Revelation 21:2
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,…
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,…
Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Forever is a long time.
“There existed from all eternity a perfect love between the Father and the Son and between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. All that God created is an extension of that love.” Jonathan Edwards
"Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate." Mark 10:9
"Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun." Ecclesiastes 9:9
Do you take your woman to be your lawful wedded wife, to love, honor and cherish her through sickness and in health, through times of happiness and travail, until death do you part?
Hosea 2:19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.
In the time of the Roman Empire (17 BC - 476 AD) the lower classes had "free" marriages. The bride's father would deliver her to the groom, and the two agreed that they were wed, and would keep the vow of marriage by mutual consent. Wealthy Romans, though, would sign documents listing property rights to publicly declare that their union was legalized and not a common law marriage. This was the beginning of the official recording of marriage[citation needed].
The oldest traditional wedding vows can be traced back to the manuals of the medieval church. In England, there were manuals of the dioceses of Salisbury (Sarum) and York. The compilers of the first Book of Common Prayer, published in 1549, based its marriage service mainly on the Sarum manual.[1][2] Upon agreement to marry, the Church of Englandusually offered couples a choice. The couple could promise each other to "love and cherish" or, alternatively, the groom promises to "love, cherish, and worship", and the bride to "love, cherish, and obey".[3]
Hebrews 13:4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Roman Catholic[edit]Couples wedding in the Roman Catholic Church essentially make the same pledge to one another. According to the Rite of Marriage (#25) the customary text in English is:[4]
I, ____, take you, ____, to be my (husband/wife). I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life.
In the United States, Catholic wedding vows may also take the following form:[4]
I, ____, take you, ____, to be my lawfully wedded(husband/wife), to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.
The priest will then say aloud "You have declared your consent before the Church. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you both with his blessings. What God has joined, men must not divide. Amen."[5]
"Be completely humble and gentle; Be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:2-3
Anglican[edit]The law in England authorises marriages to be legal if properly carried out and registered in the Church of England and some other religious bodies (e.g. Jewish, Quakers): other men and women who wish to marry can be married by a local official authorised to do so (civil ceremony). Circumstances may result in the same partners having both ceremonies at different times, though this is rare. The vows, presence of witnesses, and civil registration are absolute requirements under the law.
Civil ceremonies often allow couples to choose their own marriage vows, although many civil marriage vows are adapted from the traditional vows, taken from the Book of Common Prayer, "To have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part."[6]
They were first published in English in the prayer book of 1549, based on earlier Latin texts (the Sarum and York Rituals of the medieval period). An older version of the final phrase is " until death us depart" where "depart" means "separate". "Until death us depart" had to be changed due to changes in the usage of "depart" in the Prayer Book of 1662. In the 1928 prayer book (not authorised) and in editions of the 1662 prayer book printed thereafter "obey" was retained (in the 1928 book an alternative version omitted this). The 1928 revised form of Matrimony was quite widely adopted, though the form of 1662 was also widely used, though less so after the introduction of the Alternative Service Book.
When a marriage goes through its ups and downs, where do you turn for guidance?
In a recent Pew Research religious landscape survey, 71 percent of the nation said they believe in God with absolute certainty, and 56 percent say that religion is very important in their lives.
With over half of the nation holding religion in high regards, many turn to religion to cope with life’s ups and downs. A 2014 study out of Columbia University found that those who practiced religion were more protected from depression compared to those who did not practice. The study showed that subjects who highly valued religion had a thicker brain cortex, therefore protecting the part of the brain where major depression would occur.
The original wedding vows, as printed in The Book of Common Prayer, are:
Groom: I,____, take thee,_____, to be my wedded Wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth.
Bride: I,_____, take thee,_____, to be my wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth.
Then, as the groom places the ring on the bride's finger, he says the following:
With this Ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Quaker[edit]See also: Quaker wedding
In the United Kingdom, since the first law regulating marriage (the Marriage Act 1753), the state recognises marriages conducted by the "Society of Friends" (Quakers), Jews and the Church of England.
The declarations made in Quaker marriage were first set down in a London Yearly Meeting minute in 1675[9] as such:
Man: Friends, in the fear of the Lord, and before this assembly, I take my friend AB to be my wife, promising, through divine assistance, to be unto her a loving and faithful husband, until it shall please the Lord by death to separate us.[9]
Woman: Friends, in the fear of the Lord, and before this assembly, I take my friend CD to be my husband, promising, through divine assistance, to be unto him a loving and faithful wife, until it shall please the Lord by death to separate us.[9]
Although for some, for many reasons valid or not, all can not hold true to the these vows. and we must understand although we should do everything in our power to not divorce it happens and God can forgive us if we earnestly ask him and repent.
Redeemed & Remarried
By Toni Smothers
I know the song the woman is singing,
Out in the church were the bells are ringing.
Not a new bride, yet, her heart’s pounding loud,
Glad as the day is, her love shinning proud.
Watch! See the loving leap out from her heart.
Watch! Was there ever so happy a lark?
Stay awhile, and you’ll hear what she’s saying,
Deep in her heart, you’ll hear what she’s praying.
“Dear Savior Jesus, enthroned in the sky,
Embrace and sustain me, hear my heart sigh.
Stay, while I sing you my love-song of cheer.
Bless our joined lives and remove any fear!
Dear precious guardian, stay by my side.
Accept now this promise, once again, from this bride.
Come gentle Jesus, be ever so near,
My life is beginning - New love sweet and dear!”