All of the promises that are yea and amen to the believer, are multiplied infinitely to the Body of Christ, the church. The expressions of love that God shows on the earth are not as much seen in the example of any one believer with Himself, although that is so. It is seen in the relationship of The Church with Christ. Christ is advocating for us with the father. Christ is giving us all things that pertain to life and godliness. He owns us in Christ, in fellowship with His body the church. I do not think that is emphasized enough. We are not fit to take on the principalities and powers in our own strength, even as a stalwart believer. When God gives the power, He gives it to His Church. When God dispenses protection, He does it in His Church for the taking over of the world's wicked imaginations to the submission to the glory of God. When we are singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord and "being filled with the spirit", Christ has made the commitment to subdue principalities under our feet. He is pleased to teach us the trusting and growing together with Him and in redemption.
The love expressed in the SOS is truly the image of God's supreme love and anticipation for the Church to be triumphant. When we take it upon ourselves to be little mirrors of that beauty by being married, we are just little images of the truth of what God is doing through Christ and His Church in the world. The dance of the loving interaction of God with man in the relationship of Christ and His Church. Christ clothes our spirits with righteousness and our relations with Himself, so that He sanctifies our time away from His intense presence and He is more present when we come together in worship. He gives us liberty to enjoy our creature comforts in the light of His love. He intensifies His expressions of His presence with us as we come to worship Him. Clothing upon our human relationships, that we are protected from our own sinful tendencies by the instruction of the Word of God and the hedges that put each relationship where it is supposed to be. Husband and wife is one relationship and there are rules, protecting that relationship. Sister and Brother and so on, we enjoy the beauty of the family relationship, in Christ with His blessing that we may richly enjoy the life on earth that God intended.
It seems clear, that there was no way to have those kinds of extended relationships in the garden, with the first perfect couple. Sanctified, is far more blessed, even, than perfect; as were our first parents. Redeemed and bought by the blood of Jesus, is clearly more to be desired, than to have been created in perfection. God had this plan laid out from the beginning of the creation, that the church would be the ground of blessed human relationships.
No comments:
Post a Comment