![]() ![]() God reinforces the power of unity within marriage again and again throughout his Word by telling us that a husband and wife are one flesh. The relationship between a husband and wife, when they operate in obedience to God’s Word, is the representation and reflection of the gospel, the redemption of man being reconciled through Christ to God. The symbol of unity within marriage has a greater purpose to serve than a husband and wife coming together for their own satisfaction or desire. Marriage is a picture of Christ and his relationship with the church. Marriage is and always will be an earthly symbol of a heavenly truth. It is not just a man and a woman coming together under the same roof with a legal document stating that the state recognizes this to be the case. Marriage is much more than an earthly institution. In God’s infinite creativity and wisdom, he used marriage to masterfully paint for all the world a picture of his love and his redemption plan.Īs we reflect on the words of Paul, we can begin to see God’s divine purpose for marriage. Paul points this out in Ephesians 5:31–32, where he reiterates the words of Genesis and pushes the symbol farther: “‘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.” Simple in that they were told to tend to the garden and be fruitful and multiply, profoundly mysterious in that ultimately their marriage would be a picture of Christ and the church. This job he had for them was simple, yet also profoundly mysterious. God had a job for his two new children to fulfill, and their marriage was the vehicle to accomplish that job. On the contrary, marriage, Adam and Eve being united, was necessary for God’s purposes to be fulfilled. God’s decision to bring man and woman together in marriage wasn’t an afterthought, although it can seem that way when we read about Adam not seeing a suitable helper out of all the animals he was naming. Humanity is God’s greatest creation, and his desire is to show us who he is. Doesn’t this show us just how much God values and cares for his children, how much he values and cares for you, and how much he values your marriage? But after he created man and woman, he declared it all to be very good ( Genesis 1:31).ĭo you see it? Are you beginning to grasp his grand narrative? Creation was only good until the introduction of man and woman made it very good. On almost every day of creation, God declared his work to be “good” ( Genesis 1:10, 18, 21, 25). He gave it all to them for food, for pleasure, to cultivate, subdue, and rule over. In fact, everything God created was for the benefit of the man and the woman. ![]() ![]() Marriage isn’t simply a part of God’s perfect creation it was a gift he gave to his favorite part of creation-man and woman. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him male and female he created them” ( Genesis 1:26–27).Īfter God creates Eve, and after Adam rejoices in his new companion, the Bible states in Genesis 2:24: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” ![]() Right in the very beginning of the Bible, not more than 26 verses in and barely six days into history, God chose to unveil his divine masterpiece: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Marriage was so important, in fact, that God didn’t waste a moment to introduce this powerful symbol to us. Marriage is a heavenly concept with divine implications. Marriage is not man’s idea, nor is it anything man could ever define. Marriage, too, is something that God created to reveal his nature. Every star, every plant, each and every animal, every cell, light, wind, and sound, it was all created with this purpose in mind. God made everything to show the world who he is and what kind of God he is. Paul proclaimed, “For invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” ( Romans 1:20). So then, what does the Bible say about marriage? Why did God create this beautifully messy thing called holy matrimony? The Bible is and must always remain our only source for defining what our lives and marriages mean and what they are meant for. In fact, without the Bible, there can be no faith, salvation, maturity, wisdom, or knowledge of the Holy One, let alone a marriage after God. It is God’s Word and his Word alone that we, as faithful men and women, stand on. ![]()
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