God’s Love and the Family

It has been a really busy week at work and I do apologize for the lack of updates to the blog. And I must also apologize if I haven’t visited some of your blogs till recently because of the hectic schedule.

Being quite occupied with work doesn’t mean I haven’t got things whirling in my head on what the Christian life is and one of the things that spoke most to me this week was God’s plan for the family, which I shall share with you today.

Do you ever wonder why God made man and woman and ordained the institution of marriage, along with the commission to be fruitful and multiply, i.e. have children?

Well, yes, the obvious answer would be that God already knew that the family unit is the strongest unit in society and a pillar for any society. Without strong families, there is no strong society. And yes, the other obvious answer to why God wanted us to multiply and have children was so that we fill the earth.

However, have you ever wondered how being married and having children is so akin to experiencing the kingdom of God?

In the Bible, our Lord Jesus Christ mentions many times over that He is the bridegroom and the Church His unblemished bride. The relationship between the Church, of which all of us are a part of, and our Lord Jesus Christ is alike a marriage.

In fact, the Apostle Paul was inspired to expound on this point so well that I am surprised that not many people mention this — that God ordained the institution of marriage so that we learn about the relationship between Christ and His Church!

Let’s read this wonderful revelation:

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Ephesians 5:22-33

Notice Ephesians 5:32. Paul is not alluding to the fact that marriage is alike the relationship between our Lord Jesus Christ and His Church. He is telling us that marriage is meant to be the mirror of the relationship between our Lord Jesus Christ and His Church!

Isn’t that a revelation? No? It is to me, because we seldom notice that fact! Leaders and counselors quote these passages during marriage preparation courses and counseling sessions to teach about marriage, but nobody said anything about the fact that marriage is a reflection of the Church’s relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ!

Therefore, in the union between a man and his wife, Christ’s relationship with His Church is manifest! Isn’t that amazingly wonderful?! Isn’t it amazing how God teaches us lessons?

And here’s more! Why are we then given the ability to procreate and have children of our own? Is it not so that God can teach us about His love for us?

We often read about how Christian parents love their children and also of their heartaches and pain, of the parents’ forgiveness for their children even when the children are bad to them and mistreat them, and of joy when they see their children grow up and become men and women.

And so it is with God as our Father and we His children through Christ Jesus! And you know what the only difference is? The love of God for us far surpasses the love of any parent for his or her child!

Yes, you read it right, because it says here in Matthew 7:11:

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Matthew 7:11

Let it no longer be a mystery — through our own children, God shows us how He loves us as His children! And much as we would chastise our children when they disobey, so does God chastise us when we become disobedient.

I just found it amazing that I have never ever thought of it this way — that God has put in so much design and a greater purpose to marriage, having children, and family life besides what we have always thought their mundane purposes were.

God bless you, your marriage and your children.

Shabbat Shalom.

Photo of a neon sign of the Chinese character for “family” by Ian Hsu.