I understood the picture God provides of marriage almost 50 years ago, but only in the last few months after the loss of my wife of 52 years, have I maybe fully realised the meaning and deep significance of the scriptures in the Bible about the sacred institution of marriage, eg. Genesis 2:24, ‘Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.’

The words are simple enough, and we thank God for the creative act that perpetuates the human race, but its deeper significance eluded me until I experienced overwhelming grief. (See the last but one blog). The nearest thing I could compare it to would perhaps be a ‘panic attack’, where I felt such loss that it seemed a huge part of me had been torn away, leaving me gasping for breath, with rapid panting.

Truly, we had become one flesh in a much deeper way than I could possibly have imagined, as I tried to adjust to the loss and seeming emptiness.

The realisation that a man and a woman can become ‘one’ like that, is important, for Jesus Christ said He and His Father are similarly ‘one’, and that He will marry those who have been true Christians after their resurrection, before His Father’s Throne in heaven.

Then,  Christ and His Bride all also become  ‘one’,  with all that that means for mankind’s awesome future.  The results  will reveal the complex nature of God’s Plan for mankind, making my previous understanding of marriage seem very shallow indeed, and I look forward to writing about its detail in an article for this website.