30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 16 18 The covenantal relationship of marriage 03 The beauty of the marriage relationship
📖 Luke 16:18
20Apr2020 - *The beauty of the marriage relationship* _ Luke 16:18_ Bible reading: _Hosea 2:14-16_
_Luke 16:18 “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery._
We have used this verse to launch into understanding the covenant relationship of marriage.
We have been saying thus far that God made man and woman comparable and complementary to each other but at the same time distinct from each other. The marriage relationship is consummated when one man takes his one wife and lives with her in an intimate relationship, which is exclusively to be experienced in this relationship, known as marriage.
Society or the church is thus made up of such marriage units. The church is comparable to Christ because we are His flesh, bones and spirit, just as Eve was to Adam. Jesus is in a marriage relationship with the church and desires for the church to experience the exclusive relationship, that a husband has with his one wife, with Him the Husband.
God displays and demonstrates for us the way He loves His wife, the people of God. _Hosea 2:14-16 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her. (15) I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. (16) "And it shall be, in that day," Says the LORD, "That you will call Me 'My Husband,' And no longer call Me 'My Master,'_
Just as the way God loved His people, His bride, He desires for every husband to love his wife and the wife to accordingly respond to her husband. _Ephesians 5:25-29 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, (26) that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, (27) 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 husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. (29) For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church._
Look at every phrase in the passage in _ Hosea 2:14-16_ - _...I will allure her…_ This is to charm, attract, and draw. Let us, (I’m reaching out very specially to husbands, starting with me) imagine if husbands were to practice this conduct with their wives, how would their wife respond? _...speak comfort to her…_ Do wives need words of comfort from their husbands? If only husbands would take the effort and time to understand the needs of their wives and speak comfort to her. _...I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope…_ This is about God providing safety, shelter, protection and provision for His people. Husbands are to provide all of these to their wives.
We have looked at just one passage of God’s love for His people, which is the demonstration of His covenant love. This is the way husbands ought to love their wives, as directed in the passage in Ephesians. When husbands exhibit such love to their wives. The response of the wife is spontaneous.
_...She shall sing…_ Sadly, as we look at so many homes and I’m referring to homes of Christians, the narrative is far from what is given here. The joy and happiness in the marriage relationship is missing. We can get it back, if we would return to the Lord as both husband and wife, draw from His love, which He has shown to the church.
_...That you will call Me 'My Husband…_ When the husband displays the love that God shows to His people, the wife will gladly say, “My husband”. Not because she is married to her but because he is truly being husband to her. For her, submission to his love and care will be a joy. This is the experience that God desires for every marriage unit to experience. When this is experienced in marriage, the church will know that we ought to submit to God’s love in the similar way and allow God to cleanse, sanctify, present us to Himself as a glorious church, without spot or blemish. This is God’s desire for the church.
When this covenant love is not experienced in marriage units, this drought spills over into the way the church relates to her husband, Jesus.
*Thought to ponder*
```God’s heart breaks that His bride is often not submissive and yielded to Him though His love for her was covenantal.```