This biblical teaching is a production of The Walk Ministries with Pastor Jeno Shaw. You can watch the video below, and then read the teaching notes that follow.
Overview
Marriage is a holy act of worship in the presence of God Himself.
Genesis 2:7-24
(7) “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (8) And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (9) And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
(10) “And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. (11) The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; (12) And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. (13) And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. (14) And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
(15) “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. (16) “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: (17) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (18) And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. (19) And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. (20) And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
(21) “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; (22) And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. (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 Man. (24) Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (25) And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
There’s something special about a woman, but don’t take my word for it.
Verse 7 – Man was formed from the dust of the ground
Verse 9 – Every tree came from the ground
Verse 18 – Not good that man was alone; Gods says this
Verse 19 – Every beast and fowl came out of the ground
Verse 22 – Woman was made not from the ground like everything else, but from the rib of man! Why? Why didn’t God make women from the ground? He could have! But He did not! This is a mystery to this day!
Verse 24 – A man shall leave his father AND mother. God intended for a husband and wife to be together and not to be apart.
What is a man and what is a woman?
- A man: comes from the dust of the ground and, from birth, has male reproductive system.
- A woman: comes from the rib of man and, from birth, has a female reproductive system.
I just did something that the Supreme Court nominee, Kentanjii Brown Jackson, during questioning, refused to do and that was to define a woman.
What are the conditions of marriage?
Well, in verse 24, you see that God meant for marriage to be for life.
Matthew 19:3-9
3 “The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?”
Note: the pharisees were looking for excuses to “upgrade” their wives.
4 “And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, (5) And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?”
Note: In marriage, you are no longer yourself but you are now ONE. In today’s language, you are now a company on a stock exchange. A man and his wife are like a corporation. The problem comes when people begin to see themselves as individuals in a negative way, and the word “I” comes out a lot, instead of “we.”
6 “Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
Note: You are not two people, but one. God is the author of marriage, not man! What God has put and molded together, how can man come along and then separate? When God creates, He says, “This is good,” but man says, “This is bad.”
7 “They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? (8) He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.”
Note: God never intended marriage to be temporary, but Moses conceded and allowed it in certain conditions because of the hardness of man’s heart.
9 “And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.”
Note: the condition here to put away the wife is in the case of fornication, cheating.
Marriage was made by God for our happiness between a man and a woman, and through this plan by God, to populate the earth.
Now a common marriage vow is this:
I MAN, take you, WOMAN, to be my wife/husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish always.
Have you said that vow?
Now this is what PEOPLE HEAR INSTEAD:
I MAN, take you, WOMAN, to be my wife/husband, to have and to hold, from this day until I get tired of you, for better and better, for richer and richer, no sickness but lots of health, to love and cherish, until I change my mind.
That’s what a lot of people hear instead. I read this book from a French author. In this book, the wife was a paraplegic. I don’t know if she was in an accident or not, but I think she was. Her husband had full use of his limbs. Well, the wife had gotten ill, and in the middle of the night, the husband had to grab his wife, sit her up, and massage her back to get her to cough up mucus because she didn’t have the muscles to cough it up on her own. During one of these many nights the husband had to wake up in the middle of the night to sit his wife up and massage her back, he asked her, “Why am I still married to you?” She replied, “Because we took an oath and because you love me.” The husband replied, “Yes, that’s right,” and he continued to massage her as she hacked up more mucus out of her mouth.
WOW! I mean, in today’s time, how many people do you know that are THAT COMMITTED? Most people would be like, “I’m outta here!”
An oath means something. Marriage by GOD means something! That’s why one of the most dangerous things you can do in a marriage is look to the left and to the right. Stop looking. Stop comparing your marriage to your neighbor’s or a friend’s marriage. STOP IT! IT’S DANGEROUS AND LEADS YOU DOWN A ROAD THAT’S UNFULFILLING.
Speaking of unfulfilling, did you know that the more partners you have prior to marriage increases your unhappiness in marriage. Think about it. You’re gonna have this comparison going on, and more often than not, your spouse can’t compete with your memories. Which is why if you’re a virgin when you get married, there’s nothing to compare and you’ll be more in love with your spouse because there’s nothing to compare! Genius! Isn’t God a Genius?
What does the ring represent in marriage?
It is not actually biblical. The ring in marriage is not found in the bible. It is pagan in nature coming from the Egyptians. Because of its circular appearance, it represented infinite love since a circle has no joints, no beginning or end. They believed a vein goes from the ring finger straight to a person’s heart. Does that mean we should stop doing it? Well, let’s look at the fruit of it:
- It lets other people know that you are not available
- It’s a reminder that marriage is a lifetime commitment
- It’s a reminder of fidelity to your spouse
- It is a symbol of love
So even though this is pagan in nature it does bear good fruit actually and doesn’t cause one to fall, actually the opposite
Covenant
The Hebrew word for covenant is “berith” which means “to cut.” A blood covenant was a formal binding vow/agreement between two parties made by cutting or dividing animals into two parts. Genesis 15:9-10
After splitting the animals in half, the animal halves were arranged opposite of each other on the ground to leave a pathway to walk in between them. The parties would generally walk from one end of the path to the other, meeting in the middle. Does this sound familiar to weddings today? The groom’s family on one side, and the bride’s family on the other side.
In the middle between the animal pieces was considered holy ground.
Usually there’s a white runner going down the middle (holy ground) where the two parties are joined as one by no one else but God. Mathew 19:6
Did you know
The throwing of rice at a wedding originated with the throwing of seed to remind couples of the one primary purpose in marriage, which is to procreate — to make a family that will serve and honor the Lord Jesus Christ. Today’s rice throwing is a gesture of blessing for the spiritual and physical fruitfulness of the marriage.
By looking at the power of marriage, you can see why the enemy wants to stop it. That’s why a successful marriage takes three people, a man (the husband), a woman (his wife), and Jesus.
I hope this has blessed you!
I truly love you all,
Pastor/Coach Jeno
