People who are truly in love know that marriage is one of the greatest blessings the Lord has given people. But, these days, there's a lot of confusion and doubt about marriage.

Let's take a look at what the Bible says about it, beginning at the very beginning. The very fact that the Lord has created us male and female (Genesis 1:27) seems to indicate that marriage is the intended condition for people.

In the Adam and Eve story, the Lord says, "It is not good that the man should be alone." (Genesis 2:18). Therefore, He creates Eve. It's a very ancient story that depicts marriage as part of His plan for people.

God's blessing on the first marriage makes this even more clear: "And God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply.'" (Genesis 1:28)

Not only does marriage have the Lord's blessing - it is also phrased as a commandment in this passage from the prophet Jeremiah: "Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel.... Take wives and beget sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters--that you may be increased there, and not diminished.'" (Jeremiah 29:6)

King Solomon said, "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord." (Proverbs 18:22)

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus has a telling response to the Pharisees who are quizzing him about divorce:

Jesus answered, "Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female', and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate'." (Matthew 19:4-6)

In the text of the Bible, there are also frequent references to a marriage between the Lord and His Church, where the church is made up of the people who love the Lord and follow his commandments. This is a different sort of marriage than the one between husband and wife, but some of the same ideals of love and reciprocity and conjunction are presented.

"As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." (Isaiah 62:5)

"Your Maker is your husband: The Lord of Hosts is His name." (Isaiah 54:5)

"'Turn, O backsliding children,' says the Lord, 'for I am married to you.'" (Jeremiah 3:14)

"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." (Revelation 19:7).

See also Jeremiah 31:32; Isaiah 49:18, 61:10; Jeremiah 2:32; Hosea 2:2, 2:19; Ezekiel 16; Matthew 22:2-9; 25:1-10; Luke 5:34; Revelation 21:2, 9; 22:17, etc.

From all this, it's pretty clear that there's strong support in the Bible for marriage.

That said, there are also some passages that have led people in other directions. In some of Paul's letters, there are some things which can be taken to mean that marriage is less chaste than celibacy. And, in answering a question from the Saduccees, Jesus says that in heaven, they neither marry nor are given in marriage. What did he mean by that? It has a deeper meaning than appears on the surface, but it's often been misinterpreted. We will dig into these issues in separate topics, or in an extension to this one... but, overall, the Bible's pretty clear that marriage is part of the Lord's design for us, and that our physical, earthly marriages represent a spiritual marriage, too.

8794. 'And you are to set bounds for the people round about' means not extending into heaven beyond the spiritual spheres of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'setting bounds round about' as the extension of a sphere into heaven to specific limits that are determined by each one's good; and from the representation of the children of Israel, to whom 'the people' refers here, as those governed by spiritual good in which truth is to be implanted. For this state of the good of those belonging to the spiritual Church is described in the present chapter and in those that follow it, 8753. So it is that 'you are to set bounds for the people round about' means extension into heaven no further than to the spiritual spheres of good.

[2] No one can know except from revelation what to understand by extension into heaven as far as the spiritual spheres of good. The situation is this: Any good imparted to a person through regeneration by the Lord extends itself to communities in heaven. The amount and the nature of this extension varies with each person; it varies in amount as it advances towards more distant boundaries in heaven, and in nature as it shifts more towards the internal parts of heaven or more towards the external parts. The actual good residing with a person flows in from the Lord by way of the communities of heaven that are round about; good that does not flow in by way of those communities is not possible. The communities of heaven exist round about, closely joined together without a break; not a break between them appears anywhere. It is the same with every single thing that is connected with good and constitutes its essential nature. Therefore when a person is being regenerated his enrichment in good is nothing other than being introduced into angelic communities, and in this way being joined to them. See also 4067, 4073, 4077, 6598-6613

[3] This has also been demonstrated to me quite a number of times by actual experience. Sometimes contact with certain communities has been withdrawn from me, and then the amount and the nature of life that remained were determined by the amount and nature of extension into the communities that were left. And when more communities were taken away, my life suffered and began seemingly to be snuffed out. Every angel, spirit, and man has a spiritual sphere, and its nature is determined by its extension into different communities. It extends not into the actual communities, but into the spheres emanating from their good. These matters are arcana that are unknown to anyone in the world but are very well known indeed in the next life. The reason why they are unknown to anyone in the world is that a person at the present day believes that he has life in himself, and consequently that he lives without association with spirits and angels, and so without being linked to heaven. But in this he is altogether mistaken; for all the life a person has comes from the Lord by way of communities [in the spiritual world].

[4] In addition it should be recognized that the life emanating from those belonging to the spiritual Church reaches as far as the angelic spheres in the second heaven, called the spiritual heaven, but not as far as the third heaven, where those who are celestial are. The reason for this is that a member of the spiritual Church cannot receive the Divine as He exists in the inmost or third heaven where those who are celestial are, except in so general a way that he does not even notice it. And the reason for this is that those who are spiritual cannot reach even the outer doorstep of the good governing those who are celestial, 2718, 3833, 6500, 8521. All this shows what should be understood by not extending into heaven beyond the spiritual spheres of good, meant by the injunction 'you are to set bounds for the people round about', and also what should be understood by the words that follow it.

[5] It should also be recognized that just as those governed by good have an extension into angelic communities according to the nature and amount of their good, so those ruled by evil have an extension into hellish communities according to the nature and amount of their evil. And in addition to this, everyone in the next life comes among those with whom he had been in contact during his lifetime. His ruling love determines this; for that love is what constitutes the sphere emanating from each person's life, and extends as far as the nature and amount of it determine.