Facets

There are SO MANY pictures in the Bible. God has chosen to reveal Himself to us in things we know and can understand. He is our Father (John 20:17), our King (Psalm 47:7). Christ is our Shepherd (John 10:11), a door (John 10:9), a rock (Psalm 18:31). We are grass (Psalm 103:15), dust (Psalm 103:14), mist (James 4:14). The kingdom of heaven is like a pearl (Matthew 13:45-46) or a mustard seed (Matthew 13:31).

Marriage is a picture of our union with Christ, but singleness highlights Christ's sufficiency in a way marriage never can. Here's the thing, God is too much GREATER than us for just one illustration to capture! Just like the facets of a gemstone catch the light to emphasize the beauty of the stone, the church, combining and reflecting the many illustrations God has provided emphasizes HIS glory!

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their 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 Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Ephesians 5:22-33
 
To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am.
1 Corinthians 7:8
 
Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.
1 Corinthians 7:17