Have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.
Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you
(Exod. 25:8-9; Heb 8:5).
Don't you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit Who is in you,
Whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price:
therefore glorify God in your body
  (1 Cor. 6:19-20). 
The Meaning and Purpose Of Marriage!

The true meaning of marriage, according to God’s holy Word, is union with Jesus Christ, whereby, "the two shall become one flesh (Eph 5:31:32)."  In Genesis we read that God took Eve out of Adam and then gave her to Adam... "And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh...(Gen 2:24) ."  The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church regarding Jesus Christ, that: "...we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.   This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church (Eph 5:30-32)."  Here we are given the true meaning of marriage  -  complete union with Jesus Christ.  The Church is to be as Jesus Christ, or as 1st John 4:17 reads, "...as He is, so are we in this world."

In this marriage union the husband is to represent Christ and the wife is to represent the Church. Both roles are impossible apart from the grace of God through the power of His Holy Spirit. Our marriage to Christ takes place during our baptism, for it is there He gives us His NAME:"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matt 28:19)  Notice here that we are only given One NAME, His glorious Name, for these Three are One in NAME. In a Christian marriage that wishes to show forth the "Heavenly Pattern", the wife will give up her family name and take on the name of her husband, because of Christ, Who calls us to do all things in His Name.  Our marriage union has an eternal purpose associated with it "that now through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord (Eph 3:10-11)."  For God, in the beginning, put Adam to sleep and took Eve from his side just as He likewise did through Jesus at Calvary. Then He brought Eve to Adam and commanded that they both were to be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:28), and because our marriage is both physical and spiritual, this command applies in both realms.  Similarily, Jesus taught us that "No one comes to me unless the Father Who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day" (John 6:44). In John's Gospel we read that "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit..."(John 15:8).  Jesus goes even further in John 15:16, that He "appointed us" to bear much fruit and that our fruit should remain. Again, this is both physical and spiritual.  When both husband and wife physically love eachother, children (fruit) multiply in a very natural way.  Similarly, because of our love for Christ, we naturally share His Gospel message and the Church is enlarged.  Billboards, advertising and programs will never succeed in enlarging His church if it is trying to replace His Heavenly Pattern - genuine Vine supplying Love. 

The "Heavenly Pattern" shows forth The Creator "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - His eternal power and Divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what He has made, so that people are without excuse (Rom 1:20)."  Unlike the sodomitic or contraceptive union which is for pleasure only, our male female (Christ and His Church) union is designed and purposed by God to be fruitful.  Now it is this eternal purpose of marriage that has come under attack as of the 1930 and subsequent Lambeth Council decisions. There, the Anglican Church embraced new doctrines (contraception and birth-control, most all of which is abortifacient) for the wife of Christ.  From Abraham to Calvary and right up until this time, no Christian denomination had accepted these sorcerous (pharmakia) practices and all the refomers along with the Catholic Church preached admantly against them.

Now to understand the purpose of marriage we need to know why God took Eve out from Adam, or to be more correct, the Church out from Christ.  The answer is: to enlarge or increase Adam, i.e., to glorify and magnify Jesus Christ.  Christ admonished His disciples to "do all things in My Name" because of our baptism marriage to Him. Therefore the wife is to take on the name of her husband and the offspring are to be named after him.  In Psalm 24:1 we read that "The earth is The Lord’s, and the fullness thereof;...".  When God created the earth, He created it with a definite purpose; to fill it with Jesus Christ.  Colossians 1:16 tells us that ..."all things were created by Him, and for Him."  Notice again, it was created for Him.  Psalm 72:19 says..."let the whole earth be filled with His glory " and again back to Colossians, "...Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col 1:27)".  So then, the true purpose of marriage (complete union with Christ) is for the propagation of Jesus Christ, both by evangelism and raising Christ-like children, until He fills the whole earth, "...until He (Jesus Christ) is all and in all (Col 3:11)." The joy and the pleasure of the union may be ours but the fruit of the union is His for "the fruit of the womb is His reward" (Psalm 127:3 ASV).  He purchased every little one of them at Calvary. 

In the Church there is no room for patriotic nationalism, whether Greek, Jewish, American, or Barbarian, for His Gospel is to all nations and therefore His present Kingdom is withour borders or particular nationality but in the hearts of all who responded to His call. He rules as a King on a throne in each of their hearts as they hear His voice and will not listen to anyone else. There is only Christ "all and in all" in the Church.  "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last (Rev 22:13)".  Here again we see plainly stated that only that which is Christ or joined in matrimony to Christ will survive eternity.   

Today, we are being told by many church leaders and family organizations that left wing radicals and homosexual groups are out to destroy marriage.  If we only look on the surface of things, that might very likely be our conclusion.  But, the nuclear bombardment of marriage was the 1930 Angelican and subsequent Lambeth Council decisions, and the propogation of those new and contrary doctrines by the NCCUSA (National Council of Churches USA) here in the USA.  These new doctrines have since spread like leaven causing multitudes to take the Name of our Lord in vain.  When the Church began to reject God's blessing of new life, her purpose was also being rejected (aborted).  "Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees (Matt 16:11-12). "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:20)Unlike the Christ which these new doctrines portray, our marriage union is to be fruitful because Love is fruitful (1Jn 4:16).  Regardless of how potentially fertile a female is, she will not be fruitful until her husband comes into her.  In the same way, Jesus taught us that "As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5). Again, we can plainly see that God created and instituted marriage to show forth His Heavenly Pattern and that the purpose of marriage according to The Heavenly Pattern - Jesus Christ, is fruitfulness. We are told that Moses heard these cherished words: "Well done, good and faithful servant!" because he made everything according to the Heavenly Pattern shown to him on the mount (Exod. 25:8-9; Heb. 8:5). Similarily, we are called to be conformed to Jesus Christ - God's Heavenly Pattern shown to us on mount Calvary.

Now we come to something of the utmost importance regarding the Church, the wife of Christ.  About 600 B.C., the prophet Jeremiah declared that God was going to create a new thing on the earth, "A woman will surround (encompass) a man (Jer 31:22)."   In fulfillment of this prophecy, we read in Ephesians 1:22 that God : "gave him (Christ) to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all."  Here the Church is described as the fullness of Him, the bride (encompasses) is the fullness of Christ.  Therefore each and every menber of the Church is to be Christ-like, an expression of Him. The Church alone (made up of all the true Churches now and throughout the ages), one body, is stated here to be the fullness of Him, Who is to fill all and be in all.  For "..there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12)".  The true Church, then, is the wife (bride) of Christ and she will be found possessing, and honoring, and seeking to bring fruitful increase to the Name which is above all names - His great NAME.  In loving union with Christ, the true Church will always seek and cherish a full quiver, both spiritual and physical, until Jesus Christ is all and in all and the whole earth is filled with His glory.


Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).
 Purge out therefore the old leaven (hypocrisy) that ye may be a new lump (1 Cor 5:7)

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