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. In other words, the new people of God formedby the Messiah will not be formed by physical procreation but by theatoning death of Christ.110 This Momentary MarriageWhich is why the next chapter (Isaiah 54) begins,  Sing, O barrenone, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you whohave not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be morethan the children of her who is married (Isa.54:1).And this is alsowhy Isaiah 56:5 says that unmarried covenant-keeping people will have a monument and a name better than sons and daughters.[and] aneverlasting name that shall not be cut off. In the true people of Godformed by Jesus Christ, monuments, names, offspring, and inheritancesdo not arise through marriage and procreation.Jesus, Paul, and PeterSo when we come now to the New Testament, Jesus makes clear thathis people the true people of God will be produced not by physicalprocreation but by spiritual regeneration.So he says to Nicodemus, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see thekingdom of God (John 3:3).And Paul says in Galatians 3 to Jews and Gentiles alike,  Knowthen that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.[I]nChrist Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith (vv.7, 26).In otherwords, it is not physical descent from Abraham that makes you part ofthe covenant people of God but faith in Christ.And Peter says that our inheritance comes not through marriageand offspring but through the work of Christ and the new birth: According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to aliving hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, toan inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept inheaven for you (1 Peter 1:3 4).So Jesus, Paul, and Peter all say: Children are born into God s fam-ily and receive their inheritance not by marriage and procreation but byfaith and regeneration.Which means that single people in Christ havezero disadvantage in bearing children for God and may, in some ways,have a great advantage.The apostle Paul was single in Christ, and he said of his converts, Though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have manyfathers.For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospelSingle in Christ 111(1 Cor.4:15).Paul was a great father and never married.And does henot speak beautifully for single women in Christ in 1 Thessalonians 2:7when he writes,  We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother tak-ing care of her own children ? So it will be said of many single womenin Christ,  She was a great mother and never married.A Radical Relational ReorderingTake heed here lest you minimize what I am saying and do not hearhow radical it really is.I am not sentimentalizing singleness to makethe unmarried feel better.I am declaring the temporary and secondarynature of marriage and family over against the eternal and primarynature of the church.Marriage and family are temporary for this age;the church is forever.I am declaring the radical biblical truth that beingin a human family is no sign of eternal blessing, but being in God sfamily means being eternally blessed.Relationships based on familyare temporary.Relationships based on union with Christ are eternal.Marriage is a temporary institution, but what it stands for lasts forever. In the resurrection, Jesus said,  they neither marry nor are given inmarriage, but are like angels in heaven (Matt.22:30).And when his own mother and brothers asked to see him, Jesussaid,   Who is my mother, and who are my brothers? And stretchingout his hand toward his disciples, he said,  Here are my mother andmy brothers!  (Matt.12:48 49).Jesus is turning everything around.Yes, he loved his mother and his brothers.But those are all natural andtemporary relationships.He did not come into the world to focus onthat.He came into the world to call out a people for his name from allthe families of the earth into a new family where single people in Christare full-fledged family members on a par with all others, bearing fruitfor God and becoming mothers and fathers of the eternal kind. Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at whichyou nursed! a woman cried out to Jesus.And he turned and said, Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it! (Luke11:27 28).The mother of God is the obedient Christian married orsingle! Take a deep breath and reorder your world. Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or broth-112 This Momentary Marriageers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sakeand for the gospel, Jesus said,  who will not receive a hundredfoldnow in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers andchildren and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternallife (Mark 10:29 30) [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]