Genesis (Pt. 7) (The Ordinance of Marriage)
Text: Genesis 2:18-25
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
Now last week we looked at the first covenant between God and man, we saw that God had told Adam to do certain things, and that he would be rewarded for those things. We also saw that God forbid Adam from doing something, and if Adam disobeyed; he would be punished. And of course we all know that Adam did fail to obey the Lord and sin entered into creation as a result.
This morning I want us to look at the last of the ordinances given to us in the creation account. And that’s the ordinance of marriage; we’ve already looked at the ordinances of labor/work and of the Sabbath, so now we come to the ordinance of marriage. Now when you look at Genesis chapter 2 you see God heaping blessings upon Adam. He puts him in a literal paradise on earth, He provides for him by giving him everything he will need; food, water. And culminating blessing that God gives to Adam is Eve. It’s marriage. Let’s look at some of those blessings and some of the things that God did for Adam. In verse 9 we’re told that God made all kinds of trees, and they were pleasing to the eye. What this is telling us is that God shared with Adam, His divine capacity of appreciation. You see; God not only made trees that were functional – they provided a source of food, but they were also just a beautiful sight to behold. God not only made things that were necessary for survival, but He made them beautiful in the process. And man has been gifted with the ability to appreciate those things. We appreciate beauty. Animals can’t do that.
In verse 19 we see God bringing the animals before Adam and Adam gives them names. Now this is Adam doing what God has told him to do, he is exercising dominion over the animals. They are brought before Adam – this show’s God’s approval for Adam’s dominion, and then Adam names them, which is the actual act of having dominion. And the implied idea here is that Adam gives each of these animals appropriate names. In-other-words, he names them perfectly. Now that’s an intellectual feat of incredible proportions. We can’t even begin to imagine how powerful the intellect of Adam was. Man’s intellect didn’t increase by our fall into sin, it decreased. In-fact; the early Christians had a saying that went; “Aristotle was but the rubbish of fallen Adam.” But there was another reason for bringing the animals before Adam. No man is an island. We have a need for companionship, we have a need for intimacy, and we have a need for relationship. We have a need for peers, those who are like us, comparable to us. We have a need to share our hopes and dreams and desires.
You know the saying, “Birds of a feather flock together…” The reason birds of a feather flock together is because they are birds of a feather. My friend Beau Hague… the guy I was hoping that would come speak to you all while I was gone; has started a cowboy church in Woodward. The reason he did that is because Beau is a cowboy… you know what would happen if I tried to start a cowboy church? It would flop faster than a fish out of water. On the other hand; I couldn’t start a biker church or a yuppie church either. So I guess ya’ll are stuck with me.
The point is, no animal was suitable for Adam, and so God caused a deep sleep to come over him.
And what God does while Adam is asleep, is the crowning blessing to man in His original creation. And let me just say this really quickly; it’s because of that… it’s because this is the crowning blessing, it’s also precisely the area that Satan attacks, and it’s still the main area that the devil attacks. I’m talking about the relationship between husband and wife in marriage.
So let’s look at this a little closer. God had created everything, and He said it was good, but then He says, “It’s NOT GOOD that man should be alone.” And if you remember, when God says, “It is very good.” It’s not until after the woman was created. Now there’s one really important point I want to show you from this.
Adam had fellowship with God, but it was solitary fellowship, and this was not the plan for mankind. What that tell us is that those people who say that they can worship God on their own, without a family of believers, are fooling themselves. God’s plan is for man to have companionship in their worship and fellowship with Him. And this was the original plan of God all along.
Also notice here that God says He is going to give Adam a helper who is suitable or comparable to him. We see that in verse 18 and also in verse 20. Feminists will tell you all kinds of things about a woman’s role, but God makes it clear, even before He creates Eve, what her main role is to be. She is to be a helper. Now that doesn’t mean, our wives are supposed to be junior assistants, or slaves, or anything like that. That word used for “Help” is actually the same word God uses to describe Himself in the OT, in places like Psalm 46:1 which says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present ‘help’ in trouble.” It’s the same term used of woman. Our wives are a picture given to us by God, of Himself, coming to our aid and rescue. Wives, you are a picture of God’s divine aid to us.
Now God tells Adam and Eve that they are to fill the earth, and so we understand that woman is to help out with that… they are to have dominion, and procreation is a big part of having dominion. But the wife is not just a baby factory. She is a companion to the husband, first and foremost, a helper who is comparable to him. In-other-words, woman is the perfect fit for man. We know that because God made her for man, and God is perfect in all of His ways.
So man is formed from the ground and Eve is formed form him. The apostle Paul stresses the significance of that in the marriage relationship when he points that out in 1st Timothy 2:13, and also in 1st Corinthians 11:7-12… let’s turn there and read that (Read). Now you notice the last part of that passage? It says, “but all things are from God.” Back in our text there in Genesis, you notice that Adam was put to sleep… Adam could in no way take any credit for Eve. He didn’t get to make any suggestions. “Lord make her like this. Make her hair this color and her eyes this color and these should be her measurements.” No! There was none of that. God made her the way she should be. And then He presents her to Adam. That’s where we get the idea of the father presenting his daughter to the groom in our modern day marriage ceremony. The father presents his daughter to the groom. Someday I’m going to get to do that… I get a lump in my throat just thinking about it. We can take this a step further and even say that the parents should have a great deal of input on who their children marry, specifically their daughters. Mainly because the man is to be the head of the house, and no loving Christian parent would want their daughter to marry a tyrant, or a lazy bum, or even worse, an immoral man or an unbeliever.
And then Adam names her woman. And again that shows the chain of authority, but it also shows the mutuality between them, because the name he gives to her indicates that she is just like he is.
In the Hebrew language, man is the word “Ish” and Adam names Eve, “Isha” Which means just what he said, “Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, taken out of man.”
Listen to what Matthew Henry writes regarding the creation of woman.
He says, “The woman was made of a rib, out of the side of Adam, not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him; under his arm to be protected and near his heart to be loved.”
Look at verses 23 – 24 (Read). Here God is establishing the foundation of marriage. It says, “Therefore, a man will leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh.” We see the NT counterpart to that in Mark chapter 10:6-9. In that passage; Jesus is explaining the foundation of marriage. The word “Therefore” is tying what Adam said in verse 23 to what he says in verse 24. Why should husbands and wives leave their fathers and mothers and be joined together? Because God made woman for man… out of man, and she is perfectly suitable for him, to be his helper, and his companion, and the mother of his children. She fills the relationship need for the man, better than a parent does.
So; this last of the creation ordinances, is also the greatest of the creational blessings, and the parameters which God placed around marriage are to be the foundation for this relationship and, are a type of the Lord’s relationship with the Church. We the Church, the Ekklesia – those who have been called out, are the Bride of Christ.
Now think about all of this for a minute in light of the issues we have facing marriage today. Specifically the issue of same sex marriage. Granted, two men, or two women can have companionship with one another… they might be best friends, but they cannot procreate. You’ve all heard that little saying, “God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” Now that’s a simplified comment and sometimes used in a snide or rude way, but in essence it’s the truth. God put man and woman together… not two men, or two women. Woman completes man because she was taken out of man. You get two guys together, and no matter how feminine one might act, they are still missing a key component. But I would say, even more importantly than that, is when you have two people of the same sex who want to get married, they are in capable of rightly showing the relationship between Christ and the Church. In-fact; I would say it is a disgusting mockery of it.
Lastly; for a person to continue on in a homosexual lifestyle is one of the clearest signs given to us in Scripture that that person has rejected Jesus Christ and has been given over to a reprobate mind. That’s the clear and unmistakable teaching of Romans chapter 1.
In our society today, marriage is under attack. It’s not seen as the ultimate form of companionship given to us by God, for the purpose of completing one another and the procreation of children. And it most definitely isn’t usually seen as one of our greatest Christian witnesses to this lost world, of the love that Christ has for those who are His. Instead; people go into marriage today with these false expectations given to them by the latest chick-flick and they place unachievable demands on their husband or wife, and the idea of self-sacrifice and unconditional love is so foreign to them that it’s no wonder so many marriages fall apart.
Look at verse 25 and then we’ll close (Read).
There was no sin originally in this marriage relationship between Adam and Eve. And because there was no sin, there was no shame. In-other-words, nothing was hidden. There were no barriers between husband and wife, and no barriers between them and God. The need for covering comes as a result of the fall. And that covering is symbolic of the mediation we need between us and God. But it also serves a practical purpose for us here and now on the earth. Because of sin, man… and when I say man, I’m speaking of mankind, is a lustful creature. And there are blessings we want, and if tempted we will look for them outside the boundaries of the marriage relationship. And so the practical purpose of the coverings becomes necessary as a deterrent. That’s why the beach is a dangerous place for a Christian to be… there’s not a lot of covering going on there.
So Adam and Eve were not ashamed because originally there was no sin, but even after they had sinned, God provided them with the coverings in the Garden of Eden, and that is what has been historically known as the proto-evangelion, or the 1st telling of the Good News. And actually it wasn’t told directly to Adam and Eve, it was announced to the “serpent” and Adam and Eve overheard it. And that good news is that the head of the serpent will be crushed. That’s of course talking about Jesus Christ, conquering sin and death on the cross.
Sending Jesus to save lost sinners wasn’t an afterthought of God’s. It was the plan from the beginning, and it’s still the plan today.
Let’s Pray
