Why didn’t Jesus Christ ever marry?

Why didn't Jesus Christ ever marry? Well, He did marry. The Bible says so. The Bible names His wife, and the Bible tells us when and why He married. Hmm. You know, brethren, it all has to do with the Old Covenant. Brethren, the family, the marriage covenant, the human physical procreation, childbirth, growth, what do we eat and what do we don't eat, how we care for our physical bodies, what do we say and what do we don't say, and how well we prepare.

It all points to a greater spiritual meaning. Today, brethren, I want to look at Christ's marriage to Israel and why it failed and derive two important spiritual principles or implications to you and I. So let's start from the beginning.

You and I know that Jesus Christ the Word, He did the creating and the speaking. You get that from John 1, verse 1 through verse 3. Everything was created through Him, Christ, and by Him, even angels. You read that in Colossians 1, verse 16. We know that God's plan is to bring many sons to glory. You read that in Hebrews 2, verse 10. And so, well before the angels and the universe and mankind was created, in God's great wisdom and God's good pleasure of His will, He decided to have many children in His family.

And to do that, the children had to have free moral agency. And because of that, it required all before the foundation of the earth, as we read in Revelation 13, verse 8, that the Lamb had to be condemned to death before the creation. So it was all planned, all part of this great, awesome plan, according to God's wisdom and the good pleasure of His will to have children in His kingdom. When we read, and now we turn to Matthew 11, verse 25, Matthew 11, verse 25 through 27. And Jesus says at that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed them to the babes.

This whole plan, mankind, in its great wisdom, does not get it. It just doesn't get it. But even so, verse 26, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight, God decided to show it just to those few little children, little babes of His that are growing and at this time into His kingdom, that are called, that are elect, as we heard in the sermon, a very important election.

And then He says in verse 27, all things have been delivered to me by my Father. I'm going to put that in modern-day language. Everything Christ said has been delegated to Him by the Father. The Father delegated all this big project called, Create Sons of God and Bring Them Into the Family of God. He delegated this great mission to Jesus Christ. And so Christ, under the authority of the Father, according to the Father's great plan, He did all the creating, He worked with the Israelites, and He works with us.

And in the end, as you read in the scriptures, we'll hand the kingdom to the Father and say, Mission accomplished. How nice it is when you, for instance, as a manager, delegate some job to one of your subordinates and says, I trust you, go and do it. And that subordinate does exactly what you tell them to do it. And then at the end of the project, it's done exactly the way you wanted it.

And by analogy, that's what the Father did to Christ. He has the biggest project ever to have more sons and daughters in the family of God, and I'm delegating it to you, one of the God beings in the God family. I'm delegating to you that responsibility. And so that's why, with that as a background, we've got scriptures like we read in John 1, verse 18.

In John 1, verse 18, which says, and that goes on with Matthew 11, verse 27, which I do not complete reading, but we only know about the Father because Christ is revealing us to Him. But in John 1, verse 18, it says, No one has seen God.

It was God the Father. At any time, at any time, the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who is in the bosom of the Father, which has this very personal relationship with the Father, He has declared the Father. See, we also read in John 5, verse 37, when Christ was talking to these Pharisees, and then He says, and the Father Himself who sent Me.

He is delegated to Me this whole job, and He sent Me to earth as part of this great project. And as they defied on Me, and it was the Father Himself, you have never heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.

You see, nobody has heard the Father's voice or seen His form because it's the Christ that is revealing to mankind the Father. So when we look at that into context, the being in the God family that spoke to these relights, for instance, in Exodus 20, the Lord God, the Lord the Eternal, Yahweh, Elohim, the one that spoke to the Israelites, was Jesus Christ, because it was delegated to Him this great mission. And in fact, one of the things that Christ did, you and I read in Genesis 2, verse 24 and 25. Genesis 2, verse 24 and 25.

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother, and that's basically talking about a marriage. A man leaves his mom and dad and be joined to his wife. That's a marriage ceremony, a marriage covenant. And they shall become one flesh. Echad, one. Obviously, they're still two human beings, but they're one in purpose as a good, healthy marriage ceremony. The husband and wife should be together as one.

And it says, and they were both naked, the man and his wife. The wife. In other words, that was a marriage ceremony. And therefore, what we have here is that Jesus Christ, under the authority and the plans of the father, he established the marriage covenant. It is a covenant, and it is till death do us part, as we all know. We read in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 23, talking about marriage. Ephesians chapter 5, we're just going to read, pick up two verses here at this moment. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 23, he says, for the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church. So, now we have a marriage covenant, and now he's saying, wait! There is a symbology, a symbolism here, that Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Now, if you jump a little bit ahead to verse 32, he says, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

You see, the marriage ceremony and the relationship between husband and wife is directly analogous, or symbolized, by the relationship between Christ and the church. So, the man-woman relationship points to a greater spiritual principle. And so, the marriage covenant points to Christ, as the head of the point to Christ, and is a great mystery. And so, as I'm focusing into the point here, is the old covenant between the God-being that spoke to them, which was the word which became flesh and is now Christ, that old covenant was between that being Jesus Christ and Israel.

And that old covenant is a type of typical analogy, a symbology, a spiritual great meaning of a marriage contract between a man and a woman. And so, when they received the Ten Commandments in Mount Sinai, and they were given to the nation of Israel, which, by the way, these Ten Commandments existed from creation. But they were given to that nation as part of a covenant, as part of a marriage contract between that nation and the God-being that was doing that contract. Why? Because Israel, as a physical nation, entered into a covenant with that God-being, the word Christ, before his human birth. Let's back that up in Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16, verse 7 and 8. Ezekiel 16, verse 7 and 8.

I made you thrive like a plant in the field, and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. He's talking about the Israelites nation. Your breasts were formed, so it's figurative. It's the nation who succeeded and became a very successful nation. Your hair grew, and you were naked and bare. And when I passed by you and looked upon you, indeed your time was a time of love. So I spread my wing over you and covered your nachnus, so you brought them out of Egypt. And yet I swore and oafed to you and entered into a covenant with you. I entered into a covenant with you, and you became mine. He entered into what you and I could call symbolically a marriage covenant, and Israel became his wife. Look at Jeremiah chapter 31. Now in Jeremiah chapter 31 is in context talking about there's going to be a new covenant. But then he says, you know, the days are coming that I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah. But then look at verse 32. Not according to the covenant, that is the old covenant, that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. You see, so that old covenant was, symbolically, amongst many other meanings that you can put to the old covenant, was a marriage covenant in principle.

It was a marriage covenant. I was their husband. And you know when there is a marriage covenant at a marriage ceremony where you have the husband says this, this, this, and then he says, I do. And then the same thing you said to the wife, or the wife repeats those vows, and he says, I do. And you go back and read in Exodus 19 verse 8, or you read in Exodus 24 verse 7, Israel said, I do. Or in fact they said, we will do. You gotta obey this. And Israel says, we will do. In other words, it is an equivalent commitment as a nation doing it with God. So, from a marriage point of view. So, let's summarize what we have here so far. The old covenant was, symbolically speaking, a marriage agreement between the Lord God being that was talking to them and the nation of Israel. The people of Israel, symbolically the wife, accept the terms of that marriage covenant. And they said, we will do. Let's just read Exodus 34 verse 12 through 17. Exodus 34, Exodus 34 verse 12 through 17. Take heed to yourself lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you're going, lest it be a snare in your midst. But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images. For you shall worship no other God for the Lord whose name is jealous. He's a jealous God. Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the holleth with their gods. You see the word, hollethry? You know, it's like in a marriage covenant. You're breaking that marriage covenant and you're becoming a holleth, prostitution, and make sacrifices to their gods. And one of them invites you and eats of his sacrifice. And you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the holleth with their gods, and make their sons play the holleth with their gods. So you see, the old covenant, which is analogous, as I mentioned, to the physical marriage. It was its comparable or equivalent. They had to refrain from any adulterous or worship or warish relationships with false gods of other nations. And they were to remain chaste and acceptable to their own husband, quote-unquote, which was the god-being that spoke to them and they made that commitment with, which was the word and became Christ. So, Israel agreed not to worship the false gods of the Gentiles, in other words, not to commit adultery and to be obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we read in sections like Leviticus 26, where it says, even probably some nine months after that, that they had agreed to this covenant and God was already correcting them, saying, hey, you gotta be faithful to the covenant, because you're breaking this relationship as a wife, and if you obey, there'll be blessings, but if you do so, they'll be curses. Look at Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 14. Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 14.

Jeremiah 3 verse 14.

Return, and it was repent, O backsliding children, says the Lord. Why? For I am married to you. I will take you, one from the city and different family, and I'll bring you to Zion, but you see, he's saying, I am married to you. When? At Mount Sinai, when they made that covenant, and the covenant was based on a law, which is God's Ten Commandments, the law of love, and they said, we will do. So, let's get this very clear. Jesus Christ was married to the congregation of ancient Israel through a ceremony called the Old Covenant. Now, let's read Malachi chapter 2 verse 16. Malachi chapter 2 verse 16. For the Lord God of Israel says that he hates divorce. For it covers one's garment with violence, says the Lord of gods. Therefore, take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treasureously. God hates divorce. Therefore, repent. Change. Stop breaking the covenant, the marriage covenant. God, the husband, forgave Israel time and time and time again. They committed adultery time and time and time again. I mean adultery, spiritual adultery. They were following false gods, and they kept breaking the Sabbath, as you all know. But Israel remained un-faithful and un-repentant. You know the story of the Old Testament. Israel remained un-faithful and un-repentant. That is clearly evidence when you read the Old Testament, and you see Israel continuously being un-faithful to God. It's a fact. You know it. But let's now read Jeremiah 3.8. Understand, we just finished reading that God hates divorce, but God also hates sin, breaking the agreement. So let's read Jeremiah 3.8.

Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel has committed adultery, backsliding Israel, the disobedient, un-faithful wife kept committing adultery, following false gods. I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce.

Wow! Yet her treasury sister, Judah, did not hear, but went and played the harlot also. God gave the divorce papers to Israel, but God hates divorce.

You and I know that Jesus Christ became flesh. He did not marry another woman, because even though he had divorced Israel, according to the law, following according to the intent of God's law. And now Paul made certain exceptions in 1 Corinthians 7. I'm not talking about that. But according to the intent of God's law, he did not marry another woman when he was flesh, because that, according to the intent of the law, would have been adultery. Marriage is till death do us part, right? Right. We know that Jesus Christ died, right? Right. The old covenant, that marriage covenant between Christ and ancient Israel, ceased upon death that do us part.

Therefore, Jesus Christ now can marry again. And he will marry a faithful spiritual Israel. And that is the new covenant.

We know from Revelation 17, verse 14, that those that will be with Christ are those that are called, chosen for this great marriage, and faithful. They have proven that they will and they are faithful. Therefore, when Christ marries spiritual Israel, he is marrying a faithful nation made of a people that are not a people, because it is one YAH, one there, one from this nation, another one from that nation.

Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 11, verse 2. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 2.

For I am jealous, you remember God is a jealous God, I am jealous for you as well, says Paul the Iron Corinthians, with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband. You are engaged. You and I, as true Christians, are engaged to marry one husband. That I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ, a faithful spiritual church to Christ. So we have a faithful husband and a faithful wife.

And we know, when you read Revelation 19, verse 9, there will be a marriage supper. There will be a marriage, and the wife has prepared herself and made ready for that marriage. And now, if you turn to Hebrews 8, verse 7 and 9, Hebrews 8, verse 7 and 9, or 7 through 9, it says, For if that first covenant, that first marriage, had been faultless, it wasn't faultless, it was faulty, then no place would have been sought for a second covenant, a second marriage. Because finding fault, not with the law, but of the ancient Israelites that were unfaithful. He says, Be all the days are coming, says the Lord, that I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel, of the house of Judah. There will be a new marriage. Not according to the covenant. The marriage covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant. And I disregarded them. In other words, I divorced them, says the Lord. You see, the first marriage was faulty and was disregarded. Why? Because physical Israel was not faithful. But spiritual Israel will be faithful. And the new covenant, that second marriage, will be successful. So, having explained this as a background, as I mentioned in the beginning, I want to look at two spiritual implications to you and I. First, both parties in the covenant must be faithful for it to succeed. You see, Christ was faithful, but Israel was not. Both parties in the covenant have to be faithful for it to succeed. Remember, Jesus Christ the Lord was the perfect husband. He was faithful. But the other party, Israel, was not faithful.

And so, what does that mean to us? In a physical marriage, the problem may be caused either by the husband or by the wife or by both.

In many physical marriages, the husband or the wife or both may have broken the agreement. It could be in many different fashions. It could be, for instance, from the side of the husband. By lack of love for the wives. This is so important, brethren, and I'm going to go into a little bit more detail about that in a moment. Or, it could be by lack of submission to the husband by the wife or both. So, let me tackle that first one by lack of love of the husband to the wives. Let's go back to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5.

Verse 25, husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. Do we get that, husbands? In fact, from verse 25 to verse 28 and 29, it's basically giving instruction to the man. There's more verses giving instruction to the man than verses giving instruction to the lady. Have you considered that?

The husband is to care, love, sacrifice for his wife. Look at verse 28. So, husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. How did Christ love the church? What did Christ do wrong? Nothing. But he gave up being a God-being. He became a human being and he died for you and I, the church. He gave up his eternal life, not just his physical life, but he never sinned and therefore the father resurrected him. But he was prepared to give himself completely to his wife. Many husbands have regrettably been unfaithful in this way to their wives. And I know of many cases in the church where men are being unfaithful to their wives in this point. They are being abusive to their wives, could it be emotionally or whatever way, and not loving their wives. Giving up everything for them. And that, brethren, is a greater act of submission.

There are many ladies in the church that are suffering this way. They are being destroyed emotionally by their supposedly loving husbands in the church. That should not be so. We need to repent. And then there is the woman's responsibility, of course, which says in verse 22, wives submit your husbands as to the Lord. Oh, but quite often we focus. Wives submit to the husbands. But how many times do we focus on the husbands loving the wives, which is even a greater act of submission? And that's why it says in verse 21, submit to one another in the fear of God.

If the man is loving and caring, if he is not self-centered, if he is not narcissistic or self-appraising himself, then typically the woman will want to submit to him because he cares for her.

So the first lesson to us is, yeah, we have a husband in the form of Christ, which was perfect, but we had one party that was unfaithful, Israel. The marriage did not succeed, and that first covenant ended in divorce, regrettably.

The second lesson that we need to, that we can gather from this is that the Israelites did not have the right spirit to succeed.

The Israelites never had God's mind of true love. You see, because genuine, outgoing love is described in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 7. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 7.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, of godly love, and of a sound mind of moderation, as some Bibles put it, in the words of balance, a sound mind. God's Holy Spirit is the key ingredient that we need to have the right power and love for somebody else, and particularly to our spouse, and vice versa, to the spouse towards us. We've got to understand that Paul in Ephesians was not saying the wives don't need to love their husbands. He was focusing on each one's point where they need to put more focus. Obviously, both have to submit, both have to love. So, we need God's Holy Spirit to give us the extra help and strength to do what we need to do to succeed in our marriage, because we all are imperfect. We all are imperfect. I am. We all are. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 2. He let, reading verse 2, he says, He let, and that ties in with our sermonette that said, We are elect, we are chosen. But in this context, we are elect to marry Jesus Christ at His coming. We are chosen as a bride, betrothed, engaged to Christ. And it says, according to the knowledge of God the Father, instantification of the Spirit. In other words, it's God's Holy Spirit, it's God's mind, God's right attitude, mindset, preaching our conscience and saying, I'm going to put my name, you put your name in there, St. George, do bere ya. Don't do this, don't do that. Put your name in there. We all need that sanctification of the Spirit. For what? For obedience. See, God's law hasn't changed, because it's the law of love, but we need to be obedient. And so, the problem with Israel is that they did not have the sanctification of God's Holy Spirit. They did not have God's mind. You and I are blessed to have God's mind. And therefore, you and I with God's Holy Spirit need to analyze ourselves and see, I need to do better. I need to do better and really work at it. I mean, we can see in Psalm 111, verse 7 and 8, that it talks about God's royal love. All these commandments are sure. You see, God's law hasn't changed. We read in Romans 5, verse 5, and it says, God gives His Spirit to those that obey Him.

You see, as we obey, as we listen to the sanctification of the Spirit, which breaks our conscience, as we listen to that, as we humble ourselves before God in the fear of God, and we repent and change, our marriages will get better. We all have to look at ourselves and submit and repent and change and work at it. But likewise, our future marriage with Jesus Christ is being developed through our practice in our physical world to a greater spiritual implication, which is the marriage to come with Christ. You see, Jesus Christ did marry. His wife was ancient Israel. He married Israel in Sinai, but Israel was unfaithful. You see, the Bible names his wife, Israel. The Bible tells us when and why he married. There was a Sinai. And that, therefore, is what we saw as direct relationship to the Old Covenant. Brethren, the family, the marriage covenant, physical procreation, childbirth, all these things are analogous are examples that point us to a bigger spiritual meaning. So, the lessons to us are number one. Both parties in the covenant must be faithful for it to succeed. God is faithful. How faithful are we going to be? Because we have to be faithful till the end, and we've got to prove that faithfulness before Christ will marry us, because he's not going to have another unfaithful life. Second, the Israelites did not have God's only spirit of love, of true Godly love, to succeed. You and I have no excuse. We need to repent, we need to change, and we need to use God's only spirit to change. With that as a context, let me read Hebrews chapter 8. We're going to read, starting in verse 6. Hebrews chapter 8 verse 6. For now, but now, he has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, a better marriage, in this symbology that I've explained, which was established on better promises, eternal life, through the help that we receive with God's only spirit, for a what? For us to be children of God. And as we read before, what God does, he writes his laws. As we read that in verse 10, he writes his laws in our minds and in our hearts through his holy spirit. His laws are not written now in tables of stone. His laws are written in our minds and in our hearts. So we have here better promises, which is eternal life in God's kingdom as his children, for all mankind, ultimately. The new covenant fulfills God's great master plan to bring many sons and daughters to glory. Our part is to submit in godly fear to God's lead through his holy spirit. I want you to read with me Hebrews 13, verse 20 and 21. Now, may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, our husband to be from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the ever-lasting covenant of this agreement, which is eternal, make you complete, make you perfect, in every good work to do his will, working in you what is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.