The political views expressed on my blog are personal to me and not intended to be those of the Church I pastor.
Steve Cornell
In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions. -Abraham Lincoln
From http://earstohear.net/Kingdom/marriage.html
How God’s design of marriage and the relationship between one man and one woman
correlates with Christ (the bridegroom) and His Church (His bride).
The Bible begins and ends with a marriage.
“This is a great mystery…
The IMPORTANCE God placed on marriage as being the basis and FOUNDATION of a “civil” society is not being highlighted by Christians as the main ingredient of God’s design. The analogy of Christ and the church, with marriage, apparently is a “great mystery” (Ephesians 5) to many Christians, never mind the secular.
The mystery: Just as the man and wife are to become as one, so too, believers and God are to be as one. Is not the Church the Bride of Christ?
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son. Matthew 22:2
For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. Isaiah 54:5
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: 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. And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are the true sayings of God. Revelation 19:7-9
The “mystery” – “…the two shall be one flesh.” Examining the “mystery” – The bride take the husbands name. The bride now does everything in his name. The bride acts in faith in his name. The bride becomes immersed (baptized) into the life of her husband as a partaker of his kingdom. “For as He is, so are we in the world.” 1 John 4:17
To fully understand the God’s design of the marriage relationship between man and woman it is necessary to understand the “marriage” relationship between Christ and His Church. (I.E. How does Christ care for His Church? Does the Church “submit” to the “King” whose Kingdom is not of this world?) Discover the “mystery,” by understanding the man’s role of caring and the wife’s role of caring for being cared for: See What is What is the Kingdom of God? He that has ears to hear, let him hear.
God Bless