Wednesday: Creation and Marriage
The last decade has witnessed enormous changes in the way society and governments define marriage. Many nations of the world have approved same-sex marriages, overturning previous laws that have protected the family structure that comprises at its center one man and one woman. This is an unprecedented development in many respects, and it raises new questions about the institution of marriage, the relationship of church and state, and also the sanctity of marriage and the family as defined in Scripture.
Read Genesis 1:26-28; and Genesis 2:18, Genesis 2:21-24. What do these texts teach us about God’s ideal for marriage?
Image © Justinen Creation Collection at Goodsalt.com
On the sixth day, God comes to the climax of the Creation, the Creation of humanity. It is fascinating that the plural is used for God in Genesis 1:26: “Let us make man in our image”. All persons of the triune Godhead in loving relationship with each other now create the divinely instituted human relationship of marriage here on earth.
“In the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27, NKJV). Adam declares, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (Gen. 2:23, NKJV) and Adam names her “Woman”. Marriage requires that “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24, NKJV).
Scripture is unequivocal that this relationship is to take place between a man and a woman, who themselves originate from their father and mother, also a man and woman. This concept is further clarified in the instruction given to the earth’s first parents: “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it’ ” (Gen. 1:28, NKJV). In the fifth commandment, children (offspring) are to honor their father and their mother (Exod. 20:12). This interrelationship cannot be fulfilled within anything but a heterosexual partnership.
| Read Jesus’ words in Matthew 19:3-6. What do they teach us about the nature and sanctity of marriage? In light of Jesus’ words, and while never forgetting God’s love for all humanity and that all of us are sinners, how should we take a firm and faithful stand on the biblical principles of marriage? |
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God spent an entire chapter in Leviticus chapter 18 detailing the sexual relationships to avoid. in the introduction of this chapter God gave two warnings to the Israelites. Do not do what they did in Egypt where you used to live.
For us, God is saying, don’t say I live in the 21st Century; therefore this lifestyle is the accepted norm, and desecrate the temple of God. (your body)
Do not follow the practices of the land of Cannan where you will be living.
God specifically calls on them to do two things.
1) Obey my laws
2) Be careful to follow my decrees
He concludes by saying I am the Lord your God.
Starting with verse 5 to 24 God specifically spells out every relationship to avoid.
V24 to V25 God spells out why the Canaanites were driven out of their homeland.
V26 You must keep my decrees and God expects even strangers, native born who lives in the Israel must abide by the laws in Leviticus 18.
V27 He reiterates why the Canaanites were driven out of the land.
V28 He gives the same warning to the Israelites. If you defile the land, you will be driven out of your promised land.
These warnings are applicable for us today.
Hi Newbegin -
May I encourage you to also see 'warnings' as being 'guard rails' that boarder the road of righteousness which we walk by faith today.
In everything we give God thanks for His Mercy and Grace, because He provided fallen mankind a clear and safe pathway to travel on during the journey through life. This pathway does not eliminate trials and tribulations, but it keeps our foot and our eye steady, and God is pleased when we take His hand.
We, that love our God with all our heart, mind and soul, walk this path together with our Creator - a relationship based on His Love for us and our love for Him.
"... 'warnings' as being 'guard rails' that boarder the road of righteousness..."
Well described Brigitte. Under God's Kingdom, borders/boundaries exist to protect something precious through maintaining that precious thing. Under Satan's kingdom, boundaries are something to be 'trampled' in alleged pursuit of greater so-called 'freedom'. That is why under God's Kingdom boundaries are protectors of the most pure kind of freedom - while under Satan's kingdom boundaries are portrayed/viewed as prohibitions and restrictions to alleged 'greater freedom'.
In Tuesday lesson the writer wrote " Many creationist today emphasize God's work during the six days of Creation, but they neglect to recognize that God's work did not end on the sixth day. His work ended when He created the Sabbath day." Gen. 2:1,2.
Wednesday lesson depicts that " On the sixth day, God comes to the Climax of the Creation of humanity" and this is in line with Exodus 20:8-11.
Here are my questions: 1. I don't understand the fact of God creating the Sabbath and at the same time resting after creating it. 2. What does it mean to be created in God's image and likeness, not forgetting the fact that "God is a Spirit" John 4:24.
Dear brother I’m old in the church, yet I don’t consider myself all knowing. God is mighty, powerful, He never gets tired psalm 121:4. By the sound of his voice all things area created, same thing with the Sabbath, there wasn’t human effort in creating it. God did created it so we can have rest and communion with him. Because he thinks first in His beloved ones, He provides the Sabbath. He knew we were gonna need it.
Edun, those are really good questions. I’m sure there are those that comment on this site, that will have a much deeper and knowledgeable answer than I do, but here is my understanding of these two things.
When God blessed the Sabbath Day and made it holy, it means that He set it apart from the other 6 days as special. We don’t have record of what Adam and Eve did that very first Sabbath day, but they certainly didn’t go to church and Sabbath school. What they did get to do is talk with God himself, with the one who had just created this masterpiece. For us, it can be a day, set aside from all the rest of the week, to recommit ourselves to God, to renew our trust and belief in Him. It is a day that we can choose to spend our day honoring God or not, the choice is ours. The act of creating that 7th day, for God, was as simple as speaking it into existence.
To be created in the image of God, is to live a life with His characteristics. We don’t know, other than the descriptions that Daniel and John give us, what the physical form of God looks like. But they did describe what they saw, and both described Him in the same way. I’m not sure what you mean by “He is a Spirit”, but I hope this is somewhat helpful.
These questions can be wisely answered, or should be responded to, by Mr. Maurice and/or Mrs. Inge, as their writing styles and harmony with theology has served us all very well in the past. These are deep theological questions that requires gentle responses. I hope Mrs. Inge or Mr. Maurice will respond soon.
God bless!
Hi Edun -
Exodus 20:10 states that: ..'But the seventh day is the Sabbath OF THE LORD THY GOD... So, it is God's Sabbath. Man worships the Lord of the Sabbath, his God, by focusing all attention on keeping/maintaining his relationship with his God on this day.
The text does not state that He created the Sabbath like He created all things starting with the first day.
It declares that the Sabbath is the 'Sabbath of the Lord' - first and foremost His day of Rest! God rested and directs mankind not to work so that He can enjoy His Rest - simply speaking. One could say that, ultimately, all the admonishments given to mankind are given to benefit God's Rest.
I see His Rest as wanting to enjoy His Creation and not having to worry about 'fixing things', since mankind is busy causing His laws to be violated continuously. He is merciful and gracious, but only up to a point; He does get exasperated! 🙂
The people of Israel were chosen to be His standard and show the world what it looks like when a people worship the God of Creation instead of worshiping false gods.
Spirit: John 4:24 - The context is established in v.20. Jesus and the women talking about a location - mountain and Jerusalem - as a place for worship. In the end, Jesus points to a new form of worship: v.23 - 'But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
v.24 - No earthly location is involved in worship any longer. God's Spirit receives mankind's worship. One could leave out the 'a' and interpret it to say that God's Holy Spirit is engaged when we worship God 'in spirit and in truth'.
Instead of a 'location'(Jerusalem), we are given God's Holy Spirit and are able to worship Him anywhere, anytime. Now, we know the Truth about who God is, what His will is for us and who He seeks to worship Him.
Eph.1:13,14; 2Cor.1:22; 2Cor.5:5 all speak of God's Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
We are all his workmanship... that we should walk in them.
Eph 2:10
Edum you asked-
'What does it mean to be created in God's image and likeness, not forgetting the fact that "God is a Spirit' John 4:24.
When Adam came from the Creator’s hand, he bore, in his physical, mental, and spiritual nature, a likeness to his Maker. “God created man in His own image” (Genesis 1:27), and it was His purpose that the longer man lived the more fully he should reveal this image—the more fully reflect the glory of the Creator. All his faculties were capable of development; their capacity and vigor were continually to increase. Vast was the scope offered for their exercise, glorious the field opened to their research. The mysteries of the visible universe—the “wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge” (Job 37:16)—invited man’s study. Face-to-face, heart-to-heart communion with his Maker was his high privilege. Had he remained loyal to God, all this would have been his forever. Throughout eternal ages he would have continued to gain new treasures of knowledge, to discover fresh springs of happiness, and to obtain clearer and yet clearer conceptions of the wisdom, the power, and the love of God. More and more fully would he have fulfilled the object of his creation, more and more fully have reflected the Creator’s glory. {Ed 15.1}
But by disobedience this was forfeited. Through sin the divine likeness was marred, and well-nigh obliterated. Man’s physical powers were weakened, his mental capacity was lessened, his spiritual vision dimmed. He had become subject to death.
"God is a Spirit"- True. But in the context of this text the emphasis is not on 'God as a Spirit', but on Worship. The woman concern was, where do/should we worship God?
When we-Christians, are called to be like Jesus/God, it is not calling us to become a 'spirit' but to be like Jesus in character. We read in John 1:14 the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us....
Other bible texts for consideration is Gal 5:22-23, 1 John 4:12-16. John 1:18
Excellent question, Edun. We note that creation week was not of creation of every day, but creation that took place upon the day. The first day was created when light was separated from darkness and 24 hours of time past. Then the succeeding days were not created, but within each 24 hour period creation took place. Hence, the Sabbath was not created, and no creation took place. There were things that did happen on the day and with it and for it. God had finished His work. The good ship of creation has now arrived to its port: the Sabbath. During this day God rested, then God blessed the day, and then He set it apart as something special (made it holy). The Sabbath was the destination of creation where the Creator and creation celebrated each in completeness.
Brother Asum, I have always believed that Sabbath has always been part of God's universal law and existed before creation. The Bible says God ended His work on the seventh day and simply rested.
It will be the same in heaven, there will be no nights there to signal "timing" as was the case in the creation story of Genesis.
We will still be worshiping God in Heaven on Sabbath because it has always been part of God's universal law.
This universal law is summaries in the principle of "LOVE".
Hello Edun,
Note that God rested “from all His work which He had made.” He rested from the work of creating a place for his children (Adam and Eve), and then made time ( created the Sabbath) to begin his work of enjoying that time with his children.
After the Serpent deceived Adam and Eve into believing his lies about their Creator’s character, the Creator (whom we believe to be Jesus Christ) has worked continuously and ceaselessly to free mankind from that deception and its results. Jesus explains this to Pharisees in John 5:17, “My Father works until now, and I work” when they accused him of Sabbath breaking after he healed the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda.
An answer to your second question might be found in 1 Corinthians 15, where the apostle Paul explains the purpose of the resurrection, around verse 44. The Christian’s objective is to allow his Creator to remake him into the image of the Son of God, that is, self-sacrificing love, which is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Love’s action is empowered and guided by the Spirit of God working in and through the Christian. The fruit of God's labour is when we are reunited with him at the first resurrection.
Hope you find this helpful.
Richard
One of the reasons God established marriage was to give humans an idea of the relationship between the 3 beings of the Triune God.
Good evening Shirley, please explain how marriage is comparable to the relationship between the 3 beings of the triune God.
Thank you.
Daniel, good question, to be clear, I didn't mean that human marriage was 'comparable' to their relationship but it helps us understand it, see my post below for more details.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; MALE and FEMALE created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.....Genesis 1:27-28.
The bible says it and I believe it like any other saying of the bible and I am sure I did not got this one wrong. The original design in Eden, the present design and the future design on earth is and will be one man and one woman. A pattern from Eden for the human race.
The physical design between a man/male/he/him/his and the a woman/female/she/her/hers, God used to denote the spiritual design between himself and his bride- the church. We can see this from Genesis throughout the bible to Revelation. The Lord could have gotten rid of Even when she sin, but the consequences of sin never entered the earth until Adam ate of this fruit himself. Then we began to read about the blame game.
Like every other thing, Satan had tarnished the institution of marriage, the man/male and the woman/female.
The Marriage--God intention was not for Adam and Eve to be divorced/separated from each other despite she did wrong and was the one in fault. Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of a Man. The woman/female/Eve taken from the side so as to walk side by side with the husband/man/male/Adam. Both bore the burden, and felt the effect of sin after sin entered the world.
God celebrated the first marriage. Thus the institution has for its originator the Creator of the universe. “Marriage is honorable” (Hebrews 13:4); it was one of the first gifts of God to man, and it is one of the two institutions that, after the Fall, Adam brought with him beyond the gates of Paradise. When the divine principles are recognized and obeyed in this relation, marriage is a blessing; it guards the purity and happiness of the race, it provides for man’s social needs, it elevates the physical, the intellectual, and the moral nature. {PP 46.3}
After sin entered the world it was Cain and his generation who started practicing polygamy (subject to correction) out of Eden. But this was not the Lord ideal for what a marriage should be.
What does Chapter 1 & 2 reveal to us about the Triune God? One - He is caring and sharing - He is willing to share part of His creative power with humans by giving them the power to reproduce and in fact instructing them to be fruitful and multiply. Two - unity, partnership, between the 3 of them, He said "Let Us create humans in Our Image". Three - He wanted humans to have a character like His. Four - Love is the foundation of Their relationship, one alone cannot love there must be another for love to exist, love is being more concerned for your partner than yourself. Thus He created and defined Marriage for the benefit of humans and to carry out His purpose to fill the earth with His likeness. So what is marriage? It is male & female, in a committed, intimate, life long, loving and sharing relationship, together being able to reproduce an image after their likeness.
Roman 1:26-27 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Does The Lord takes pleasure in divorce? Divorce is so rampant in the world and so is the church.
A very long time ago I met my boyfriend- now my husband.
When I met my boyfriend, he was so perfect, even perfect than my family in my own eyes. We were both young, I saw him and I fell in love with him, their was no fault in him. When I visited him, he had his place at times in a mess, but it never bothered me, I helped him clean up. We were so much in love that love was the thing that ruled our relationship. We talked sometimes late into the night, we had joy, we had fun, we had season in the sun. He was the boy/man I was looking for that looked/acted just like my father. I can never go wrong with such a future husband like this. When we felt comfortable enough, we went to visit out distance relatives.
A few years later, as the time went by with a perfect mate we got married. He helped cooked, he helped clean, he helped take care of the children. But as the years went by, the things that I once overlooked started to be seen as big things in the eye. Did he had faults before? Yes/No? But why did those faults never bother me all those years. Was I naive? Is there a perfect marriage on earth? It is said that people got married for many other reason except love. Should love be the only reason why people get married?
After all of those years, and learning that no one is perfect in marriage I am still married to the boyfriend that I met. Marriage is not perfect, but by the grace of God we have to pray alone many days and nights for God to intervene when we just dont see eye to eye with certain situation. Can anyone change their spouse? No. When someone set their mind to do something whether right or wrong, it is the Holy Spirit who has to intervene to show the person if they are in fault.
Amon 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
Many people who divorce will say they were the person who were right. The Reason for divorce are as follows--lack of commitment(want our spouse to be just like us rigid/jovial, or sturdy), too much arguing (everyone wants to be right and have the last say), infidelity (lost of love in the relationship), sorry we married too young (stated they did not know what they were doing), unrealistic expectation(spouse should be like our parents or our former spouse), Abuse (physical/mental/verbal/psychological) etc, etc. Then the business wedding came alone.
As it was in the time of Noah, so shall it be before the coming of Jesus. Marrying and divorce.Matt 24:37-39
How long ago has the Lesson normally been written? It amazes me always about the fact that I can apply it so much to my own life everytime! The sacredness of the matrimonium relys on the fact that God himself created it! In the opposite, man feels worthy of dismissing it for no aparent or serious reason, "incompatibility of personalities"! There is a bunch of web recepes/apps about how to match a couple! Some people think that this is a journey of self-discovery, and the search for a soulmate should be permanent! How foolish... God has someone for you and for me, and perhaps what you have chosen once is the one you should keep for yourself! Many are not looking for responsable relationships, just freedom of choice! But a marriage without the binding of God is but a feather, tossed by any wind!
Someone has beautifully described the essence of what we were designed and created to experience as "the embrace of absolute oneness". (Unfortunately that person has since been disgraced by revelations about the ways in which they inappropriately sought to try and experience that in their life. But the phrase retains its value nevertheless.)
The phrase "embrace of absolute oneness" is an experiential description as well as a technical term. So, try to either recall or perhaps imagine the most special (and safe) embrace you ever have experienced or could experience. And what that feels like is what we were designed and created to feel in our core every moment of every day. Unfortunately Genesis 3 shattered our ability to experience that - but it is what God is working to restore because that is the core feeling/experience of abundant life.
The very last words of Genesis 2 are interesting to let sink in. Adam and Eve, having been united, were naked and felt no shame. This is reflective of way more than physical nakedness. These carefully and deliberately chosen words by the author of Genesis are reflective of total and complete vulnerability that is perfectly protected. That was God's intention for humanity - and for the experience of human marriage. It is experienced (and can only be experienced) upon a foundation of 100% self-giving - Agape - love.
It is also interesting to note the Hebrew word in Genesis 2:25 for naked - arummim (adjective masculine plural) because in the very next verse Genesis 3:1 The Serpent is described as being arum (adjective masculine singular). This appears to be a play on words for particular reason: the arummim of Genesis 2:25 is vulnerability that is valued, respected, protected and nurtured. The arum of Genesis 3:1 is vulnerability exploited for the purpose of bringing/tearing down.
What do the marriages around you reflect: arummim or arum? What about your marriage? What about your church community? What about your relationships?
Whether married or single, arummim in its broadest application (soul 'nakedness' without any shame) is what enables a person to experience within community 'the embrace of absolute oneness'. We were created for this. And are being re-created/restored back to the place where we can once again experience it in all its unrestricted fullness and to contribute to its establishment/re-establishment in our homes and community.