To My Dear Friends Podcast

Marriage and the Home 1 of 2
In the Light of the Sanctuary

#0457 Study Given by W. D. Frazee—July 5, 1968

In John the 17th chapter, and the 3rd verse, we shall find our opening text. Here we have an inspired definition of what real life is:

“And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent” John 17:3.

Life eternal is to know God. And this is speaking of life not merely in the dimension of length, but of breadth. To live on and on, to exist eternally might not in itself be much of a blessing. But oh, if life can be full of meaning, full of joy, full of accomplishment, full of satisfaction, and then can go on and on, that’s something worthwhile, isn’t it?

“And this is life eternal…” John 17:3.

And what is it? To know God. Man was made to know and to love God. And he is happy and satisfied only as what he was made for is accomplished. And everything that God has done for man is to enable him to know God.

I like the way it’s put here in the book Steps to Christ, page 10:

“Through the… deepest and tenderest earthly ties that human hearts can know, He has sought to reveal Himself to us” Steps to Christ, page 10.

What is the purpose of the ties of love between parents and children, between brothers and sisters, between husband and wife? Oh, the purpose is to reveal God to us. That’s what they’re for.

May I read this again:

“Through the… deepest and tenderest earthly ties that human hearts can know, He has sought to reveal Himself to us” Ibid.

Put with that Ministry of Healing, 356:

“The family tie is the closest, the most tender and sacred, of any on earth” Ministry of Healing, page 356.

So, the closest tie of all is the family tie. That’s in the chapter in Ministry of Healing on “The Builders of the Home,” how young people are to prepare for and enter into marriage.

The great purpose of marriage, then, is to reveal the character of God, to understand God.

“He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love” 1 John 4:8.

We know God, then, only as we know love. And marriage in a special sense is the sacrament of love.

Turn to Ephesians the 5th chapter beginning with the 25th verse:

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it” Ephesians 5:25.

Husbands are to love their wives as Jesus loved the church. And what did that love cause Him to do? He gave Himself for the church. So, the husband is to give himself for his wife. Love is, of course, the opposite of selfishness. Only a home where love reigns can represent heaven. That’s what God wants every home on earth to be—a symbol of the heavenly home.

Now, notice that in this parallel between Christ and the church, the husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. The husband, the father, is the priest of the home as Christ is the Priest, the Head of the church, the High Priest of the Heavenly Sanctuary.

I’d like to read an interesting statement on that point from Volume 1, page 547:

“Every member of the family centers in the father… He is the lawmaker, illustrating in his own manly bearing the sterner virtues, energy, integrity, honesty, and practical usefulness. The father is in one sense the priest of the household, laying upon the altar of God the morning and evening sacrifice, while the wife and children unite in prayer and praise. With such a household Jesus will tarry, and through His quickening influence the parents’ joyful exclamations shall yet be heard amid more exalted scenes, saying: ‘Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me’” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 1, page 547.

Who is the priest of the little sanctuary in the home? The father is. The husband and father is the priest of the household, the priest of the sanctuary in the home.

Now remember, all of this is that human beings may know God, may understand God.

Back to our text here in Ephesians:

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church…” Ephesians 5:25.

What does “even as” mean? Same way, to the same degree, same manner. Oh husbands, isn’t this a tremendous challenge? You and I as men, as fathers, as husbands, are in a special sense called to be representatives of the great High Priest in the Heavenly Sanctuary. And our families, and especially our wives, our companions, are to know God by knowing us. Our children are to know God by knowing us.

Well may we echo the question of the apostle:

“…Who is sufficient for these things?” 2 Corinthians 2:16.

As we shall see in these studies tonight and tomorrow night, we need an anointing before we dare venture into the sanctuary to officiate. Aaron was anointed as the high priest before he ministered in the earthly sanctuary. Jesus was anointed as High Priest before He entered upon His mediatorial work in the Heavenly Sanctuary. And every man who stands as husband, as father, needs an anointing, or else he cannot function, he cannot officiate, he cannot do the work to which he is called.

May we read the text again? Will you read it with me? All together:

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it” Ephesians 5:25.

Yes, love is to be revealed in the home. Now, there are various manifestations of love in human life. In a sense, we’re to love everybody. That is, we’re to be willing to help others as they need. And so, it is written:

“…Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” Matthew 22:39.

And Jesus showed in the parable of the Good Samaritan that our neighbor is anyone who needs our help. We’re told to love especially the members of the family of God on earth. As brothers and sisters bound together in church fellowship, we can sing, “Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. “

But there is a closer love when in the family parents and children, brothers and sisters, have the privilege of living close day by day and entering into experiences of affection closer than the world at large, and even the church at large may properly enjoy. But the heart, the center of that whole experience, is the love, the mysterious love between one man and one woman, the husband and the wife.

And concerning this, on this page we read Ephesians 5:31–32:

“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery…” Ephesians 5:31–32.

“This is a great mystery…” Ephesians 5:32.

It is indeed a wonderful mystery, dear friends. There is nothing else like it in human experience. You know, if you were just looking at society in general, I don’t suppose you could find anything more different than a man and a woman.

And God takes one man and one woman, not related, not those that have grown up in the same home with the same parents, but with varying backgrounds— He takes one man and one woman and puts them together and says, “Now, I want you two to be one. I want you two to be one.”

Can that be done? I say to you, my dear friends, it cannot be done except by a miracle, the miracle of divine love. And the One who began His ministry by taking water, ordinary water and changing it into wine, pure, fresh, delicious grape juice, the One who did that at the marriage feast of Cana is ready to take the common experiences of life, and by the miracle of His love change them into heaven on earth for those who will let Him manage things. It’s a wonderful opportunity.

Paul says:

“This is a great mystery…” Ephesians 5:32.

And he adds:

“…but I speak concerning Christ and the church” Ephesians 5:32.

Christ and the church, the union of Jesus and the church, that’s a great mystery, how Jesus and the church can be joined together in a close union and become one. And here on earth in every Christian home is to be an object lesson of that mysterious union, as one man and one woman are joined together in love, in a union which the universe looks on and beholds in wonder, and adores the God who has made such a wonderful plan.

Now, notice that word “mystery.”

“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery…” Ephesians 5:31–32.

Oh, is it a mystery?

Somebody says, “I don’t know that there’s any special mystery about it. It happens all the time.”

May I tell you, friends, it happens very seldom, very seldom. Oh, I know that people are getting married every day. And they’re getting divorced every other day, too. You see, we’re living in a time when few know the mystery, few know the mystery.

May I illustrate it? Paul is using marriage here to represent the union between Christ and the church. The ceremony, the outward expression of the inward union that represents linking the soul with Christ, is baptism. And when an individual is joined to Christ, the thing that we see and the thing that we experience physically is the immersion in water. But is that all there is to it? Oh, no.

And suppose we witness a baptism and somebody comes forth from that watery grave, entering into the resurrection life with Jesus, the face glowing, the voice filled with love and joy.

And suppose somebody standing by says, “I think I’d like to be happy like that. I think I’ll go down and get baptized.”

Is that all there is to it? Ah, my dear friends, and before you rush into marriage, remember:

“There is not one marriage in one hundred that results happily…” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 4, page 503.

The One who knows, who keeps the vital statistics, has told us that. And so, you understand perhaps what I’m saying when I repeat that this is a great mystery, and very few people know anything about it.

They may go through the outward form. They may stand at the marriage altar and take the vows. And they may go through all the physical experiences of marriage. They may be joined in the physical union that this 31st verse is talking about. And they may come after days or weeks or months of those intimate and close experiences, and they may come disillusioned, cynical, frustrated, disappointed, feeling that life has given them a bad deal.

Do they know the mystery? No, they don’t know the mystery any more than the people who go down into the watery grave of baptism and never know the joy of intimate, close, eternal union with Jesus Christ. I repeat, it takes something more than the physical experience of union to represent this mystery that the Scripture is speaking about. And it is to this mystery that I invite your attention just now.

“Ah, but,” someone says, “if it’s a mystery, how’s anybody going to understand it?”

Let me read you something very interesting from the commentary. This is Volume 7 of the commentary, page 740. This is not a Spirit of Prophecy statement, but it is a correct, historical fact. I read:

“In early Christian usage the term ‘mystery’ did not mean something that could not be understood, as it does today,

but something that could be understood only by those who were initiated, that is, those who had the right to know” SDA Bible Commentary, Volume 7, page 740.

You see, friends, it’s a mystery. Can anybody know it? Well, that depends on whether they meet the conditions. This is a mystery that is known only to the initiated.

Says one, “Well, I’ve been initiated.”

Oh, have you? Are you sure? I’m not so sure, friends. I repeat, ninety-nine out of a hundred married couples have never been initiated. They do not know the mystery.

“This is a great mystery…” Ephesians 5:32.

And I believe that tonight there is wonderful light shining from the sanctuary on how we can enter into this mystery. You notice that the mystery is:

“…understood only by those who were initiated, that is, those who had the right to know” SDA Bible Commentary, Volume 7, page 740.

Now, when we look at the sanctuary, we find that everybody was not allowed into there. That’s one of the things that strikes us at once. Only the priest could enter the sanctuary at all, and only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place.

Somebody says, “Well, why be so exclusive? If it’s so good, why not have everybody come in?”

There are many things that God has meant for everybody and to be enjoyed by everybody and all together. But there is one thing in human experience, my friends, that is just the opposite of that, and that is the union between man and woman. And that is expressed negatively in a very positive way in the Seventh Commandment:

“Thou shalt not commit adultery” Exodus 20:14.

That’s what Jesus proclaimed from Sinai’s mount. That is what Jesus wrote in the Ten Commandments, the Seventh Commandment. He wrote it on the stone that men might know that this is of eternal obligation.

“Thou shalt not commit adultery” Exodus 20:14.

And what does it mean to commit adultery? It means to attempt to enter into, outside this sacred union between husband and wife, to enter into those experiences that belong to them alone. It means to attempt to get the thrills, the joys that God has reserved for one man with one woman in the marriage union, to attempt to get those outside.

“Well,” says one, “don’t people get those?”

Well, turn over to Proverbs the 9 th chapter, the 17th verse, and we’ll take a look. It’s possible to get something, my dear friends. No question about that. And that kind of joy, that kind of thrill which comes by breaking the Seventh Commandment, either in the final act of physical union or in all those preliminary experiences that prepare the way, let’s see what the Bible says about it.

“Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant” Proverbs 9:17.

“Stolen waters are sweet…” Proverbs 9:17.

Well, let’s have some, then. But the next verse has the sequel. The man that listens to this talk:

“But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell” Proverbs 9:18.

You see, the 17th verse that says:

“Stolen waters are sweet…” Proverbs 9:17.

…is not God speaking. It’s a foolish woman (verse 13), a woman who tempts by her talk, by her actions, by her dress, the attention of men. She promises sweets that are stolen.

And may I tell you, friends, to the unconverted heart there is an added thrill by tasting of the forbidden. This is one of the great levers that Satan used in the very beginning of sin on this planet. What did he say to Eve there at the tree?

“Oh, has God said you can’t eat of every tree? Has God put some restrictions on you?” [a paraphrase of Genesis 3:1].

And the woman had to admit, “Yes, there is a restriction” [a paraphrase of Genesis 3:2–3].

“Why, he said, “the very idea. The way to be happy (happier than you are), the way to be wise (wiser than you are), is to just put those restrictions aside and satisfy every desire” [a paraphrase of Genesis 3:5].

That was dealing with fruit, literal fruit on a literal tree, but the lesson is for all time in every command of God.

When God says, “Thou shalt not touch, thou shalt not taste, thou shalt not handle,” He means exactly that, my friends. But remember, the Devil offers the thrill of the forbidden. And it is this thrill that is attracting millions of human beings today.

But remember, that thrill is artificial. It is false and it is temporary. As this 18th verse says, the end is death. And the greatest loss is this. Those who travel that

way never know the mystery that we’re studying tonight. They never know the real love, the real joy, the real satisfaction that comes to those who wait God’s time, God’s arrangement and follow His directions.

You see, it is impossible to have both, my friends. There is no man that can, at one and the same moment, enjoy breaking the law and enjoy keeping the law. That’s utterly impossible. And every thrill that you get in breaking the law is that much cheating yourself from learning ever the joy of keeping the law. Which will you have? Oh, I invite you to let Jesus lead you into that higher experience that so few know.

This is a great mystery, this is a great mystery, the union of man and woman in this intimate, sacred union which God has arranged. What for? What was our opening thought and text? That men might know Him, that men might understand Him.

Now, let me say I’m talking obviously to two classes of people here tonight— the married and the unmarried. I have something for both of you tonight, perhaps a bit more for the married this evening, perhaps, a bit more for the unmarried tomorrow evening. But there’s plenty for both the married and the unmarried tonight and tomorrow night.

But let me say very briefly, friends, if you are married, what I am giving you tonight and tomorrow night applies to you in the home you have, with the companion that you have vowed before God and angels and men to be true to as long as you both shall live. Apply this to your situation that you’re in.

While I’m painting an ideal picture, I tell you it is very practical, friends. And whether you know it or not, and whether you tonight have grasped the glorious vision, your home, and I care not what a mess you may have made of it so far, your home can be a heaven on earth. And right where you are, you can begin. And the purpose of this study is to help you learn how to have heaven on earth. But your home must be, to be heaven on earth it must be indeed a sanctuary. There must be a priest. And we must understand what’s going on there, and what the different things are for and what they mean.

To the unmarried, I would say, friends, learn all you can from this lesson tonight and tomorrow night so that you will know better how to let God lead in your life in establishing a Christian home. Because I tell you, it isn’t done just by your deciding that you’re going to do it. Oh, no. Unless the fire falls from heaven, there’ll be no fire on that altar. And without fire on that altar, how will the incense be offered in the inner sanctuary?

You may go through all the motions, you may bring the boards, you may erect a building, but unless the holy Shekinah dwells between the cherubim, what kind of sanctuary do you have?

So, to both the single and the married, I would recommend this is a great mystery, therefore study it with all your heart because it’s a mystery to the

uninitiated. Let Jesus help you to learn the laws that mean life, to learn the rules that bring satisfaction and joy.

Let’s look at these veils. What are they for? Why is there a veil here at the entrance to the sanctuary? Why is there another veil here between the Holy and the Most Holy? Well, I’ll tell you, my dear friends, what those veils are for. Those veils are to keep out those that don’t belong there. That’s what they’re for. The veils are to keep out those that don’t belong there.

You remember in the ancient sanctuary, as we’ve already noted, nobody but the priests could come into this Holy Place. Nobody but the high priest could go into that Most Holy Place. You can read that in Hebrews 9 verses 6–7.

The point is, friends, the veils stand there to say to the passing crowd, “No admittance. No trespassing.”

“Oh, but I don’t like that.”

Well then, you’ll never know the mystery. You’ll never know the mystery. The mystery is known only by the initiated, and the initiated are those who are thankful for the veils.

Let me read you a statement from the book Ministry of Healing in this wonderful chapter on “The Builders of the Home,” page 361:

“Around every family there is a sacred circle that should be kept unbroken. Within this circle no other person has a right to come” Ministry of Healing, page 361.

How many go in? Just one man and one woman. And they go inside the veil. And there’s a sacred circle there, and the veil stands to represent the barriers that shut them in and shut out how many others? Everybody else.

Were you ever inside? There are a lot of people who are married, friends, who have never gotten inside that sacred circle. It means to accept literally what the marriage vow recites. Will you love him, honor him, cherish him, and forsaking all others keep you only unto him as long as you both shall live? It means accepting that literally.

In this impure, wicked Sodom and Gomorrah age:

“Around every family there is a sacred circle that should be kept unbroken. Within this circle no other person has a right to come” Ibid.

So, that’s what the veils in the sanctuary tell us for this sanctuary, the home. May I suggest to you that some of the most important veils that surround the home, the Christian home have to do with dress and demeanor, the clothes people wear and the way they act and talk.

One of the most beautiful statements on this is in the book Education, page 248. Listen, carefully:

“Chaste simplicity in dress, when united with modesty of demeanor, will go far toward surrounding a young woman with that atmosphere of sacred reserve which will be to her a shield from a thousand perils” Education, page 248.

A Christian young woman is surrounded by an atmosphere of sacred reserve. She stays inside the veils until God’s time comes for one man, her anointed priest, to enter within those veils. That’s so different from what is going on in the world about us. It’s as far as heaven from hell.

Oh, I’d rather live in heaven, wouldn’t you? May I read this again?

“Chaste simplicity in dress, when united with modesty of demeanor, will go far toward surrounding a young woman with that atmosphere of sacred reserve which will be to her a shield from a thousand perils” Ibid.

But there are millions of girls today who don’t want any shield. They don’t want to be kept from these perils. But they will never know the mystery, friends, they will never know the mystery. They may have all sorts of physical unions with first this one and that one and the other one, but they will never know the mystery that Jesus intended in the union of man and woman. They will never know.

For the mystery is in the sanctuary. It’s not in the alley, and it’s not in Hollywood. Babylon doesn’t know anything about it. The mystery is in the sanctuary, a sacred circle where one man comes within the veil.

This statement is so wonderful and beautiful I must read it once again.

“Chaste simplicity in dress…” Ibid.

You notice it’s to be “chaste” simplicity? There’s a lot of dress today that’s simple enough. It’s so simple there’s hardly any left of it. Pardon me. Don’t laugh, my friends. God forgive you. This is serious.

I repeat, modern dress, some of it is very simple, but there’s nothing chaste about it. Chaste means virtuous, pure, holy. So, we want not merely simplicity, we want what kind of simplicity? Chaste simplicity.

“Chaste simplicity in dress, when united with modesty of demeanor, will go far toward surrounding a young woman with that atmosphere of sacred reserve which will be to her a shield from a thousand perils” Ibid.

Some quick-thinking person may be asking the question, “Well, if a Christian young woman stayed inside that veil of sacred reserve, how would she ever get married?”

How indeed? I’ll give you some more light on that tomorrow evening. But just now, notice, friends, it’s God’s plan that those veils should be there, represented in chaste simplicity in dress and modesty of demeanor.

Now, I’m not going to study either one of those tonight. I’m not going to study what modest dress is. I should say this to you. Hardly anybody today even knows what it is, let alone wears it. But if a Christian woman will get down on her knees and ask Jesus, and will study the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy counsels, her conceptions of what the veils are and how those veils ought to be represented in her dress will get clearer all the while.

Remember that the purpose of the veil is not to reveal. It’s to conceal. It’s not to expose, it’s to cover.

It’s not to say, “Come hither.” It’s to say, “Keep out.”

That’s it. It’s just that simple, just that clear.

Oh, that God may help us to appreciate what it’s all for, and the same with the demeanor. I won’t be studying that with you tonight. But the demeanor of a Christian woman, married or unmarried, is not winking with her eyes, flirting with her walk, standing around talking to some man, finding excuses to linger in the presence of men and boys. Oh, no. There’s no veil there; no thought of barriers of reserve.

“Ah but,” somebody says, “but I want to do those things.”

Then, you will never know the mystery. You can have what you want, but you will never have what your deepest heart really longs for. Stolen waters may be sweet, but they’ll turn to bitterness when you swallow them.

Would you like to know the mystery? The mystery is within the veil. And those veils say, “No admittance.”

“Ah but,” somebody says, “what is there to be ashamed of?”

You know, there are two great reasons, friends, why anything is covered or partitioned off; why there are walls or doors. One reason why some people have doors, or veils, or barriers is because they have something to be ashamed of. But don’t jump to the conclusion that that’s all that’s covered by veils.

Why did God put those veils up back there in the sanctuary? Was it that there was something going on in the sanctuary there to be ashamed of? Oh, no, but something so glorious, so wonderful that it could not be shared by the common herd. Only one in the ancient service could venture there. Not because there was something shameful, but because there was something glorious.

And oh, I pray that God may give us such exalted views of marriage that we shall understand that the purpose of every barrier of reserve, every veil of modest dress, is for the same purpose. The shameful thing is when those veils are torn

down, or cut off, above, or below. The shameful thing is when what God intended to be the secret mystery reserved for those of His calling when the attempt is made to share that with the vulgar crowd. That is indeed shameful, but God’s arrangement is not shameful, my friends. There’s a glory there at the inner shrine for those who will wait God’s time and listen to His direction.

Now, a sanctuary calls not only for this sacred place with its sacred furniture. The sanctuary, as I have said, calls for a priest. Jesus is the Priest in the Heavenly Sanctuary, as Paul presents to us so beautifully in Hebrews 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Those chapters just are full of the glory of that great High Priest in the sanctuary above.

But I wish you’d turn now to Hebrews the fifth chapter verses four and five, and I want us to notice something about the priesthood. Speaking of the work of the high priest, I read:

“And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made an High Priest” Hebrews 5:4–5.

Did Jesus make Himself the High Priest? What does this say? Oh, no.

“And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an High Priest; but He that said unto Him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee” Hebrews 5:4–5.

Jesus did not make Himself an High Priest. And my dear men, young or old, you cannot make yourself a priest. Oh, you may put on the garments, and you may rush into what you think is the appropriate place. But I want to tell you something.

“…No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron” Hebrews 5:4.

And if I were you, young men, I would be sure that I had the call of God before I accepted the honor.

And you husbands who are already husbands, wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing to go to Jesus and say, “Dear Lord, help me to be the kind of priest in this earthly sanctuary of my home that You are in the heavenly tabernacle.”

Now, even though Aaron was called of God to be the first high priest in this earthly sanctuary, there was a ceremony of anointing that he had to enter into.

He didn’t just rush up there and say, “All right, we start business this morning.”

Oh, no. If you’re interested, read about it there in Exodus. See the experiences that God led Aaron through from the time that he first heard about that he was to be a high priest until the day when he began to function.

Among other experiences he had was the experience of anointing. The Lord willing, tomorrow night I want to study that with you. Oh, that every husband might be anointed for his mission; that he might receive the heavenly unction without which he cannot function.

Husbands, have you been anointed, or are you just serving without that? I think you can readily see from what we have studied so far tonight that to understand this, we shall need the Holy Spirit from heaven to interpret things aright, to our minds.

The people of this world, knowing nothing of the sanctuary in heaven and knowing very little of what real love is here below, can never be our leaders or our teachers. But dear ones, if we will let Jesus teach us, if we will let Jesus lead us, we can have here on earth an experience that will make heaven right here in this present life.

“The warmth of true friendship, the love that binds heart to heart, is a foretaste of the joys of heaven” Ministry of Healing, page 360.

Now, a closing thought that will be particularly precious to somebody here. It may be you. Listen. Among the other things which we notice in this sanctuary is an altar. I want to tell you some more things about that tomorrow night. This is where the fire of God was kindled. This is where the incense was offered. All of that has deep meaning. On the horns of this golden altar, I see the drops of blood sprinkled there by the officiating priest.

What does that blood represent? Oh, that blood represents the life of Jesus poured out for us on the cross.

Do you remember one of our opening texts?

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it” Ephesians 5:25.

The sanctuary of the home is to be a place where the husband gives himself for his wife, as Jesus gave Himself for the church.

But now, look at those drops of blood. One of the functions of those drops of blood was to cover the sins which came in in the daily service. The repentant sinner brought his offering, confessed his sin, slew the sacrifice, and the priest sprinkled the blood upon the golden altar.

And so, as I look at that blood, I see a covering for sin. And it is written:

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” Psalm 32:1.

In the sanctuary of the home, if there is love, enough love, deep love, tender love, then sins can be forgiven and covered.

May I read you this statement. This is in the book Adventist Home, page 177:

“The heart of his wife should be the grave for the faults of the husband, and the heart of the husband the grave for his wife’s faults” Adventist Home, page 177.

But it takes blood to cover sins. It takes the life of Jesus poured out in love. And unless the husband, as the ministering priest in the earthly sanctuary of the home, has that kind of love, divine love, do you know what he’ll do, friends? He’ll be telling other people about his wife’s faults. He may do it when she’s present, to her shame. He may do it when she’s absent. But in either case, do you know what it is he lacks? He lacks this divine love.

The same with the wife—if the wife is lacking in this divine love, she’ll be telling other people the faults of her husband. Oh, she may joke about it. She may tell some little experience that shows what a bungling dunce he is, or what a foolish bargainer he is, or how he can’t do this or do that, or how she and he disagree about how the children should be managed, or a thousand other things. Do you know what I mean? Have you ever heard it?

Those who do such things do not know the mystery. They do not understand the union of one man and one woman in a unity like Jesus and the church are united.

“The heart of his wife should be the grave for the faults of the husband, and the heart of the husband the grave for his wife’s faults” Ibid.

I’ve told my dear little wife more than once that I’ve never looked at her heart under the fluoroscope, but I know it’s a great big one. I’m thankful for a wife like that, friends. God gave her to me. And I’m so glad I can say to you humbly, very humbly, for I don’t deserve it, but factually, I know something of the mystery that I’m talking to you about tonight. I know that it is possible to have heaven on earth. I know that it is possible for one man and one woman to enter into an experience of blending.

May I remind you that the One who knows says that the true understanding of the marriage relation is the work of a lifetime [see Adventist Home, page 105]. And my wife and I both agree that we know more about it than we did 35 years ago.

But oh, what we’ve discovered in the Bible, in the Spirit of Prophecy, and in the experience is so wonderful. We’re like a boy that’s just had a slice of a great big, ripe, luscious watermelon. He knows what he wants. It’s another slice of the same melon.

Dear married folks, if you’ve tasted a bit of what we’re studying tonight, ask Jesus to give you more and more. And if you haven’t, if you’re mated but not matched, if you’re married legally and in the eyes of others but you do not know the

mystery of that union of heart and mind and soul, may I tell you there’s good news for you. You can begin where you are.

And with this, I close our study tonight. This is in Ministry of Healing, page 362:

“Men and women can reach God’s ideal for them if they will take Christ as their helper. What human wisdom cannot do, His grace will accomplish for those who give themselves to Him in loving trust” Ministry of Healing, page 362.

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