MORE ON MARRIAGE

More on Marriage  (Ephesians 5: 15-6: 4)  05-21-03
       
         Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the 
         church, and gave himself for it.  Ephesians 5: 25

   Scripture is very plain when instructing us on marriage, and there is
much to learn, in addition, by the experience of  living for  54 years in 
such a  blessed  union.  There is very  little of  benefit  learned  about 
marriage unless the partners are operating on Scriptural principles as 
outlined in the Word of God, and are willing to follow the  instruction.
There is  no other authoritative source for instruction on how to have
a marriage reflecting  the relationship of  Jesus Christ and His Bride, 
His church

  The first thing we learn is every aspect of our lives has changed and 
is now a shared experience rather than an individual experience.  
                            (...two shall become one flesh...)   
Everything each marriage partner does must be considered by each in 
light of how it will affect the spouse. The best practical mechanism for 
this,  is for each partner to live life with the stated goal being the hap-
piness of the other.   As the partners are  inextricably joined, and any  
attempt at changing this is intensely painful, ie. divorce or separation,
death of  a spouse or even  the disappointment of  a spouse.   It is not 
possible to  avoid  the  fallout  when  this relationship is  abused.  It  is 
most important to realize marriage is an earthly picture of a heavenly
reality.

   Since the husband represents Jesus Christ in the home and the wife 
represents  the church,  we see the following:  Jesus Christ  loved the 
church so much He gave His life for  “her.”   The husband represents
Jesus Christ; his great love for his wife,  not as  lord and master over  
her but one who loves greatly; willing to sacrifice himself for the good 
of his  beloved.  We see also,  the wife submits to her  husband out of  
obedience to God.  She has a reverence for her husband as the church 
does Jesus Christ,  and  just how  important is  this submission  to and 
reverence for her husband on the part of the wife?

 Marriage on this earth, between a man and a woman, is a type, or a
picture of Jesus and the church. The church, will be perfected by our 
Lord; is being groomed to be the eternal bride of  God the Son.  The 
church submits to Jesus Christ and reverences Him.  If one refuses 
to submit any part of  life to Christ,  our  Lord brings things into the 
life causing him/her to submit.  This discipline is a means of sanctifi-
cation. (Purification)  When a wife refuses to submit to her husband,
she  is presenting a flawed picture of the church and of Jesus Christ
When a husband refuses to be faithful to his wife,  love her and give 
his life for her,  he is painting a distorted  portrait of Christ.  He will 
be  held  accountable for  his  actions  before  the  Judgement  Seat
of Christ.  To take this one step further,  the father represents God
God  the  Father to the children.  The vagaries of  fatherhood prac-
ticed in the USA today,  gives an erroneous picture of God, and  the  
Fathers will  be rewarded or suffer  loss, as each  stands  before the 
Judgement Seat of Jesus Christ, and be held accountable for failure 
in this aspect of his life.   The Judgment Seat of  Christ,  is reserved 
for believers only.  Unbelievers will not  make it that far, but  will be 
judged at the Great White Throne of God for a final  judgment prior 
to being cast into an eternal hell with Satan and his angels.  
                                                               Revelation chapter 19 & 20...

In my humble estimation, the poor performance of the fathers in the 
home and in our culture,  is one  reason for  a wrong view  of  God by 
the  populace.  If  one has a wrong  view of  God the Father,  God the 
Son  or  God  the Holy Spirit,  there  will  be no practice of  righteous 
living in our  land and  until we the fathers  get  it  right,  we are on a  
downhill  slide to  perdition in a proverbial "hand basket."

Then, there are the children of the home.  Just what is their responsi-
bility?  We do not  have to consider  long to realize  it is  the same as 
the husband, wife or father.  The Children of God  have a responsibi-
lity on this earth and  the children of  the family have the  privilege to 
reflect how one  relates to his/her heavenly father.  We,  as  Children 
of God,  are commanded in Scripture to “...love the Lord our God...”  
we are instructed to obey Him,  reverence Him, and speak well of, or 
honor Him.  Since the Father, God, has a great love for Jesus Christ, 
the  father in the  home must  have  great love for his wife who repre-
sents Jesus Christ in the home. The children,  in order to please their  
father  must  have a love and  respect for  their mother,  who is loved 
and respected  by their father.   (One of  the things my  father did not
tolerate,  was  disrespect  by one  of  his  children for  his  wife,  their  
mother.) 

There are,  many other responsibilities for  the Child of God, relating 
to God the Father,  but  these are primary concerns.  All of  these are 
directly commanded of  children of earthly fathers.  There are  promi-
ses to obedient children.   At Judgment,  we will be held  accountable 
for our response to both our earthly fathers and  our heavenly Father. 
Can it be made clearer?

Note:   The practice of the wife making it her goal to please her hus-
band a most Scriptural of practices. You and I are created to become 
one with our Lord,   just as  wives are to  become one with  their hus-
bands.  Since the husband  represents  Jesus Christ in  the home, his 
great love for  his  Lord and  love for  her are strong  motivations for 
giving of  himself to please her, and his Lord.  

     Think of the positive changes in our world,  were each husband to 
 begin to love and care for his wife as Jesus Christ loves and cares for 
His bride, the church.  In addition,  each father would  begin to  relate 
to his children in the way God the Father relates to His children.  This
would cause children,  early in life,  to see God the Father  modeled in  
the home.  Would this not help a youngster gain a correct view of God  
and come to  Christ early in life for salvation, preventing shipwreck of
many lives...

  Who is responsible for problem youth in our culture today?  Parents 
do not have to be immoral,  criminal or even  misfits to rear  problem 
children.   All  they have to do is fail to  model  God the Father,  God 
the Son and the church properly before their families.  Children with 
an incorrect view of God are unable to become all they could be.   All 
of us know parents who name the name of Jesus Christ but fail mise-
rably to demonstrate the love of God in the Home.  We all, of course,  
fail at times to  properly display Christ-likeness in the home.  We will 
be held accountable on this earth through rebellious spouses children 
and will  be required  to give  account for  that  failure  when  we  face 
the Lord God in eternity.  

http://biblicalclarity-don.blogspot.com/2012/10/leave-and-cleave.html

           donporter 12.08.12, edited 2.26.15