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By Mike Cates
This evening we come to do something very sacred and very
holy, in the presence of God. We come
to mark an interval between two states in the lives of (man) and (woman)—one
of betrothal and one of marriage. They
both believe the time of their betrothal is completed, and their exclusive
devotion of love, one of the other, is to now be celebrated publicly by
entering into covenant, in the presence of the Lord, you, their friends and family as
witnesses, and before me, a minister of God’s holy covenant. The two of
you stand here at this time, the bride representing the Church, and the groom
representing the Lord, but soon this shall change. After these nuptials, both husband and wife, as ONE,
will represent the Church. PRAYER May this wedding be celebrated
on earth as it
is in the heavens. Marriage is not something to be entered into lightly. We approach this holy moment in much prayer
and contemplation of what lies ahead. Marriage
is a spiritual, as well as a civil contract, being grounded in the marriage or
conjunction of good and truth; it is from this marriage of good and truth that there comes the sanctity of marriages on earth, and also the laws of marriages given in the
Word. Marriage, when under the influence of true conjugial
love, is the most holy, pure, and perfect state that either men or angels
are capable of attaining. Let me make something
abundantly clear right here: your marriage will either reveal heaven on earth
or hell on earth. Therefore, before
approaching this holy moment, it was necessary that an understanding of God's
law of marriage be grasped, that the two of you are not just doing something in
the natural in order that the world, your families, or the religious society
accept the idea of the two of you co-habiting together. Many stand before preachers or a Justice of
the Peace who still never enter in the covenant of marriage. They don't understand that the marriage of a
man and a woman is a revelation of God's Church; if they did, they wouldn't
destroy it. Therefore, what we do today
is very holy, and God forbid that what He has joined together, any man
destroys. We are instructed from the
Heavenly Doctrine that man perceives no otherwise than that whatever he thinks
from his understanding and intends from his will is from himself, when yet not
the least thing thereof is from the man except the faculty of receiving from God
the things which pertain to his understanding and will. Man from his birth
has the inclination to love himself. Therefore, lest he perish by reason
of the love of self and the pride of self-intelligence, it was provided from
creation that that love should be transcribed (copied) into the wife, and that,
implanted in her from birth, should be the inclination to love the intelligence
and wisdom of her man and thus the man himself. Therefore, a wife
continually draws her man's pride of self-intelligence to herself, extinguishing
it in him and making it alive in herself, and so turning it into conjugial love—a
love which she fills with amenities beyond measure. This is provided by
the Lord lest the pride of self-intelligence so greatly infatuate man that he
believes himself to be intelligent and wise from himself and not from the Lord,
and thus desire to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He would
then believe himself to be like God and even, according to the speech and
persuasion of the serpent—the love of self-intelligence—to be God. This is the Divine
order of marriage. Only those who truly “go to
the Lord, and love the truths of His Church, and practice Its goods” enjoy this
true
marriage love; for “marriage love”
is the fundamental love of all the loves of heaven. No others can receive
from the Lord the sense of His merciful saving love, and the love of the truth
of heavenly life, which are united in the heavenly marriage, but those that
approach Him and love His truths and put them into practice, because it is from
this that “marriage love” descends. So (man) (woman),
as you are stirred by the nobleness of the wisdom (man)
receives from the Lord, and by a sense of the goodness to which that wisdom
leads in life, it will cause the two of you unite more completely in this loving
wisdom and the goodness of it, doing the good works which it teaches, and
ultimately this marriage will be a revelation of heaven on earth; for the two of
you will be a full recipient and embodiment of the Lord’s love. As the time of betrothal comes to its close, the time for consummation
arrives, my function as a minister
is to stand before you two and hear,
receive, confirm and consecrate
your consent. For consent in this
things are the essential of marriage. So I am going to restate this
again: (woman),
you’ll love (man)
from the wisdom he receives from the Lord and in that wisdom; and (man),
you’ll love (woman)
from that
love toward your wisdom and in
it. This is what causes the two to
be united. As I said at the beginning, in the betrothal, the man represented the Lord and the woman the Church. The man gives himself for his wife, as Christ did the Church. He lays down his life for her in order that she might be immersed in his wisdom and thus allowing the love for that wisdom to be formed in her. But after these nuptials, both husband and wife, as ONE represent the Church. You recall in Genesis chapter
one it being stated that God said, “Let us make man in our image... so God
created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him—male and
female, created He them.” I want
you to understand that God made them together as ONE. In
the beginning, there was neither marrying nor giving in marriage.
God had made male and female one.
They were not divided. As
they willed, so did they think. It
was impossible to will or love one thing and to think and say another.
They were firmly conjoined together. There was never any hint that
God intended for either male or female to have superiority over the other.
But that changed when they
turned from the Lord and deliberately disobeyed Him.
They brought suffering upon themselves.
They began to will evil; therefore, the only thing they could think was
what was false. They cursed
themselves! God forbid that either of you
would walk away from God’s idea of
marriage through selfish desires and your hearts become hardened and the two
of you disjoin what God has joined together and this marriage perish in a flood
of falsities. (man) and (woman), you believe with all of your hearts that the Lord provided the one for the other. (man), you knew when you saw (woman) she was yours, and (woman), when you saw (man), you knew he was yours; for when love meets love, it meets itself, and causes it to recognize itself and at once conjoins souls and then the minds and from there it enters into the bosoms, and thus into full love. From day to day this love will grow into conjunction until the two of you are no more two but one—One soul in two bodies. VOWS Today
as we offer your vows, you are affirming that you are walking in God's Divine
order; The words you are about to exchange will change your relationship to each
other, to the Lord and to society as large. So with this in mind let's
offer these vows: •
(man),
do you take (woman)
to be your lawful wedded wife...to have and to hold from this day forward?
(Response) Now repeat these vows
to (woman) in
making covenant with her: (woman),
as Christ gave His life for the Church
… so do I lay down my life for you… together we will form a new creature …
in the Lord Jesus Christ … united we will represent God's Holy Church … Just
as Christ guards and protects His union with the Church … so shall I guard and
protect our union … forsaking all others … Standing against all that would
come against our union … I promise to love, honor, and cherish you … The
Lord do what He will to me if anything come between you and me. •
And now (woman),
believing in your heart God’s purpose for you to take (man)
to be your husband, acknowledge by your response to this vow: Do you take (man)
to be your lawful wedded husband...to have and to hold from this day forward?
(Response) Now repeat these vows
to (man) in making
covenant with him: (man),
as the Church is united to Christ … so do I lay down my life and join myself
to you … to form a new creature … in the Lord Jesus Christ … and represent
His Holy Church … Just as Christ guards and protects His union with the Church
… so shall I guard and protect our union … forsaking all others … Standing
against all that would come against our union … I promise to love, honor and
cherish you. Wherever you go I will
go … and wherever you lodge I will lodge … Your people will be my people
your God shall be my God … The Lord do what He will to me if anything come
between you and me. RINGS May I have the
Bride’s ring please? After
the declaration of consent, pledges are to be given. By pledges is meant
gifts. The gifts, being the rings
you are giving each other today, are tokens of mutual consent, signifying that
you (man) and (woman)
are so pledged and so confirmed. These
rings are testimonies because they are like continual eyewitnesses of your
mutual love and hence a memorial. There
is in them an image representative of your mind.
Like first-fruits, these rings are first
favors because married love promises itself everlasting favor.
These rings are also gratifications of your love, for the mind is
exhilarated at the sight of them; and because love is in them, these favors are
dearer and more precious than all other gifts.
It is though your heart is in them. Never forget, it is
love of God that causes His power to move in your lives.
I want you to wear these rings as a continual reminder of your faith, and
a continual reminder of the confession of faith you are making here this
evening. (man),
take this ring and place it on (woman)’s
finger and repeat these words to her: With this ring, I
thee wed. I give it as a token of my
undying love. May I have the
Groom’s ring. TO THE GROOM (man),
a ring can mean two different things: It
can be a never-ending sign of love, or it can be a shackle.
I am going to charge you with a memory that you should remember always:
This woman stands by your side, not under your feet.
I want you to wear this ring in remembrance that you came to this time of
commitment as a man, but you leave here a husband, just as (woman)
came here a woman, but she leaves here your wife.
From this state on, you are heirs
together of the grace of life. Therefore,
this ring must never be a shackle of domination, but always a reminder of faith
and love. (woman),
I want you to place this ring on (man)’s
finger with these things in mind. Your
vows have stated that you submit to one another in the responsibilities of life,
expecting God and His power to always make the difference. So place this ring on
(man)’s
finger, and as you do, say to him: With this ring, I
thee wed. I give it as a token of my
undying love. CHARGE As a minister of the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as a minister of this covenant by which the
two of you have entered into before me and declared in the presence of these
witnesses, I now pronounce you HUSBAND AND WIFE...
You are no longer considered to be two but one flesh, therefore, what God
has joined together, let no man put asunder! The Lord bless and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you …and be gracious unto you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(man),
you may now kiss your bride! It is now my distinguished pleasure to present to you: ______________ |
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