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• LESSON 12 (March 19) •
The God Who Instituted the Covenant of Marriage
The God of promises and covenants has shaped the understanding of men and women concerning
the beauty and seriousness of covenants in a variety of ways throughout human history. There is
perhaps no clearer or more profound representation of what our Creator desires when it comes to
covenants than the blessing of marriage. Consider what he reveals in the second chapter of the Bible.
Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names
to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,
"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."
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (Gen 2:18-25)
•!• What do we learn about the God of promises and covenants and .his will from this passage?
•!• In Matthew 19:3-9, Jesus is confronted by a group of Pharisees who test him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" Notice carefully Jesus' response in Matthew 19:4-6. How do the words of God's own Son in this passage-especially his reference to Genesis 2:24-further shape our understanding of what God desires and expects from marriage?
In the last book of the Old Testament, the marriage of a husband and wife is explicitly described in
terms of a covenant.
And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, "Why does he not?" Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of
you be faithless to the wife of your youth. (Mal 2:13-15)
•!• What is God teaching us about marriage in this section of Malachi's prophecy?
•!• In Lesson 8 we learned a great deal about the God whose heart was grieved by Israel's unfaithfulness. When we hear the LORD, the God of Israel, proclaiming "I hate divorce" (Mal 2:16, NASB), how should his words dramatically shape our understanding of, approach to, and resolve within the marriage relationship?
The apostle Paul also employed Genesis 2:24 to teach Christians about marriage.
"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. (Eph 5:31-32)
•!• In what way does God's expressed will in Genesis 2:24 "refer" to Christ and the church?
•!• Taking the full context (Eph 5:22-33) of that passage into account, how does Jesus and his
relationship to the church not only serve as inspiration to husbands and wives, but also
provide us with the clearest and most profound representation of what our Creator desires when it comes to a covenant relationship?