The Divine Purpose in Marriage
(F. T. Wright)
Picture: Title Picture
As never before, today's world is plagued with broken marriages blighting the lives of parents and children, and bringing confusion, suffering, broken health, and disillusionment to so many. The divorce rate is the highest it has ever been and is steadily rising. All too frequently marriage as an institution is a failure--a source, not of satisfaction, joy, fulfillment, and blessing, but of conflict, unrest, dissatisfaction, and bondage.
Yet we find that the rising generation is entering into the relationship with unabated eagerness and the undiminished confidence that, though all others may fail, their marriage will be the initiation into lifelong bliss. In fact, our Saviour's prophetic commentary on these last days is that men and women would be "...marrying and giving in marriage...." just as they were back in Noah's day. Matthew 24:38.
Despite their abounding belief that theirs will be a happy and successful alliance, the witness of reality declares emphatically that they have very little chance of realizing their dream. It is far more likely that they will end up with a broken marriage, disillusioned, and unhappy.
In the light of these facts, one would expect that marriage would be abandoned by the majority, that the stream of brides and grooms flocking to the altar would dry up, and the family system break down. But it does not! The question is: Why not?
In the first case, the Creator has built the very powerful mating instinct and need into every human being. Men and women are driven by this to come together for the purpose of reproduction. So strong is the impulse that it blots out the negative indications shouting at them from uncounted millions of unhappy marriages.
Others are obsessed with the urge to ensure that the family name lives on in perpetuity. Happiness in marriage, the compatibility of the marriage partner, and such things are of minor importance to this class of person.
Many have other reasons besides these, but we believe that the Christian motive for marriage stands high above all human considerations and earthly and fleshly desires. So it must, for the Creator did not provide this relationship simply for the gratification of physical needs, or for the satisfaction of the social instincts, important and right as these factors are. He had in mind a much higher, purer, and holier purpose. It is when human beings understand what God designed marriage should achieve, and work with Him toward the attainment of these ideals, that true happiness in marriage can be found, and real fulfillment realized. To grasp something of the meaning of this, let us journey far back in time to a period long before marriage between man and woman was first instituted anywhere in the universe. That institution took place in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were first created. "Then marriage and the Sabbath had their origin, twin institutions for the glory of God in the benefit of humanity." Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 63.
The marriage relationship as we on this earth know it, in which the human being is divided into two complementary parts, the male and the female, with the capacity to reproduce themselves, is not shared by the angels in heaven. Christ made this very clear when He answered the cavilling Jews over the question of marrying to preserve the inheritance of a childless, dead brother. He said: "...You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.
"For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven." Matthew 22:29, 30.
This is confirmed in the Spirit of Prophecy.
"There are men today who express their belief that there will be marriages and births in the new earth, but those who believe the Scriptures cannot accept such doctrines. The doctrine that children will be born in the new earth is not a part of the 'sure word of prophecy.' The words of Christ are too plain to be misunderstood. They should forever settle the question of marriages and births in the new earth. Neither those who shall be raised from the dead, nor those who shall be translated without seeing death, will marry or be given in marriage. They will be as the angels of God, members of the royal family." Medical Ministry, 99, 100.
Picture: Adam was created, but since then, all we are begotten.
Every angel therefore is a created being, and not a begotten one. The only created human beings were Adam and Eve. The rest of us were begotten of them through their descendants, just as the next generation is born of us. This does not deny the fact that we are creatures as distinct from the Creator, for we inherit whatever Adam and Eve had or were. So, as surely as by being created, they were creatures, so, by inheritance from them, we are begotten as creatures.
Those who are given existence by being created, do not journey through the various stages of growth from embryo to adulthood, but come to life fully formed. Adam and Eve never experienced babyhood, childhood, and youth, but only adulthood. The same is true of the angels.
So then, in the eternity of existence before man was created and marriage between two different individuals introduced, this relationship was unknown to all the created intelligences throughout the universe. Why, after an eternity of pre-existence, did God endow the human family with capabilities unknown to the privileged heavenly host? There had to be a very good reason for this and there was. A need had arisen which called for a revelation of the divine character, order, and system of government such as had never even been thought of before. It was a necessity which never should have arisen, for the divine order was perfect, beautiful, and conducive only to the absolute happiness of every created being. Throughout the indeterminable reaches of time between God's first creative act, and the emergence of the initial challenge to the system, no question had been raised and no doubt advanced against the wisdom of the Almighty.
The Creator God is the one in whom absolute power, infinite love, and unlimited wisdom are to be found. These perfectly balanced attributes combined to produce a wonderful system of government in which every possible problem was solved. There was no flaw, deficiency, discord, misery, decay, or death. It was a system infused with life and was designed to endure eternally.
In the establishment of this wonderful and perfect system, one of the problems requiring a solution was how to establish unrestricted communication between an infinite God, absolute in power on the one hand, and, on the other, created intelligences who, by comparison, are very limited in their capacities. Obviously, the outflow of power from the Omnipotent One has to be far beyond any human capacity of computation in order to sustain a created universe containing at least a billion galaxies each containing up to a billion solar systems and more. Remember that there is nothing in the entire universe that is self-sustaining. Every created thing is dependent on the energy which continually flows from the Creator into it to ensure that it can operate as designed and planned.
Obviously, between a God with the capacity to bear such infinite responsibilities, and the brightest and best of the created ones, there is a vast gulf fixed. No angel or man can approach directly into God's presence and survive.
Therefore, there had to be a Connector to link the Infinite with the finite; the Creator with the creature. Such a Being had to have the actual life, nature, and power of God on the one side, and the life, nature, and power of an intelligent creature on the other side. He would have to be both Creator and creature in the one individual. Such a Person could not be created, for a Creator cannot be created. He is One who has no beginning, for He must be there eternally before all else so that by Him all things could be called into existence.
There was only one way in which the problem could be solved in love and it was by marriage--the combining of the Creator and the creature in the one Person, Jesus Christ. Let it be stressed that Christ's bonding with the creature was not the marriage of an individual with an individual, but of one Person who was and is the God, Jesus Christ, with the entire creature world. Through this unique and very special union, every intelligence in the universe was gathered into one family relationship with Him. The created form with which Jesus clothed His deity in the first instance was that of an angel, just as, much later, He was to clothe His divinity with sinful, fallen, mortal humanity when He was conceived of Mary and born in Bethlehem.
In the original marriage, the nature of which we will study in more detail in a moment, Christ became an actual member of the creature world by being begotten into it. This is a simple matter to prove. Long before man was created, Jesus was declared by the Father to be His only begotten Son. Never had this fact been more positively spelled out than when, in consequence of Lucifer's challenge to the divine order, Jehovah assembled the hosts of heaven to have the position of Christ clarified. In that convocation, stress was laid on the fact that Jesus Christ was indeed the only begotten Son of the Eternal One, as this statement describing that meeting shows:
"The King of the universe summoned the heavenly hosts before Him, that in their presence He might set forth the true position of His Son and show the relation He sustained to all created beings. The Son of God shared the Father's throne, and the glory of the eternal, self-existent One encircled both. About the throne gathered the holy angels, a vast, unnumbered throng--'ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands' (Revelation 5:11.), the most exalted angels, as ministers and subjects, rejoicing in the light that fell upon them from the presence of the Deity. Before the assembled inhabitants of heaven the King declared that none but Christ, the Only Begotten of God, could fully enter into His purposes, and to Him it was committed to execute the mighty counsels of His will. The Son of God had wrought the Father's will in the creation of all the hosts of heaven; and to Him, as well as to God, their homage and allegiance were due. Christ was still to exercise divine power, in the creation of the earth and its inhabitants. But in all this He would not seek power or exaltation for Himself contrary to God's plan, but would exalt the Father's glory and execute His purposes of beneficence and love." Patriarchs and Prophets, 36.
It is clear that the Father did not present Jesus as One who was to become the begotten Son, but as One who was that already, and had been such from eternity in the past. Therefore, God gave Jesus to the human family as a Son already begotten, not as One to be begotten. Christ did not become the Begotten Son of the Most High when He was born in Bethlehem, for He had achieved that status long, long before. Nor does this deny that he entered the human family by being begotten into it, for this was how He did become one of us. Christ was twice begotten. In the first of the two, he tabernacled His divinity in the form of an angel; in the second, in the form of sinful, fallen, mortal humanity. There is a considerable amount of information in the Scriptures revealing how this incarnation was accomplished in the second case, but our heavenly Father has not seen fit to reveal to us just how Jesus was begotten into the angel form. Therefore, we must be exceedingly careful not to venture into the dangerous realm of speculation in such matters. Let us be satisfied with the precious truth that Christ was indeed the begotten of God long before Bethlehem in order to achieve the marriage between the Creator and the world of the created.
It is important to remember that, unlike the human race for whom begetting is beginning; when He was begotten, Christ did not begin. Therefore, the glorious truth that Christ became a very real part of the creature world, does not deny the fact that He is eternally pre-existent. He has no beginning and no ending. Together with His Father and the Holy Spirit, before anything else was, He was there. But there came the time, so far back in the eternity of the past that it is beyond our knowledge and understanding, when the heavenly Trio began their creative work. God's eternal purpose for Christ was that He should be the effective Connector between God the Father and the creature world by being married into the realm of created intelligences.
Picture: Christ had no beginning. Before anything else began, He was there.
This was no mere exercise but a wonderful fact. While retaining His Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Omniscience, He, at the same time, literally and actually became an angel. For this reason He is called the Archangel in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Jude 9, and is called "the Angel" when He walked and talked with Abraham, wrestled with Jacob, led the Israelites in the cloudy pillar, revealed to Joshua the strategy for the overthrow of Jericho, announced the birth of Samson, and commissioned Gideon to deliver Israel.
Now up till this point, there will be those who will have difficulty in understanding how Christ married into the creature world, simply because they will be thinking in terms of a Person to person union. But Christ never married a particular individual among the created intelligences either in heaven or down upon this earth. Instead, by clothing His divinity with the nature and form of an angel, He married into the realm of created intelligences, and thereby not one, but every created being is embraced by that union, in that sense is married to Christ, and thus is given access to the Father, so that and thereby, "Heaven is a ceaseless approaching to God through Christ." The Desire of Ages, 331. Adam and Eve were included in this relationship, and we in them.
So perfect and complete was the marriage of Christ to the creatures, that His divinity was hidden from view and He appeared as an angel among the angels. His divinity was not seen by the angels simply because that element of His nature was always directed toward the Father, while the other side was always presented toward the created beings. While no pride dimmed the spiritual vision and perceptions of the angels, this created no problems, and no object lesson was needed for heaven's inhabitants. But, when self-exaltation began to surface in Lucifer, the trouble began. Looking upon Jesus, Lucifer was unable to see the dual aspect of His nature, and regarded Him as being nothing more than a created being just like himself. This led him to ponder the reason for his being denied admission to the intimate relationship with the Father so freely accorded to Christ. "'Why,' questioned this mighty angel, 'should Christ have the supremacy? Why is he honored above Lucifer?'" Patriarchs and Prophets, 37.
Had he understood the marriage relationship between Christ and the world of intelligent creatures, he would have found that God, whom he could not see, was wedded to the angel whom he could see. He would then have recognized the simple truth that Christ alone had the capacity to enter right into the presence of God. Then he would have known that the divine arrangement was the only possible means whereby heaven could be governed in love. Furthermore, he would have been fully aware that he did not and could not be blessed with the ability to come into the Father's all-powerful presence to the extent that the Archangel, Michael, did. Instead of selfishly aspiring to the usurpation of Christ's position, he would have rejoiced to behold the sheer beauty and glory of the marriage formed between the Father, through Jesus Christ, and the entire realm of created intelligences.
Instead of yielding to the divine influences, the evil one chose to cast the hellish shadows of his specious accusations against the perfect divine order. So effectively did he succeed in his efforts that even the angels who elected to remain loyal to God were confused, and remained so for the next four millennia at least. Thus there arose the need for a clearer revelation of the principles being contested at the very heart of the controversy.
So it was, at the very time when Satan had chosen to reject all further allegiance to the divine order, that the Sovereign of the universe provided something new--a marriage between two separate and intelligent individuals. Up till that time, no such thing had ever existed among the angels or ever will. Christ made that forever clear and, while we have no specific statement to confirm that the same is true in every other inhabited world, it is definitely indicated that this planet is the only one on which the marriage relationship between two individuals as distinct from Christ's union with the creature world, has been instituted.
There was not a single created being whose future was not threatened by Lucifer's assault on the divine order. On the one side they had the Lord warning them of the fatal consequences of heeding and following the devil, while he, on the other hand, persuasively contended that to stay with God was to subject themselves to perpetual bondage. It was a time for fearful decision making.
Then, when God indicated that He and the Son would create this world and its inhabitants in Their own image, intense interest gripped the angelic host. They realized that, in His great love for them, He was about to create a wonderful object lesson of the marriage relationship which existed between Christ individually and them collectively. They felt they needed all the information they could get in order to make a safe decision. So, it is no wonder that:
"All heaven took a deep and joyful interest in the creation of the world and of man. Human beings were a new and distinct order. They were made 'in the image of God,' and it was the Creator's design that they should populate the earth." The Review and Herald, February 11, 1902; The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 1:1081.
Picture: The creation of male and female introduced a new order into the universe.
Between the beginning of God's created works and the fall of Lucifer, there were no marriages of individuals to individuals, but only the all embracing union between Christ and all created intelligences. The purpose of that arrangement was to make available to every created being the fullness of every development, the achievement of the highest aspirations, the realization of every worthwhile ideal, the entry into the closest possible union with the Almighty Creator, and the satisfaction of the sweetest and highest joys beyond imagination.
But to achieve all this, the beneficiary must remain within the marriage relationship, understanding its principles, obeying its laws, and following its procedures. Failure to do so was to invite and be plagued with the loss of these blessings beyond comparison, and to be cursed with every possible misery and failure including the termination of ones very existence. There can be no other outcome, for there is no pathway to eternal security apart from that devised in the secret councils of the Godhead. Remember that God's way of life and happiness is not the best way. It is the only way. There are no alternatives with which to compare it. God's way is the only path of life. It is not so because He arbitrarily designed His government in order to please Himself, but because, in the nature of the case, there was no other way.
Once we recognize that God's way is the only way, we will realize the truth that only one form of government--only one divine order--can ever be established in the life of one of God's true children, or in the Christian family, a holy community, a righteous nation, a sinless solar system, a spotless galaxy, a perfect heaven, or an unblemished universe.
This is not so in the realms which have cast off the perfect divine system, and turned to their own ways. Individuals do not all operate by the same principles; the order and organization found in one family is foreign to another; local governments differ from county to county; and the traveler moving from land to land will come under a variety of authorities ranging from freedom loving democracies to restrictive and oppressive despotisms. No matter what system is adopted in human government, there is always dissatisfaction with it. Family members grumble; local and state governments are continually criticized; and national ruling bodies generate endless complaints.
But God's principles and procedures are so perfect that they operate equally well in the government of the individual as in the management of the family, the nation, the planet, the galaxy, or the universe. Therefore, the one and only way to have a truly happy and successful family is to ensure that the divine order which operates so successfully in heaven, is established in the home. Let the prayer be answered; "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Matthew 6:10.
Even though the system had worked flawlessly throughout the eternity of the past from its smallest scale in the life of an individual to its grandest dimensions of the entire universe, Satan was able to cast a shadow over its operations. He contended that the constitution of God's government restricts liberty, imposes a ceiling on progress and achievement, establishes the Godhead as an oppressive despotism, introduces untold misery and hardship, and denies all created beings the unrestricted right to be themselves.
These charges and assertions were absolutely groundless, but they had to be met for the sake of all those whose happiness and existence were threatened by them. The marriage arrangement by which alone the universe could be bound together in love and operate successfully, had to be revealed in more detail. A practical demonstration was required of the fusion of two lives to produce a third which was of the two and manifested the life and characteristics of them both. The intelligences throughout the universe needed to see the happiness and enrichment that this produced, and the perfect harmony and unity binding heart to heart and mind to mind as the divine order governed every impulse and action.
Thus God designed that the angels and the inhabitants of the unfallen worlds would see for themselves through this perfect and complete miniaturization--this microcosm--that if they faithfully continued to work within and according to the structure of the divine order, they would know only perfect happiness and total fulfillment. They would then truly see that God does love every one of His creatures to infinity, and that with absolute unselfishness, He lives, plans, and works for them and not for Himself. Far from being a cruel despot, He would show that He is a loving marriage partner. He would demonstrate that, as surely as the divine principles produced perfect happiness in the microcosm of the Eden paradise, they would achieve the same delightful results in the macrocosm of the entire universe.
Therefore, when Adam and Eve were united in holy union, they were commissioned with the weighty privilege of demonstrating the, truth of God's claims before the studious eyes of the onlooking inhabitants of the entire universe. That was the specific and supreme purpose of their creation and marriage. By ordaining that they should fulfill this commission in a miniaturized, local setting, God provided a revelation of the operating principles of heaven's order which was much more advanced than any previous demonstration.
At first, in the unblemished happiness emanating from Adam's and Eve's happy and successful life together, the angels and the unfallen worlds would have received verification that the divine design for living was in fact all that God claimed for it. Then, as Adam and Eve bore children, and they in turn other little ones, the interested onlookers throughout the universe would see that, in the ever enlarging human family, the system worked equally well to produce even greater happiness, security, harmony, achievement, and fulfillment. It was to have been an all-convincing demonstration.
Picture: Everyone desires happiness in marriage.
Therefore, it was a very dedicated and purposeful God who devised the marriage institution for man as a new and distinct arrangement. Because the highest joy that can be found is in service, marriage had to be designed as an instrument of service. It cannot therefore be an end in itself but the means whereby the truest and highest ideals can be realized.
"God celebrated the first marriage. Thus the institution has for its originator the Creator of the universe. 'Marriage is honorable' (Hebrews 13:4); it was one of the first gifts of God to man, and it is one of the two institutions that, after the Fall, Adam brought with him beyond the gates of Paradise. When the divine principles are recognized and obeyed in this relation, marriage is a blessing; it guards the purity and happiness of the race, it provides for man's social needs, it elevates the physical, the intellectual, and the moral nature." Patriarchs and Prophets, 46.
"He [Christ] referred them to the blessed days of Eden, when God pronounced all things 'very good.' Then marriage and the Sabbath had their origin, twin institutions for the glory of God in the benefit of humanity." Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 63.
A vital and integral part of the divine order was the mysterious uniting of two lives--the marriage of the Creator and the creature--to form one composite Being who was and forever will be, God in the flesh--divinity tabernacled in humanity. It is the wonder and the mystery of the incarnation, and the incarnation is the marriage. It is as the principles built into these relationships are seen, understood, and applied that the stability, security, happiness, and successful operation of the entire universe is assured. While the plan is marvelous in its simplicity, and brilliant and practical in its application, it is at the same time so profound that even the sinless intelligences found it difficult to understand. Paul speaks of it as a hidden mystery.
"For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles--
"if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,
"how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I wrote before in a few words,
"by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ),
"which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets:
"that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,
"of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.
"To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
"and to make all people see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;
"to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,
"according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
"in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him." Ephesians 3:1-12.
But, as they saw children springing from the united lives of Adam and Eve, at least something of the mystery opened to their minds. They read, in the deepened love which the birth of the children imparted to the parents, the assurance that the marriage of Christ to creation had bound them in the closest ties of love to their heavenly husband, Jesus Christ. The utter helplessness of the child, and its total dependence on its parents proclaimed to them their constant need of their Creator Father, the infinite Source and Origin of all they had or could ever need. The marriages of Adam and Eve and subsequent men and women were to be priceless messages of hope and confidence to every created being.
That divine purpose has not changed. The Lord still intends that every home government shall be a miniature of the heavenly--a microcosm of the macrocosm. God's will or system is to be maintained in the one as in the other, so that the same love, peace, unity, grace, beauty, and all the sweet unalloyed bliss of heaven found above, will be the all-pervading qualities in the earthly counterpart.
To build such a marriage, and establish a home government capable of meeting these specifications laid down by the Master Architect of the universe, is the solemn responsibility undertaken by every person contemplating marriage, yet how few are aware of what they are taking on when they contract such an alliance.
Obviously, to succeed in this vital field requires the right partner, the implantation of God's life and love within, a spirit of total self-sacrifice, a thorough knowledge of heaven's constitution, and a determined dedication to achieve the divine purpose. Those who approach the task with these qualifications will know a happiness in marriage and home life which will be impossible to anyone without them. The rewards are so complete and wonderful, and the attendant joy so rich and beautiful, that to become aware of the prospects inspires one to achieve these highest ideals.
At this point many will lament that their opportunity to realize these joys has gone forever. They recall their entry into marriage for the wrong reasons because of their ignorance of these principles, and the steady deterioration of the relationship ever since. They are convinced that they could never salvage from the wreckage anything that would begin to witness to the high and holy ideals discussed in this chapter. These consider their marriage to be an irredeemable failure.
These considerations usually lead to deep regrets and self-pitying thoughts. The saddened soul remembers how he or she undertook marriage with great expectations, confident that the relationship with this wonderful partner would be productive of great happiness and untold blessings. Deep down it was strongly felt that wedlock actually owed this to the individual undertaking its responsibilities.
Now there is a feeling of being cheated out of what the individual is convinced is rightfully his or hers, and a mounting desire which usually leads to a desperate desire to somehow capture those elusive hopes before life has entirely passed. Having become quite satisfied that there is no further hope of gaining fulfillment with the original spouse, the eye is directed toward another candidate for the position. A fresh contract is formed, described by one mind who had probably tried it and failed, as the triumph of optimism over experience.
But to adopt this course is to again miss the divine purpose, because, for those whose marriage has failed, God has a gift which will more than compensate them for the noble course they are called upon to follow; for the self-sacrificing cross they are invited to take up in following Jesus.
Christ too has a marriage which failed, though certainly through no fault of His. Therefore, every person whose marriage has broken down can be comforted in the knowledge that Christ has passed over the same ground and therefore perfectly understands and empathizes with the discouraged soul. "As the shepherd goes before his sheep, himself first encountering the perils of the way, so does Jesus with His people. 'When He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them.' The way to heaven is consecrated by the Saviour's footprints. The path may be steep and rugged, but Jesus has traveled that way; His feet have pressed down the cruel thorns, to make the pathway easier for us. Every burden that we are called to bear He Himself has borne." The Desire of Ages, 480. But more importantly, every Christian has in Christ's reaction to His marriage breakdown, a perfect guide as to how he is to respond to the same tragic development in his life.
Picture: Jesus knows by experience the pain and loneliness of a broken marriage.
When Jesus entered into the creature world so closely, so intimately, that it became one complete side of His nature, He took to Himself a very beautiful partner. Creation ceased to be merely something which He had called into existence. It was now the second side of His nature, something to which He was so totally married that He was God in the flesh.
To some this will seem to be pantheistic. One should not be surprised at that, for this false doctrine is a clever counterfeit of the true and looks so like the real thing that it is almost impossible to distinguish the difference.
What we are discussing here is not pantheism which teaches that God is an all-pervading essence in nature, that the works of God are God Himself, but the beautiful truth that Christ, through marriage, fused His life into His own creation. If He had not done this, there would have been no incarnation and no salvation.
So, when Christ the Creator clothed His divinity with the form and nature of a creature, He entered into a relationship worthy of Him as a Husband, one that promised and provided unlimited joy and fulfillment for eternity. So rewarding was the fellowship for both Christ and the angels that there was nothing more that could have been asked from it. Yet, with the passing of time, new delights were discovered, new wonders were experienced, new heights were scaled, and new satisfactions were realized, and still the limits had not been reached, nor the possibilities exhausted.
Jesus and His Father found no fault with Christ's bride. How could they? They themselves were her Creators, and, so perfect and complete was their workmanship, that it left nothing to be desired. It seemed that the eternal happiness of all concerned was assured. That alliance, and the fulfillment and joy which sprang from it, were those of which God designed marriage to be the perfect object lesson.
But, a problem arose in the marriage between the Creator and His creation. First of all, in heaven and then upon this newly made earth, the relationship between Christ and His creatures broke down, and the union binding Christ to the entire universe was threatened. As the problem developed, Jesus found that first one third of the angels, and then the inhabitants of this earth, who had once been so lovable, beautiful, compatible, and responsive, had become sinful, murderously hostile, and subject to death. It was a tragic change, and the future of all concerned now depended on how Jesus would respond to the crisis. Had He done as men do today, He would have divorced Himself from the relationship, justifying His action by declaring quite correctly that His bride was no longer worthy of Him. He could have claimed He had the perfect right to divorce her on the grounds of her adultery, treachery, unfaithfulness, uncleanness, and generally reduced inefficiency. He could quite correctly have contended that the alliance was not returning to Him what it was designed to provide a faithful Husband, particularly after all the love and devotion He had poured into the marriage. He could have created for Himself another bride to replace the one He had lost.
But He did not do any of this! Instead, before the devil left heaven, Jesus yearningly offered to extend the marriage into a new dimension. He would unite His perfect creatorship with the fallen, sinful, mortal flesh of the creatures who had violated their marriage contract. Christ was just as willing to save Lucifer as He was to redeem mankind, but the enemy scorned the offer. This truth is well argued by Elder A. T. Jones in the following statement:
"And yet at that very moment, and from the moment when Lucifer took his first false step, God was offering to give His only begotten Son and Himself in Him; and the Son Himself was freely offering Himself to die a sacrifice; to save him who had sinned--to save this very one who was here making the charge and insisting upon it that God would deny Himself nothing, and would make no sacrifices for anybody.
"The sacrifice of Christ was in the invitation to Lucifer to return to God as certainly as it was in the invitation of man to return to God. For Lucifer had sinned, and from that moment he was a sinner as certainly as ever man was a sinner. And we have before found that God's eternal purpose in Christ is the same toward all: that purpose to 'gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth.' Lucifer had sinned and was a sinner when God invited him to return to God. But God did not invite him to return and take his place as of old as a sinner. Sin can not abide in the presence of God. Therefore the invitation of God to sinful Lucifer to return was in itself the offer to him of salvation from sin, that he might return and take his place in righteousness. But 'the wages of sin is death.' Therefore to save Lucifer from sin was to save him from death, and to save him from death was to die for him. Consequently, the sacrifice of the Son of God to save Lucifer from sin, was in the invitation of God to him to return, as certainly as the sacrifice of Christ to save man from sin, was in the invitation to man to return from sin to God. For whether sin be in man or in cherub, it is sin; and without the offering of life there is 'no remission,'--and that the offering of the life of the Son of God. John 3:16: John 10:15-18." The Spirit of the Papacy, 13. Destiny Press edition.
Lucifer scorned the gracious offer and subsequently departed heaven, an irrecoverable, self-made divorcee from the divine system. By so doing, he prevented the Saviour at that stage in the developing crisis from making the extended entry into the sinful, fallen, mortal creature world.
Had the Redeemer's love been anything less than infinite, He would have claimed that He had done enough, and would have left the rebellious among His creatures to suffer their self-imposed fate, while He enjoyed a compatible, happy, and fulfilling relationship with those who had never broken the alliance with Him.
But love such as Jesus has would not hold back until there was absolutely nothing more that could be done. So, even though fallen angels would not accept His grace, fallen men would. Thus, when the offer of salvation from sin and death was made to fallen man, and some accepted it,
Christ then entered into a new marriage relationship, this time, not with the perfect, but with the imperfect; not with the righteous, but with the unrighteous; not with the worthy, but with the unworthy; not with the lovely, the beautiful, the desirable; but with the unlovely, the ugly, the undesirable; and not with the compatible, but with the incompatible.
Even as born again Christians, the wives of Jesus Christ, we fall into the category of the unlovely, the incompatible, and the unworthy. Anyone who cannot see that has never caught a glimpse of the incomparable perfection and loveliness of Jesus, while those who have will be acutely aware of how unworthy we are to be members of the royal household.
"The nearer we come to Jesus, the more clearly we discern the purity of His character, the more clearly shall we see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the less shall we feel like exalting ourselves." The Acts of the Apostles, 561. Even if our lives were as spotless as Daniel's, the man whom heaven describes as being greatly beloved, we would still not be worthy of Christ as our Husband. Daniel's reaction when he was given a view of the Saviour's spotless perfection, proves this. "It was the same presence of divine holiness that had caused the prophet Daniel to fall as one dead before the angel of God. He said, 'My comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.' So when Isaiah beheld the glory of the Lord, he exclaimed, 'Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.' Daniel 10:8; Isaiah 6:5. Humanity, with its weakness and sin, was brought in contrast with the perfection of divinity, and he felt altogether deficient and unholy. Thus it has been with all who have been granted a view of God's greatness and majesty." The Desire of Ages, 246.
Having extended His marriage responsibilities, Christ demonstrates the way in which we are to relate to the same kind of problem. He knows what it means to have a beautiful marriage go bad, for He has been through all that in the rebellion of the holy angels and man. He knows how tempting it is to divorce the guilty party and seek the companionship of the sinless and the beautiful. But, He does not succumb to this temptation. Instead, with undiminished and unchanged love, He treats His beloved as if she had never sinned.
We are to do likewise, for we are to love our marriage partners as Christ loves us, His marriage partners. Christ has shown us how to love the lovely, and how to love the unlovely. Thus He has demonstrated the divine purposes to be fulfilled in both the successful and the unsuccessful marriage. Of course, if God's will were to be carried out on earth as it is in heaven, there would be only happy and successful matrimony, but, inasmuch as this is not the case due to the entrance of sin, the Lord looks to His people to provide a picture of His saving relationship toward those who have lost their edenic glory.
If you are fortunate enough to be married to a truly compatible and beautiful partner, with both of you understanding the divine principles and procedures for the successful building of a marriage, then you can show before the worlds both fallen and unfallen what the beautiful and desirable outworking of the divine order is. This is what God intended that human marriages should achieve when He placed Adam and Eve in Eden to live together as husband and wife.
This is the happiest and most satisfying witness to be called upon to give, but not the most noble. Should you find that the marriage has lost the unity and compatibility which you had hoped would be manifest in it, and the partner with whom you formerly exchanged such love has become a different person, unlovely, and undesirable, the time has truly come when you are to love your partner just as Christ loves you, one who is also unlovely and inefficient. You now can demonstrate just as He does, that you too can love what has become unlovely in your eyes, just as intensely as you can love the one who was once so beautiful and compatible in your sight.
When your relationship to a spouse has lost its first glow and beauty, the natural response is to find fault with the other person with the objective of justifying the withdrawal of your care and attention. We pity ourselves for being involved in a marriage, which, from its shining introduction, has dissolved into a disaster, and feel that we are worthy of something much better.
When assailed by these thoughts, think of the exceedingly greater disparity between you and your heavenly Husband, Jesus. If you have been thinking that you are worthy of someone much better than the one whom you now feel forced to live with, think of yourself in these terms in relation to Christ. Are you a worthy partner to Him? Does He not deserve someone far better, more lovely, valuable, competent, compatible, responsive, intelligent, energetic, and so forth, than you? He surely does! If ever a husband had more than ample justification for putting away his spouse on the basis of unworthiness, incompetence, disloyalty, unloveliness, unfaithfulness, incompatibility, inefficiency, and more, much, much more, then Jesus is the most justified of all.
He deserves the very best such as all His created intelligences were when they came forth from His creative hand, but, praise His holy Name, He stays with us, and, amazingly, loves to do so. He never permits any thoughts of self-pity to mar His infinitely loving attitude towards us. He never even thinks about our being unworthy of Him. He is obsessed with a determination to love and restore, never to cast us off in favor of those who are more lovable than we are.
In doing this, He displays a nobility of character that is beautiful beyond description. This is truly and magnificently living out the gospel, and it is exactly what the Lord calls upon us to do. In fact, to fail to copy the Pattern is to deny the gospel and the salvation that it offers.
This principle is very clearly enunciated in the parable of the unjust steward recorded in Matthew 18:21-35. A king, in taking account of his wealth, discovered a servant who owed him the staggering sum of ten thousand talents which would be equal to at least $6,221,880 according to the 1956 valuation recorded in The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 5, page 449. Today, the value would be nearer $15,000,000. That is an enormous debt and one that the average person would never be able to repay.
Yet the servant, as he realized the plight he was in, begged the king to give him time to repay it all. The king was well aware that the man had no hope of ever refunding the embezzled millions, but, instead of selling him and his family to the slave traders, he forgave him for the robbery. This the monarch did so totally, the man stood before him as clear of the debt as if he had never incurred it in the first case.
But, as the man went on his way, he encountered a person who owed him but a trifling sum, a mere one hundred denarii, equal to about $15.00 today. Now the king's servant was appealed to by this debtor as he had himself entreated the king, but the outcome was very different. Whereas the king had been moved with compassion and forgave the debt, his recently pardoned servant was merciless, and, when his debtor could not pay, had him thrown into prison.
Thus he demonstrated that he did not participate in the spirit of his master, that he was unable to forgive as he had been forgiven, or love as he had been loved. By so doing, he cancelled the forgiveness which had been extended to him with the inevitable consequence that the original debt rolled back on him, so that he then stood before the king as if he had never been forgiven at all.
Having told the story, Christ then made His point. He solemnly said: "So my heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses." Matthew 18:35.
"We are not forgiven because we forgive, but as we forgive. The ground of all forgiveness is found in the unmerited love of God, but by our attitude toward others we show whether we have made that love our own. Wherefore Christ says, 'With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.' Matthew 7:2." Christ's Object Lessons, 251.
Every professed believer in Jesus must not rest until the full impact of the principles enunciated by Christ in this parable are clearly understood, and our responses to real or imagined offenses are adjusted to harmonize with them. The need to do this cannot be overstressed, for our eternal life depends on it. Only those who live out the gospel as Jesus does, have the spirit which alone is acceptable in heaven.
In practical terms this means that, should our once happy marriage begin to break down, and we find ourselves incapable of responding to this situation exactly as Christ did when His joyous marriage broke down, then we must undertake an urgent work of soul-searching, cleansing from selfishness and sin, and infilling with divine love until we can relate to our spouses as Jesus did to those who had broken with Him.
It would help, I am sure, if, when you are contemplating departure in any way from the marriage partner who you believe has failed you, you stop to think what it would mean to you if Christ were to withdraw from you for the same reasons. Of course, if you are devoid of any real sense of need of Christ, this thought will have little if any impact on your mind, but if you truly realize that you are a helpless, dependent creature who cannot live without Christ, then you will be afraid to take any step that will distance you farther from Jesus.
Picture: God's solution for a broken marriage is not for you to fly off with some other partner.
Let none miss the awesome truth that failure to walk in the pathway followed by the perfect Pattern places our lives in serious jeopardy. In other words, if we withdraw from our spouses because of their real or supposed failure, then we separate ourselves from Christ, and that, while it is maintained, is the forfeiture of eternal life.
This is because Christ's course was the outworking of self-sacrificing love, the operational law of life for earth and heaven. To walk otherwise than according to this principle is to deny the gospel, which is but to cut ones self off from salvation. Think carefully of this matter, for it is an issue so serious as to be fraught with eternal consequences.
When the average marriage partner is confronted with the breaking down of the family relationship, divorce looms up as a possible solution to the problem, but, the true Christian could consider this as a solution only if he finds that Christ entertained the idea when He was faced with the threat of the dissolution of His marriage. The fact is however, that, no matter how searching an examination is made of Christ's reaction to His broken marriage, not even the slightest consideration of divorce as a way out of His troubles will be found. So it has to be with the Christian. It must be as established in his mind as firmly as it is in Christ's that the divine procedure does not contemplate this measure; does not even give it a moment's consideration.
The outworking of these principles is seen in the way that Jesus consistently related Himself to those who had failed Him. Christ's marriage to His creatures places us in varying positions as co-workers with Him. But, every one of us has failed Him to a lesser or a greater extent. With some, the betrayal has been nothing short of catastrophic, as in the cases of Adam and Eve; Aaron and the golden calf; Moses when in fury he struck the rock; David's persistent lying to Achish, his adultery with Bathsheba, and his murder of the innocent Uriah; Peter's denial of Christ with cursings; and Paul's compromise with the leaders in Jerusalem which led to his arrest and, eventually, to his execution. These are but samples taken from the much larger number which could be quoted.
All these were major sins against the marriage of the human with the divine, and surely more than justified Christ's withdrawal from His partners who had failed Him so shamefully, so badly, and so inexcusably! But there existed not the slightest intention on Christ's part of doing this. Not one of those men lost their position. It may be argued that there were others who did. This is true, but, and let not this point be overlooked, it was not Christ who effected the divorce. They were the ones who cast off the relationship with Him, and not the other way about.
One of the most remarkable cases is that of King Saul who, having rejected the Saviour, plunged Israel into a miserable despotism and thus utterly disgraced himself before God and man. Yet the Lord did not deprive him of his position, for he remained king until he died.
In the light of God's principles and procedures, we can better understand the truth that "If you reject Christ's delegated messengers, you reject Christ." Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 97.
"To reject the Lord's servants, is to reject Christ Himself." The Desire of Ages, 489.
"When Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rebelled against the authority of Moses, they thought they were opposing only a human leader, a man like themselves; and they came to believe that they were verily doing God service. But in rejecting God's chosen instrument they rejected Christ; they insulted the Spirit of God. So, in the days of Christ, the Jewish scribes and elders, who professed great zeal for the honor of God, crucified His Son. The same spirit still exists in the hearts of those who set themselves to follow their own will in opposition to the will of God." Patriarchs and Prophets, 635.
Think of the messengers as being Christ's marriage partners. In a sense, they are also the marriage partners of those who believe and accept the message which they bear. Just as we expect perfection of our spouses, so we require that the messengers render us a faultless service. In our view, the necessity for this requirement is intensified by the fact that so many false messengers have arisen whose ministry has come to nothing, and their seemingly honest and conscientious followers have found their lives blighted, and their hopes destroyed. So, when the messenger fails to maintain perfection of behavior, we tend to relegate him to the domain of the castoff.
It is certainly true that there are false messengers abroad, but there is no excuse for being deceived by them. Long before they fall, we should know with great certainty that they are indeed false, and have nothing to do with them. Likewise we should have clearly identified the messenger of God as such long before he falls, if he ever does. Sad it is to say that most have.
But, according to the divine principle and procedure of marriage, the Lord does not divorce Himself from His appointed messenger, nor take away his position and work. That person is now a sadder and wiser messenger, but the messenger still. Search the Scriptures from cover to cover and it will be found that this is the way the Lord has always operated, and can be relied on to act throughout eternity. If the messenger is to cease his appointed work, it will only be by his taking himself away from the Lord, for the Saviour dismisses no one. It is always the human being who leaves Christ; never Christ who leaves him, no matter how sinful he may become. "Christ will never abandon the soul for whom He has died. The soul may leave Him and be overwhelmed with temptation, but Christ can never turn from one for whom He has paid the ransom of His own life." Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 118, 119.
"He will never abandon one for whom He has died. Unless His followers choose to leave Him, He will hold them fast." The Desire of Ages, 483.
These facts leave no room for divorce as a problem solving technique, but, so long as sinful men continue their attempts at being problem-solvers, this supposed solution will remain. Christ Himself will not always be able to avoid being divorced, for, when the sinner elects to separate himself from the divine Husband, and with wilful determination adheres to that decision despite every effort on the Saviour's part to win him back, there is nothing left for Christ to do but to let him go. Such a development took place after the feeding of the five thousand and the subsequent crisis in Galilee. Once the people had determined on total divorce from Christ, He simply let them follow the path they had chosen after rejecting His best efforts to save them from so terrible a fate.
"With a yearning heart, Jesus saw those who had been His disciples departing from Him, the Life and the Light of men. The consciousness that His compassion was unappreciated, His love unrequited, His mercy slighted, His salvation rejected, filled Him with sorrow that was inexpressible. It was such developments as these that made Him a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.
"Without attempting to hinder those who were leaving Him, Jesus turned to the twelve and said, 'Will ye also go away?' " The Desire of Ages, 393.
That was a very real and permanent divorce, however, it was not initiated or executed by Jesus, but came entirely from the people. When it was forced upon Him, against His best efforts to prevent it, He had no choice but to accept it. In like manner, the true follower of Christ will never initiate divorce as a solution, but, if the other partner insists on it, then the believing one, after having done all to prevent such an outcome, must not hinder the one who desires to leave.
To remain with a dissatisfying spouse can be nothing other than a very difficult and trying experience, but, when it is remembered that the trial of Jesus in His marriage to sinful, human nature is far greater than can ever be known by any earthly being, our sufferings sink into insignificance.
But Christ's sights are lifted far above His own sufferings and the difficulties of living and working with degenerate partners, to the glorious results to be achieved through His marriage with fallen creatures. He knows that it will be worth it all to bring everyone of His people back to the original marriage relationship in which He will again be married only to a worthy creation. In fact, those who will have been redeemed from this earth will be more fit to be the marriage partners of Jesus than the original occupants of this position. But let no one think that Christ wants to make a perfect marriage partner for selfish reasons, so that He can receive His just dues. Christ is no hireling. He does not give to receive but receives to give. His joy is found in the happiness of others and His true followers will have the same spirit.
Some, because they are blessed with a compatible and happy marriage, will be better able to provide the Lord with an object lesson of the divine order as it was before sin entered the world. Such a home will be one in which God's will is done "... on earth, as it is in heaven." Matthew 6:10. In a home of this nature, the members of the partnership and the children must become better and still better acquainted with the divine order so as to ensure that their family is a true reflection of that which is in heaven above. There must be no stopping place, no relaxation of effort, no point where they can rest in the complacent assurance that they have attained all that is required. Theirs is the happy task of making known the manifold wisdom of God by the church ". . . to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 
"according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 
"in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him." Ephesians 3:10-13.
Happy indeed is the role of families fulfilling this divine purpose. It is the objective to which every Christian family should aspire--a perfect miniature working model of the marvelous system of government by which alone the universe can safely function, and through which alone unlimited joy and fulfillment can be guaranteed to every inhabitant of the universe. Very importantly, it provides the ideal atmosphere in which to successfully raise children.
But it is not the only witness that can be given to and presented before the principalities and powers in heavenly places who are watching with the most intense interest the demonstrations of the divine perfections being given in and through the human family. There is the much more difficult but nobler witness to be declared by those whose marriage partner is not fulfilling that ones responsibilities in the home and family. It is by understanding and copying Christ's position and work as the Husband of sinful humanity, that this exacting task can be successfully achieved. The rewards eventually realized by those who discharge this commission effectively are beyond computation.
How vital it is that every one already married, together with those yet to contract such a relationship, be brought to realize that there is a divine purpose in the alliance much higher and more important than the satisfaction of man's social needs. When every Christian truly understands this and labors under the direction of the Holy Spirit and in His power to truly achieve God's divine purpose in marriage, we shall see the most wonderful children growing up to the honor and glory of the Lord and His church in heaven and on earth.
"Christ can look on the misery of the world without a shade of sorrow for having created man. In the human heart He sees more than sin, more than misery. In His infinite wisdom and love He sees man's possibilities, the height to which he may attain. He knows that, even though human beings have abused their mercies and destroyed their God-given dignity, yet the Creator is to be glorified in their redemption." Testimonies for the Church 7:269.