The Man, Marriage, and the Garden – 1

2021 01 24

Review

Exodus 20:11 (NKJV) For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

The Creation Condensed

First Day Light (so there was light and darkness)

Second Day Sky and water (waters separated)

Third Day Land and seas (waters gathered); vegetation.

Fourth Day Sun, moon, and stars (to govern the day and the night and to mark seasons, days and years)

Fifth Day Fish and birds (to fill the waters and the sky)

Sixth Day Animals, Man and woman

Seventh Day God rested and declared all he had made to be very good.

Reality

Tongue > Heart > Mind > Renew in the Word of God

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Hebrews 10:16 [ “This] [is] [ the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”]

Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV) ¹ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Relationship with God

John 3:7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

Christianity is a relationship with God, not a religion.
Jew, Christian by name/tradition/fear – without a relationship.
That relationship leads to a way of doing things by faith (no alcohol, godly use of talents, music etc.)
Guides you to the way of Life.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NKJV) ¹⁸ Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Colossians 1:16 (NKJV) For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

Isaiah 43:7 (NKJV) Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”

The Creation of Man

Man,
Marriage,
the Garden as part of God’s earthly

God created man on the 6th day.

Genesis 1:26-31 (NKJV) ²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

²⁹ And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. ³⁰ Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. ³¹ Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

He saw that it was not good for the man to be alone, so He created a helper.
Man created to be social, to hold conversation.
The fallen man looking for “earths”, not heavens.
The creation continues.

Genesis 2:18-25 (NKJV) ¹⁸ And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” ¹⁹ Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. ²¹ And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. ²² Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to 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 a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

What God Says About Marriage

Marriage is God’s idea, God’s institution for His earthly family.
Marriage is permanent.

Genesis 2:24 (NKJV) Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Marriage created by God is for believers who walk in faith.

1 Corinthians 7:10-15 (NKJV) ¹⁰ Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord:

A wife is not to depart from her husband. ¹¹ But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.

¹² But to the rest I, not the Lord, say:

If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. ¹³ And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him.

¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. ¹⁵ But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace.

2 Corinthians 6:14-15 (NKJV) ¹⁴ Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? ¹⁵ And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?

The original “peace accord”.

Marriage is based on the principled practice of Biblical love, not on feelings, or on convenience or acceptance.

Proverbs 18:22 [He who] finds a wife finds a good [thing,] And obtains favor from the LORD.

Marriage is good and honorable.

Hebrews 13:4 (NKJV) Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

Unfaithfulness breaks the bond of trust, the foundation of all relationships.
Adultery or death dissolves marriage.

Romans 7:2 (NKJV) ² For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.

Matthew 19:9 (NKJV). ⁹ And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

Marriage is a living symbol of Christ and the church.

Ephesians 5:21-32 (NKJV) ²¹ submitting to one another in the fear of God. ²² Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. ²⁴ Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, ²⁶ that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. ²⁸ So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. ³⁰ For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ³¹ “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Man created for “good”

James 4:17 (NKJV) Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Proverbs 3:27 (NKJV) Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in the power of your hand to do so.

“that the ability to do good in any case imposes an obligation to do it.”
The highest privilege conferred on a human, besides that of securing the salvation of his own soul, is that of doing good to others-

of alleviating sorrow,
instructing ignorance,
raising up the bowed down,
comforting those that mourn,
delivering the wronged and the oppressed,
supplying the wants of the needy,
guiding inquirers into the way of truth, and
sending liberty, knowledge, and salvation around the world.

If a man does not do this when he has the means, he sins against his own soul, against humanity, and against his Maker (standard set by God).
If he does it cheerfully and to the extent of his means, it likens him more than anything else to God.