Live with Him!

Christ died for us, so that we could live with him, whether we are alive or dead when he comes. That's why you must encourage and help each other, just as you are already doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:10-11

Those of us who were young during the sixties learned how to question everything. The “hippies” stood against almost every element of conventional wisdom when it came to how a society must be structured. They questioned the length of a man’s hair, how to dress appropriately in our society, proper hygiene, and of course whether a man and woman must be married to live together intimately.

Believe it or not I was shocked the first time I heard about a couple living together without being married. It just wasn’t done. But our society pioneered many things that “were not done!”

If you take God out of the picture and look at society purely from a rational point of view, it is easy to justify living together without being married. We have even made some tax laws which promote the idea. The whole idea of marriage for life comes straight from the Bible.

So why is “one man and one woman for life” an important concept to God? Simply this: marriage on this earth is a reflection of marriage in heaven. The Bible speaks of only one marriage in heaven and that is Christ and His Bride. Everything about that marriage is the source of God’s outline for marriage on this earth. Christ has kept Himself totally for His Bride. He has purified her and prepared her for the marriage. He will be faithful to her forever. He will live with her in total intimacy after the marriage is consummated in heaven.

Before a couple is married on this earth “living together” violates the picture of Jesus and His Bride.

What I’m about to say may be hard to understand. I confess it is for me. I wonder if believers in Jesus are trying to “live together with Him” before the wedding. Does that mean that there is a level of intimacy with Jesus that we cannot have here on this earth? I believe it certainly does. As human beings we may be involved in pre-marital, inappropriate intimacy, but Jesus will not do that with His Bride to be.

When I was a boy my mother told me more than once that marriage is either “Heaven on earth or it is Hell on earth.” Marriage on this earth that conforms to the picture of the marriage of Christ and His Bride is indeed “Heaven on earth.”

So if you are destined to be part of the Bride of Christ because you are a disciple of His here on this earth take heart. What you experience here is all a part of His preparation of His Bride. He will not abandon you but He will come and get you just at the right time. If you think it is wonderful to be in His presence now, remember we have only a little taste of what it will be like to live with Him forever!

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!