October 2026: The Perfect Marriage
For the first time (officially), happy Fall!
This October is particularly special for me as in less than 30 days I will be marrying my fiancée, Grace! It seemed appropriate to me this month to share a few reflections on marriage from Scripture as Grace and I approach our special day. Particularly, I want to focus on the first and last image of marriage that we see in the Bible.
In Genesis 2, God says that it isn’t good for man to be alone. When no suitable mate is found for Adam, God creates Eve. While no discrete mention is in scripture of a “wedding” like we think today, Genesis 2:22 says that because of this creation of Adam and Eve, we follow the practice of marriage today. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” They are the first image of marriage that we hold to as we have weddings today.
God creates Adam and Eve as the end of creation as we read in Genesis 1. He looks at creation and calls it not only good (as he has the previous 5 days), but “very good.” The perfect marriage did exist, even if it wasn’t perfect for long! Adam and Eve were not only created as perfect but perfectly created for each other. The ideal that we all strive for as husbands is to be the perfect husband for our wives, and vice versa for all wives.
In Ephesians 5:32, Paul writes that the relationship between husbands and wives reflects Christ and the Church. This is certainly an unimaginable comparison to live up to – for husbands and for wives. That incomprehensibility is the sting of the law that comes to us as sinners. And were these the only images of marriage, we would be quite sorry.
But we get another image of marriage in the book of Revelation from the Apostle John. Revelation 21:9 shows an angel saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” John goes on to describe the “bride” as the beautiful city of New Jerusalem full of precious stones. Best of all, there is no temple or sun or moon in the city because God and the Lamb dwell in her and are themselves the temple and light.
This, of course, is not describing a literal city, but describing the people of God – the church – that Paul speaks about in Ephesians uniting with our Savior. At Christ’s return, there will be no imperfections or sin present. I don’t suggest telling your wife that she is a “heavenly 144 cubits,” but this does reflect another element of marriage for us today as well.
It reminds us that because of Christ, we are a people who are holy and redeemed. While we won’t exemplify that first marriage of Adam and Eve (in any relationship between people), as the people of God we remember that amid sin in our relationships, we have the forgiveness of Christ to share that he has given to us. Whether you are a husband, wife, friend, parent, or child: God has forgiven you; forgive much in return. May this image of Christ and the Church in eternity be the image of marriage that we each hold to in our lives as God’s people, in our marriages, and for all our days. A blessed October to you all!