Lesson 1 The Marriage Covenant

     The years have convinced me that we Christians have undergone so many bad experiences because we do not understand our covenant with God.  Many events happen in our lives from simple lack of understanding.  Most of the things I've learned from God, I learned because I was in a troubled place and needed wisdom.
     James 1:5 (Amplified) says that, "If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God (Who gives) to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault finding, and it will be given him."   We've ceased seeking God's wisdom for many things and have relied on the quid pro quo answers of religion.
     I've wondered about the marriage covenant and the real power it holds.  I understood the scriptures generally associated with this covenant, but I failed to see results in new covenant that I should have seen.  Many things in our covenant with God, through Jesus, don't seem to be like the Word declares they should be.  I'm not the sharpest kid on the block, by any means, but I know one thing for sure.  If something isn't working in my life the way the Word of God says it should, then I'm the one who missed it and not God.  So, instead of simply trying to assuage my pride and ego, I need to find out why things aren't working.
     Our marriage covenant with God is one of those misunderstood things.  Paul gives a discourse on the marriage covenant and the way we should respond to one another in Ephesians 5:21-33 (Amplified).  In Verse 32 he says something that changed everything (if we will read it correctly), saying, "This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning (the relation of) Christ and the Church."
     The scriptures tell us that our life and relationship is in His Blood.  Leviticus 17:11 (Amplified) says, "For the life (the animal soul) is in the blood, and I have given it for you upon the altar, to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life (which it represents)."  The scriptures also tell us that it was the Blood of Jesus that gave us new life with His Own life.  Romans 5:9-10 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, since we are now justified (acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God) by Christ's Blood, how much more (certain is it that) we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God."  Verse 10 goes on, "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son; it is much more (certain), now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved (daily delivered from sin's dominion) through His (resurrection) life."
     Our life is in Jesus' Blood and His Blood has given us the life of God, which was poured out against death that held dominion over us.  The Life is in the Blood.  We understand (to a certain degree) that God would use the innocent life in the blood of a lamb and would extend that life to give us life (to a limited extent).  The blood would have to be renewed continually because it was only animal blood and wasn't enough to stave off the death that came through Adam. 
     God said in Genesis 2:24 (Amplified), "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."  Paul reaffirms this in Ephesians 5:21-33 (Amplified) with a discourse on the husband and wife relationship, saying in Verse 32, "This mystery is very great; but I speak concerning (the relation of) Christ and the Church."  We have become one flesh (or Body of Christ) by His Blood.  His very life is now our life, by His Blood.
     We preach abstinence to our young women in church, but we do so from a purely "sinful" viewpoint.  This isn't wrong, it's only incomplete.  There is a far greater meaning and power in remaining a virgin, other than we teach about.  The marriage covenant is a blood covenant and is consummated by the shedding of the blood on the wedding night.  This makes the two become one by the Life in the blood.  This blood covenant made between a man and his wife is second only to the Blood covenant between us and God.
     In Genesis 2:24, Jesus left His father to become man and was made One with His bride, the Church.  His Blood has made us One with Him for all of eternity.  His life is our life for forever and forever.  The two have now become one flesh by the power of the shed Blood.
     There is more than a sex act that occurs between a man and his bride on their wedding night.  There is an exchange of life that will hold a marriage through anything.