I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 2. Our text today is found in verses 18 through 25 of that chapter. The rise of the feminist movement and its views on womanhood, marriage, and the roles of men and women, and their success in propagating these views. both in society and I'm sad to say in the church as well, makes our text this morning particularly important for us. The title of the message, God's plan for the woman and for marriage. God's plan for the woman and for marriage. The context of our passage is the opening generation or history Of the book of Genesis, if you recall, the book is divided according to various histories. This is the one that starts in verse four of this chapter. These are the generations of the heaven and the earth. The section is going to trace what became of the heavens and the earth, the very good heavens and the earth that God had created. Chapter two gives us important additional information concerning man's creation, which was Spoken of in chapter one, we have considered the details of Adam's creation in the first part of the chapter. And this morning, we're going to look at the details of the creation of the woman and also of the institution of marriage where the two go together. Now, this text is very foundational for you and I, Jesus, when he was dealing with the question of marriage, went back to this text. for his standard. And he said from the beginning, in other words, God at the beginning established marriage. And we must go back to that passage, Jesus said, if we're going to understand God's standards for marriage. So this is a very foundational passage. Anything else that we read in the New Testament or Old Testament concerning marriage is on this foundation. So it's a very important passage for us. It teaches us concerning the woman's creation and why she was created or the role that she was to fulfill. And then we have the Lord himself performing the first marriage ceremony and then Moses giving inspired commentary on marriage itself. Let's read the text together. And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him and help meet for him. 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. And Adam gave names to all the cattle, to the fowls of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found in help, meat for him. 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. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man made he a woman and brought her unto the man. 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. Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh." And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. In this passage, we see God creating the woman and establishing marriage. In verses 18 through 23, the text teaches us that God created the woman from man to be man's companion and helper. God created the woman from man to be man's companion and helper. When we come to verse 18 and we have the word and this is in the Hebrew form continuing the narrative of what is what is gone before. And of course, what has gone before is the creation of man. We need to remember that what is being done here in this part of the chapter took place on day six of creation. We were told. in chapter one of God creating man in his own image. Now we're giving given further details concerning that creation. Now, God's words are given to us here in this passage, and it says in the Lord, God said. God's words are recorded here for our instruction, they express to us the plan and purpose of God in creating the woman. Just as divine deliberation preceded the creation of man, As we saw in chapter one, so we see divine deliberation preceding the creation of the woman. We see God thinking and his thoughts are expressed for us here in these inspired words. What was God saying? What was he thinking? He looked at man and said, it is not good that man should be alone. And therefore, in his divine purpose, he sets upon the plan to make a health fit for him. Now, it's quite striking when it says In the text here, it is not good. Especially in light of what we've seen, the refrain of chapter one, after each of the creative events and days, we see the Lord saying it was good, it was good, it was good, and it was good. Now we are told something is not good. But of course, the not good here is not referring to some kind of a moral blemish or anything like that. Somehow God had made a mistake in what he had done. But it's rather referring to a deficiency that is yet in man. And that's why it is not good. And it is a deficiency that God is now going to rectify. He is going to supply the man with what he needs so that when we get to chapter one of verse thirty one, which is after the events we're talking about here, he can say everything is very good. Very good, because the not good situation of man being alone has been rectified in the creation of the woman. And so we see here that as God proceeds and as the words are given to us here is to teach us that in God's creation of man, his work is not yet complete. Because there are two dimensions to manhood or to the human race. There is the male dimension and there is the female dimension. And so God has created the man but mankind is not yet complete because mankind consists of both men and women. So we see the Lord now proceeding to create the woman. We're specifically said it's not good that man should be alone. That is to be in a state of separation. Separation from what is intended companion. This is the thing that is not good for man to be without a companion. You see, by God's creative design, man is not complete in and of himself. In a culture that glorifies self-sufficiency, we men ought to think carefully about what is being said to us here. By God's design, we are not complete in ourselves. There's another dimension that needs to be added to our lives. so that we can experience the fullness that God has intended for us as our Creator. Furthermore, we see too that man is a social creature. That is, he needs others. He needs companionship. And of course, the passage in this specific reference here is the companionship that will be provided by a woman in the context of marriage. However, all through Scripture we understand that man's companionship This would include the woman as well. We need others. This is very emphasized in the New Testament. All the one another commands. We are social creatures. We need other people. God in his design has made us differently. He has made us with certain gifts and abilities that we have and certain that we don't have. We need others to complement us and to complete us. And the self-sufficiency cult of our day needs to be brushed aside as unworthy of consideration for we Christians, for we need others. God has made us that way, and we don't just need God. Interesting. Adam had God, he had perfect fellowship with God, and yet he was not complete. He still needed human companionship, because this is the Creator's design. It's not a deficiency, it's just the design that God has built into us. And so, since it's not good that man will be alone, the Lord says, I will make. I will correct this situation. I will correct the not good circumstances. And of course, we go on to see that he will make a woman. He will give to Adam a wife to be his companion. This companion is described as in the King James translation and help meet for him. That is, this phrase, a help me for him means a helper that matches him, a helper that agrees to him or is compatible with him. The word help that is used here is someone who aids another or supports them in their work or assists. Therefore, we might even say the word help here could refer to an assistant. I will make him an assistant. A helper, someone to aid him and support him. And this helper will be meet, M-E-E-T, which means fit or agreeable to. The Hebrew literally says like opposite him. Quite wouldn't, but that's what it means. It's going to be like him, but yet opposite him. They are going to be perfectly suitable to one another. They will correspond to each other in a perfect way. They will be alike and yet they will be different. And in that sense, she will. This helper will be perfectly suitable to him. They will be complementary to one another. It doesn't say they'll be the same identity, but they will complement one another perfectly. So we might say the helper will not be exactly like the man. But perfectly suitable to be his companion, and this is because she will share with him a similar nature. As we saw in chapter one, she also is created in the image of God. She will share a similar nature and physical characteristics that the man shares. And so, though they are exactly alike in the sense of being made in the image of God, they are different according to God's design. There are significant differences between the man and the woman, and not just physical, but even their nature is different. That is their emotional makeup, the way they think, the way they act and so forth. And of course. We husbands know that trying to figure out a woman is not easy. And of course, the wives are saying trying to figure out a man is not easy because we are different. That's why God's design, don't be frustrated by it, but rejoice in it. and allow the differences to supply what's lacking. Different perspectives on things, different way of approaching things and so forth. This is by God's design. You know, when we look at this fact that the woman be a helper for the man, it teaches us that she will help the man or enable him to accomplish what he could not do on his own. And, you know, really what we see here at the very beginning, and we talked about this in our last message in Genesis chapter two here, is the concept in the Bible of the division of labor. In marriage, in the very first human relationship, there was a division of labor because God gave different skills and abilities and physical characteristics and so forth to the woman that she didn't give to the man and vice versa, because there's a division of labor. We don't all do and we all can't do the same thing. This is the same in the body of Christ as a division of labor. We call these spiritual gifts divided by the Holy Spirit. This is a very important concept. She's here to help man fulfill his calling. Well, what is man called to do? Well, he is called. To have dominion in the earth. He is called to be God's representative on the earth. developing the resources of the world for the glory of God and for the good of his neighbor. Man has been called to a task of dominion and it is the woman who will assist him in that task, which we saw again in chapter one when this was commanded. As Gary North has said concerning this, marriage has numerous subordinate purposes. the lawful extension of the race, mutual comfort, personal development of its members, the provision of cultural stability, social welfare functions that would include education, sexual fulfillment, and capital accumulation. Nevertheless, the Genesis account gives us the central focus of marriage, the division of labor. Eve was provided as an helpmeet for Adam, meaning an assistant specially designed to compliment his skills. God designed Eve to fit Adam's need in his task of dominion. Further on, North says, Adam's very nature as a creature required the presence of a subordinate assistant. Without her, his task and therefore his very being could not be fulfilled. As Paul put it, For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. First Corinthians 11, 8 through 9. But there is a unity as well as hierarchy. Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman. But all things of God. First Corinthians 11, 11 and 12. A mutuality of dependence. Biologically and especially in terms of the division of labor is affirmed by all. And so. God is going to create for Adam his assistant in the task of dominion. In verses 19 to 20, we read here about the Lord then bringing to Adam every beast of the field that he'd created for Adam to name. At first glance, this might appear out of place. Here we're talking about Adam needing a helper, and we don't get around to that till we come to verse 21. And we have inserted in here verses 19 and 20 with God bringing animals to Adam to name. But the key to understanding this is found in the last phrase of verse 20. But for Adam, there was not found a help meet for him. This exercise that God places upon Adam is to make him aware of the fact that there was nothing in the created realm that is suitable to him to be his companion. And as these animals are brought before him and Adam names them, he would realize that in terms of human companionship, he was alone. While the animals, they had their companions, but he had none. There was none like unto him. And so God intends for Adam here to sense his aloneness. and his need for companionship so that he will gladly receive God's provision of a mate for him. We might also note in passing Adam's abilities that are spoken of here, his intellectual abilities and his power of speech. We are told that Adam looks at these animals and he names them whatever he will call them. And the reason why he gives certain names to them is because he understands their characteristic in nature. And Adam's abilities of thinking are phenomenal. If these animals are brought in a very short period of time, he's able to look at the animal, size it up, and give it a name. Now, we don't know exactly what these names are today. Perhaps in some way they've passed down to us, but most likely these original names have been lost. But that's not the purpose of this passage here. As I said, it's to show us that God is preparing Adam to understand. He needs a helper. Also, we have Adam speaking here, the power of speech coming from God, something that he has because he's an image of God. The idea of human speech is a miracle in terms of evolutionary thinking. How it ever came about, they have no explanation for it. Human speech comes to us as a gift of God, and Adam did not have to go through a period of learning to speak. He was created fully functioning and able to speak and think and act. But Adam, as he goes through this exercise, he does not find any helpers that are suitable to him. And so we come to verse 21. And the creation of the woman. And the Lord God calls a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man made he a woman and brought her unto the man. This is a beautiful and marvelous account of the creation of the woman. Man, as we saw, was created from the dust of the earth. We're told that the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground. But the woman was not created from the dust of the ground. She was created from a part of Adam's own body. She was created from a side part of Adam, and the term of the translation rib is no doubt the correct translation. We're told that God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam. No doubt to spare him of the experience of having his flesh opened up and a rib removed. Some have suggested, though there's more to this, it was because God's ways in the creation of woman were so exalted and mysterious that it was not for man to observe. Whether that is the case, I'm not sure, but at least it was to spare him of the trauma and the pain of such a thing. So God puts him to sleep. performs this operation, takes out one of his ribs. No doubt he didn't just use or take the rib, but he also took some of the flesh as well. So what does Adam say when he sees her? Not only is this bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. The word closes up the flesh, probably not just the sense he sutured it back, but that it was actually closed up and healed at the same time. No doubt a scar was left to always remind Adam of where his wife came from and for the woman to remember from when she was she was taken. Good for us today to remember those things as well. We're told that he closed up the flesh and from this he made a woman. He fashioned her, it says, as a master builder in the miraculous creative power of God. He made the woman from this room. This is, again, a miracle of creation. You know, it's interesting that we're told we're not told here that after the Lord took this, this flesh and bone, that he also breathed into her nostrils the breath of life. Doesn't say that, though it did say that of Adam and he formed Adam in the dust of the ground. And. What significance we should read into that, I am not sure, but. We are told here that. She was built from this bone and flesh, but that's that similar phrase is not it's not given after the operation, which the text says that God brought her to the man. God himself brings the woman to the man. Here we have in human history, the first joining together of a man and woman in what we call marriage. We might even say this is a wedding that we're witnessing right here. And God brought her on to the man. The first wedding in human history is before us. Notice the one who is performing this. It is God himself bringing the woman to the man. Martin Luther, his commentary on Genesis, puts it this way. Moses adds that God brought the woman to the man. That is a fine description of the festivity of engagement or marriage, which he must carefully note. Adam did not take Eve as it pleased him, but waited until God led her to him. As also, Christ says, what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Matthew 19, 6. It is God's order and institution that a man and a woman should unite in marriage in a proper way, which Moses here indicates by saying that the Lord God, that is God, the Father and the Holy Ghost, brought the woman to the man. Let us therefore learn from these words to defend marriage against the wicked blasphemies of those who revile it. It is something very wonderful that God instituted holy wedlock in the state of innocence, but we need it much more today when our nature has been corrupted by sin. So we have this sure consolation that marriage is a divine institution which God himself has ordained. Therefore, those who have done a most necessary and useful work, who worked hard in order that marriage might again be honored from the Word of God and be restored to the praise which it deserves." Of course, Luther, if you think about his historical situation, he was dealing with the false teachings of Romanism that made the celibate state more holy and a higher state of spirituality and required priests and so forth, and nuns to be celibate and looked upon marriage as more of a crude type of thing. And Luther is, of course, a man who was led out of that, came to see the beauty of wedlock with his Katie, his rib, as he said he affectionately called her. And he points out to us, though, that those who work hard, that marriage might be honored from the Word of God. need our recognition. You know, that's sort of like today, though. Marriage, God's ordinance of marriage is greatly maligned in our culture today. May God give us all grace to labor, to accord it the dignity and honor the Bible points to. Now, verse 23, we have Adam's response to the creation of the woman. Now, a question that I ask myself is, had God revealed to Adam before he underwent this operation what was going to take place? The text does not tell us whether he did or not. I tend to surmise that he did. After Adam saw a no helper, God said, I'm going to take care of it. He put him to sleep. And Adam, when he awoke, he was looking for the hand of God in the provision of the need that would forever banish his aloneness that he felt. But whatever Adam we see is overjoyed at the results. He is overjoyed and he bursts forth when he sees the woman as God brings her to him to join them together. He says, oh, my. Now, at last, is the idea of the word now. Here is my companion. I will no longer be alone. This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. Lord having, I think, revealed to him how he was going to do this and he knew where she had come. Not even probably daring to imagine when the Lord revealed this to him, if he so did, what the result would be. But when he sees it, he rejoices. He is overjoyed at the sight of his bride. And in God's holy plan, as he works in the lives of a man and a woman to bring them together, even today, the same look of joy, though usually not the same expression, though Sometimes I think a young man would like to do that as their bride walks up the aisle. There's his bone of my bone and flesh. Not quite that way. But here she is. She's beautiful. God has provided for me a companion. Praise be his name. We men who are married, maybe been for a number of years and you were thinking the same thing. How good it has been for our God to give us a companion. May the joy of the Lord fill us with thoughts of that wonderful wife companion he has given. One perfectly suited to Adam and the one the wife that he gave us has been perfectly suited to us. In God's providence. Now, Adam seeing her saying this is now bone in my bones, flesh in my flesh, this is one like me. Here's a helper like me. He names her. She shall be called a woman. because she was taken out of the man. The name that he gives to her, the Hebrew word is Isha. She shall be named Isha. And then the phrase because tells Adam explains why he names her Isha. Because she was taken out of the man. The word man here is the Hebrew word Ish. Ish and Isha. And the word used here is the generic term for a male. The word that has been used up to now, the word Adam, Adam, the Hebrew word Adam, is used in the Old Testament, besides its use right here of a proper name for the first man, of mankind. Of mankind. And the word Adam that is used in the Old Testament for mankind is never used in the plural. Or in the feminine form. But always in the masculine and in the singular because it is it is conceiving of mankind as one and Adam was our federal head and representative and the entire human race is. Set forth in him. He is the head of mankind, both of all men and of all women. And so Adam says she should be called woman because she's taken out of man for the very first time that the gender specific word for man is used to now distinguish the two types of Adam. Adam. There are two dimensions to Adam. Ish and Ishah. And that's what he's recognizing here when he gives the name. It is no longer sufficient just to have one name for mankind. Because mankind consists of Ish and Ishah. and of woman. Interestingly, our English word woman, an old Anglo-Saxon term that indicates that she is the female, she's a female human being. The word man referring to a human being and the woman prefix, the wo prefix refers to the fact that she's a female human being. Now in light of all this, why did God create the woman from the man's rib? Very important to understand this. It was to preserve the complete unity of the human race. In other words, he didn't create man, Adam, out of the ground and then separately create Eve out of the ground. There would not be a perfect unity between the two. Each would have been an original and both derived directly by the creative act of God. But that would destroy the complete unity of the human race because Adam and Eve would not be then unified. But in creating the woman for man, God preserves the complete unity of the human race. Every one that has ever walked this earth, including Eve, is derived from and descends from Adam. And that is why Adam is qualified to stand as our representative and head. And this becomes very important in our thinking as we turn to chapter three and we look at the fall. You see, what Adam did in the garden, he did as the representative of all mankind. When you elect a representative and send them to Harrisburg or to Washington, they go there to what? Represent you. The idea they're going there to, in theory, to act on your behalf. When Adam acted in the garden in disobedience, He acted on the behalf of all of us. Therefore, I plunge all of us into sin. Turn to Romans 5, which should be ringing in our ears after reading it. It says, Verse 12, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, the sin did not enter into the world through Eve. Well, she was an instrument in the whole seduction. of the human race into sin, but she was not the one through whom it entered. It entered through the man. He was the representative. He was the covenant head. Wherefore, it is by one man sin entered into the world, and death by that sin. And so death is passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. All have sinned. They all sinned in Adam. Say, well, I don't like that. Well, if we don't like that, then do we like this? That there's a second Adam who has come as the representative of his people and that what he did counted for all of us. He acted on our behalf and he went to the cross and gave his life for us. He might be the head of a new race. And everyone who is part of the race of the redeemed finds their headship only in Jesus Christ. Just as no one has ever come into this world apart from Adam, even even herself, no one has ever entered the kingdom of God apart from Jesus Christ. No one. It is not your own works of righteousness. It is the acts of righteousness done on your behalf by Jesus Christ that you accept by faith that saves your soul from sin. Says in verse 17, Therefore, if by one man's offense death reigned by many, much more are they which receive abundance of grace, and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. And I say these things in preparation for our message, the Lord willing, in two weeks when we'll look at the fall. Adam was our representative and the unity of the human race is preserved in woman being created from the rib of man. Secondly, another reason why God created the woman from the man's rib, according to the later biblical teaching, is to establish the proper relationship between man and woman. It establishes man's positional priority within the relationship of marriage. And furthermore, it also, though, establishes man and woman in their mutual dependence. As Paul, and we read in that quote we have in Gary North from 1 Corinthians 11 there, the woman was made for the man and not vice versa. Ladies, you're here for the man. Do we understand that? You're not here for Yourself. You're here for the man, but the man's not here for himself, either. The man is here for God to serve him, and this is the beautiful relationship that God has set up. But he has positional priority according to the sovereign will and design of God, not according to a plot by men to suppress women. Though evil men have tried to do that kind of thing. But the suppression that they have is not biblical submission or the biblical relationship. It's more of a lording, tyrannical abuse of authority. And that every woman owes her existence to the man. Because she descends, as all of us do, down through Eve, who came from the man. But the mutual dependence, Paul says, Let's remember also, men, that ever since that initial creation, none of us would be here but for the woman. We all have come through our mother. Even Jesus, our Savior, came through a woman. There's mutual dependence here, positional priority, mutual dependence established by the creation of the woman from Mangeret. Now, let us look more carefully at Moses as he gives to us the inspired commentary of God concerning the ordinance of marriage in verses 24 through 25, where we see God establishing this ordinance and he's establishing it for all mankind. And that's the idea of Moses, who I believe is speaking here in verses 24 and 25, not Adam, but Moses is speaking. And he's doing so under divine inspiration because the Lord wants us to draw the following conclusion from the account of the creation of the woman and the bringing together of the man and woman. And the account of the creation of the woman, therefore, lays the foundation for our understanding of God's will for marriage. He says, therefore, drawing a conclusion from what we have just seen, a man is to leave his father and mother. Now, it is the word man here is gender specific, the male. Does that mean the woman is not to leave her father and mother? No, that's not what it means. She used to leave as well. Both would leave. But the man is presented here for he is the one who will initiate the marriage. He is the one who has a new covenant head will establish the home. And she will transfer herself from under the headship of her father to the headship of her husband and therefore is always covered by authority. But the man will leave. the covering authority of his parents and establish a new home. So the man is singled out here. Or as it has been said. His father and mother, a woman is given by her father to the new covenant head. So the woman should never be unprotected. Today's society, many women run from that protection and the abuse that takes place of women who are out from under their husbands, their fathers protection and not under their husbands is fearful. So, fathers, we have a duty to be a protective covering for our daughters and to keep them, and when we believe that God has raised up the man for them to then transfer her safely into his keeping. But we do need to transfer her, for she's no longer ours in terms of covenant headship. She now belongs to him. And of course, we see the responsibility of a man here. Entering into marriage is a great step, requiring much prayer and preparation, for he will now become the head of this woman and responsible to care for her, to provide for her, to protect her, and so on. The man will leave. The word leave here means to loosen the bands. The ties of parental nurture and authority will be loosened and the man will establish his own family and exercise authority directly under God. This does not mean that the man or the daughter will not have a responsibility in the future to honor her parents. That is always a command of the scripture. A man will always be responsible to honor his parents, and as Paul specifically taught in 1 Timothy, even to care for them physically, if necessary, in their old age. But they will no longer be responsible to obey their parents. We also see, too, that in marriage, priorities change. Before, for a young man and a young lady, their first priority and their first obligations in life are to their parents. But in marriage, that priority changes and their new first obligation is to their husband and to their wife. How many marriages have been shackled with a bird not meant to be born when the wife or the husband has not made that switch? And his priority is still his parents are still her parents. The priority must be made. The shift must be made. That's the teaching of the passage. Then it says he shall cleave to his wife. The word means to adhere firmly to as if attached by glue. Or therefore, to mean permanently joined, permanently joined, this is a figure, this word of covenant. Fidelity. It is a bond that is now joined, that is never to be broken. Of course, never would have been if our parents, first parents, would have remained in their purity. But sin has entered in the world and so has death. And so it is now the lot of us all to die. But marriage, according to God's holy ordinances, is from the beginning of the covenant vows until death. Parts the couple. The word cleave here is a word that's used throughout the book of Deuteronomy about Israel cleaving to the Lord. And the whole context of that is the covenant. They have a covenant with God. And the marriage is a fidelity to a covenant, a promise, an oath, a vow taken between a man and a woman to fulfill the purposes of God for marriage as set forth in Scripture. It is not to be taken lightly. And though it is, of course, in our day, even to the point where I read once that There was a particular jewelry store in Hollywood that had a sign outside the window, We Rent Wedding Rings. Marriage is a covenantal bonding for life, an unbreakable lifelong union. And he cleaves to his wife that they might be one flesh. That they might be one entity or they might be a marriage is the idea. Marriage is the bringing together of two people into one new entity, a new relationship where there is still diversity, yet there is that wonderful unity in the marriage relationship. The word flesh means they shall be one person. They shall now act together as one. They shall think together. They shall decide together. They shall move forward together. They will not be one going one. It's not this marriage is not two persons, one going this way, one going that way, but two going together. That's God's will for marriage. And if you are going to enter into the state of marriage, you need to understand that that is what the new circumstance will be. They will be one. Now, the primary reference here is not to the physical act of marriage. That is only part of it. It is far more than that. You might illustrate the blending together of two into one by certain natural phenomena. I like the one of two rivers coming together, each flowing from their own separate source. coming together and meeting and joining together now that they're not two rivers anymore. They're one. Flowing on more majestically and more powerfully than it did before. Or the grafting of a tree. Where a branch is brought from another tree and again they come from two separate sources but the branch is then grafted in through the proper techniques and it literally becomes part They become part of one another, and they're no longer two trees but one, bearing fruit together. Perhaps one of the most significant illustrations is that of a child, the child of a marriage. From two individuals, one child comes. In God's unique mystery, the genetic information was passed from one to the other. And the child is the illustration of the two people are now one in marriage. The pattern given here in Genesis is really the pattern that all successful marriages follow. There's a leaving of mother and father. There's a covenant bond of loyalty and it's understood. It's an oath until death where both would rather be torn to bits than to tear apart their marriage oath. Of course, today, adultery is considered nothing. But in God's word is considered a great crime against him, against the spouse, against the children, against the society. It is a horrible thing. And those who understand the biblical covenant marriage would rather be put to death than deny their oath of marriage. And finally, they understand in this pattern that they are now to be one person. One person. Verse 25 tells us they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed. They were unabashed, as it were. They were not disconcerted by being naked. This is given to us here as an important ingredient to tell us of the innocence and the intimacy of the first couple. You see, no sin had yet polluted their lives or their relationships. They were without fear of rejection or exploitation. One of the things why we feel shame in our nakedness because of our sin, but it goes deeper and that we fear that someone seeing us so completely, they'll reject us or exploit us. There's no fear of that at that point. I find this interesting, too, as we think about our own children and the development of God's moral sense in them. I think from this passage we can deduce, maybe not dogmatically, but we can deduce that as our child develops and when they begin to sense their own nakedness, that what is taking place is their own moral sense is now developing and they're beginning to be able to separate between right and wrong. And they become conscious of the fact of their own nature, that it is sinful. You say, when does my child come to the biblical stand where they're able to discern right from wrong? Probably it's when they begin to take seriously the fact that they're naked. The little ones just run through the house. They don't have that sense yet. And that might be a key to you as a parent to understand when you need to begin to gently yet firmly begin to teach them concerning sin and judgment and the righteousness of Christ. And they'll begin to understand. We'll have that sense. This provides then for us the background to chapter three. I'd like to conclude by drawing a few thoughts from this passage concerning the woman and marriage. Where we see that God created the woman for man to be his companion and helper and that God established the ordinance of marriage for all mankind. Please note with me the following in conclusion. Since God is the creator of man and woman and the one who instituted marriage, we must therefore look to his word and submit ourselves to God's law concerning marriage and our roles in marriage. Our own reason, our own wisdom, the cultural norms that surround us must be rejected by us if they conflict with God's word. We must bring ourselves under the authority of our creator who established the ordinance of marriage and also established the guidelines and instructions for marriage and that that is all authoritative. Whether we agree with it, whether we like it or not, we must understand the wisdom and goodness of our creator in marriage and that he knows what's best for the marriage relationship. Number two, we learn from this passage that marriage is to be monogamous. That is one man to one woman. This is the pattern established, as Jesus said, at the beginning. He did not say Adam was alone. He needed some companions, so he created one or two, I mean, two or three women. One. Monogamy is God's ideal for marriage. Polygamy is nowhere approved in Scripture. We see men engaging in it, but nowhere does it receive God's approval. And in the Old Testament law and in the New Testament, in regard to leaders who are to set the example for the people, it is specifically stated that they are to be one woman kind of man. Thirdly, marriage is, and it's a shame we even have to say this today, but marriage is heterosexual. God gave Adam a woman for his companionship and to meet his needs of aloneness. Our day, the so-called homosexual marriages, or civil unions as they want to call them, are a perversion of God's institution of marriage. And if we read Romans chapter 1 carefully, we note that Paul uses homosexuality as the crowning example of man overturning God's order at creation. And so when we see men with men, women with women, we see a perversion. But we see them taking it to this logical next step in their defiance of the Creator and His law and insisting on the right to be considered a married couple in the eyes of the state. And we need to tremble at the fact that these things are coming to pass before our very eyes. They're at war with the family. They're at war with God. We must stand against it. Number four, marriage is for life. God's intent is for a man and woman to live together in a marital union of faithfulness for the duration of their lives. Or, as we said, till death do us part. We saw in Matthew 19, 4-9 and Mark 10, 6-9, we see Jesus appealing to this original passage for that standard. Number five, the essence of marriage is companionship in the task of dominion. The essence of marriage is companionship in the task of dominion. The essence of marriage is not romance. Why do I say that? Because today in our culture, that is what marriage is held out to be. A romantic adventure. Marriage is not a romantic adventure. You see, the whole idea of that is that marriage is for self-fulfillment and self-realization. Marriage is not romance, but godly partnership by husband and wife in the test of the original mandate of dominion. Now, of course, changed somewhat by the entrance of sin and the explicit recognition of the Great Commission. And so marriage is not self-fulfillment. That's not why you get married. Don't get married for that reason. Oh, you'll find self-fulfillment and self-realization there, but that cannot be your goal. What is it? To work side by side with your spouse to advance God's kingdom. Marriage is a working relationship. And in it, we are called to work together. The romance model of marriage predominates our culture, even the church. Most books or seminars the church is putting out on marriage is built around that concept. Well, what do we mean when we talk about romance? Well, the English word romance comes from the word that meant a narrative that was primarily fictitious of the adventures and the love experiences of knights in shining armor. A romance is something that's characterized by imagination. It goes beyond the limits of the facts and of real life. These stories, romance is designed to stir our passions and appeal to those things. The romance model of marriage, which I believe is the primary thing that's held before our culture. Is that you are chasing a fictitious adventure of love that will never happen. You will always feel let down. For that relationship, that man or that woman will never live up to the. Ideals, the fictitious world in which your mind is swirling. And realities will depress you. The realities of living together. I thought this was all candlelit dinners and snuggling together. No, it is a work we were called to do in marriage. The dominion model of marriage is the other one that I think we need to realize is the biblical one. That's the one that's given in Genesis. That's where marriage is established in the context of the dominion covenant. The dominion model for marriage is partners in a great work for God. The dominion model of marriage faces a reality of sin and realizes that we are in a war together as husband and wife, not in a fairytale adventure. Wars are tough. They take a lot of commitment. They take a lot of mutual help between one another. The dominion model of marriage does not deny love. But wait a minute, what is love? Service, meeting the needs of others. The dominion model of marriage does not deny tenderness and intimacy. And the pleasure of one another. But it understands that they are not the purpose of marriage. I'd like again to greet you from He says, marriage is intended to be subordinated to the covenant of dominion. Marriage finds its purpose within the dominion covenant. This is the distinguishing feature of human sexual pairings in comparison to animal pairings. It is the distinguishing feature. God has called us to the dominion. In the dominion model of marriage, Man's calling is recognized as the chief priority of the marriage. The man's calling his work is recognized as a chief priority in the romance model, the chief priority is his wife. But that is not biblical. Man was created and given the task of dominion, and he went into the world before he was given a wife. And she was given to him to come alongside of him to carry out his work of dominion. Man's work. The work of every covenant man is to advance the reign of Jesus Christ over all areas of life. His work would include his vocation. The skills he uses in the technical sense and in the world, in the business world, in the medical field, wherever. It also includes his family as covenant head, training his children, raising up a godly seed, being a good father and a good husband. It's part of man's work. His church serving the kingdom of God within the sphere of the church is part of the godly covenant man's work. And he must never set that aside on the ruse that he has to take care of his wife and children. All things in balance, all things have to be properly worked out. A part of your work, men, is to advance the kingdom of God and serve within the church. It also includes his service in the community, sitting in the gates, politics and the like, bringing Christ's reign over all areas of life. The problem this is not understood is so many women pine away. They grow angry because they believe that they should have the man's priority. But she is not his priority. God is his priority and the work of dominion. She is essential to his life. He cannot do it without her. There is to be love, tenderness, commitment to each other. But it's in a work that's beyond themselves. As North says, the heart of a man's being is not his sexuality, it is his calling before God. Secondly, the dominion model of marriage recognizes the woman's calling is to help her husband fulfill his calling and work. This is the very reason for her creation, according to Genesis 2. As a man is defined in reference to his dominion task, the woman is defined in reference to her husband. This is one of the reasons why, biblically and culturally, you take your husband's name. You're defined in terms of him. That's why you're created to be his helper. The woman is to submit to his authority, bear and raise his children, keep his home and the like. Ladies, you see, I'm going to keep my home or I'm going to keep his home. Because he holds the authority and the dominion in that home, I'm his helper. But he stands before God. You know, ladies, you are the basis to a large degree of your husband's success or failure in this life. His success is your success. His failure is your failure. Number three, the dominion model of marriage recognizes the man's headship in the family. Not tyranny, but a servant leader. We already talked about that, so I'm going to move to the next. The Dominion model of marriage recognizes the need for one another. By the way, the Romance model doesn't recognize any of these things, by the way. The Romance model, the headship? What? Woman there to serve and make her husband successful? He's there to make me happy. The Dominion model recognizes the need for each other. But you know, the Romance model, anyone can do. Read the romance novels. The adventures are going out and having strange women or men. Romance is adventurous. Probably nothing much more adventurous than an affair. But there's also nothing as wicked as an affair. Romance is not our basis. It is dominion. And as romance anyone will do and dominion only your covenant spouse will do. And so you cling to her and her to him. in loyalty, because you're here doing a work for the kingdom of God, not to pursue the empty vanities of romance. And furthermore, the dominion model recognizes the importance of children. The romance model, children are a burden because they interfere with our time together. Those of you who have children and have a number of them know exactly what's happened. Our brother Jackson has a wife who is ill because she's carrying a child. Now, if he was basing himself on the romance model, he'd be pretty upset about that. We can't have time together or she can't be as beautiful and all the things I might want. But he recognizes by God's grace that she's involved in a work for the kingdom and they're doing it together. And so he's suffering with her through the whole thing. As I say, the romance model children are an intrusion. Keep them out. When we understand the dominion model of marriage, we have a different view of what marriage is. And we're pursuing together a work for God, and it's going to be difficult and it's going to be tough and recognize the reality that if your wife has lots of children, she ages, she might lose her figure. Well, that's the reality, and we accept it as part of the whole deal. She's going to be tired, maybe worn out, and not that imaginary model figure that the romance perspective wants to say the husband should have. We recognize we're together in a great work, and by the grace of God, we'll fulfill it. Am I against romance? Yes. Am I against godly biblical love and tenderness in a marriage? No. But remember, romance by definition does not account for the realities of life. It's a fictitious existence. And that's where most of our people are today, even in the churches. And so they're frustrated because their marriage is not a fairytale romance, but it wasn't made to be a fairytale romance. It was made to be a union between a man and a woman committed to the kingdom of God. And doing what's necessary to advance it. They're workers together. before their lovers together. Let us pray. Father, bless your word today. Transform our minds that we might not be conformed to this world and its vain, empty thoughts about what marriage is. But we'll see it within the context of the creation account here. And that we as men, those of us here who are women, will understand our place in it and the centrality of marriage to the kingdom of God. and that we will shoulder together the work that is before us, mutually supporting, being tender when we need one another in that way, being firm when we need one another in that way, doing all things for the glory of God in the advance of his kingdom. We do ask your blessing now upon our interaction time that we might further our understanding of thy word in Jesus' name. Amen. Right. Harley has the microphone there. We take some questions or comments. Another incredibly full passage. We could probably talk for days on this passage, but I will do my best to keep it brief. Praise God. Last week, or last time you spoke, I mentioned Proverbs 24, 27, that a man is to prepare his work outside, make it fit for himself in the field, and afterwards build his house. To some degree, I believe that's what's taking place in the passage here, where Adam names the animals prior to him taking a wife. He's living out his dominion mandate, and then he's building his house under the sovereignty of God. Also, along that line, his act of dominion is naming the animals. You mentioned this in some previous time, I believe, that symbolically, when you name something, you're taking dominion over it. Yes. The Babylonian kings renamed their servants, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they were taking dominion over them. Also, Adam names his wife. And so, even though the passage on the helpmeet is not necessarily totally clear to everyone that the relationship is superior versus helper. The fact that he gives his wife a name does make that very clear. One question I had is in verse 25. I had a totally different understanding of this from my own study, and I just wanted to see if I'm in error somehow. They were both naked, and the man and his wife were not ashamed. I had seen this in the sense of their fellowship with God rendered them in a visible way, differently than we are today. Specifically, Moses, when he was on the mountain, when he came down, shown with the glory of God, The prophetic visions of Christ, they describe his, quote, clothes, but it's a radiance. It's not a clothing. And so, to me, I had always seen this as Adam and Eve glowed with the radiance of God. They were not naked in the sense of you could see their personal being. But they were clothed with the radiance of God. When they broke fellowship with God, immediately, they were visible. So, that's my thought. That's very, very interesting comments. A real insight into that passage. I had not thought of that. Thank you, Tim. Dan? Or Bob? Yeah, always keeping in mind God's order of authority in the family. It would seem that one of the reasons that Satan went first to the woman to attack in the garden was that he was attacking man's strength. Based on what you taught us today, the woman what's created by God as essential to all human society and the development of a godly society particularly. Culturally today, another one of the Evil One's attempts today, he's ripped through marriages with divorce and most young people that you talk to today that have experienced that will say, marriage is not for me. Look what I've been through. Why would I want to go through that? But certainly, God has shown us here today and what you've taught that it's absolutely essential to a dominion-oriented society based on the woman's... I appreciate your point there of the woman attacking the man's strength. As we said, she is the basis for his success or failure to a large degree. And he failed in the garden. Why? Because she gave him evil counsel. and that a woman can do the same today and tear down her husband and give him evil counsel. She really focused on herself. She listened to Satan's temptation. She was enamored by it. She was thinking only of herself, not of her husband, his dominion mandate. She brought destruction upon every one of us. The role of a woman is absolutely essential. The saying is not empty. Behind every great man is a great woman. And it's a team. And so, you know, the woman must begin to think in terms of her husband's success is her success. Because they are one entity, they're one flesh. The Dominion calling to her husband in all of those spheres we talked about, that is she, even in the children thing, she's serving almost in a sense, she's not ministering to the children as the first priority. She's ministering to her husband in caring for the children of this covenant household. When she gets that in perspective, it will just release her from a lot of frustrations. My wife and I had a very good conversation about this yesterday. The realities of life in this sinful world seeking to live out God's covenant calling is tough. We have ten children and we don't have a lot of time to do all the romance things. That's irrelevant. Marriage does not require going out to candlelit dinners. I'm not saying they're sinful to do so. That's not what marriage is. It's raising 10 children. It's advancing the covenant. That's what marriage is. Second sermon. Yes. Sorry about that. Two comments. One is with respect to what Tim said, chapter 3 and verse 7 says, then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew they were naked. So there's a sense in which... They didn't even know it. There's a sense in which... I mean, their eyes certainly were open before. They weren't blind. There's a sense in which there's a new opening here. That's very interesting. I appreciate that. The second issue, which I think you made very well, and I think this was a great message. I wish we could make about six billion copies. Praise God for his work through this. But another point that you made, that everyone comes from Adam. Answering, in my thought, the question of why sin didn't enter the world when Eve partook, she partook first. God did say to Adam not to eat of the tree, and that was before Eve was there. Yes. And then Eve is taken from Adam. Adam is a representative of all men. Eve's act is not, in a very real sense, is not the first sin. That brings it in. I'm not sure. It's a sin in one sense, but it's not the, it brings the fall upon the human race. There's a possibility that she herself could have been slain and another rib taken out and another wife made for Adam if he would have refused her. I mean, she could have met the penalty of sin, which is death. So I think she did sin. But in terms of it being culpable to all men, it didn't happen. The fall did not happen until Adam sinned. That's how I would see it. One question I have is, did the words to Adam carry over in significance to Eve? In other words, he's told not to eat of the tree. The fall comes when he eats of the tree, not when she came. Does she know about it, you're asking? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know either. The text is not very clear on that issue. If Adam was a good covenant head, she knew. I'm sure my assumption is she did know because she does say, didn't she say to the serpent that the gods said we weren't supposed to eat. She did. She didn't know that. Yes. I just wonder if the command is given to her. I don't think so. I think it was to be given to her through Adam. I think it was his responsibility to teach her as part of his responsibilities to teach her the word of God, which again follows through today. That's our responsibility as men to teach the word of God for our families. I guess what I appreciated that you emphasized so much is that she is made from him. She's not made independently of him. And he is representative. In that, he's representative of the whole race from her right on down. Otherwise, that would have been an impossibility. Anyone else? One more here? I have a few comments. One is that quite a number of years ago, I read a poem that in a sense, was making light of the feminist movement, showing how that even in the English, every word that is used to refer to a woman is still connected with a man in some way. The word her has he in it. The word she has he in it. The word woman has man in it. You know, practically... Female has male in it. Female has male in it. And I really wish I would have kept the poem, but I didn't. It was actually very good. Secondly, I understand your definition of the word romantic and its problems based on that definition. However, it's my understanding also that in the New Testament there are four words used for love, and one of them does refer to more of a relational love or sexual love. My question is, in absence of the word romantic, what vocabulary would you suggest for that? Because there is an aspect of an emotional love. Solomon, for example. You know, there are many expressions of tenderness. The Proverbs, rejoice with the wife of thy youth, you know, and all of that. I just wanted you to comment on that. Well, I'd say the idea of romance is based on, it's fictitious. It doesn't take account of the real world and the real life. And they're fictitious, largely fictitious tales. And therefore, we get in our minds, you know, that you've heard the phrase, that's her knight in shining armor. Well, you know, the knight in shining armor, when he wakes up in the morning, doesn't look that way. Or if he's sick and hacking around the house or has a stomach virus. I mean, you know, what happened to my knight? In other words, he's a man and we don't want to see him as a knight in shining armor. We see him as a man who's going to get sick, who's going to fail, who's going to this and that. And she's not going to have a fictitious, idealistic view of what this man should be. That's what I'm knocking. It's romance. It's the fictitious nature of it. I'm not against love and intimacy in marriage and the tenderness that is to be there. However, that is not the central purpose of marriage. She was given as a helper. It's a word of work. They're working together, joint laborers under God, the dominion covenant. and they enjoy the intimacy that only a husband and wife can enjoy. The proverb speaks of the marriage act as being intoxicated with her love, and there is that part of marriage. Whenever you're trying to go against emphases that are wrong, you can appear to come across as emphasizing the other side, which perhaps I did today, but only in balance, because there's that balance. But we don't want romance. We want real-life love for each other, is what I'm saying.