The Importance of Marriage

I’ll be sharing with you how you can find the mate God has appointed for you. I’ve been happily married twice myself, and I’ll be sharing quite extensively out of my personal experience. Even if you’re already married, I believe that what I have to share will be both helpful and inspiring to you.

Today, I’m going to show you the importance which God Himself attaches to marriage, as revealed in the Bible. Even many Bible-believing Christians, it seems to me, have no real understanding of the unique importance placed upon marriage in the Bible. The failure to appreciate the importance of marriage has disastrous consequences. It leads inevitably to a lowering of the quality of family life. And this, in turn, lowers the life and culture of society as a whole.

There are three ways in which the Bible emphasizes the importance of marriage. At least, there are three ways which I’m principally going to mention in my talk today. I’m sure there are more than three. The first way that I have in mind that the Bible emphasizes the importance of marriage is the position that it gives to marriage in human history. If you look at the overview of human history unfolded in the Bible, you’ll find that the record of human history begins and ends with a marriage.

“Revelation” chapter 19, verses six through nine.

“Genesis” is the beginning, “Revelation” is the consummation or summing up of history.

“And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.’ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, ‘Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’’ And he said to me, ‘These are the true sayings of God.’”

So you see, the consummation of all human history, and the consummation of all blessedness, is found in the marriage supper of the Lamb. In a certain sense, all through human history, God has been achieving one supreme objective: to prepare a bride worthy for His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the climax comes when the bride is ready, and she’s presented to her husband. And all creation says, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.” So you see, human history begins with a marriage and ends with a marriage. And all the space in between is the unfolding of the result of the first marriage and the preparation for the second marriage.

That’s the first way in which the Bible emphasizes the importance of marriage. Now, let me point out another way of tremendous importance, and it is this: marriage typifies the relationship of Christ to His church. Paul brings this out very clearly in “Ephesians” chapter 5, verses 25 through 27.

“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.”

So the love of a human husband for his wife is a reflection of the love which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has for His bride, the church. And then Paul goes on at the end of that chapter, “Ephesians” 5:31 and 32.

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

In other words, human marriage is a mystery which contains in it a picture of the relationship of Jesus Christ to His church. The most holy and sacred of all relationships is typified by marriage. What importance that gives to marriage!

It’s my personal conviction that unless Christians can understand marriage in the light of the Bible, they cannot fully understand their own relationship to Jesus Christ. For the marriage relationship is a pattern of that higher and eternal relationship, the relationship between Jesus Christ and His bride, the church. Now, I’ll point out a third way in which the Bible emphasizes the importance of marriage. And this is the way in which God Himself has protected marriage, has surrounded it with His own ordinances of protection to keep it as sacred as He intended it to be. “Hebrews” chapter 13, verse 4 says this:

“Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”

You see, God demands that all men hold marriage in the highest esteem. He requires that we all respect and honor this institution of marriage. This is a universal requirement of God amongst all races, all men everywhere. And He has protected the sacredness of marriage with His own declaration of His judgment against those who, in any way, impair it, or defile it, or make light of it. The scripture that I’ve read says, “Fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” Those are people who do not rightly respect marriage. Fornicators are those who seek sexual relationship outside of marriage. Adulterers are those who’ve entered into a marriage relationship and then break their marriage vow and seek relationships outside the marriage. In essence, both are guilty of showing disrespect and dishonor for the institution of marriage. And God is determined that this institution shall be protected. So He has said in His Word, “Fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”

To me, that’s a very powerful statement. If it had said simply, “Fornicators and adulterers will be judged,” that would have been sufficient. But when it says, “God will judge,” it’s as though it brings God right on the scene personally. When it comes to the breaking and defiling of marriage, God says, “I’ll judge that in person. I’ll accept responsibility for this. It’s so sacred in my eyes that I will not tolerate any defilement or any breaking of the sacredness of marriage.” God Himself intervenes. He doesn’t leave the judgment, as it were, to others, but He Himself accepts responsibility for encircling the marriage bed and the marriage relationship with sanctity that shall not be broken down.

Probably one of the greatest problems of the present civilization is a disrespect and a dishonor for marriage, but it’s not in line with scripture. God requires all of us to honor the marriage institution.