Marriage equality

[puddleglum]

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Colossians 2:16-17 ESV

The nation of Israel was established by God to be the means of bringing Christ into the world so that he could atone for our sins by his death. God gave Israel a system of laws that included animal sacrifices, dietary laws, and the observance of special days. These laws were symbols of what Christ would do; they have served their purpose we are no longer required to follow them.

Today there is another God given practice that is a symbol of something that is still in the future: marriage.

Marriage does serve a purpose in this life.

Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.
Malachi 2:15 ESV

But it does more than that. It is also a symbol of the relationship between God and his worshippers.

For your Maker is your husband,
the LORD of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.
Isaiah 54:5 ESV

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Ephesians 5:22-24 ESV

Like the Old Testament ceremonial laws it is shadow of something that is still in the future.

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure�—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
Revelation 19:6-8 ESV

The Bride spoken of here is the Church, which is made up of all whose sins have been forgiven because they put their faith in Christ. This is the real Marriage; the marriages that exist today are only pictures to help us understand what it will be like.

Many people never marry. Some of them are disappointed and feel that failure to marry means that their lives are failures. If you are one of these people remember that marriage in this life is only a picture of something better. If you put your faith in Christ you will experience the reality and in the end the fact that you missed out on the shadow won’t matter.

Some people don’t marry because they are gay and unable to be part of a heterosexual relationship. Advocates of legalizing same sex marriage claim that doing so would establish a state of marriage equality between gays and straights but they overlook one thing. When our relationship with God is compared with marriage God is the male partner and his followers are the female. A union between two men or two women isn’t an accurate picture of this relationship.

Marriage equality is a goal that is impossible to achieve in this life but for Christians it will be a reality in the next one. All believers, whether they are gay or straight, will be part of the true marriage which will take place when Christ returns to the earth. The best way to promote marriage equality for gays is to tell them how to be saved so they will be part of that future marriage.