God’s Blueprint for Marriage

 “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
- Genesis 2:18

You’ve probably seen the classic animated Disney movie, “The Little Mermaid.” Early in the film, Ariel shows her sea gull friend Scuttle one of the treasures that she found at the bottom of the ocean: a fork. She asks him, “What is it?” Scuttle makes up a quick answer: “It’s a dinglehopper!” And he shows her the way humans use it … to straighten their hair out.

A little bit later in the movie, Ariel is all dressed up at the dinner table inside Prince Eric’s palace. She looks down at the table and sees one—a dinglehopper!—and she’s so excited. She picks it up and proudly combs her hair with it in front of the prince. Ariel makes a fool of herself.

Now, where did Ariel go wrong? Even a 4-year-old can answer that question. If she wanted to know what a fork was, she should have asked a human, because humans invented forks and humans use forks. But instead of asking a human, Ariel asked a dumb bird.

We Americans are more like Ariel than we like to admit. God is the Creator of marriage. He is the Grand Architect who dreamed up marriage and brought it into being. In the second chapter of Genesis, God shows us His blueprint for marriage. He tells us plainly what marriage looks like and why He created it in the first place. But most Americans in the year 2022 completely ignore what the creator of marriage says about marriage. Instead, they trust the warped opinions of “dumb birds” who pretend to be experts on the subject—our celebrities, political activists and social media influencers.

According to the Pew Research Center, in 2001, 35% of Americans supported same-sex marriage. In the 21 years since then, that level of support has almost doubled to around 62% of Americans. According to the Barna Trends 2017 report, 65% of American adults say that living together without being married is a good idea. But God Almighty, the Creator of marriage, makes it very clear in Genesis 2 that marriage is between one man and one woman. And He makes it clear what the order of events should be: Marriage comes first. Then comes sex. Then come children. And according to God’s Word, changing the order of these three things is not only a really bad idea, it’s sin.

I hope you agree that it’s foolish to ignore what God says about marriage. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the Grand Architect’s plan for marriage in the Bible. God’s blueprint outlines three purposes for marriage:

#1: To provide a lifelong helper who is just right for you. Genesis 2:7 tells us that God created Adam before Eve. Then God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (v. 18), but although the garden was filled with living creatures, “for Adam no suitable helper was found” (v. 20.) And so Eve was custom-made by God to be a helper suitable for Adam. This term “helper suitable” literally means “corresponding face-to-face.” It does not in any way indicate that Adam’s wife was inferior to him. Even Adam’s surgery, as God created Eve from one of Adam’s ribs, demonstrates this. 18th Century Bible commentator Matthew Henry says it so well: “She was 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 beloved.”

#2: To provide unashamed sexual intimacy that will lead to bearing children. Genesis 2:25 tells us, “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” When a husband and wife are face-to-face, naked without shame, they become one flesh as their parts fit together like a perfect puzzle. And this physical intimacy between a husband and his wife is “just right” for bringing a new human life into the world. So we read in Genesis 1:28, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.’”

#3: To provide a living illustration of Christ’s sacrificial love for the Church. The Apostle Paul points out this third God-given purpose for marriage in Ephesians 5:25-33. This profound passage tells husbands to “love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (vs. 25). And it ends with the verse, “Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband” (v. 33). This model of marriage provides us with a beautiful, powerful, God-given opportunity to display the gospel of love and grace to a world that doesn’t want to HEAR Christians—but is always WATCHING Christians.

If you do a Google search on the definition of marriage, this is what you’ll find: “the legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship (historically and in some jurisdictions specifically a union between a man and a woman).” I hope that you’ll agree that this is a pitiful, watered-down definition of marriage. It’s a slap in God’s face.

God’s word has equipped us to offer this much more accurate and beautiful definition of marriage. Marriage is a life-long, covenant relationship between one man and one woman. God created marriage for the purposes of close companionship, physical intimacy, bearing and rearing children, and demonstrating Christ’s unconditional love to a watching world. Ladies and gentlemen, THIS is marriage. 

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church in Victorville. His new book, “Buoyed Up: Jesus’ 8 Steps to an Unsinkable Life,” is available on Amazon in paperback, e-book and audiobook. Join us at Impact for Sunday services: in person at 9 a.m., or online at 10 a.m. on Facebook Live or YouTube. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.)

 

A Model of Endurance

“I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name.”
 – Revelation 3:8

Have you ever felt shut out by the world? Maybe you've had doors slammed in your face. You've been rejected, excluded, kicked out and passed over ... because you were following Jesus Christ.

Well, it's nothing new. That's just what the Christians in the church of Philadelphia were dealing with way back in the 1st century. But they held fast, even when doors were slammed in their faces.

In the early years of Christianity, the Jews and the Romans considered Christianity to be a Jewish sect, and at first, Christians were allowed to attend local synagogues and live at peace with the Jews in town. But after Gentiles began converting to Christianity, both Jews and Romans began viewing Christianity as a dangerous new religion that was harmful to both Judaism and the Roman Empire. So, by the end of the First Century A.D., Christians were being persecuted by both Romans and Jews.

Jesus refers to this persecution in his message to the Christians in the church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3:7-13. This is one of two churches in the Book of Revelation that Jesus doesn’t rebuke at all. He tells them in verses 8 and 9: “I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan … come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.”

I believe these two verses paint a pretty clear picture of what the Philadelphian Christians were dealing with. In New Testament times, each Jewish synagogue would keep a membership book with the names of all the synagogue members who were in good standing. But by the middle of the first century, as some Jewish leaders began to view Christianity as a threat to Judaism, the synagogue rulers started removing the names of Jewish Christians. That certainly happened in Philadelphia. Christians’ names were removed from the synagogue’s membership book, and the synagogue door was slammed in their faces. The Christians were rejected ... excluded … kicked out and passed over. They were shut out.

So, Jesus tells the Philadelphian Christians in verse 8—and He also tells you and me today—“Christians, it doesn’t matter how many doors have been slammed in your faces. I have opened the most important doors that none of your critics can slam shut. I have opened up the door of opportunity for you to share the gospel with people who need to hear it. And I have opened the door to heaven. So, don’t you forget it!”

Some of the Philadelphian Jews seem to have been spreading the lie that God hated Christians. To which Jesus responds in verse 9, “Liar, liar, pants on fire. I am the One who is both holy and true. God the Father loves you, Christians. And I love you too. And one of these days I will make those liars fall at your feet and confess this truth themselves. You are loved by God!”

The Christians in Philadelphia had been through a lot, and they were tired. They were physically and emotionally drained. They were exhausted. But through it all they kept obeying God’s word and holding tight to their faith in Jesus Christ. In verse 10, Jesus adds another praise: “You have kept My command to endure patiently.” Just about everything in Christ’s kingdom requires patient endurance. Overcoming temptation requires patient endurance. Loving our neighbor as ourselves takes patient endurance. Maturing in our faith and bearing spiritual fruit requires patient endurance. No matter what life throws at us, we have to keep pressing forward to the finish line of our faith.

The movie, “Rocky Balboa,” has a scene that illustrates this point so well. Rocky—a native of our country’s own city of Philadelphia—is having a heart-to-heart talk with his son. He says, “It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can GET hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward.” The Philadelphia Christians were really good at doing that. They got hit and kept moving forward. They kept Christ’s command to endure patiently.

Can you relate? Maybe you’re really tired. Maybe you’re physically and emotionally drained. Exhausted! But despite that, you keep obeying God’s word, holding tight to your faith in Jesus—and you keep moving forward. And Jesus turns to you and says, “I am so, so proud of you. And I love you.” So, don’t you forget it!

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church in Victorville. His new book, “Buoyed Up: Jesus’ 8 Steps to an Unsinkable Life,” is available on Amazon in paperback, e-book and audiobook. Join us at Impact for Sunday services: in person at 9 a.m., or online at 10 a.m. on Facebook Live or YouTube. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.