“And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him a help meet for him." Gen. 2:1818And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. (Genesis 2:18). At the time this statement was made, God had prepared this earth in every way to be suitable for man. The dry land, the water, the sun, the moon, and the stars were all in their respective places. Green grass, herbs, fruit trees were all readied both for the comfort and need of His creatures; while fishes, fowls, and beasts were created for their own spheres. All this is described in Gen. 1.
At the head of this fair creation, God placed the man whom He had made. All was subjected to Adam; he was its lord by divine commission. His headship was expressed in his naming "all cattle,... the fowl of the air, and... every beast of the field." But in the midst of all his blessing and dominion there was one, and only one, notable deficiency: "But for Adam there was not found a help meet for him." v. 20. There was no one who could be his companion, no one on whom to bestow the affections of his heart. Neither was there one to share his dominion.
God noted the one thing lacking for Adam's happiness and said, "I will make him a help meet for him." Nothing was to be neglected that would complete the circle of man's blessing. Accordingly, God created the woman and brought her to Adam, and Adam's mouth was opened to speak as it had not been before.
This then was the beginning of the institution of marriage; it was a divine plan and a God-given provision for His creature-man. He who would corrupt this union is guilty of affront to God, and he who despises the relationship despises God who gave it.
When the Lord Jesus was questioned about the lawfulness of divorce, He took His interrogators back to the beginning. They contended that Moses allowed them to put away their wives, and the Lord acknowledged that to be a fact, but said it was because of the hardness of their hearts Moses wrote that precept, and added, "But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." Mark 10:6-96But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 7For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. 9What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Mark 10:6‑9). In the account in Matt. 19, when speaking of divorce, He said, "From the beginning it was not so.”
If we would have right thoughts of marriage and divorce we must go back to the beginning-back to that which God established. We shall not arrive at them from observation of world opinion or practice.
Neither polygamy nor polyandry was according to the purpose of God; He did not make two wives for Adam, nor were there two husbands for Eve. These practices are evils that came in by man. The first mention of polygamy was in the posterity of Cain who went out from the presence of the Lord and sought to establish himself in the earths Lamech, his descendant of the fifth generation, took two wives (Gen. 4:1919And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. (Genesis 4:19)). It was the light of Christianity which showed monogamy to be according to God (Matt. 19:4-84And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 7They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8He 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. (Matthew 19:4‑8);
Before leaving the subject of the institution of marriage, let us notice something of deeper import; namely, God was looking forward to His Son having a bride. This is evident from the manner in which Eve was created; she was not created in the same manner as was Adam. In order for Adam to have his bride he must first go into a deep sleep-a figure of the death into which our blessed Lord went. Then Jehovah Elohim took one of Adam's ribs (perhaps another symbol of death) and closed up the flesh instead thereof, and from the rib He made the woman, so that Adam could say, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.”
What thoughts of affection and care must Adam have had as he beheld Eve—one for whom he had gone into that sleep, and in all likelihood he bore in his body the marks of that procedure. She was actually a part of himself. How much different would his thoughts toward her have been if she had been created by God entirely apart from himself!
All this brings before us the depths to which the Lord Jesus went in His love for us, His ransomed people, soon to be presented to Himself as His spotless bride. In the cross of Christ we see the measure of the love of God that gave His only begotten Son for us, and the measure of the love of Christ for the Church-His body and His bride. God is love, but we would never have known it if sin had not come in and God had not gone to such lengths to redeem us. And "Christ... loved the church, and gave Himself for it." Eph. 5:2525Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (Ephesians 5:25). Love could not give more than one-self, but nothing less would have met our need. It was only in this way that His love to us could have been fully displayed, and thus was responsive affection awakened in us. It is our blessed privilege "to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." How can we know that which is beyond our capacity to know? It is like the child who was taken to the seaside; he was thrilled with the sight of the waves, and the expanse of water which he could see. When he was taken back inland to his home, he loved to tell others, "I have seen the sea." Truly he had, but little did he comprehend of its vastness, its mighty waves, its great depths, and its many wonders. As yet we are but as children wading on the ocean's strand, but we who know that He died for us have found a treasure in His love that has captivated our souls. May the sense of His love be deepened in us.
To use the simile that the Lord Himself used, He was the true grain of wheat that must fall into the ground and die in order to bring forth much fruit. He has come forth in resurrection and much fruit is being gathered as the result of the travail of His soul. Soon "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." Dear Christian reader, ponder well what we are to the Lord Jesus. With what ardent affection He views us! And remember that He not only gave Himself for us in the past, but He is occupied with us now to bring us into moral conformity with Himself, washing and cleansing us "with the washing of water by the word." And His love will never rest until He presents us to Himself in spotless purity, entirely suited to Himself. It will indeed be a wonderful time for us, but think what it will be to His own heart when He views us as that treasure for which He gave all.
Thus we see that in the institution of marriage God has told out deeper meanings than merely His loving care and concern for the happiness of mankind. And He has told us in such form that we are able to comprehend a little of what it means, for we are all more or less familiar with the marital relationship. His great love has been expressed to us in language that we are capable of understanding.
That God ever had before Him the happiness of His Son in having a bride—a bride for which He died —is further emphasized in Genesis. One of the longest chapters in the book is all about a man getting a bride; but that man, Isaac, had first to be offered on the altar as the burnt offering (in Isaac's case it stopped short of the actual offering, and a ram was substituted, but the Lord Jesus went all the way and was the true burnt offering). Isaac's being offered upon the altar is found in Gen. 22; his mother's death which is a type of the setting aside of Israel is in the 23rd chapter; and then in chapter 24 the unnamed servant, a type of the Spirit of God, is sent to find the bride for the one who had been on the altar, the place of death. The servant woos and wins the heart of Rebekah by recounting the glories of Isaac, the one to whom the rich father had given all that he had. He gives her gifts as the token and pledge of the love of Isaac and the earnest of all the inheritance which she was to share with him. Her raptured heart speaks out with clarion clearness when asked if she would go with the servant to be the bride of Isaac—"I will go.”
And today the Holy Spirit of God is in this world gathering out the bride for Christ. Has the reader's heart been won to Him who died? "Wilt thou go with this man?" As Abraham's servant did not leave Rebekah in the far-off land, but conducted her safely through the desert, and presented her to Isaac, so the Spirit of God will never leave the Church ("that He may abide with you forever"), and He is at present leading "home to the Lamb His bride." He is taking the things of Christ and showing them unto us, for He would occupy us with Christ while we are in transit through the wilderness; and when the journey is over we shall be presented to Christ as His bride. The Scripture says that Isaac was comforted when he received his bride; how about Rebekah? We are not told, for God would tell us of the greater joy which will be His Son's.
It is worthy of note that the first time the word love is mentioned in the Word of God is in Gen. 22, where it speaks of the love of Abraham for his son, his only son; the second time is in the 24th chapter where it is Isaac's love for Rebekah. Weigh it well, my soul! Love is of God, for "God is love." He loved His Son, His only begotten Son, but he loved us to the extent of giving that Son unto death; and Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it.
"As once the pleased Rebekah trod
A desert, long and drear,
While Abraham's wealth, and Isaac's love,
Rang in her raptured ear,
“So in this howling wilderness,
The Holy Ghost makes known
The Father's house, the Son's rich love
And all He has, our own.
“Blest thought! our hearts are with Him there;
We see our glorious home
Made ready for our bridal joys-
Lord Jesus, quickly come!”