Spiritual Parallels of Marriage

Colossians 3:18-19 shows that in order to fulfil their God-ordained roles, husbands and wives share a mutual responsibility in respecting each other. Notice how this works: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.”

The apostle Peter repeats what Paul stated, “Likewise, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands” (I Pet. 3:1). Just as His Church is to submit to the loving authority and leadership of Jesus Christ, wives are to be in subjection to their husbands. While no wife should ever obey her husband in matters where he instructs her to in any fashion disobey God, she is to yield to her husband as her “head” in the same manner that the Church is instructed to yield to its Head—the living Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians 5:1-33, Paul covers the proper roles within the husband-wife relationship in greater detail. Carefully read this longer passage, and comprehend the extraordinary and marvellous picture that it presents of what is really happening once the human marriage bond has taken place. Let’s notice further:

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and He is the Saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; 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. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church: for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband” (Eph 5:22-33).

Every married couple should periodically read these verses. More than perhaps any other, they will serve to keep the BIG PICTURE in mind when it comes to marriage—and this includes sex in marriage!

Unmistakable Spiritual Parallel

The incredible parallel described above cannot be missed! The purpose of the husband-wife marriage bond, human sexuality, and the family relationship that stems from this, is called “a great mystery”—one that parallels the spiritual relationship between Christ and His Church. And it has remained hidden from the wise of the world who have rejected the Source that would have revealed it.

Sadly, the world understands almost nothing of what you have just read. The confused thinking of modern psychologists, marriage “counsellors,” coupled with the hostile, God-rejecting thinking of modern “feminism”—and because the world does not know where to find the true Church of God, so that it can witness how it submits to Christ’s rule, and how the loving marriages within that Church reflect His Church—the world has been left in near complete darkness about what it means to enjoy a happy, godly marriage!

Now let’s read a truly eye-opening passage found in Revelation 19:7-8, and grasp the awesome picture of how marriage on the human scale reflects what lies ahead for the true saints of God, when the greatest marriage in all eternity occurs: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him [the glorified Christ]: for the MARRIAGE of the Lamb is come, and HIS WIFE has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”

The wife of the Lamb—the Church of God—is instructed to make herself ready for her spiritual Husband—the returning Jesus Christ. She prepares herself by putting on fine linen—RIGHTEOUSNESS—and this preparation process has been quietly occurring for 2,000 years in the Church that Jesus Christ built and heads (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18), beginning in A.D. 31.

Let’s momentarily return to Ephesians 5:1-33. The spiritual bride of Christ getting herself ready requires the undergoing of an extensive cleansing process, only to be completed when she becomes arrayed in white linen after the resurrection, described throughout I Corinthians 15:1-58.

Now notice further: “That He [Christ] might sanctify and cleanse it [the Church—His wife] 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” (I Cor 15:26-27). A stable family life requires a stable home, which means a stable husband-wife relationship—all made possible through the divine institution of marriage. A close, intimate marriage requires faithfulness to a marriage covenant. All of these elements of marriage and family mirror God’s Supreme Purpose for all humanity.

Let’s state this plainly so that none can miss the great parallel revealed by God in Scripture: The husband-wife relationship mirrors the very divine marriage relationship between Jesus Christ and His Church. Likewise, the human family unit parallels the God Family, showing that God is reproducing Himself. Marriage, family and the roles of husband and wife are GOD-PLANE RELATIONSHIPS—gifts given by a loving Creator that are intended to prepare His children toward final achievement of their incredible human potential!

But there are still unanswered questions about sex—most important among them being, why is it necessary?