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At this point, I feel like the author of Hebrews in chapter 11. After mentioning all those who exemplified faith, the author says, \u201cAnd what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of\u2026\u201d Here, we could include Hosea and Gomer, Priscilla and Aquilla, Paul and the churches, the Song of Solomon, Jacob and Rachel, Isaac and Rebekah, and on and on we could go. But all of these point to the greatest love story\u2014the one that is the theme of the entire book, namely, the love story of Christ and the church.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sadly, Ephesians 5:21-33<\/a> has become a controversial passage. When we talk about things like submission and gender roles, we tend to get all worked up. And I get it. Verses like this can be used to do harm instead of help. Some of these words become \u201cdirty\u201d words because of how wicked people have wielded them. However, this is an absolutely beautiful passage. The marriage relationship that Paul paints here is one that I think every spouse would love to walk in. (Some of us, by the grace of God, get pretty close).\u00a0<\/p>\n Paul\u2019s aim in that passage, though, isn\u2019t about marriage as much as it is about Christ. At the end of this passage, Paul is turning all the household codes onto its head. The relationship that Christ has with His bride is the one which all others are patterned after. Marital love, and every other form, is but a shadowy reflection of the love of Christ for us.\u00a0<\/p>\n Christ is that perfect husband. Everything that the husband should be doing, Christ is doing and has done. Christ has given Himself up for his bride. He died to redeem her. His bride was dead, enslaved, and under the wrath of God. \u00a0Rather than leave her there, he rescued her. It\u2019s rather graphic, but more than likely, Paul had Ezekiel 16<\/a> in his mind when he wrote this. Go read that and come back\u2026.<\/p>\n If you read Ezekiel 16<\/a>, now that this is precisely what the Lord has done with us. We were helpless and hopeless, and he has showered his love upon us, covered us, cleaned us up, and adorned us with beauty. Because Christ is a good husband, everything you see in this text is something Christ is doing or has already done. These are sure things.\u00a0<\/p>\n And that, friends, is the greatest love story ever told.\u00a0<\/p>\n Photo Credit: \u00a9iStock\/Getty Images Plus\/Dangben\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
\nMike Leake<\/strong> is husband to Nikki and father to Isaiah and Hannah. He is also the lead pastor at Calvary of Neosho, MO. Mike is the author of Torn to Heal<\/em> and Jesus Is All You Need<\/em>. His writing home is http:\/\/mikeleake.net<\/a> and you can connect with him on Twitter @mikeleake. Mike has a new writing project at Proverbs4Today<\/a>.<\/div><\/div>\n