Marriage and the family, on this earth, were the first institutions and structures created by God. Before there were cities or nations, there was marriage. Marriage is the joining together of two to become one foundational root of a family. Families are the foundational roots of a nation. The Children of Israel were a nation before they had a land to dwell in; the nation was born out of a family. God created everything we needed, including the bond between a man and a woman, to recreate life. The enemy of God is adamant about destroying marriage and the family. God is adamant about rescuing relationships.

Jesus has a relationship role with our Father in Heaven. Our entitlement to use the term “our Father in Heaven,” comes from the relationship Jesus has with the Father and with us. As our brother, Jesus introduces us into the family of God as a sibling; additional children of our Father. Jesus had that relationship with God before the earth was formed. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was (John 17:5). The Jesus who walked the earth was born from the love of God (see John 3:16) being joined together with the Word of God (see John 1:1-5). The Holy Spirit took the love of God and joined the Word with the love and placed Jesus into the womb of a woman to be born in the flesh. Both the Word and the love, joined into one being, was willing to die so we might have a life relationship in the family of God.

Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain” (John 12:24). The seed who went into the ground for us was Jesus, the joining together of the Father’s love for us and the Word. The law had been used as a prison and was holding the love of God in captivity; the heart of mankind had a stone rolled over it that no man could move. Both the Word and the love had to be planted together to grow up in us as a loving relationship in the family of God. We call each other “brother” and “sister” without understanding the blessing we are speaking over our siblings in Christ. The stone has been rolled away and the love and the Word has come out of the tomb. The love of God is no longer held in captivity but is free to work a work in us, the children of God.

A man is to have a relationship role with a woman; the role is husband to wife. A woman has a relationship role with a man; the role is wife to husband. Out of their relationship a child or children are produced; new life from life. At first glance it doesn’t appear as though anything had to die to produce the new life. But something did, or maybe I should write, something should have. If we look around the world today we see broken homes and broken children, because that something did not die. In both the husband and the wife something has to die so the two can become one. Who they were before they took their vows has to die, and they grow up together as one so they can have a life relationship as the root of a family; and that root should be deeply planed in the family of God.

By destroying a family unit, the enemy can harm a nation. The kingdom of God is a nation formed by the children of God. When a family is destroyed, too often the father is removed from the home. Children grow up thinking that a father is someone who visits and is not really a part of the family. When the children hear that God is a Father, they do not see a relationship role; they see a missing piece of their life and feel powerless to fill the emptiness. A prophet of God is foretold as coming to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers. The enemy is fighting to keep that from happening; divorce and abortion are two of his tools. Kill the prophet before birth, and kill the children so they have no living heart to turn.

God has a plan. We don’t know His entire plan but we do know the family is important, and marriage is our commitment to the family. If we cannot die to who we are and become one with our mate, we are cohabitating and not a true family. Jesus died to redeem His bride. God is love, and love joined with the Word, in the form of Jesus, died to bring us into a relationship. As the bride, we have some dying to do to make our self ready to be one with Him. Our relationship with one another is our example (or a reflection) of our relationship with God. We need to do a little dying in our relationships with one another. If we cannot die in our relationships with one another, then we are just playing church. Marriage and the family are creations of God, as are our relationships with our siblings in Christ. If we need help, the Creator is here.

© 2010, Tim D. Coulter Sr.