DEVOTION / No morganatic marriage for us
If it wasn't a fairytale, Cinderella's prince would have been bound by it. Japan's Princess Mako was bound by it. England's Prince Charles and his second wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, are, at least in part, bound by it.
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The "it" is morganatic marriage.
Morganatic marriage
Morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank. Morganatic marriages prevent the person of higher social position from passing on to his or her spouse -- or children born into the marriage -- any titles, property, or succession rights. Morganatic marriage laws were the norm in royal families until recently.
The Bible describes the relationship the Son of God has with his Church, including every member of his Church, as a marriage. Jesus is the bridegroom; the Church is his bride (for example, Revelation 19:7, Revelation 21:2, Revelation 21:9). But there is never an indication this is a morganatic marriage.
How unexpected. Could anyone marry farther below their status than the Son of God when he married the Church. Down to the last soul, the Church is filled with sinful, rebellious human beings.
The Church is Christ’s bride
Yes, "Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." That is the reason Christians could be "prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband" (Revelation 21:2).
But morganatic marriage sensibilities should have demanded that the low-class roots of the Bride of Christ must disqualify her from ever fully inheriting her husband's position and glory. Yet, because our bridegroom "gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own" (Titus 2:14), "we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17).
Full rights and privileges
Titus 3:4-6 describes our status in the same way. "When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."
Because Jesus opened to us his Father's unlimited love, our marriage to him brings us unimaginable privilege and position.
Jesus has cleansed us, made us radiant before his radiant Father, and presents us at heaven's wedding banquet as holy and blameless. Our marriage to the Son of God cannot be morganatic.