Richard Barcellos on Marriage and the Sabbath

[The following is an excerpt from Dr. Richard Barcellos' new book Getting the Garden Right: Adam's Work and God's Rest in Light of Christ, page 178.]

"[M]arriage, from the beginning, was designed by God to be a type of Christ and His church. Marriage, as a divine creational institution, continues until Christ returns. It is not abrogated by His first coming. So, just as the creational ordinance of marriage is an age-long divine institution pointing to Christ and His church, so similarly with the Creator's rest and a Sabbath day rest for man. A Sabbath day for man is a creational ordinance pointing to eschatological rest. As a type of the ultimate rest to be enjoyed in Christ, the earthly symbol remains as a Sabbath rest, or a Sabbath-keeping [now taking place on the Lord's Day], for the people of God."

MY NOTES:

1. Regarding marriage: Christ in His redemptive work secured the Church as His bride, and yet marriages, which point to this spiritual reality, continue until the spiritual reality is consummated in the "marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev 19:9), after which there will be no more marrying or giving in marriage (Matt 22:20).

2. Regarding Sabbath-keeping: Christ in His redemptive work secured the believers' rest, and yet Sabbath-keeping (Heb 4:9, rightly translated), which points to this spiritual reality, continues until the spiritual reality is consummated when we are brought into the ultimate Promised Land of the New Heaven and New Earth, free from sin, temptation, and all misery (Rev 21).