Hebrews 13:4, ESV

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”

“Let marriage be held in honor….” This is a statement found in the Word of God and it comes with a warning as well. It tells us that God will judge those who fail to do this. Why is it that marriage should be held in honor? What it is about this relationship that makes it so special?

When God created human beings, He created them to have relationship with Himself. He desires to have relationship with each and everyone of us. He also created human beings to have relationship with each other. We all have many people who we have relationship with. We have friends, we have family members, we have children, but there is one relationship that stands out among them all, the special relationship between a man and a woman who have been united before God in the covenant of marriage.

Marriage was established and defined when God created Adam and Eve, male and female, to come together and form something new, the marriage. When Adam saw Eve, he knew that this as something different, this was something special. “Bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh” he proclaimed. God did something that surpassed the physical and even the emotional. It was a spiritual connection that no other human relationship can match. Not only that, but God would later teach us that the relationship between husband and wife is actually a representation of the relationship that Jesus has with His church. What an amazing symbol!

When we look around the culture of today and environment that most live in however, it is apparent that the relationship and covenant of marriage is being attacked. As with everything that is of God, the enemy seeks to destroy it. Not only does he want to destroy it, but he wants to make a mockery of it. We are seeing a time when the sanctity of marriage and the honor that this institution should receive is being torn down. In many circles, the Biblical marriage of one man and one woman being made one is a joke. Marriage is beginning to be viewed as no more than another thing to make you feel good, and when you start to lose that feeling, something that you can just walk away from. It is in the process of being reduced to nothing more than a legal contract between two people which can be severed by either party if they feel they are not getting the return they expected. Biblical marriage is not established because a world government prints a marriage certificate. Biblical marriage is not established when two people stand before a judge in a worldly court. Biblical marriage is not established when people sign on a prenuptial agreement. Biblical marriage is established when a man and a woman make a covenant with God. If I leave my wife, I have not broken a covenant with my wife, I have broken a covenant with God almighty. That is a position that nobody should desire to be in.

I pray that as you have read this, you will be reminded of the serious relationship between husband and wife. It is not a relationship to mocked, it is not a relationship to be abused, and it is not a relationship which can be compromised. If you are in a marriage relationship today, remember Who your covenant is with. And, if you are not yet married, remember the seriousness with which marriage should be approached before you make a decision to get married.