Marriage: A Picture of Christ and the Church

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath 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 saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
Revelation 19:7-9

Marriage is a picture of the church’s relationship with God. We see this metaphor used a lot in Scripture. In the book of Hosea, Hosea’s marriage to the prostitute Gomer represents God’s relationship with Israel, who had become unfaithful to God. There are several other references to God’s people as an unfaithful wife: Ezekiel 16:32 and Jeremiah 3:8 for example. There are also several references to the church as the bride of Christ.

In Ephesians 5:22-33, Paul tells wives to submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ. Husbands are told to love their wives as Christ loves the church. This not only gives us a picture but also our children the ability to understand God’s love.

But Satan doesn’t want that. He wants to destroy the bond of husband and wife in hopes it will destroy us, destroy the picture and our ability to understand that love. We see that quite a bit in Hollywood. Sitcoms show women running the household and pandering to their bumbling husbands. We’ve forgotten that God meant for men to be the head of the home. If we wish for them to respect us, we must respect them. 

Attacks on marriage don’t begin after the vows, however, but in the dating stage. Sex before marriage has become normalized. Marriage itself has become an item on a to-do list to check off, often with a deadline. And these attitudes lend themselves to miserable marriages because we’ve begun to forget what marriage truly is: a working relationship for the benefit of Christ, a gift from God, and a picture of Christ’s relationship with us.

Broken marriages are painful, and sometimes that pain bleeds into our relationship with God. If we’ve been surrounded by happily married couples, we’ll think of Christ as a doting husband. But if we’ve been surrounded by broken marriages, we’ll be reminded of that pain when we think of Christ as a bridegroom.

No matter whether we’re single or married, we should seek God’s direction. We should search His Word for guidance. We should align our views with the Bible instead of what society tells us. So let’s pray for our marriages. Let’s pray for our relationships. For those single and married alike. Let’s pray that we’ll regain our focus on what marriage is actually about.