T.D. Jakes - Celebrating Marriage--The Spiritual Wedding of the Believer

Six Pillars From Ephesians: Celebrating Marriage
The Spiritual Wedding of the Believer
Copyright 2000 by T. D. Jakes
T. D. Jakes Ministries

Published by Bethany House Publishers 11400 Hampshire Avenue
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Bethany House Publishers is a division of
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Ebook edition created 2012

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ISBN: 978-0-7642-2843-8

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

The Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The Scripture quotation marked TLB is taken from the The Living Bible. Copyright 1971, 1988 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189.

CONTENTS

CELEBRATING MARRIAGE
THE SPIRITUAL WEDDING
OF THE BELIEVER

INTRODUCTION

Everybody loves a wedding! A wedding is considered great cause for celebration, not only by the bride and groom, but by family members, friends, and even those who dont know the happy couple. When a man and woman pledge their entire lives to one another, it is one of the most sacred and cherished moments for them and for all who stand with them. They are making vows of fidelity and love to each other for life.

We all know the love story of the ages: Man and woman meet, they fall in love, they marry, and they live happily ever after. But we always must remember that weddings are Gods idea. From the beginning, God anticipated that man and woman would be joined together in a holy union, a holy mating, or holy matrimony. He called this sacred covenant becoming one flesh (see Genesis 2:24), and this joining in marriage became His most vibrant illustration to fallen mankind of the intimate relationship He sought with them.

Why did God choose to describe His love relationship and lasting commitment to a union with His people through the experience and significance of a wedding and a marriage? Throughout the Old Testament we find references to God being the bridegroom of His people, who are His bride:

A s the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

I SAIAH 62:5

In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit gives us the crowning joy of the mystery. Jesus, our Savior and Lord, is the bridegroom of the Church, and we are His beloved bride:

T here came unto me one of the seven angels...and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lambs wife.

R EVELATION 21:9

The apostle Paul gracefully addressed this issue in writing to the Ephesians. His teaching on this subject in the epistles is one of the most beautiful and yet practical about how we are wedded to the Lord Jesus Christ. This teaching is at the very heart of what it means to be loved and cherished by God and to be one with Him.

I believe God chose the wedding and marriage to illustrate His relationship with His people because it is the most intimate and personal relationship we experience in our natural lives. And when our hearts and minds begin to see and understand the depths and richness of this revelation we are forever loved by and married to Jesus Christ the ecstasy of our position and condition in Him is beyond expression!In the book of Ruth, God gives us a beautiful example of how Jesus becomes our Bridegroom and we become His beloved. As a Moabitess and former idol worshipper, Ruth represents the Church. Like her, we once lived under the rule and influence of Satan and a world system that is totally opposed to Gods kingdom. As Ruths deliverer, Boaz represents Jesus. Jesus is our kinsman in the flesh who loves us, pays the price to redeem us from our spiritual poverty, and then takes us as His bride. Throughout the Bible, God repeatedly uses weddings and marriage to reveal to us His pursuit of us, His love for us, and His desire to be with us forever.

In the book of Ruth, God gives us a beautiful example of how Jesus becomes our Bridegroom and we become His beloved. As a Moabitess and former idol worshipper, Ruth represents the Church. Like her, we once lived under the rule and influence of Satan and a world system that is totally opposed to Gods kingdom. As Ruths deliverer, Boaz represents Jesus. Jesus is our kinsman in the flesh who loves us, pays the price to redeem us from our spiritual poverty, and then takes us as His bride. Throughout the Bible, God repeatedly uses weddings and marriage to reveal to us His pursuit of us, His love for us, and His desire to be with us forever.

Marriage is a God-created relationship.

In spite of what many people think, marriage has never been a secular institution. In fact, those who follow the dictates of the world, the lusts of their flesh, and the lies of the enemy have very little use for marriage. They would just as soon be single so they can fornicate and commit adultery with whomever they choose. It doesnt bother them to father children and never be a father to those children. It doesnt bother them to have children by several different fathers and never have contact with those fathers again. The world has little regard for the demands of fidelity and until death do us part vows, and they have a high degree of tolerance for marital infidelity, separation, and divorce.

However, marriage is holy and divine in its very definition and nature. Thats because God created the wedding and marriage to be a picture of how Jesus would pursue, commit to, and love His bride and how His bride should love and cherish Him in return. When a man and woman come together at a wedding, it is a sacred, spiritual act. Where the world views marriage as a partnership, like a merger between two companies, the Church views marriage as the divine, sacred reuniting of Adam , the first human who was both male and female.

T herefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

G ENESIS 2:24

In marriage, male and female are re-fused and re-bonded into one flesh. Furthermore, what God reveals about Adam and Eve and about the relationship between a husband and wife illustrates what the Church is ultimately to be to Jesus. Paul speaks of this sacred relationship to the Ephesians:

T his is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

E PHESIANS 5:32

Although Paul writes only ten verses about marriage between husband and wife in this epistle, those verses are so rich that an entire marriage seminar could be taught out of them. And when we finish studying Ephesians 5:22 to 5:31, teaching about wives submitting to their husbands and husbands loving and cherishing and nourishing their wives, we come face to face with the reality of our marriage to the Lamb. Ultimately, natural marriage is an illustration Paul uses to show the depth of our relationship with the Lord.

There are those who call the Church the body of Christ, and there are those who call the Church the bride of Christ. Some modern teachers have argued over which is correct. They say, If the Church is His body, which is male, it cannot be His bride, which is female. The fact is, in the first marriage between Adam and Eve, Eve was both Adams body and his bride. She was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, yet she was separate from him in form and inseparably bound to him in spirit. As believers in Christ Jesus, we are inseparably bound and eternally married to the Lord Jesus Christ in spirit. Yet on this earth, we live out His life in our flesh. We are body and bride simultaneously.