June 23, 2019

Scripture: Genesis 2:21-25

I. Marriage is a covenant of duty.

A. The story of the first marriage begins with God surgically removing one of Adam’s ribs in Genesis 2:21. And from that rib God creates a woman in vs. 22 and brings her to Adam. God takes the role of the father of the bride at the first wedding and gives her away to her husband Adam. The husband and wife are together as a fellowship of equals, helping one another. But where do we see in Genesis 2 that marriage is a covenant? I’d like you to focus on two words used in both Genesis 2:24 and Ephesians 5:31: the words “leave” and “hold fast.”

B. What promise is the husband making in his covenant with his wife? First, the husband promises to leave his parents. As soon as a husband gets married his priorities change. Before he gets married, his first obligation is to his parents. But as soon as that young man marries, his first obligation is to his wife. Second, the husband promises in a covenant to hold fast to his wife. These words to hold fast are frequently translated with the word cleave. The word cleave means to be united to someone. This word cleave literally means to be glued to something. The husband then promises to be stuck to his wife – permanently.

C. If two people are glued together by covenant, it’s going to do some serious damage to unglue them! But in our culture there are many victims of divorce. If that describes you, I want you to know you are in good company. Do you know who else is the victim of a divorce? God is. See Jeremiah 3:8. God then knows the pain of divorce. He’s been there. And he will be there to comfort you as you go through the pain of your own divorce.

II. Marriage is a covenant of desire.

A. If marriage were only about duty, it would become drudgery very quickly. It’s true that there is duty in the covenant of marriage that we need to fulfill. There is a should that we need to do. See Ephesians 5:28. But the covenant we make with our spouses is not just about duty; it is also about desire. Where do we see the desire in Genesis 2? Adam bursts out in a poem in vs. 23: “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.” Eve was the fulfillment of all that Adam needed and desired. Adam wasn’t forced into marrying Eve out of duty. Adam desired to marry Eve. She was his joy.

B. The oneness of their marriage was expressed in the delight and the desire of their sexual relationship. We read in vs. 24 that in marriage a husband and wife become one flesh. They are one not just emotionally and spiritually. They are one physically. They desired one another and delighted in one another. This is the way marriage should be: a covenant of desire and delight. They were naked with each other (vs. 25) not just in the fact that they weren’t wearing clothes. Because they had made a covenant with one another they were naked with each other in their openness and trust. We see Jesus’ desire to be with His church in Luke 22:15-16: “And he said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’”

Application:
Stay in your marriage. You have made a covenant of both duty and desire.

Sources:
The book of Genesis
Commentaries on Genesis by Derek Kidner, Gordon Wenham, and Bruce Waltke
“The Meaning of Marriage” by Timothy Keller