Chapter 11
The "free sex" revolution of the 1970's to nullify the God ordained system of marriage has failed miserably. Sexually transmitted diseases, including the AIDS epidemic, have made a big dent in the free sex culture. No one knows when homosexuality emerged in the human race. It may be assumed that it dates back to great antiquity. However, homosexuality was one of the main factors, along with drug usage that allowed this disease to become a plague in our population during modern times. The newness of this disease, along with its sudden appearance in society, and its untreatable nature, even in our modern technologically sophisticated culture, by being a constantly mutating virus, points to a divine judgement upon the free sex and perverted society that we live in today. Marriage is still not only socially acceptable, but the only way to have sexual union, and not spread sexually transmitted diseases.
Why Marriage
Some people think that marriage is an outdated human tradition. Animals have both sexes, and mammals reproduce their kind in the same manner as humans, but they do not marry. Although some mammals and birds show bond and mate for life, and show more fidelity than humans, God created man and woman with a different and higher purpose. God wants to dwell with His people (Psalm 132:13,14). If man is merely the most highly evolved of the animals, then at what stage of evolution did he or some subhuman animal adopt the institution of marriage, and why? None of the other animals have adapted the institution of marriage. On the other hand, the Christian world, in general, believed in a creation by a creator. There are certain Christian groups that have taught that the unmarried state of celibacy is a higher or more desirable state than marriage. They have also taught that the only purpose of sex is for reproduction. Yet this liberal and cultural view has not prevented teen pregnancies, and extra marital liaisons.
Marriage is not necessary for reproduction. There is a great deal of human reproduction going on today, without marriage. In fact, society has become much more accepting to teenaged pregnancies, surrogate mothers and fathers, and child bearing by unmarried mothers, not mention unwed couples living together, and homosexuality.
Consider the issue of surrogate parenthood. The first recorded case of this modern practice occurred more than 3,800 years ago, and it was recorded in the Bible in the book of Genesis. This event involved the servant woman Hagar to bear Abram a son, because his wife Sara was not able to bear children at that time of her life, and they were getting very old. God had promised them a son so that his seed would one day form a great nation. Abram and Sara wanted to help God fulfill His promise to them so they decided to use Sara's servant maid who was Hagar to give Abram his greatly desired son. God does not need help to fulfill His promises, and this example of surrogate motherhood proved to be colossal disaster, which has repercussions that are still being felt today. This example comes from Genesis chapter16 and chapter 21:1-21. Society still has not learned from that lesson.
Is there then any rational and convincing reason why humans that procreate should marry, while animals that also bear young do not? The reproductive process in mammals is precisely the same as it is in humans, but in most other ways they differ greatly. Take for instance the birth of a calf or cat or dog. The male parent does not call for a doctor or take the mother to a hospital for the delivery. Indeed the male animal is nowhere around at the time the young are born. In the case of a calf the when it is born in just a few minutes it begins to stagger to its feet while the mother stands nearby waiting. She does not need to care for the calf or teach it to eat or walk. The newborn may be a little wobbly in its legs at first, and it may fall a few times, but in just a few minutes it is up on all four legs, and begins to walk. No one needs to teach it to walk or tell it where to go or show it the way, and it knows where to find food. How does it know these things? Animals are born with instincts that equip them with this information. They do not need to be taught these things, neither do they resort to reason in order to make a decision or act on judgement. Instinct guides them automatically. In the contrast with a newborn human the differences are colossal.
In contrast to new born of animals, consider how long it takes a new born human infant to learn how to walk, which is usually about a year. A newborn baby is absolutely helpless. It can not even control and take care of its normal body functions. It has no instincts it the strict sense of the word. The instincts of a human child are very confined, as compared with the animal kingdom. Human instinct is limited due to various abilities that are not present in animals. The human infant must be cared for, and it must be taught virtually everything it is to know. The human baby needs it parents to care for it, protect it, teach it, and to give it love. It matures much more slowly than an animal infant, but its ultimate potential is infinitely higher. Instead of having just a larger animal brain with some built in instincts, the human baby is born with a mind. At birth there is no knowledge in the mind, but it has the capacity to absorb knowledge, and then to reason, to imagine, to think creatively, to plan and design, to formulate judgement, to make decisions, to exercise will and self discipline. Furthermore, it has the faculty to appreciate music, literature, art and much more important, to be able to develop a sense of moral and spiritual values, and to develop even a righteous character. Thus, the purpose of sex in animals is reproduction, but in humans, reproduction is not the only purpose of sex.
Humanity is Transcendently Higher than Animalism
Suppose that humans had evolved from lower animal species, and that they were brought about without purpose or design by resident forces devoid of an intelligent Creator Being. In other words, under those conditions, there was no purpose for which humans were put on earth. If that were the case, then indeed it would cause one to wonder why is marriage important or even necessary? Most people through the centuries have taken marriage and family life for granted, and have followed the custom themselves as the proper thing to do. Most individuals never stopped to think about the purpose of these things, but there are important reasons for them.
The person that believes in evolution is not able to see any transcendently higher purpose in the birth of a baby than that of a calf or kitten. Such a view only acknowledges that the human infant is further advanced in what has been described as evolutionary development, but has no transcendental potential.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, a new force rose up to challenge Christianity for the possession of the souls of men and women. This force denied that there was a divine purpose to the universe. This new theory has been variously called materialism, rationalism, secular humanism, or scientific atheism. In ancient times, people who believed in an order to the universe and an immortal soul became stoics. People who believed in a cosmos of blind chance and found the idea of peaceful extinction at death attractive, became Epicureans. These two philosophies were rivals rather than enemies.
Christianity and scientific atheism, however, are both rivals and enemies. Christianity is the prevailing religion of most countries which permit free elections and attempt to guarantee the natural rights of the people. Atheism, on the other hand, is the religion of those nations in which people have been liquidated on the basis of race or social class for the good of the state. Individual guilt or innocence is important to Christians, and the idea that natural rights have been shaped by Christianity is irrelevant in atheism because good and evil are meaningless without some concept of God. In Stalinist Russia from the 1920’s to the 1950’s, in Nazi Germany from the 1930’s through the 1940’s, and in Pol Pot’s Cambodia from the 1970’s to the 1980’s, millions of people, including children, were murdered because their race or social class made them "undesirables." In Christianity, murder is an abhorration. In political atheism, it is the norm.
Atheism is a religion, and it has its prophets. The big prophets were Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud. Some of their followers were Robert Ingersoll, Clarence Darrow, Bertrand Russell, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre.
Twentieth century discoveries in science and archeology support creation theory and the existence of God. Materialists and atheists suffer some type of insanity and their attack on Jesus, and human immortality, is a deranged fantasy. All these four great atheists suffered from the same form of illness. It was this mental illness that led each of them to pervert science into attacking God.
God revealed the overwhelming difference between animal and human reproduction in the first book in the Bible. This revelation begins in Genesis 1:21 "So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. (NKJV)" The nature of God's plan continues in Genesis 1:24-25. "Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so.25And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. (NKJV)" In essence these verses say that God created the fish, birds, etc. after their particular kind, and each kind may have its varieties, but they always reproduce after their kind. These verses do not indicate that God created complex animals after simple animals such as the single cell amoeba. These verses do not give any indication that one major form of life evolved into another major life form. In other words many of the basic assumptions, and deductions of the theory of evolution are not supported by the account of creation given in the Bible.
Now consider the creation of man, which is presented in Genesis 1:26-27. "Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (NKJV)" These verses refute the evolutionary view that man has evolved from a more primitive animal life form. Instead, Scriptures clearly say that man was a separate creation by God, and that He intentionally designed man after His own image and likeness. This is somewhat difficult to understand in some ways, because God is a spiritual being, John 4:24 "God is Spirit,(NKJV)", except for his physical manifestation in Jesus Christ. Man on the other hand is a physical being that is inhabited by a spirit and soul. The analogy here is that apparently the spiritual being also has a form that is similar to the physical being. This analogy is supported by other scripture. For instance, Exodus 9:3 "behold, the hand of the LORD. (NKJV)" tells us that God has hands, and in Exodus 31:18 "And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. (NKJV)" it is made clear that God's hand has fingers that can write just as we can. The Bible also tells us that God has eyes in Deuteronomy 11:12 "a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year. (NKJV)" Furthermore, Scripture also tells us that God also does hear, which is indicated in John 9:31"Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. (NKJV)" Therefore, the Bible is consistent with the statement that man was designed by God in his image and likeness.
Differences between Man and Animals
The difference between plant and animal life is that plants do not have a conscious life, at least in the manner found in an animal. The difference between animal and human life is that although an animal is a conscious being and does have a soul, man has more in that he has a living soul that has a spirit living in it. This is indicated in Genesis 2:7 "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (NKJV)" Thus, man differs from other animals in having a spirit, but still exists in his body as an animal. However, his body is still formed on the same general plan of animals, and is governed by the same laws, and its organs and functions respiration, digestion, and assimilation are the same as those of other animals.
When the apostle Paul speaks of the natural body in 1 Corinthians 15:44, he is referring to the animal body, and when he speaks of the spiritual body, he means a material body adapted to the realm of the spirit world. Notice how these differences were indicated in 1 Corinthians 15:44 "It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. (NKJV)" It is difficult for anyone to imagine the nature of the existence of spiritual beings. In order to do so it usually requires that terms from the physical world have to be used to describe the nature of a spiritual world, and that may not be possible, or at least it may not provide much insight on the matter. Perhaps it is sufficient to say that the bodies of spiritual beings are adapted to the spirit world, just as the bodies of fish are adapted to water, and the bodies of birds are adapted to flying in the air. These views are described in 1 Corinthians 15:39-40 "All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.40There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.(NKJV)"
Why is there such a great variety of different kinds of life forms, which is described in Scripture as "flesh"? The reason is that each kind of flesh is adapted to the needs and habitation of the creature to which it belongs. Therefore, such an analogy indicates that the human body is adapted to the physical world, but at the time of the resurrection, those that have been saved will receive a body adapted to the spirit world, as well as the physical world. The unborn child has life, but not a conscious life, even though its existence is suited to its habitation. However, as soon as the child is born it finds itself in a new environment that is vastly different, and with new laws of nature that completely change the character of its existence. Through its five senses of sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing, it realizes that it is in a new world for which those senses were made, and will allow the infant to adapt to it.
Origin of Marriage
Marriage is a wonderful mystery, and it is part of our heritage, because we are part of God's creation, and this is a part of the plan that He has designed for mankind. The marriage institution provides mankind with the experience of family life, which would have never been ordained if man was just an animal that had evolved by evolution. Under those conditions marriage would have never existed, because humans did not think out, devise or instate the relationship of marriage with a family and home life. Marriage was ordained by God, and is governed by His laws, and man has no jurisdiction over it. Jesus, the Son of God, called God his Father. Thus, the term "father" is a family title, that of the head of the family. A father and son relationships a family relationship. When we as mortal humans, composed of flesh and blood receive the Holy Spirit, God's very life has been implanted into us, and we can call Him Father. Jesus Christ is our elder brother, and we become the father's begotten children. Once again this is a family relationship.
Church
The New Testament indicates that the "Church" includes all the regenerated persons from the day of Pentecost to the day of the rapture (1Cor.15:52) that have been united together, and with Christ by the baptism of the spirit (1Cor.12:12-13). Ephesians 1:22-23 reveals that Christ is the head of this body, and Ephesians 2:21-22 indicates that the church is the holy temple for the habitation of God. The church is described as a chaste virgin waiting for her husband (2Cor. 11:2-4). The figure of marriage is often used in Scripture to represent spiritual reality. The relationship of Christ with the Church is symbolically portrayed similar to a husband and wife relationship.
The church is called, in the New Testament, the bride of Christ. Once again, note the comparison to the family in Ephesians 5:23. "For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church. (NKJV)" This comparison continues in Ephesians 5:27. "That He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. (NKJV)" The marriage of the Lamb is described in Revelation 19:7-9. "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready."8And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.9Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God. (NKJV)"
The Holy Spirit has done a magnificent job of enshrining the bridal relationship of the church and her Lord in the Scriptures. The marriage of the Lamb introduces first the bride groom who is Christ, and is also referred to as "the Lamb". This is a description of His blood that bought the redemption relationship for those that have been saved by His grace. The marriage of the Lamb is about to be consummated, and His joy is now overflowing for He will receive her who will become bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh. Then the second man, the last Adam will be joined to her who is to rule and reign with Him.
Who is the bride? The bride is the church of Christ. All that have accepted Christ as their Savior and Lord since the day of Pentecost constitute the bride of Christ. The church began on Pentecost, and her completion will be on the day of translation to glory in the rapture (1Thess.4:17). She is both the bride and body of Christ, just as Eve was of the body of Adam, and also his bride. The church is the nearest and most beloved object to His loving heart (Eph.5:25-27). The bride is not the Old Testament Israel. The Old Testament Israel as described in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and in Hosea is described as the wife of Jehovah who is now divorced. Israel was married to Jehovah in a legal covenant, and on account of her faithless acts, and wickedness, she was disregarded and put away. However, she will be taken back in the day of her national repentance when the Lord comes in His Second Coming. The Scriptures say that as one that has been divorced, she cannot be a bride again. No restored wife is ever referred to as a virgin. However, the bride in the book of Revelation is a virgin. This is also indicated elsewhere in the Bible, such as in 2 Corinthians 11:2 " For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. (NKJV)" God is now calling out a people for His name from all of the peoples and families of the world whether they be Jews, gentiles, barbarians etc. from the four corners of the world. This is being done so that they will be presented to the Lord at the great marriage day of the Lamb. That bride is the church. The time of the marriage is revealed in scripture as falling between the translation of the church and the second advent of Christ. The place of marriage can only be in Heaven (Revelation 19:14).
"The marriage symbolism is beautifully fulfilled in the relationship of Christ with His Church. The wedding contract is consummated at the time the Church is redeemed. Every Christian is joined to Christ in a legal marriage. When Christ comes for His Church at the rapture, the second phase of the wedding is fulfilled, namely, the Bridegroom goes to receive His bride. The third phase is the wedding feast. This has been variously interpreted as relating to the wonderful fellowship in heaven following the rapture or to the millenium itself. (Revelation 19:9-10)2"
The Guests to the Marriage Supper
What is the marriage supper? It is not the wedding itself. The Marriage Feast is the supper that follows after the marriage has been solemnized. It will be a great honor to receive an invitation and be present at the great feast. This is indicated by the angel that was speaking to John in Revelation 19:9 "Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb! (NKJV)" This is going to be an incredible feast. The guests will include all the Old Testament saints, such as Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Job, Moses, David, the prophets, and even John the Baptist who claimed to only be "friend" of the bridegroom. Then there will be the blood washed multitude that came out of the Tribulation Period after the church has been caught up. Thus, we see that the righteous people of all the past ages and dispensations, and all the saints of God that shall be worthy, and who are not included in the bride, will be the guests at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Angels will be spectators of the scene, but they cannot be guests for the honor is reserved for only those that have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
After the marriage of the Lamb in heaven, the bridegroom will take his bride on a wedding trip, which will be back to earth, where He suffered and died to purchase her redemption with His own precious blood; the place where His people rejected Him, and despised His royal claims. He will then set up His earthy kingdom, and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of David, and His bride will rule with Him for a thousand years, which is called the millennium. What a sweet and delightful honeymoon that will be, when during that time the earth will be blessed with the presence of the King of Kings and His consort the Church. That long honeymoon will eventually come an end, not because of any desire of the bridegroom or the bride, but because they return to the Father's house. Then after the earth has had its "Baptism of Fire" they will return with the descent of the "Holy City" to abide on the "new earth" forever.
References Cited
1. Walvoord, John F. The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Chicago: Moody Press, 1966. p. 271