When I asked Noël if there was anything she wanted me to say about marriage, she said, “You cannot say too often that marriage is a model of Christ and the church.”

I think she is right and there are at least three reasons:

1. It lifts marriage out of sordid sitcom images and gives it the magnificent meaning God meant it to have.
2. It gives marriage a solid basis in grace, since Christ obtained and sustains his bride by grace alone.
3. It shows that the husband’s headship and the wife’s submission are crucial and crucified. That is, they are woven into the very meaning of marriage as a display of Christ and the church, but they are both defined by Christ’s self-denying work on the cross so that pride and slavishness are cancelled.

Adapted from the 2007 sermon "Marriage: God's Showcase of Covenant-Keeping Grace."