Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
Marriage of two believers is the proving ground for the mandates and duties which demand the highest form of virtue.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
Angels do not get married because they were all personally created by God, PSA 148:5.
In the dispensation of the Church-age, angels observe members of the royal family of God and learn from them,
EPH 3:10; 1PE 1:12.
EPH 3:10 in order that the multi-faceted or many-sides of the wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
1PE 1:12 In these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven – things into which angels long to look.
Angels used to teach mankind, GAL 3:19; now, in the Church-age, they are being taught by mankind, EPH 3:10.
Elect angels observe human history while fallen angels are designed to oppose human history.
In the Church-age, mature believers and those dedicated and devoted the plan of God are on the front lines, and Satan is against these believers with all his principalities and powers in all areas of life, including Christian marriage.
The concentration and the focus of the elect and fallen angels was greater at the point of the hypostatic union than at any other time.
In the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, angels observed every part of the first advent and incarnation of our Lord – 1TI 3:16 – He was “Beheld by angels”
In the dispensation of the Church-age, angels observe members of the royal family of God in their failure or success to execute and fulfill the PPOG, 1CO 4:9; 1TI 5:21.
The humanity of Jesus Christ pioneering four spiritual mechanics which became the operational spiritual life of the Church.
1. The filling of the Holy Spirit.
2. Metabolized Bible doctrine circulating in the soul.
3. The ten problem-solving devices.
4. The power for the execution of the PPOG.
Marriage of two believers is the proving ground for the mandates and duties which demand the highest form of virtue that has ever existed.
Marriage is much more demanding and filled with double-trouble, 1CO 7:28.
It can be much more rewarding when the spiritual life is the center of the marriage under the principle that the Lord is between you and me forever, 1SA 20:23.
PSA 119:63 I am a companion of all those who respect Thee, and of those who keep Your doctrines.
PSA 101:6 My eyes shall be upon the “faithful” of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in integrity is the one who will minister to me.
PSA 101:7 he who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house; he who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.
2SA 1:26 You have been very pleasant to me. Your love to me was more wonderful than the love of women.
1SA 20:23 “As for the agreement of which you and I have spoken, behold, the Lord is between you and me forever.”
If you have fellowship with believers based on your fellowship with God, you have something very rare in Christianity today.
EPH 5:32 “This is a great mystery; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”
This new dimension only exists in the Church-age, because this is the only dispensation where every believer can take the fantastic portfolio of invisible assets and parlay them into execution of the spiritual life of the Church.
So great is this spiritual life, it will be demonstrated in eternity that the invisible heroes of the Church-age are the greatest believers who ever lived in all human history.
God created a new category of marriage for the Church-age and He gave to it the highest form of standards that have ever existed in a relationship between any two people in the human race.
Christian marriage in the dispensation of the Church is part of the testimony that once and for all condemns Satan and all fallen angels to the eternal lake of fire.
This all dramatizes the principle of freedom, authority, and values in marriage.
Freedom without authority is anarchy, disorder or confusion. Authority without freedom is tyranny.
To avoid anarchy, freedom must have values. To avoid tyranny, authority must have virtue.
Authority in marriage belongs to the husband, but this authority must be exercised in virtue love with integrity.
Personal love for God provides both motivation and correction of action in marriage.
Freedom in marriage belongs to both spouses, but such freedom must be exercised from the spiritual values and not one person forcing their rights upon the other.
The husband and wife are given divine directions and commands from the word of God taught by whomever is your right pastor-teacher, 1PE 5:3, ACT 20:28.
When a husband exercises tyranny toward his wife, he has taken from her the most valuable thing he could have – her freedom.
A woman can never love a man when he violates the third law of marriage – forgive as Christ forgave.
The first divine rule for marriage is the responsibility of the man, EPH 5:25.
EPH 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself as a substitute for her.
The second divine rule for marriage is the responsibility of the woman, EPH 5:22-24, 33.
EPH 5:33 Nevertheless let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband.
The third divine rule in marriage is the mutual responsibility of both the husband and the wife, forgive as Christ forgave.
EPH 4:32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.