Marriage is not mainly about being or staying in love. It’s mainly about telling the truth with our lives. It’s about portraying something true about Jesus Christ and the way He relates to his people. It is about showing in real life the glory of the gospel. Jesus died for sinners. He forged a covenant in the white-hot heat of his suffering in our place. He made an imperfect bride his own with the price of his blood and covered her with the garments of his own righteousness. He said, “I am with you....to the end of the age....I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Matt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5). John Piper
What did you promise your mate when you got married? What was your vow to him/her? Did you say “until death?” How seriously do people take that promise they made at their wedding? They made a vow to each other, but God says that all vows are vows unto Him as well.
In Malachi 2:14, marriage is called a covenant, “the wife of your marriage covenant.” Even though, the word covenant is not used in reference to the marriage of Adam and Eve, their marriage truly represents a marriage covenant, a covenant between them and with God.
Genesis 2:21-22 says, So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, He took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man.
This passage is very similar to the scene with Abraham, God caused Abraham to go into a deep sleep when God established the covenant with him.
As described on the other side, a covenant includes the cutting of flesh and the shedding of blood. God cut the side of Adam to bring out the one created to be like him, Eve. He closed Adam back. Eve was birthed from the side of Adam. God established the covenant with them; they made a covenant with each other and with God.
God joined man and woman together in “oneness,” in the same way that we are one with Him. He put two people together, a man and a woman, to become one. He joined Christ to the church to dwell together as one body. Our marriages are covenant relationships, just as God has a covenant relationship with us through Jesus Christ.
"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:31-32)
God established marriage as the first covenant in the Bible. God pictured His love and faithfulness to His people through marriage.
God, Me, and Thee
For the past few years I have had a growing concern that the Christian community has passively watched the "dumbing down" of the marriage covenant. Marriage has become little more than an upgraded social contract between two people — not a holy covenant between a man and a woman and their God for a lifetime. Dennis Rainey
The covenant of marriage is the single most important human bond that holds all of God’s work on the planet together. It is no small wonder that the Lord is passionate about the sanctity of marriage and the stability of the home. This covenant of marriage is based on the covenant God has made with us. It is in the power of His promise to her mankind that our personal covenant of marriage can be kept against the forces that would destroy homes and ruin lives." Jack Hayford
By covenant standards, the vows are not consummated or made valid until the groom literally gives all of himself and the bride all of herself in the act of sexual union. As the two bodies become one flesh physically, the two persons become one spiritually, bonding them forever in covenant relationship. Christopher McCluskey
