In the Bible, a mountain symbolically can represent an institution or a government, an entity which is ruled by someone, like a kingdom. For example, in Daniel, Daniel speaks about a dream which King Nebuchadnezzar had about a large statue made of several different metals. In the end of the dream, Daniel says to the king,
“Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” [Dan 2:34-35]
In the dream, the metals represent different kingdoms. This is explained in Daniel 2:36-40. However, in the end when Christ returns, He shall destroy these kingdoms and His government, His kingdom, will fill the whole earth; as it says also in Psalms, “for the kingdom is the LORD’s: and He is the governor among the nations.” [Psa 22:28] This interpretation is found in the next few verses, where Daniel prophesies,
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” [Dan 2:44-45]
We see then that the mountain represents a kingdom. In Daniel, it represents Jesus’ kingdom which shall be established upon the earth when He returns.
In Psalms, we see a verse which uses this idiom but in a slightly different way, not speaking of Jesus’ kingdom but David’s household. He writes, “LORD, by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.” [Psa 30:7] It is here, where we shall see how this relates to marriage; for just as a government may be defined as “control; restraint…direction and restraint exercised over the actions of men in communities, societies, or states;” it can also be defined as, “the exercise of authority by a parent or householder.” [Webster] As we have seen a mountain represent a kingdom, it can also represent a household. Therefore, seeing that husband is the governing authority over the household, let us see that just as David said, “LORD, by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong,” that in the same way, by God’s grace, a marriage and a household stand strong.
In all things, God’s grace is foundational. In David’s Psalm we see that it was by The LORD’s favor, or His grace, that His mountain stood strong. Without God’s grace upon His life, working and being stewarded wisely, David’s household, and His kingdom, would amount to nothing. As David also writes of The LORD, “in thy favor our horn shall be exalted.” [Psa 89:17] In the same manner, as we have said, it is through God’s grace that any marriage shall stand strong. God’s grace provides strength to the marriage and nothing else. The marriage and family shall not stand strong by a man’s own wit and will, nor shall they succeed through the strategies of clever men. They shall only be firm and immovable through the grace of Christ, just as any individual man: as it is written, “He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defence; I shall not be moved.” [Psa 62:6] The Holy Spirit also says that Jesus is “before all things, and in Him all things hold together,” [Col 1:17] and this does not exclude those entities which are more abstract, like marriage. Through Jesus our marriages shall hold together and stand strong; they shall not be as the vain kingdoms in Daniel, which were crushed to pieces and blew away, but through the grace of Jesus Christ they shall stand strong. Just as it is written regarding Jesus as king, “and a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land,” [Isa 32:1] so too He may be for the marriage: a shelter from any wind, any storm, any enemy. Through Christ alone, the mountain of marriage stands strong.