MARRIAGE AS A COVENANT

MARRIAGE AS A COVENANT

                Yesterday we talked about marriage as it is pictured in the tabernacle of Moses. We talked about the fact that a marriage license is very important in making a marriage legal, but that piece of paper can do absolutely nothing to make you marriage a good one. The license gets tucked away in a file drawer and there it stays, having very little to do with your marriage until, you want a divorce, or you break your marriage vows. Then you will find yourself in a court of law where the legal aspects of your marriage are brought to the forefront again.

                This is the same thing as our marriage to Christ. Paul tells us that the Law was our tutor to lead us to the altar, but once we have become married we no longer need the tutor. Now what we need is a good marriage in which we are united with Christ by His Holy Spirit and we begin to walk in unity in the Word and in prayer. Our Christian life is like a marriage relationship with Jesus.

                And just like the marriage license is tucked in a file drawer, so God had Moses tuck the Law in the Most Holy Place, inside the Ark of the Covenant and out of sight. And like good marriage, you don’t need to keep dragging the license out from day to day to make sure that you are having a good marriage. True and faithful love takes care of all of that.

                So the law has very little to do with a good relationship with Jesus unless we break our covenant with Him and start dating other gods, or being unfaithful in one way or another.

                I remind you that as the tabernacle shows, we are married in the outer court. We consummate our marriage in the Holy Place and our intercourse begins to produce the fruit of the Spirit from our womb. In our spirit the Man Child is conceived and grows in us until He becomes the Lord of our lives and we learn to live by His Spirit rather than by our flesh.

                So our Christian life and the quality of it depends upon whether we are feeding the Man Child or we are feeding the flesh. Our intercourse in the Holy Place must be consistent or our love will soon run cold and our relationship will begin to falter.  Just so, our relationship with the Lord depends upon our intercourse with the Word and with prayer and in being filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

                Paul calls marriage a mystery for it is a picture of Christ and the church. We claim to be married to Christ and we have the documents to prove it, but if we have never consummated our marriage in the Holy Place, or lived in a constant and growing relationship with Christ that produces the fruit of the Spirit in us, He may have to say to us when He returns. “I never knew you. We met at the altar, but you never consummated the marriage… you never entered within the veil. You never produced the fruit of My Spirit. All you have to show for our marriage is a piece of paper in your file drawer and that cannot save you.”

                Now, on the flip side (And there is always a flip side) we need to understand that a good and loving marriage does not do away with the marriage license… it fulfills it. Love is the fulfillment of the marriage license and if we love God with all our heart and soul and mind and we love our neighbor as ourselves, the marriage license is completed in full.

                This is where many Christians misunderstand the Gospel. Our marriage with Jesus Christ does not do away with the marriage license. (The Law) It fulfills it and as long as we are in a saving relationship (A loving relationship with Jesus where we are consummating the marriage on a regular basis with Jesus) the Law remains hidden in the Most Holy Place (Our hearts) out of sight and in fact the law remains helpless to make a good marriage in any way.

                So just like with the Gospel, a good and loving marriage does not do away with the marriage license, but fulfills it in every way.

                So, when people keep dragging the law out of the file drawer and waving it in front of those who are in a good marriage with Jesus, it seems irrelevant and legalistic even though we agree with it and know that it is holy and righteous and good. But we are filled with the Spirit of Christ. We are in love with Him. We live by His power. The man child is growing in our womb and He is daily becoming more and more the King and Lord of our lives in every way.

                In our marriage with Jesus we have entered into the rest that was promised by the marriage license and our relationship with Jesus fully satisfies our every need so that we no longer need to keep dating the world and its other gods. We have eyes for only One and that is our Savior and Lord.

                We are told that when we enter into this marriage with Jesus, we can rest from our labors even as God did from His, for it is not the works of our flesh that save us, but the man child growing up inside of us as a fruit of our marriage that brings us salvation.

                Paul tells us that the Law was not written for the righteous man. It is not for the person that is already in a good marriage with Jesus. So if you want to preach the Law to people then you must preach it to those who have not yet come to Christ. We must preach it to sinners who are having relations outside of marriage and having these relations with other gods. For such people, the Law looms up as a major obstacle between them and Jesus Christ. In fact, the only way that they can come to Christ is to die to the Law and to be born again into the Kingdom of Christ where they can become married to Him and thus saved by Him.

                This understanding of the proper function of Law and grace is what we call, “Rightly dividing the Word of Truth. There is a great continental divide between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant and that mountain that stands between the 2 covenants is the Law.

                The Law condemns every person on earth that has not become married to Christ and as Jesus said, not one jot or tittle shall be removed from the Law until all is accomplished. The Law then stands as that great mountain or barrier between the Old and New Covenants and as Paul and Jesus pointed out, no amount of keeping the Law will give us passage to the other side. Jesus pointed this out to the rich young ruler. He had in fact kept the law from his youth and yet he walked away sorrowfully, because the price of marriage was too high.

                What we have going on in the world today is a whole lot of people who want to play the marriage game with Jesus, but they are unwilling to die. So they offer their own goodness to Him. They say in effect. “Hey God, I am a pretty decent guy. I don’t kill, steal or lie and I don’t worship Idols. So I am a good Christian right?” But like the rich young ruler, they will be turned away in sorrow at the judgment. Jesus will have to say to them, “I never knew You. You never let the Law put you to death. You were never actually born into My kingdom… You never consummated the marriage and you left me standing at the altar.”

                So we can preach the Law from now until doomsday and it won’t do a bit of good until people die to the Law and are they are born again by the Spirit of God and they consummate the marriage so that the fruit of the Spirit is produced in them. It is not the piece of paper that you will hold up in the judgment, but the quality of your marriage to Jesus Christ… your ever growing love and faithfulness to Him and your constant relationship with Him in the bedroom so to speak… in the prayer closet… in the secret place of the Most High.

                Jesus said to the people of His day: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” Mt. 22:40 Love then is the only fulfillment of the Law.

                In John 14:15 Jesus said, “ If you love me you will keep My Commandments and immediately previous to that He said,” A new Commandment I give you, that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” John 13:34.

                So if we put together what Jesus said and what Paul said, we come to a full understanding of our marriage to Christ and how the letter of the Law brings us to the foot of the Cross where we die to the Law and we are born again into Christ where our relationship with Him is no longer based upon the Law, but upon the fruit of the Spirit which is love spelled out in its many aspects as love, joy, peace, patience goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self- control. Against these there is no law. Gal 5:22, 23.

                These are the things that make for a good and loving marriage as well as a good relationship with fellow believers and in this love relationship with Jesus and with our fellow believers, the Law is not done away, but neither can the Law produce any of it. Our true and genuine love for God and for each other is the fulfillment of the Law.

                But love is not some flimsy, on again, off again emotional roller coaster. Love requires death to self and to the Law in order that we might live unto Christ. As in a marriage, we no longer belong to ourselves. We have been given to another and so our life from that point on is one of loving and serving each other faithfully so that our steadfast and faithful love fulfills all that the marriage license represents and much more. 1 Cor. 6:20

                A marriage license cannot produce a good marriage, but if we have refused to die to the Law and to be born again into a marriage with Jesus Christ in which we live by His Spirit, then we are like the rich young ruler who had kept the Law from childhood, but the actual price of marriage was too high for he was owned by the world’s goods.

                Our relationship with Jesus is not a casual one. He will not share us with another. We must either die to the world and to self and followed Him with our whole hearts or we are still dating Him along with others. The Law offers us passage into the Kingdom of God, but only as we allow it to put us to death to what was, so that in our marriage to Him we may bear the fruit of His Spirit and thus fulfill the Law.