My wife and I have been married for just over seventeen years now. But if you ask me, it seems like it was only yesterday that we said our vows before God, our families, and our friends. I cherish every moment I have with her and I am beyond thankful to God for bringing us together and making us co-heirs (1 Peter 3:7) of eternal life. Marriage is beautiful in itself, but it can also be a reflection for others to see what a proper relationship with God is like. That’s why this is going to be broken up into two posts. This post is going to take a look at the gift of marriage, while the second post will look at how marriage glorifies God.
Lets take a look at Genesis 2:18;
“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.’”(NLT)
What is so striking to me is the fact that at the conclusion of the sixth day of creation (Genesis 1:31), God surveyed all that He had made and declared it to be good. Everything was perfect except one thing… man was alone. It’s the first thing that God declared was “not good” in all of creation. Adam had perfect fellowship with God, work in the garden, and plenty of animals to tend to, but he had no one he could relate to. God knew that Adam needed that special someone, a “helper”, to make him whole. While it may look like an oversight, you can rest assure, God had planned this before He even started creation. After all, God is omniscient and nothing takes Him by surprise. Let’s continue reading;
“So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.” Genesis 2:19-20 (NLT)
There’s no denying that there is a special connection we have with animals. We grow extremely attached to them over the years, some even call them their children. But a relationship with an animal can never bring us true love, companionship, or help. It’s interesting to me that God brought the animals to Adam before creating Eve. It seems that God was making the point that no animal could compare to His next creation.
“So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening.” Genesis 2:21 (NLT)
This is a very symbolic action, God took a rib out of the side of Adam… Notice that it was from the side, showing the equality of man and woman, not from the head as if women are superior to men, or from the foot as if men are superior to women. Remember this, it’s very important and will come into play in the next post. For now, let’s read on.
“Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and He brought her to the man. ‘At last!’ the man exclaimed. ‘This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’” Genesis 2:22-23 (NLT)
After all the animals passed by, Adam must have been ecstatic to see such a perfect compliment of his very being. His excitement is evident as his first recorded words are celebratory words regarding Eve, a celebration of what women bring to men.
Creating Eve from Adam is covenant in nature. It represents the union between a man and a woman. “Bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh;” bone representing strength and flesh representing weakness. This is a “sickness and in health” or a “strength and in weakness” type of vow. As we can see, the best thing that God wanted for man is woman… not another man and certainly not ourselves. The sexual union between a man and a man, or a man and himself, goes against the union God originally set for us, one man and one woman.
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24 (NASB)
“For this reason…” This is more covenant language. It is the breaking of the parental covenant between the parents and children and the making of a new covenant between a man and a woman. “Shall leave” is best represented when the Israelites would break their covenant with God, and to “be joined“, is best represented as a cementing of, a for all-time type of covenant. God intended for marriage to be unbroken from the very beginning.
This next part is very strong covenant language, “and the two shall become one flesh.” Until brought together by God, we are just individual parts, waiting to be made whole. This is not just talking about procreation. It’s talking about solidarity. Each part of the one flesh relationship is a compliment to the other; physically, spiritually, mentally, and sexually. The other brings fulfillment to the unfulfilled and a balance to the short comings that the other might have. My wife and I like to tell each other that we love “meyou” a lot because we know that we are one, co-heirs of the promise. Marriage is a very beautiful gift from God.
Repent and believe before it’s too late
Photos: My son and his new bride!
