God’s Glory in Marriage Pt. 1

Introduction

Read Genesis 2:15-25

Genesis 2:15–25 ESV

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

As we have been examining these first two chapters of Genesis, we have seen some major fundamental doctrines and ideas that we must have if we are going to make sense of the rest of Scripture and of who God is and how He created the world to work.

We have seen God’s character and nature, both in who He is and how He has chosen to relate to the world He created.

Last week, we saw how we all are made in the image of God to display His glory to the world around us and to live for the flourishing of the created order.

Today and next week, we are continuing to look at the image of God as demonstrated through the institution of marriage. God has placed humankind upon the earth to demonstrate His glory and rule over creation. The institution of marriage is the work of God to unite a man and woman together to display His glory as they bring together their unique and complimentary attributes to unite them for the common purpose of glorifying their Creator!

Before we get started though, I want to give an encouragement to those of us who are in here who are not married, whether because you are still single, or you are widowed or divorced. As we talk about marriage, I want you to know that your purpose or value as an image bearer is not dependent upon whether you are married or not. While marriage is a good gift from God to humanity, it is actually a picture of a greater reality that God is inviting all of us into.

Your value and identity is not found in another human person, it is found in Christ Himself and His love for you as His own precious possession and we will be seeing that over the next couple weeks.

In fact, as we will see, marriage is a living parable God has created to demonstrate the relationship He desires to have with His people. He does not need us, but He wants us to experience the joy that is found in Him alone.

So we are spending a couple weeks looking at marriage because it is so foundational to the rest of Scripture. Marriage is a pointer to God and His grace for us and it is important that we get marriage right.

Marriage is a Blessing

Blessing of Companionship

God Exposes Adam’s Need

As we come to this passage in chapter 2, we see that God has created man and has placed him in the garden to work it. We see the cultural mandate being implemented by God and put into practice by man.

And as a hint to what is coming forward, God gives man the boundaries for life within this newly created world. God gives man freedom to partake of anything within the garden except for one tree. While we will not get into all the details of this yet, keep this in mind for chapter three.

But in verse 18, we see something unique to the story so far.

Genesis 2:18 (ESV)

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

“Not Good”

Notice, everything up to this point has been “good.” Now we see something that is “not good.”

Man is alone. But does he realize it yet? He might be too busy exploring this new world, like a toddler, to notice that there is anything wrong or missing. Imagine being in his shoes and seeing everything for the first time. Wondering what the bright light in the sky might be, or being mesmerized by the deep blue sky or the deep dark green of the trees, or the beauty of the roses, or the buzzing of the yellow and black insects flying from flower to flower. Everything is brand new and there are no names or categories for anything he is seeing and experiencing.

But as good as it all is, God knows that creation is not yet complete.

And God wants man to feel the incompleteness that is still there. God is inviting man to feel the need he has so he will turn to the One who can fill that need.

Exercising Authority

So what does God do? He gives man the job of naming all the animals. Man is going to see his need as he sets out to accomplish the task that God has set before him

So God brings before man all the animals, birds, and creatures that He has created.

What does Adam see?

As he is naming all the creatures, he is seeing a common attribute among all the different species and creatures that God has created.

Each of the creatures are coming to him in couples. Both the same and yet slightly different from one another.

See, femaleness is not created with Eve. Femaleness was there with the creation of the other creatures.

And Adam is beginning to see that he doesn’t have his own same but different person. Now he is realizing that he doesn’t have a helper fit for him.

What does God do? Now that Adam sees and knows his need, God proceeds to meet that need.

God will often times allow us the feel the pains and needs in life to draw us to Himself, so when those needs are filled, there is no doubt who is responsible for meeting those needs that we have.

God Creates Woman

Same

So God puts man into a sleep and He takes a rib from Adam’s side. From that rib, God proceeds to make the woman for man. God is not creating an entirely different creature.

Contrary to popular beliefs, women are not from Venus and men are not from Mars.

In spite of the differences we might have, what we see first is that they are of the same flesh, the same source.

When God makes her, He brings her to the man.

And Adam sings out His praise,

Genesis 2:23 ESV

Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

He is praising God that there is now someone like him and that she is of his own flesh.

Men, this should change how we treat our wives and our sisters in Christ. They are not people that we should put down and denigrate. They are image bearers with the same flesh that we have and thus with the same value and worth that we have. We see God and Moses elevating the status of women in this account as we see that we have equal footing before our Creator and may it never be said of us that we denigrated the image of God found in the women in our lives.

But Different

But there are differences between both men and women, and these differences do not affect the value found in either, but they are designed by God to bring about His own glory.

There are attributes that men have that women don’t and vice versa. And in marriage, these differences come together in a beautiful and complimentary way to the glory of God. Instead of trying to eliminate each other, we ought to celebrate the ways we are different and the ways we can work together to magnify God’s name.

Other animals could help him accomplish a lot of the tasks, but God wanted to give Adam more than just a helper, He wanted to give Adam a companion. A helper who would be his closest friend with whom he could experience the joy of creation and the glory of God in a way that none of the other animals could do with him.

Intimacy Experienced

Naked without Shame

So God brings the man and the woman together in essentially what is the very first marriage in human history.

This is why a man shall leave his father and mother can cling to his wife and become one flesh. Two distinct individuals coming together to be a unified whole. It’s a two in one union. Not exactly the same, but probably the closest image we have of the three-in-one union of our Triune God.

And then we see that they were naked and without shame.

Not Just Physical

The nakedness here described is not just a physical nakedness, although that is included.

There is an innocence and purity here between the man and woman where they are able to completely open up to one another without shame. They stand naked, physically, emotionally, and spiritually because they have committed to one another and they have no shame because there is nothing they have to hide from one another.

If husbands and wives want to experience true intimacy and union with one another, it is not simply about the physical act. It is about choosing to bear your soul and emotions to your spouse. It is choosing to be vulnerable and willing to reveal all you are to your spouse.

Friendship and Intimacy with God Through Jesus Christ

Marriage is a Unified Partnership

Working Together for the Filling of the Earth

Why does God bring man and woman together in this marriage?

The marriage relationship is the vehicle and the means through which God is going to accomplish His purpose through humanity and the means in which man and woman will fulfill the cultural mandate.

Genesis 1:28 ESV

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

The cultural mandate requires not simply exercising authority over creation, but filling the earth with more image bearers.

Caveat, I want to make it clear that the value of marriage is not simply in bearing children. I know there are a lot of strong emotions for those who may want to have children and for whatever reason cannot and even those who do not feel called to physically have children. The value of marriage is how it is meant to bring glory to Christ and to help others see Him lifted up.

But the vehicle through which God has chosen for humanity to multiply and fill the earth is through the faithful covenant promise of marriage.

The physical union between a man and a woman that leads to the filling of the earth is designed to happen within the covenant bonds of marriage.

Working Together for the Flourishing of Creation

Union With Christ

God Creates the Church from Jesus’ Side

Called to Fill and Subdue the Earth