TO CHERISH THE WIFE Ephesians 5:2829 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who

loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and CHERISHES it, just as the Lord does the church. CHERISHING the wife as the Lord does the church has a stock of picturesque implications for the interested husband. First of all, the word itself implies a specific loving activity of the husband. In the Greek, to cherish is and (according to Strong) most probably akin to the word to warm, to brood, that is (figuratively), to foster. This was a most interesting discovery for me, as I have been through the Ephesians passage on marriage and the family more than a few times, both for personal reasons and for preparations for teaching programs. Ive often thought of the contemporary coloring of the word cherish quite satisfactorily, understanding it to be akin to value or endear or love affectionately, warmly. Those are great synonyms. But a particular definition of Strongs struck such a vibrant chord within my heart that I could no longer belay its undeniably melodious reverberations. That is the term brood. To brood has its own implications outside of religion which are negatively understood. Consider the following definition, most widely accepted: Brood, v.i. To remain a long time in anxiety or solicitous thought; to have the mind uninterruptedly dwell a long time on a subject; as, the miser broods over his gold, (Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary of American English). Long time associated with anxiety and dark import, another definition has taken back seat because of alternative foci in contemporary language such as this. Consider this definition of the Greek synonym to cherish: BROOD, v.t. To sit on and cover, as a fowl on her eggs for the purpose of warming them and hatching chickens, or as a hen over her chickens, to warm and protect them. 2. To sit on; to spread over, as with wings; as, to sit brooding over the vast abyss. To mature anything with care. BROOD, v.t. To sit over, cover and cherish; as, a hen broods her chickens. 1. To cherish, (Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary of American English). At this particular definition, I was immediately met with the thought of Genesis chapter one verse two which is, And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face

of the waters (KJV). Strongs Concordance equates the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters with the terms brooding, hovering, fluttering and moving relaxedly, as I will discuss. Of course, all of this reflection came about as I was reading in E.J Youngs Studies in Genesis One, (P & R Publishing, Phillipsburg, NJ), while in other hours of the day I am found reviewing Ephesians for our marriage fellowship each Sunday evening. The import of Genesis chapter one verse two conveys the idea of the Spirits hovering over the uninhabitable earth, which at that point in the beginning was in a primeval state. Several versions employ the term hovering . One version (Literal Translation of the Holy Bible) says the Spirit of God (was) moving gently upon the face of the waters. Another (1898 Youngs Literal Translation) renders it, quite beautifully, the Spirit of God (was) fluttering on the face of the waters. Strongs Hebrew definition offers the term brooding as an alternative. Ive probably digressed at this point. This is not simply a word study. So, before getting too far out of orbit, allow me to descend a bit. I am trying to give us the picturesque of the character of a husbands cherishing of his wife. Imagine the Spirit of God hovering upon, brooding over the primeval waters of the earth. Not indifferently, not somehow deistically disinterested with His own holy activity, we can imagine the Spirit of God very affectionately in this position. He was brooding over her (primeval earth)cherishing the work in commencement, awaiting the word of the Father to announce Let there be light. The beautiful creative genius of God is about to begin. The show is starting. As a passionate violinist awaiting the signal of the maestro to begin the melodious masterpiece; as an emotionally charged artist, colors and brush in hand, breathing excitedly over his beloved, empty canvas; or as the keen-eyed sculptor broods over with surpassing vision his unrefined, raw stone, his chisel, hammer and brush readied; so we might imagine the role of God the Holy Spirit in His brooding eagerly over the undisclosed masterpiece under His control. This is picturesque for the interested husband, to cherish his wife in much the same attitude. She is a work in commencement from the sound of the words, I do onward. Equate it with the Fathers utterance, Let there be light. She, the wife, is there in her husbands presence, under his affectionate dominion, ready for him to display the substance of his brooding artistry. She is his music to play with free passion. She is his to sculpt with vision, precision, and determinate affect. The husbands gift from God in marriage is in this breath of thought: He cherishes, he broods, he hovers, moving gently, everaccurately to bring about beauty, a work of sagacity. She is the object of his unbroken, affectionate focus and desire. He broods with vision and love.

Another such picturesque character of the interested husbands cherishing is found in Deuteronomy chapter thirty-two, verses ten to twelve. He found him in the desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, so the Lord alone led him, and there was no foreign god with him. Various versions employ such marvelous language to convey the action of the Lord for his chosen nation. He hovers, or flutters, (as the eagle) teaching its young to fly, always ready to swoop down and catch them on its back should they fall. Most versions use hover or flutter here, describing the action, while the transliterations attempt to convey the intent of the eagle in the simile (teaching the young to fly). There is precision, care, and strongly guided activity intended. It is done to develop, mature and refine the reflexes and habits of the little eaglets. Such is an invigorating illustration for us. To this end, and to commence and carry on this effect, the eagle hovers and flutters over its young. Directly understood, this is the careful focus and purposed concern of the Father for His children (Deut. 32:6). He is quite undisturbed in His focus on His peoples good and progress. They are the apple of His eye encircled by Him, hovered over and fluttered over with such zealous regard, and for the purpose of seeing them matured, enabled, empowered and established. Related to our course of sailing through the skies of the world of marriage, this chart maps out the interested husbands cherishing of his wife. She becomes his prized preoccupation in the desert of this fallen world. He is under his watch-care, without intermission, without rest. He is focused upon her and her strengthening. The husband positions himself in ever-hover, fluttering as it were, over her in his development of her weaknesses and his refinement of her strengths. He stirs her up to action, motivating her to try her wings, her assets, and to become skilled with what is her hand. His focus unbroken, he employs every effort, as the eaglespreading out its wings, taking them up, and carrying themwhen they happen to fall now and then. He gives all his strength to the safety and supply of his cherished one and her commissioned employment as a woman in marriage. He leads, unceasingly, untiringly, ever-brooding over the object of his unfaltering purpose: his wife. He cherishes herbrooding, hoveringattentively moving ever gently in her direction with unbroken purpose. He waits for her to mature, wanting to see her, not just to make it through her life in marriage and family, but soar as the eagle, to be as confident as he is in his calling. He is always there, to enable her, to empower her, to protect her progress of development and to see her established.

Sailing through the skies of this picturesque world of the husbands character toward his beloved wife, we must firmly establish his point of reference. What is the true capital point of his world if we are to understand the driving substance of this cherishment? It must always be gracious love. Our Father in Deuteronomy 32 is such the gracious lover of his chosen nation: he found him in desert land (v. 10)wasteland, a howling wilderness. Apparently He adopted Israel with no particular obligation. There is not much special about the object of the Fathers unfaltering love to this lost child. Israel is found wandering, untaught, immature, falling down, alone and endangered. Such becomes the object of the Fathers love and becomes His project of grace. The specialty of Israel is the Fathers undeserved love. Such is our understanding of Christ the Sons relationship to the church. She is the reject, the sinner, the broken, the lost and solitary one, who without the rescue of her loving Savior had no hope. This applies to each and every individual member of the church, including husbands and wives. The husband sees himself in this way, a broken sinner saved and being restored by the gracious care of Christ his Redeemer. Gracious Love is then the Capital City of our world of marriage. And it is so distinct and outstanding in beauty, that it is quite visible from our orbit. It is the husbands base of operations in his world of marriage and his mission to cherish his wife. Ephesians 5 commands the Christian husband this, to love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for herand to cherish her as the Lord does the church. The husbands point of reference to his world of marriage to his wife is always and only gracious love. From there, all his activities and energies poured out in cherishment upon his beloved begin and find their meaning. Why so? The wife is no absolute perfection of adoration that love stories and films sometimes portray her to be. And especially the Christian wife must know this. She is among those who as broken and wandering sinners were found, encircled, enraptured and adopted by the gracious love of Christ. Salvation of the sinner is never the immediate perfection of the sinner. The wife counts herself as a sinner and certainly not very lovable in her sinfulness. She knows herself to be saved by grace, and now being sanctified and perfected, however gradually, by the means which God her Father has ordained in Christ. Among those means are the word of God, prayer, fellowship and service. These means include a specific person, a delegated representative of Christs own passionate purpose toward her, to guide her. This delegated representative carries within him, as in Christ and through the Holy Spirit, the capacity and giftedness to cherish her. For she will fail him; yes she will fall down many times. She will not always invite his affections through her natural character. She will be quite a hard case at times in her stubbornness and sinfulness. She will rebel, as Israel rebelled. She will try to good at times and become discouraged when she fails in her own power. And she will disappoint her

husband again and again, grieving him in his heart, for he loves her and wants her to succeed, be strong and sufficient. At times she will believe him ready to surrender and walk away. And at times, he will feel the provoked emotion to give up and lay down his tools of grace. But gracious love, his captial point of reference, will keep reminding him of why he continues to hover over her so, to brood over her with his entire being, and cherish her. Gracious love moved Christ to say of all He (the Father) has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day, (John 6:39), and to cause to come to pass his eternal possession of them, through the shedding of His precious blood on the cross to save and keep them all. His complete giving of Himself secured the salvation and preservation of His church, His chosen people, the apple of His eye. The wife is the chosen object of affection and desire for the husband. And by gracious love He gives Himself to her no matter her degree of sanctification or sinfulness. He gives Himself to cherish her with unmitigated purpose, never to part from her: and she will become strong and mature; she will develop; she will become beautiful in Christ and through His Spirit; she will become established as the wife, as the mother of his offspring, as an example to her sons, a model for them toward which to aspire in their future calling to cherish a beloved wife of their affection. How can we be so sure of this? Because she has the best means availed to her for this affect: her brooding husband, who is selected and empowered for her by Christ Himself, in the world of Christian marriage. And by Christs designs, this husband broodsthat is, the multitude of his thoughts are always about her; the whole mass of his emotions intertwined always encircle her; the constant mind of his purposes toward her hover over her and the very idea of her. The thought of her and the pang of her beheld and felt in his heart must never be ungrounded. Sin and destruction are the reason he must be careful to have his cherishing of his wife founded upon gracious love, not merely upon fleeting passion and changeable affection. And so to the title: TO CHERISH THE WIFE: How so? How does one go about cherishing? We delve into the mine of gracious love to dig out the precious fuel for it when we apply ourselves without ceasing to the richness of Gods word. We dare not stop there, no matter how rich our find. The resources we mine out are not directed to any necessary purposes by any innate wisdom of our own (as if it actually existed); but these riches are directed to their proper use and providential distribution of their power by our consulting with the King of Gracious Love. This implies assertive prayer. Jesus is the Chief Cherisher and Chief of cherishers, and by prayer unto Him we will begin to understand the proper use of every principle and precept in the art of cherishing the wife. Not to forget the simple disciplined art of obedience. Based in our mining out Gods word and prayerful consultation

with Our Lord, we can comfortably employ the quip: practice makes perfect. Only by obedient and hearty practice can we experience how to cherish more readily, more effectively, more willing and more confidently. Even though many times it may tire us, hurt us, discourage us and even utterly disappoint us in our affectionate brooding, the discipline of practice must have its way in the design of our Lord. His word will not fail us, either in what it commands or designs or requires of us. Paul said, he who loves his wife loves himself When a man cherishes his wife in well-resourced, prayerful and hearty obedience, he begins to edify himself in a way that he himself could never have designed or masterminded. It is because the result is celestial. He will find such power and cause to praise His heavenly Father, His loving Lord Jesus, and the abiding Spirit of God for the joy he derives. This is divine. To cherish the wife is of heavenly origin, and has a most heavenly effect on the wife as well as the husband. The effect will be an exaltation of divine love, in all its wisdom and glory and beauty! The enjoyment will include the adoration of the King of Love, from which the very command was issued.