forsaken, dissonance, not harmony became the ruling characteristic of humanity!!
The foundational covenant of one man and one woman becoming one flesh as equals, became perverted and flawed. Male dominated patriarchal society became the first of many aberrations As this foundational human relationship became clouded and distorted, all other relationships became characterized by aloneness, war, division and strife.
But the Creator, Who foreknows all things, already had a solution in place. Before the very foundation of the earth, He chose to send the Son of His Love, into this world as the Man, Christ Jesus, in whom this Eternally Divine Relationship dwelled bodily in visible human form, to redeem and restore His Creation. And guess what? He returned to the marriage covenant as His means of redemption. His Beloved Son came into this world as a Groom seeking His bride! Listen to the description of the end of time in Revelation 19.
Then a voice came from the throne, saying, "Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!' and I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Almighty! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory for the marriage of the Lamb of God, His Beloved Son, has come, and His wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted to be dressed in fine linen, clean and bright. Then he said to me, "Write: blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!"
And so, as Paul the Apostle in the book of Ephesians, speaks of the roles of human marriage, he speaks of Christ the Son as The Divine Lover, and His people as His bride. Since all who follow Christ are all to submit to one another in the Fear of God, wives as part of that community, are to submit to their own husbands as a picture of how Christ's people are to submit to Him. And it isn't just the wives who are to submit! The text teaches mutual submission. So guess what, men, Paul says that we get to die for the one we love just as Christ died for His bride, the church. That, gentlemen, is the ultimate of submission! We get to die to our self importance, our ego driven-ness, our macho mania—all for the good of this wonderful bride that God has given to us. Just as sacrifice characterizes Christ's love for His Bride, so too sacrifice is to characterize our human love for our bride. The biblical pattern is mutual submission of husband and wife as equals with unique and distinct roles, bound together as one in devoted and covenanted love. Does that sound familiar? We have returned to the Divine design. We have returned to the understanding of the One God, One in essence yet living as three unique and equal Persons.
This is the musical score for a wonderfully harmonious marriage. Learn to delight in the Father's will, and your marriage will be a glorious duet. Seek to live continually in fellowship with your God in Christ Jesus, The Son. Seek Him in all that you are and do. Depend daily upon the Indwelling God, the Holy Spirit, for His Love, Joy, and Comfort. The writer Ezra gave us a wonderful promise 2500 years ago. He said, "The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him." Our God is Good! And He delights to give good gifts to those who seek Him. As you live together submissively, each for the other as one, you reflect His Unity and His Goodness, and His gift of peace, joy, and love will fill your home! May God be pleased to pour out His grace and mercy upon you as you fix your eyes upon Him from this day forward.
I would like to tell you a story. A true story! The Bible story! The Bible tells of the Almighty Creator God Who is perfectly Holy and Wonderfully Good. All that this Beautiful God does in time and eternity, flows from the perfect will of the Loving Heavenly Father, in and through the perfect Obedience of the Son of His Love, and by the Power of His Glorious Spirit of Love. All that God does, He does through the harmonious concert Of His three Persons. This God is absolutely One in His essential nature, and yet He ever lives in the humble relationship of these three unique persons who are distinct in role and operation. Consider our prelude music. If one member of the duet decides to forsake the musical score and go off in his own little world, we no longer have a duet—we now have a solo at best, an ear shattering noise at worst. Fortunately, our God ever works through the concert of the three persons, the Father's will being the "musical score” Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ever in perfect harmony! God is the One God, but there never is a solo or discord in God!
So what, you are wondering, does this have to do with marriage and this ceremony? Everything!!! This Almighty, Loving Relational God has created everything in heaven and earth according to His Character and to reflect His Person. His "Personhood" is the blue print, if you will, for all that exists in creation. And this blue print exalts marriage, for marriage is the first covenant relationship established by God, and it is the first reflection of this Relational God of Love. Genesis 1:27 says, "So God created man in His Own Image: in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Notice, man, that is humanity, is male and female! In designing humanity as "two-part", God establishes man as a relational being, just like God! The creation story speaks of Adam, the male, being created first. Significantly, in all of creation, there was no one for him to communicate with as an equal. Genesis 2:18 then says, "and the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone: I will make him a helper comparable to him." And so God created Eve. At that moment, aloneness was replaced by togetherness. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." There is no shame in God's design! Man and woman in marriage were to be one, comparable to one another, of equal value and essence, yet unique in role and design, bound together by love as one flesh...... this marriage covenant becomes the Divinely ordained object lesson set before humanity, to testify to the Relational God Who lives eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, One in essence, unique in role and operation. Man and Woman bound inseparably as one in the spirit of love, and as Genesis says, to walk with God in the cool of the day! This is the pattern of the One God. This is his design.
But Genesis 3 brings a dramatic and disastrous change to this creative order. Man makes his one and only free will choice, choosing to divorce himself from his Creator. He chose instead to write his own musical score. He became the center of his own universe, the supplier of his own need, and therefore, his own god, and because the Divine blueprint was forsaken, dissonance, not harmony became the ruling characteristic of humanity!!
The foundational covenant of one man and one woman becoming one flesh as equals, became perverted and flawed. Male dominated patriarchal society became the first of many aberrations As this foundational human relationship became clouded and distorted, all other relationships became characterized by aloneness, war, division and strife.
But the Creator, Who foreknows all things, already had a solution in place. Before the very foundation of the earth, He chose to send the Son of His Love, into this world as the Man, Christ Jesus, in whom this Eternally Divine Relationship dwelled bodily in visible human form, to redeem and restore His Creation. And guess what? He returned to the marriage covenant as His means of redemption. His Beloved Son came into this world as a Groom seeking His bride! Listen to the description of the end of time in Revelation 19.
Then a voice came from the throne, saying, "Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!' and I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Almighty! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory for the marriage of the Lamb of God, His Beloved Son, has come, and His wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted to be dressed in fine linen, clean and bright. Then he said to me, "Write: blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!"
And so, as Paul the Apostle in the book of Ephesians, speaks of the roles of human marriage, he speaks of Christ the Son as The Divine Lover, and His people as His bride. Since all who follow Christ are all to submit to one another in the Fear of God, wives as part of that community, are to submit to their own husbands as a picture of how Christ's people are to submit to Him. And it isn't just the wives who are to submit! The text teaches mutual submission. So guess what, men, Paul says that we get to die for the one we love just as Christ died for His bride, the church. That, gentlemen, is the ultimate of submission! We get to die to our self importance, our ego driven-ness, our macho mania—all for the good of this wonderful bride that God has given to us. Just as sacrifice characterizes Christ's love for His Bride, so too sacrifice is to characterize our human love for our bride. The biblical pattern is mutual submission of husband and wife as equals with unique and distinct roles, bound together as one in devoted and covenanted love. Does that sound familiar? We have returned to the Divine design. We have returned to the understanding of the One God, One in essence yet living as three unique and equal Persons.
This is the musical score for a wonderfully harmonious marriage. Learn to delight in the Father's will, and your marriage will be a glorious duet. Seek to live continually in fellowship with your God in Christ Jesus, The Son. Seek Him in all that you are and do. Depend daily upon the Indwelling God, the Holy Spirit, for His Love, Joy, and Comfort. The writer Ezra gave us a wonderful promise 2500 years ago. He said, "The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him." Our God is Good! And He delights to give good gifts to those who seek Him. As you live together submissively, each for the other as one, you reflect His Unity and His Goodness, and His gift of peace, joy, and love will fill your home! May God be pleased to pour out His grace and mercy upon you as you fix your eyes upon Him from this day forward.