[Steve Myers] It's a hot political topic - gay marriage. Recently it's become the headline that the President supports gay marriage. And then of course we have the other side that this is unacceptable to those that are conservative. But is it really a political issue? And I think that's the question.

Where do you go in order to find the truth on the subject of marriage?

Well, we should go to the One who created us. So we've got to go to God. We've got to go to His Word if we really want to understand God's intent for marriage. In fact, if you go right to the beginning of your Bible, go back to the book of Genesis. That's where God ordained marriage. In Genesis chapter 2 in verse 24 He said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh." So that's over in Genesis, Genesis 2:24. In fact, you can read that whole section of scripture where He creates Adam and then He creates the perfect complement to him—his wife. And so God ordained marriage right at the beginning of creation.

So at the beginning of history, what was God's intent? That a man and a woman should be joined together in marriage, the union of one man and one woman. And so God ordained that right from the very start, right from the beginning of creation. And so what did that do? That established a divine pattern. That was God's purpose. That was His pattern for future generations that marriage would be the key. Marriage would be God's vision for something so important. It wasn't just a physical thing that God was doing here. There was something that He was showing about His purpose.

Marriage was going to be symbolic of what God was going to be doing spiritually. Think about it for a minute. When a man and woman marry, they'll have children and they produce offspring. Well, if you know what God is doing spiritually speaking, God is creating a spiritual family. And He talks about this.

When you go the New Testament, go to the book of Ephesians. In Ephesians chapter 5—we'll write that one down so you can take note of this—in Ephesians chapter 5 and basically throughout that whole chapter, but especially when you get to chapter, chapter 5:22 He talks about marriage.  He talks about husbands and wives and he talks about that greater spiritual purpose, that spiritual insight that we should have with what God is doing because of the physical aspects of marriage. Notice what he says here. He says that Christ loved the church. And as he says and talks about this spiritual thing, he says that, "He might sanctify and cleanse her" that's the church, "that He might" verse 27, "Present her to Himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." So here we have insight into God's spiritual purpose. And so he says, "So husbands ought to love their own wives. For he who loves his wife loves himself." Now in verse 32 he says this is a great mystery. This is something that may seem difficult to understand, but God reveals it. Notice what he says, "I speak concerning Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:22-33).

You see, God is creating a spiritual family. Jesus Christ is coming back to marry His bride, the church. If you were to go to Revelation chapter 19 it spells it out so clearly and so specifically here that there is a great spiritual intent that God has. And notice what's going to happen in the end when the people have made themselves ready, Christ is going to return and notice the wording here. It says in verse 7 of chapter 19 of Revelation, "Let us be glad and rejoice. Give Him glory" (Revelation 19:7). 

Now, why should we do that? Because of God's vision for marriage. We'll write that one down. Let's look at Revelation 19 and we're going to look in verse 7. Revelation 19, let's be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, why? "For the marriage of the lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready."

You see, God's plan for mankind is reflected in marriage. And so, boy, others put away marriage. So many want to say it's useless, it's nothing, or we can do whatever we want in marriage, different individuals can marry each other and it doesn't matter. But you know what? That denies what God's vision is for marriage and the ultimate spiritual reality.

The spiritual reality is Christ is going to marry His church, His wife because God is bringing many sons and many daughters into His family, into His Kingdom. That's God's vision for marriage. That's not a political ball that we can throw back and forth. That is not a political issue. It's a spiritual issue and it's one we miss entirely if we don't understand what God's vision for marriage truly is.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.