MARRIAGE

^[p. 382] MARRIAGE

Revelation 19:7 - 9; 1 Corinthians 7:32 - 34

Following on what has been voiced in prayer, I feel free to read these scriptures as they convey what should occupy us, as I believe, on this occasion; firstly that, as has been remarked in prayer, the marriage of the Lamb should come into our minds. It is the one marriage indeed that Scripture presents to us, as I may say, bearing a public character, carrying with it the idea of celebration.

The idea of marriage, of course, is from the very outset of the human race, but little is made of the celebration of marriages in the Scriptures. When we come to the New Testament we have the parable of a king making a marriage for his son, alluding to this very thing. The wife is not in evidence, the bride is not in evidence, in Matthew 22, but it is a parable presenting a great affair, to which certain were invited, and it confirms what has been remarked, that the marriage of the Lamb, that is, Christ’s marriage to the assembly, is the great thought that is in mind, and all other unions or marriages, as we speak, are in view of Christ’s marriage. It is the one kind of marital union that abides, all others are temporary and provisional; the institution being of God, of course, but as belonging to what Scripture calls the first order, it comes to an end.

“He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” Hebrews 10:9 — that passage applies to many things — it applies to marriage. The “second” is a great spiritual and abiding thought, and, as I said, it is what should arise in our minds particularly just now, especially in the minds of our dear brother and sister, as lifting them out of the first, as I may say, so as to establish the second in their minds. For unless the ^[p. 383] second is established in their minds, they will not grace the first. The first continues on outwardly, but it has become degraded among men; christianity and the teaching of our Lord have lifted it up to its proper setting. It is to be retained in that setting amongst those who love Him and keep His commandments; and indeed the retaining of it according to His thought is a part of the testimony at the present time, for the idea has become degraded among the heathen, especially in the east — it has a greater place in the west. No doubt God intended governmentally to preserve it in the western countries (of which these dominions are an outgrowth) in view of the testimony. Indeed the idea of marriage was to prepare material for the assembly, for that is what God had in mind from the very beginning, but degradation has come into the western countries dreadfully and it is a feature of the testimony that the institution of marriage should be preserved, even as the Lord lifted it up in His teaching to its own setting. He said in relation to divorce, “From the beginning it was not so”. Matthew 19:8. The Lord lifts the institution of marriage into its own divine setting, and it is only in spiritual hands that it can be carried through and maintained there. Hence the importance of the matter before us, and we have this idea presented in Revelation 19, that is what has been in the mind of God for all time which came in with Adam and Eve. God had it in mind; it was to take on spiritual character; marriage was to take on a spiritual character, and unless we understand that we are not equal to the relation as it is now. Indeed, unless we are married to Christ, we are not equal to marriage, we shall not be able to maintain it in its integrity, in its lustre. So the wife is to be a sister. Paul speaks about leading about a sister as wife, that means a sister in the Lord, and that marriage is to be in the Lord, not simply that the persons are to be christians, but there is to be active ^[p. 384] authority and subjection in it. In this way the institution is part of the testimony at the present time, and is only maintained amongst spiritual people. So this remarkable passage, the marriage of the Lamb, presents a great thought and has in mind all the marriages from the union of Adam and Eve to the end. Sex, as we speak of it and as created of God, will not continue into eternity, save as in the spiritual sense of Christ and the assembly. In the eternal state the idea shall cease, showing that God instituted this relationship in the human family to carry out His thought in relation to the spiritual realm, to establish the second in the minds of the saints. That is what He had in mind.

So that the idea of husband and wife is to continue, according to Revelation, but only in a spiritual sense, and it is the apprehension of that that enables us to take up the material thing as it is known now and maintain it in its integrity and lustre as a divine institution. What has to be noted, if we are to learn from this passage anticipatively, is that His wife, that is the Lamb’s wife, is a sufferer; that is in mind — Christ is the suffering one there. It is not the Lamb’s bride, it is the Lamb’s wife, showing that the relation of wife already exists between Christ and the assembly — only the public celebrations are still future, but it reflects always on every marriage celebrated amongst those that are spiritual. What is to be noticed also is that “His wife hath made herself ready;” and what her attire is, is a matter of what is granted to her, not what she will, and in principle it is what she has got. “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”. But she is not wearing these habiliments simply because they are hers, but because it is granted to her, showing that the idea of subjection and obedience is proper to the wife and continues on in eternity, for indeed we ^[p. 385] are told in Ephesians the assembly is subjected to Christ; not simply subject, it is the mind of God for her. The first thing is to get the mind of God, and then the attitude of mind and conduct that flows out from that. It is the mind of God for the assembly. That is the great thought — subjected to Christ; it does not say Christ is subjected: the Son is subject, that is the attitude of His mind — He takes that attitude, it is not forced upon Him; but the assembly is subjected to Christ according to the mind of God, that is what God begins with and what faith begins with, and the attitude of mind and the conduct that follows are to be regarded in that same light.

John speaks of the city — the Lamb’s wife — and says, it is “pure gold”, Revelation 21:18 that is, it is wholly according to God’s thought, and what flows out from that pure gold, as representing the saints, is not simply what I may yield abstractly, but what flows out from my mind as I accept God’s thoughts and His working according to it. So that it is what is granted to her to be arrayed in what had been wrought out as accepting the position of suffering and subjection.

As to the verses in Corinthians, Paul would call our attention to the fact that marriage really takes a secondary place. The virgins are spiritual persons, such persons as are capable of rendering undivided attention to the things of Christ, and marriage tends to detract from that. That is a very humbling consideration for married people, for it places them in a somewhat inferior position to those not married. This may not have been noticed. There may be assumption of superior advantage in union, whereas spiritually there is no advantage, but rather disadvantage. I am not saying the discipline may not yield spiritually, but we have to speak of these things as they are. Marriage is not productive of spirituality, it is the opposite of that; and Paul says, “The unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but she that has married cares for the things of the world, how she shall please her husband”.

^[p. 386] Here it is not the natural persons, it is spiritual persons, and the more spiritual we are the less we shall think of marriage as productive of spirituality. It may yield discipline, it does, but spirituality is one thing and discipline is another. So that the unmarried has the advantage, if spirituality be there. The marital relation does not add to it, but rather detracts from it. The more we understand that, the more we set our faces against the distracting element. It belongs to the “first” and it is against spirituality. It will have to be watched or it will interfere with spirituality. If it be watched and understood and accepted, then the discipline that goes with it helps us, but in itself discipline is not spirituality. It is not that I want to discourage our dear young brother and sister, but it is well for them to understand these things — the relative value of the married state as compared with the unmarried state. Spiritually the unmarried has the advantage, and to see these things everything has to be understood in the abstract; if we see their abstract relation and value, then we learn how to behave and how to regard things, and we are not deceived.

So the verses, you will observe, say, “But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord”. That does not mean obviously that every unmarried brother and sister is caring for the things of the Lord because they are unmarried. We have to look at it in its spiritual setting. There is Paul; he is an unmarried man. His idea is that he has got the advantage spiritually. And then it goes on to say, “He that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife”. A wife may say, ‘My husband is not governed by pleasing me’,

^[p. 387] but that is mere detail; the apostle is dealing with abstract thoughts; he is dealing with the disturbing factor, and showing that that is the course of things naturally — the man is worldly so as to please his wife. That has to be watched. It is well to see these things; and if we see this, we will be on our guard. “There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband”. These are facts the apostle presents to us and we must accept them as facts. You may say, ‘My experience does not bear them out’, but you may be sure that what the apostle says is absolutely true, and to accept it saves us from the things he sets out as being a disadvantage spiritually. We should not be occupied with the things of the world to please our husbands or wives, but should be as those who are not married; that is to say, that the Lord is to have first place with us and that we are living in the realm of the spiritual. Thus we overcome the difficulty, and, though this is just a type of it, all is tending to one great thing — when God will take away the first and establish the second.