MARRIAGE IN THE LORD
[p. 270] MARRIAGE IN THE LORD
1 Corinthians 9: 5; Revelation 19: 7,8
What is in mind in reading these verses is to call attention to the relation of sister and brother, which according to Scripture is to precede the marital relation, not now in the natural sense, but in the spiritual; what we need to be concerned about is the spiritual aspect of what is before us, how a marriage among the people of God is to contribute to the testimony of God. It is often otherwise, for the reason that the brotherly and sisterly relation according to God is not in mind before the contract is entered into.
Much sorrow is occasioned by unholy marriages. Alas! a brother or sister entering into this relation with one who is not a believer can only end in sorrow and disaster. Indeed spiritually, it cannot be otherwise, and so the brotherly and sisterly relation is of great importance, and young people are to have this in mind.
These happy occasions are used of the Lord to instruct us, not only those who are the principals for the time, but all of us, parents, children, sisters and brothers, that our selections may be in the Lord, and it says, “only in the Lord”. There is a certain latitude allowed in Scripture in the selection of husband or wife, as it says, “She is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord”, 1 Corinthians 7: 39. Hence a very wholesome, indeed a holy restriction is imposed on young people, inside of which they are safe, but outside of which they are exposed to the enemy, and the testimony, with which they are identified nominally, is damaged.
So that we find with the early men of faith, the sisterly relation was insisted upon. Abraham stands out as a great parent, a great father. “High father” his first name “Abram” meant, involving moral elevation. He could take on elevated relationships. His [p. 271] whole course was one of separation. He represents the heavenly man, one of whom it is said that “God is not ashamed ... to be called their God”, Hebrews 11:16.
Sarah was his sister — his wife was his sister — and, as Isaac is seen offered up in type in Genesis 22, immediately we have Rebecca introduced as related to Isaac. Her genealogy is given as related to Isaac, and then we have Abraham’s considered determination that the wife of Isaac must be related to him on sisterly lines, and not a foreigner. Foreign wives were prohibited in Israel later, Nehemiah calling our special attention to Solomon, the like of whom there was not in his day, yet he became damaged by foreign alliances.
So Abraham was careful — exceedingly careful, to the extent of causing an oath to be taken — that the wife of his son must be related to him. In other words, that marriage must be “in the Lord”. It is imperative. And so Isaac in his time took it upon him, and Rebecca, a holy woman, we might say, like Sarah, directed that Jacob must also select a wife from her relatives.
The wives of Esau were a cause of grief, they were Canaanitish — unbelieving foreigners. I stress all this, that we might be helped of the Lord. He must be considered first in these selections — only in the Lord. That is, the wife must be a sister, the husband a brother, and not simply christians, as we say — great as the word christian is, but in our minds apt to be reduced to a common level and lose its spiritual significance. The disciples were first called christians at Antioch, but not in the sense in which persons may be called christians now. It was a divine thought. The word had great significance, but now it has lost it very largely. It is not simply that a person is a nominal believer, known to be a christian in the ordinary, common sense of the word, but he or she is to be known to be “in the Lord”, that is, the Lord has His rights, and has been consulted in the matter. Anything contrary to Him has to be refused by the brethren, and adherence [p. 272] to it becomes the occasion of discipline, for the term “in the Lord” among the saints is not an empty term, but involves power. “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?” 1 Corinthians 10: 22. The Lord has to say to us in these matters, and where His will is disregarded we may look for discipline, if not among the saints, certainly from Him. As we read, “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep”, 1 Corinthians 11: 30. So that it is imperative that these relationships be “in the Lord”, and we shalt find that it is wisdom that they should be so. How different to have the Lord with us than to have Him against us. If He is against us are we stronger than He? But how happy to have the Lord with us!
Then, further, He has said, “I will be to you for a Father”, 2 Corinthians 6:18. How precious a thought that is. First you come out from among them, you are separate, and in these relations God says, “I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters”. How happy that is! How it foretells blessing in such a relation as our dear brother and sister have entered into.
So the apostle here says, “Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife?” 1 Corinthians 9: 5. A sister! I have pointed out how that in patriarchal times this was insisted upon, and in the Song of Solomon the same relation exists between the bride and bridegroom. He calls her his sister, his spouse. So that before the natural there are the spiritual communications and relations, happy spiritual relations and communion as brother and sister. The natural will find its place, that is the husbandly and wifely relations, as the brotherly and sisterly have their place; and these never should lose their place, because in the assembly the wifely relation ceases, but not the brotherly and sisterly relations, merging into the precious thought of brethren, which really is the higher thought of the two, and goes beyond death, whereas the marital relations do not go [p. 273] beyond death. The thought of brother and sister does, for the idea of brethren enters into eternity.
Well, that is all I had to say for the benefit of our dear brother and sister, as well as all of us, particularly the young ones here, because these matters are of much more importance to the testimony than we are apt to think. We are apt to confine them too much to the natural side, whereas the testimony must be always in mind.
In Revelation it is Christ and the assembly. It will be observed that in Revelation 19 it is the marriage of the Lamb and His wife, not His bride. We are not living in the bridal period, that is future properly, although Scripture speaks considerably about the bride and bridegroom, but the bridal period is future. It is in chapter 21 of the book. Here it is His wife, because what is in mind is the suffering time, the Lamb. It is a time of suffering, and what is needed is the wife. A bride is more ceremonial, more for show. As attached to the assembly presently it will be shown in the proper sense — she comes down from heaven adorned as a bride for her husband.
In this chapter 19 it is not the bride but the wife, for the reason evidently that it is the suffering time. What is needed in suffering is not show and ceremony, but simple and mutual confidence. It is what is needed now and the Lord looks for and finds that in the assembly now. It is vital to His interests in the assembly now. The remarkable thing is that the bride is called the wife before the marriage. “And his wife” — not His bride, she is alluded to as His wife — “has made herself ready”. She is ready, and the readiness involves practical righteousness — indeed the word is plural, the righteousnesses of the saints.
That is the general spiritual position, dear brethren. I am at liberty to speak of it at a time like this as our thoughts rise to Christ and the assembly. What a thought that is for us: the thought of the wife being [p. 274] true and loyal to Christ in this suffering time, in this time of His rejection, those who are loyal in a wifely way sharing in His suffering.
So the marriage is coming — the great display proper to the union of Christ and the assembly. Chapter 21 depicts it for us, but here it is to remind us that He is looking for wifely devotedness and loyalty, that His interests may be looked after now in the time of His absence.
Pages 275 - 538 — “Solomon’s Workmen”. Readings and Addresses, 1939 (Volume 147).