The Profound Mystery

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One of my favorite passages of scriptures says…

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! (Romans 11:33)

What makes this verse one of my favorites is that it shows us the glorious mysteriousness of our God.  You see, while the stuff of this world is all to often boring, predictable, and repetitious, our God is just the opposite!  The book of Revelation speaks of creatures who surround God’s heavenly throne 24/7 and never do they suffer boredom!  In fact, they are so constantly struck with awe that they never stop crying out….

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8)

This is our God!  Mysterious and wondrous in all his ways and we who have been called out of darkness and into his marvelous light will spend eternity delighting ourselves in Him!

That said, this blog post isn’t about the unsolved mysteries of God that won’t be revealed until heaven, this blog post is about reveling in one of the mysteries that God was pleased to reveal to us in the New Testament.  Paul teaches us in Ephesians 5…

“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. (Ephesians 5:31-32)

And here we discover the very mind of God with regards to the marital relationship.  Here we discover the ultimate meaning of marriage.  Marriage is no invention of man, it is an institution of almighty God whereby he shows the world a picture of Christ and His bride the Church.

For me, what makes this so very exciting is the fact that it allows us humans to do what the rest of creation has always done; show forth the excellencies of God!  You see the scriptures tell us that…

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19:1)

Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens. (Psalm 148:3-4)

Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word! Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds! (Psalm 148:7-10)

These passages show us that creation itself extols its creator!  And in Ephesians 5, Paul is teaching us that we who solemnly enter into God’s institution of marriage can know that our marriages join all of creation in declaring the glory of God.  You see, when Christian husbands selflessly and sacrificially love their wives as Christ loved his bride the Church (Ephesians 5:25), they become a picture of Christ to the world around them!  Likewise, when Christian wives submit in everything to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22-24), they become a picture of how Christ’s bride (the Church) submits to him in all things.  This is the ultimate meaning of marriage!  This is the profound mystery that has revealed to us by the New Testament.

My prayer is that God’s people would live in light of this profound mystery.  To all you Christian husbands reading this post…Love your wives sacrificially and selflessly!  Be a picture of your savior to the world around you!  To all you Christian wives reading this post…Respect and submit to your husbands in all things!  Be a beautiful and glorious picture of how the Church submits to its savior for the glory of our God!

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