How to Have a Glorious Marriage: Christian Marriage Secrets
- Lee Young
- Oct 17
- 3 min read
Did you know the Bible is based on a wedding?
The Lord has taught us that He is the groom and we are the bride. He is giving us relationships parallel to how our relationship with Him should be. What is in the spiritual guides us in the natural, and what is natural helps us to understand the spiritual. This is very true about marriage.
John 14:1-3
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (NIV)
These are the words Christ spoke to His disciples to prepare them for His crucifixion. However, it would have seemed familiar to them for another reason. It would have stirred thoughts of a wedding.
In biblical times, when a man wanted to marry a woman, he would offer a monetary gift, known as a dowry, to the prominent male in her life, typically her father or brother. If this gift were accepted, then the two would be legally married but forbidden to be together. They could not even socialize with one another. This is why it was such a big deal with Mary turned up pregnant, because since Joseph’s gift had been accepted, they had not even been in the same room together.
The custom was that the man had to go and build a room onto his father’s house where he and his bride could live. Until this room was finished, though they were legally married, they could not be together. They did not even have a ceremony until this room was finished. This room, also known as the Bridal Chamber, represented the man’s commitment to care for his wife, so it was not something to be taken lightly. It would take about a year. During this time, there was to be no contact between them.
Because the man would be in a hurry to bring his wife home, the custom was that his father would decide when the room was ready for them. This kept the young man from cutting corners. But when the father finally said the room was finished, his son would waste no time. If the father walked through the room, whether morning, noon, or in the middle of the night, and decided it was finished, a trumpet would sound off. The man and all his unmarried friends, who have been helping him build, rush to the streets, shouting, "The groom is coming!"
The bride never knows when her husband will arrive, so she must always be prepared. Her unmarried friends have moved in with her and continually give her beauty treatments to be ready. The party begins in the streets, and the city comes out, and the procession leads them back to the father’s house, where the wedding lasts for seven days.
The husband would be allowed by the community to take a year off from work to spend time with his new bride. How awesome would that be!
Jesus is the groom. He gave Himself as a dowry, and when we, by faith, accept His death as His commitment to us, we become His bride. And He is now in Heaven preparing a place for us. One day, the Father will say it is time, a trumpet will be heard from Heaven, and Christ shall return for His bride, the Church. We will meet Him in the air and return to the Father’s house. The book of Revelation describes the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, which lasts not for seven days, but for seven years.
Imagine how wonderful this Heavenly marriage will be? And what is God teaching us through this?
We see that when a couple embraces sacrifice, patience, and commitment, it leads to great bliss. These are Christian marriage secrets for a glorious marriage.
Prayer: Lord, help me to live sacrificially for my spouse, be patient with their faults, and commit to staying even when they are emotionally absent. And let Your reward be a marriage so good it cannot be expressed in words. Amen.
NEED COUNSELING?
The Loving Better Relationship Online Video Course
Do you want an incredible marriage?
God's plan is for your marriage to be better than you could imagine.
Finding the way to a great marriage is not easy. In his book, The Sacred Union, Dr. Young teaches the Biblical principles that lead to an incredible marriage.
Comments