Marriage--a Foretaste of Heaven

God Both Ordained & Approves of Marriage

The warmth of true friendship and the love that binds the hearts of husband and wife are a foretaste of heaven. (1)
God has ordained that there should be perfect love and perfect harmony between those who enter into the marriage relation. Let bride and bridegroom, in the presence of the heavenly universe, pledge themselves to love each other as God has ordained they should. (2)
Man was not made to dwell in solitude; he was to be a social being. Without companionship the beautiful scenes and delightful employment’s of Eden would have failed to yield perfect happiness. Even communion with angels could not have satisfied his desire for sympathy and companionship. There was none of the same nature to love and to be loved. (3)
God Himself gave Adam a companion. He provided "an help meet for him"[Genesis 2:18]--a helper corresponding to him--one who was fitted to be his companion, and who could be one with him in love and sympathy. Eve was created from a rib taken from the side of Adam, signifying that she was not to control him as the head, nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior, but to stand by his side as an equal, to be loved and protected by him. A part of man, bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, she was his second self, showing the close union and the affectionate attachment that should exist in this relation. "For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it."[Ephesians 5:29]. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one."[Genesis 2:24] (4)
God celebrated the first marriage. Thus the institution has for its originator the Creator of the universe. "Marriage is honourable"[Hebrews 13:4]; it was one of the first gifts of God to man, and it is one of the two institutions that, after the Fall, Adam brought with him beyond the gates of Paradise. When the divine principles are recognised and obeyed in this relation, marriage is a blessing; it guards the purity and happiness of the race, it provides for man's social needs, it elevates the physical, the intellectual, and the moral nature. (5)
As the Creator joined the hands of the holy pair [Adam and Eve] in wedlock, saying, A man shall "leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one"[Genesis 2:24], He enunciated the law of marriage for all the children of Adam to the close of time. That which the eternal Father Himself had pronounced good was the law of highest blessing and development for man. (6)
God made from the man a woman, to be a companion and helpmeet for him, to be one with him, to cheer, encourage, and bless him, he in his turn to be her strong helper. All who enter into matrimonial relations with a holy purpose--the husband to obtain the pure affections of a woman's heart, the wife to soften and improve her husband's character and give it completeness--fulfil God's purpose for them. (7)
Jesus did not begin His ministry by some great work before the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem. At a household gathering in a little Galilean village His power was put forth to add to the joy of a wedding feast. Thus He showed His sympathy with men, and His desire to minister to their happiness.[John 2:1-11] (8)
He who gave Eve to Adam as a helpmeet, performed His first miracle at a marriage festival. In the festal hall where friends and kindred rejoiced together, Christ began His public ministry. Thus He sanctioned marriage, recognizing it as an institution that He Himself had established. (9)
The presence of Christ alone can make men and women happy. All the common waters of life Christ can turn into the wine of heaven. The home then becomes as an Eden of bliss; the family, a beautiful symbol of the family in heaven.

From
Counsels On Courtship and Marriage
By: Elen G. White

DIVINATION or HOROSCOPE?

Since the man fall to sin, He has been so anxious about what is going to happen tomorrow. Time after time human race has been wandering who can tell them of their future? What is going to be their fate tomorrow? Where will they be tomorrow?

Deuteronomy 18 : 10 – 15, “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch ….. all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD. …. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God … The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me;…” [KJV]

Why Horoscope?

Today in most magazines and news paper, atleast one page you will find what is popular known as “your horoscope”. What is Horoscope and does it relate to divination?

Divination is the, “act of finding out and saying what will happen in the future” [Oxford Adv. Learner Dictionary, 7^th. Ed]

Horoscope is the, “a description of what is going to happen to somebody [sb] in the future, based on the position of the stars and the planets when the person was born” [Oxford Adv. Learner Dictionary, 7^th . Ed]

In other word we can say, “Horoscope is divination based on the position of the stats and the planets when the person was born”

The Bible in Deuteronomy 18: 10 – 15, explicitly forbade divination and observing of times. In other word the Bible explicitly forbade horoscope.

Exodus 20: 3, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” [KJV]

The LORD God also forbade any medium which will interrupt our relation with Him. But in today’s world man has given his homage to the creation of God instead of the Creator Himself.

Deuteronomy 4: 19, “And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.” [KJV]

à

Jeremiah 1: 5, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” [KJV]

Only God our LORD knows us much better than ourselves, He is the source of our life, He is a creator of everything Visible and Invisible. Whatever we put in between Him and us we create another god to run our life. Yes, we choose sin thus we separated ourselves from the source of our strength. But through His [God] infinite mercy and Love He sent Jesus Christ to reconcile us to Himself [Ephesians 2: 16, Colossians 1: 20]. Anything we interpose (between us and the Lord), we implicitly denying His gift of His only dear son.

What will be our fate tomorrow?

è Let not anything, even His creation stand in between us and our God, because by doing so we explicit disobey His command. It is our choice either for salvation or for eternal loss.