Marriage, Before the Fall (a)

Introduction: Why Address Marriage, Motherhood, and Homemaking

0:00 I believe most of us are aware of the fact that the second Lord's Day of the month of May is designated in our nation as Mother's Day. and while we as a church have never allowed national days, holidays or otherwise to dictate the contours of the ministry of God's word in this place we have sought to be sensitive to those special days and when appropriate to use them as a catalyst to turn our minds to relevant portions and themes from the scripture that are appropriate on those special days.

0:45 So this past Lord's Day, I announced that I was beginning what would be a brief series of messages entitled, In Praise of Marriage, Motherhood, and Homemaking. In Praise of Marriage, Motherhood, and Homemaking as a divine and a noble calling. And in that opening message, I began by answering the question why I was addressing this theme. And while Mother's Day was the occasion to take up the theme, certainly the presence of a holiday called or a day designated Mother's Day would not be reason enough to engage your minds with this subject over several Lord's Days.

1:37 Rather, I answered the question, why address this theme with two very basic propositions. Proposition one was this, that the goal of the gospel, which is rooted in the purpose of the death of Christ, demands that we as God's people think and act with respect to marriage, motherhood, and homemaking according to the will of God. And we looked at Titus chapter 2, that passage in which special directives are given to various groups within the church, old men, young men, older women, young married women, and at the end of those specific directives, in verse 9, Paul says,

2:28 For, the rationale for all these specific directives to all of these specific groupings of church members is that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. In other words, the gospel that has been revealed demands that we deny ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly. and what does it mean to deny and to live that way? Paul has described it in all of its specific details.

3:16 This is what it means for young men. This is what it means for old men. This is what it means for young married women to think and act as they ought with respect to marriage, motherhood, and homemaking. And that thrust of the gospel in turn is rooted in the very purpose of the death of Christ.

3:38 For Paul concludes the paragraph by saying that this Christ is the Christ who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works, so that the very goal of the gospel is rooted in the purpose of the death of Christ, and that's why the subject must be addressed. So much so that Paul then appends in his directive to Titus, these things speak and reprove and exhort with all authority. In other words, Titus, you are not to waffle on these issues because the great issues of the goal of the gospel, rooted in the purpose of the death of Christ, are at stake or is at stake.

The Call to Radical Commitment and Qualifications for the Series

4:32 And then the second thing I stated in answer to the question, why address the subject, the call to radical commitment to God, issuing in a growing non-conformity to the world, in thought and practice, demands it. And there our text was Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. And in opening up that text, I traced out how the prevailing climate of the world in our society at this time has conditioned two generations of women to think that their true identity and fulfillment must be attained totally apart from and separate from any thought of marriage, motherhood, and homemaking.

5:23 Then after answering the question, why take up the subject, I set before you two fundamental and critical qualifications. Qualifications which I asserted must be understood, embraced, and always remembered whenever we deal with the divine and noble calling of marriage, motherhood, and homemaking. And those two fundamental qualifications were these. The Bible is abundantly clear in its teaching that there is legitimacy, dignity, and great usefulness for women in many areas of life and service outside the sphere of marriage, motherhood, and homemaking.

6:13 And I gave you just five specimen examples. I've come across more in my own regular devotional reading this week. And the Bible is indeed abundantly clear. God have mercy on this church the day we somehow make marriage, motherhood, and homemaking an elevated state of sainthood.

6:38 We have erred as much as the Roman Catholics who make the nunnery and singleness a higher and more elevated state of sainthood. But then the second qualification was this. The Bible is clear in its teaching that some women may deliberately choose or be providentially consigned to a life of singleness and thereby render greater undistracted service to Christ, His people, and to His kingdom. The clear teaching of Matthew 19 and also of 1 Corinthians chapter 7.

7:15 And then I concluded by taking just a moment to say, what did I hope to accomplish in this series of studies?

7:25 What I hope to accomplish is basically this. For the girls and young women and older mature women of marriageable age and position, I hope to create and in some cases to nurture biblical thinking and holy ambitions concerning marriage, motherhood, and homemaking. There's precious little in the world either to create or nurture holy ambitions for motherhood, marriage, and homemaking. And I hope this series of studies will both create and place in the hearts of some and nurture and fan into flame in the hearts of others holy ambition.

8:08 Now remember, remember the qualifications. Remember the qualifications. They condition. But within those conditions, I trust God will use this series of messages to both create and nurture biblical thinking and holy ambitions with respect to marriage, motherhood, and homemaking.

8:29 And for the married mothers and homemakers among us, I hope this series will reinforce your confidence in the high and holy calling to which you have given yourself. I hope it will encourage you to abound more and more in the outworking of your significant role in the will and purpose of God. And then for the rest of us, I hope it will increase our commitment to be a positive, reinforcing context of support and encouragement with respect to the matters of marriage, motherhood, and homemaking. that if there's one place in the world where our girls and where our married women

9:15 can feel, I know I'm going to be encouraged in pursuit of this. Where a young woman sitting here today who's got a good mind and has had a record of good scholastic attainments and is musically inclined and has all kinds of capacities that she'll not be looked down upon as some kind of a second-class citizen if in conversation with her you find out in spite of all of her capacities, she says, I want to be a wife and a mother and a homemaker. I hope there's a context that doesn't say, you mean with your brilliant mind, with your scholastic record, with your musical and literary, I hope there's a climate in which says, hallelujah, girl, go for it. That's the climate that I want to see created here.

10:02 Just as much as I want to see a climate when there are some who are providentially or volitionally choose a life of singleness. And they make it evident that they have done so for kingdom purposes. They are not looked upon as, quote, old maids. Or looked upon as somebody that's got some twist in their psyche that they're not panting to be married.

10:24 That we have a context in which every woman, in her legitimate sphere of calling, feels her nobility before God. now is that too much to ask I trust God will help us to that end now as we take up our theme we shall do so in terms of the biblical framework of creation of whole and of redemption you who have been under my ministry for any length of time know that again and again when approaching issues of how we're to think and how we're to relate and how we're to act in this or that area I have insisted We must start by bringing it into the grid of the biblical doctrines of creation, of fall, and of redemption.

The Biblical Framework: Creation, Fall, and Redemption

11:12 We must place the thing under consideration under these three spotlights, the light of creation, the light of fall, and the light of redemption. To state it a bit differently, we ask three questions concerning the thing we're about to wrestle with. What was this thing? What was this issue? What was this relationship in the original order of things when it came from the hand of Almighty God?

11:43 That's the first question we must ask. What was this thing, this issue, this relationship in the original order of things when it came from the hand of God? In other words, how are we to view it in the light of the teaching of Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2? But then secondly, we must ask the question, what happened to this thing, this issue, this relationship, as a result of the cosmic disruption resulting from man's rebellion against God in the Garden of Eden?

12:20 In other words, what happened to this thing in the light of Genesis chapter 3? And then thirdly, we must ask what has God done or purposed to do with this thing, this issue, this relationship in the application of his restorative grace through the mercy and power of Jesus Christ? Or, what is this thing in the light of Genesis 3.15 all the way through to Revelation 22?

13:02 Now that's how we've got to view things, if we're to view them as they are. As we ought. If we are to have our minds transformed, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds more and more. We must think within that trilogy of creation, of fall, and of redemption.

God's Creative Activity: Man in Genesis 1:26-30 (The Panoramic View)

13:23 So this morning and this evening, we're going to consider marriage, motherhood, and homemaking in the light of creation. And as we do, first of all, Roman numeral one is this. God's creative activity in relationship to the creation of man as recorded in Genesis 1, 26 to 30. That will be Roman numeral 1.

13:50 God's creative activity in relationship to the creation of man as it is recorded in Genesis 1, 26 to 30. Roman numeral 2 will be God's creative activity in relationship to creation of the man and the woman in particular as found in selective portions of Genesis chapter 2. So we're going to have to go back to foundational issues. Now, I know we live in a day when the church is full of preachers that are going to give you five little nice hints to a good marriage and motherhood, and they're not ready to dig down the foundational issues.

14:36 I leave them to answer to God for their method. But I must answer to God for mine. And you must put on your thinking caps and come with me now to the very opening chapters of our Bibles. As we are attempting to think as we ought, that we might act as we ought with respect to marriage, motherhood, and homemaking, we must start with God's creative activity in relationship to the creation of man as recorded in Genesis chapter 1, 26 to 30.

15:09 Now those of you familiar, and I hope it's all of you, with the structure of Genesis chapter 1, Up until now, in the first six days of creation, the pattern has been very clear and very consistent. After an introductory statement, the pattern has been this. God says, let there be, and then there was, or then God created, or God made. Verse 3, God said, let there be light, and there was light.

15:41 Verse 6, God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, let it divide the waters. Verse 7, and God made the firmament. Verse 9, and God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered. Verse 10, God called the dry land earth.

16:00 Verse 11, God said, let the earth put forth grass. Verse 14, and God said, let there be lights. Verse 20, and God said, let the water swarm. Verse 24, and God said, let the earth bring forth.

16:16 You see the pattern, it's clear. One could not hear Genesis 1 read out loud without getting this motif firmly embedded in his mind. God said, God said, God said, God said. And as a result of God speaking, something comes into being by the word of his power, or something is said to be created by God.

16:39 However, when we come to verse 26, there is a radical shift in that pattern. See if you can pick it up. And God said, Created he them, and God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it,

17:25 and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, and which is the fruit of tree yielding seed. To you it shall be for food, and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, to everything that creeps upon the earth wherein there is life. I have given every green herb for food and it was so.

17:54 Now when we come to this portion of the Word of God, do you see the drastic change in verse 26? Did you pick it up? All the other and God said, it either says what God said came into being or having said it, God didn't. But here in verse 26, we have what I am calling a revelation of God's intention with respect to the next thing that He's going to create on day 6.

18:27 In none of the other aspects of creation in the previous six days or even earlier on that six day, the previous five days, or earlier on that day, are we at all taken in to the counsels of God with respect to His intention. God simply had decided there would be light and there would be grass and there would be creatures of the sea, But here, God takes us, as it were, into the counsels of His own intention. One commentator described this in a way that was very striking to me He called it God fanfare in preparation for His crowning work of creation You know what a fanfare is It is a blast of trumpets

19:17 And it's announcing the presence of a great personage, or a great personage is already present, and there's going to be some important announcement. Here's God's own fanfare in preparation for his own unique work in the creation of man. Here is the revelation of God's intention. And when it says, let us make man in our image, this is most likely what the scholars like to call the plural of majesty.

19:50 God in his majesty speaks of himself as us, and it could well be that it is a faint foreshadowing of that which unfolds in its full flowering in the New Testament that God in His essential being is triune. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And while I would not rest a proof for the doctrine of the Trinity on this text because the usage of the plural of majesty is found throughout the Old Testament, Surely, reading our Old Testament in the light of the New, we would not be prepared to rule out entirely that this is, here's a word I shared with a couple of young people the other day, an adumbration.

20:36 Here's an adumbration. A little pointer, a faint shadowy pointer to that doctrine. But whatever it is, God is taking us into His own councils. And God says, let us do something.

20:49 And God's intention focuses upon three things that He's going to do. Look at them. First of all, His purpose to make a creature called man. And God said, let us make man.

21:06 Let us make man. This creature is to be called man. Secondly, His purpose is to make a creature in His own image and likeness. Let us make man in our image after our likeness.

21:26 And I share the persuasion of many responsible commentators that we are not to look for some distinction between image and likeness, that they are used basically synonymously. And God says this creature will have as its distinguishing characteristic It is made in our image after our likeness. So after the fanfare, God says, I have an intention to make a creature called man, to make this creature in my image and likeness. And thirdly, His purpose is to give to this creature a position of dominion over all of the created things in the earth,

22:11 both the animate and the inanimate. Look at the text. And let them, this one whom we will make called man in the singular, is going to be a them. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heaven, and over all the cattle, now notice, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

22:40 So God in letting us in as it were to his own intentions not only reveals I'm going to make a creature called man. I will make him with his distinguishing characteristic being that he is in my image and my likeness. But I will make him with a view that he will take the position of my vice regent. my governor over the world that I have brought into being by my creative activity, both the animate and inanimate creation of the earth, and he will have dominion over it.

23:18 Now, do you see those three things embedded in the text? God says, this is my intention. Now, from his intention, the revelation of his intention, we have the record of his action. And here again, we have three things.

23:32 Here's the record now of his action, verse 27. And God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him. Here is the record of what God actually does.

23:50 And it is perfectly consonant. It resonates with the intention he's revealed. Let us make a creature called man. With its distinguishing characteristic, it is image and likeness of God.

24:04 God creates man in his own image. Now, whatever is involved in the image reality, and the precise elements are discussed and even debated among the friends of the Bible, it is this that essentially and fundamentally sets man apart of a totally different order from any other of the creatures of God. Now, while God obviously used previously designed physiological parts and systems, you follow what I'm saying? God obviously, in creating man, uses some previously designed parts and systems

24:50 that are made to function efficiently in many of the animals as well as in man, man in his essential being and identity could never have mutated upward into image of God. Never. If the process had gone on for a billion eons, what is material and animal can never mutate upward into image of God.

25:27 What man is as image is of the very essence of humanness. It is in creation. It is to this day. It will be in heaven and in hell.

25:42 man is essentially image and likeness of God and however we understand the image reality this much is clear man is unique in that his identity is found upward in God not downward in the animals if you get hold of that you've got the heart of it man's identity is found upward in God Never downward in the animals. Now do you see why we have to start where God starts? Because it is among humankind that we find marriage and motherhood and homemaking.

26:32 How are we to evaluate this? if we don't dig back and start with what this creature is, we'll never clearly understand the rationale of what this creature ought to do. For what we ought to do is rooted in what we is. And what we is is image of God.

Five Fundamental Equalities of Male and Female Image Bearers

26:58 Fundamental. so fundamental that God gives us, as it were, the ability to put our ear to His intention before He actually brings it to pass in His action. So in the record of His action, that's the first thing that is stated. God creates man in His own image.

27:19 Secondly, God creates man in two distinct and unmixed genders, male and female. Look at the text. And God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him.

27:38 Male and female created he them.

27:46 God creates man in two distinct and unmixed genders. Male and female. All that makes a human being male in physiology, psychology, emotional and relational constitution is God's idea and God's creative will. He made them male And all that is distinctive maleness Not all that are the accretions of sinful maleness But maleness in its pristine beauty and glory

28:31 Has its roots in the creative mind and will of Almighty God And all that is distinctively female-ness in physiology, psychology, emotional, relational, constitution is God's idea and God's creative will. Now, why am I getting so excited about this? Let me tell you why. One of the recurring motifs of modern feminism that has spawned two generations of confused, frustrated, angry, bitter, disappointed, disillusioned women is this pursuit of innocuous personhood.

29:18 I don't want to be thought of as a woman. I'm a person. Ever hear that? I want to be loved and respected for who I am as a person.

29:28 God did not create innocuous personhood. It's a mirage. It doesn't exist. There is no such thing as innocuous, sexless personhood.

29:43 God never made it. Therefore, the only one that can make it is the devil or man in his folly. God made male. And God made female.

29:58 God made no innocuous personhood. And it is absolutely critical that we get hold of that with every fiber of our being. Or we'll never be able to think as we ought about the nobility and the dignity of marriage, motherhood, and homemaking. Never.

30:24 We may sort of be carried along by a contextual pressure. but once some articulate feminist gets hold of us, we'll be shaken to our roots. Never, never, never allow yourself to be referred to simply as a person.

30:42 You're a man. You are a woman from your very conception onward. Third thing, and this is crucial, not only did God create man in his own image, Secondly, God creates man in two distinct, unmixed genders, male and female. Thirdly, God confers upon these, the male and the female, these two equal image bearers, five fundamental equalities of privilege and responsibility.

31:19 God confers upon these equal image bearers. For the text says, in the image of God created he them. And then God speaks to them, and in speaking to them, he confers upon them five fundamental equalities of privilege and responsibility. And at this point, I am an egalitarian with respect to the sexes.

31:47 There are dimensions of created maleness and femaleness in which the male and the female stand with equal dignity before God in their identity as image of God. And what are they? Number one, both are equally blessed by God. Verse 28, and God blessed them.

32:08 No parenthesis.

32:11 With 70 pounds of blessing for the male, 30 pounds of blessing for the female. No, God blessed them. They stood equally under the conferral of the goodwill and the favor of the God who made them. You see that in the text with your own eyeballs?

32:30 God blessed them. Secondly, both are equally capable of receiving communication from God. And God said unto them. Eve could discern the voice of God Eve could process the words of God in her mind and internalize the impression of them upon her soul as well as Adam God blessed them equal blessing God said to them equally capable of receiving communication from God Thirdly, they are equally charged with the procreative mandate.

33:15 And God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. They are equally charged with the procreative mandate. The procreative mandate is not the peculiar province of the male or of the female. Well, God charges both of them, lays upon them the procreative mandate.

33:41 Fourthly, they are equally charged with the dominion mandate.

33:47 And subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heaven, over every living thing that moves on the earth. so whatever division of labor may eventually fall out between the male and the female whatever distinctions may be further revealed as God further speaks to them one thing is clear the dominion mandate is equally laid upon the man and the woman and then fifthly they are equally blessed with God's promised provision for sustaining their life in God's world.

34:34 Notice, God said, verse 29, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, verse 30, and to every beast of the field. God equally assures them that in His beneficence and kindness He will provide for their physical sustenance and the sustenance of those who come under the canopy of their dominion mandate. So then, here we see the male and the female, the man and the woman, God dealing with them as his image and likeness, and we have these five areas of fundamental equality of privilege and responsibility.

35:21 Now, if that's all God revealed of his creative activity and intention, Adam and Eve would no doubt have observed, reflected, and deduced some aspects of their distinctive roles in the outworking of this five-fold equality. Do you follow what I'm saying? if Adam and Eve simply observed how God made them observed the unfolding of their maleness and femaleness there would no doubt have been some pragmatic and some fundamentally convincing reasons

36:07 for saying alright Eve in the outworking of the dominion mandate I'll hold the logs to make our vacation cabin out there while you nurse the kids. Alright, you see what I'm saying? Now, this matter of observing nature and drawing conclusions with respect to our sexual differences and how they should be expressed, this is a biblical concept. You remember Paul speaking to sinners now, not in the Garden of Eden.

36:39 In 1 Corinthians 11, he's dealing with male hierarchy. And then it's outworking. And he says, Does not nature itself teach you certain things? 1 Corinthians 11.

36:52 Now remember, he's talking to fallen sinners, but he says even as fallen sinners, nature itself teaches you certain things with relationship to male and female roles, relationship, and in the context, even your appearance. Romans chapter 1. Twice, Paul says, they do that which is against nature. They do that which is against nature.

37:13 Now think of what Adam and Eve, in an unfallen state, with intellectual faculties that would absolutely blow the numbers off the charts of any measurements we can take today with IQ tests and all the rest. Think what they would have discerned as they came to grips with their concreated differences of maleness and femaleness. and I'm asserting that within the framework of those five equalities there would have been a differentiation in the outworking of specific responsibility. However, God did not leave Adam and Eve nor has He left us.

38:00 Otherwise, in our day with man's fallenness and his determination to throw over the yoke of God wherever he finds it, people would settle on Genesis 1 and say, here is the paradigm for a total egalitarian marriage That is equal roles you can mix and match switch as you want They haven yet figured out how to give a man a womb and breasts Give them a little time and they'll work it out, I'm sure. But that's the whole concept. We're going to have an egalitarian, an equal partnership. We sit down and we agree we have no sense of sexist imposition of any role of motherhood, homemaking to the woman, breadwinning, strong protector of the man.

38:45 That's all imposed by society. It's simply a blip on the screen in the unfolding of the evolutionary process. We can junk it, chuck it, do what we want with it. And here in Genesis we are told here they are equal image, equally blessed, equally under the procreated mandate, the dominion mandate, equally under the blessing of God, egalitarian marriage and a discussion.

God's Creative Activity: Man and Woman in Genesis 2 (The Zoom Lens View)

39:09 but you see God ain't done with telling us what he did and how he did and why he did it and so that brings us Roman numeral 2 for you note takers we've looked at God's creative activity in relationship to the creation of man in Genesis 1, 26-30 now we're going to consider God's creative activity in relationship to the creation of the man and the woman in particular in Genesis chapter 2 Now what do we have in Genesis chapter 2? Well, basically, Genesis chapter 1 is God taking His camera and putting it in the panorama mode and taking a picture of His creative activity. We get the whole picture.

39:57 The summary statement, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, And the Spirit of God brooded upon the face of the waters, and God said. And God gives us the picture of the six days of creation. And He inserts the creation of man as male and female as just a part, a subset of what He did on day six. You get the panoramic view of the six days of creation, concluding in the first verses of chapter 2 in the sanctifying of the seventh day as the appointed day of rest.

40:39 That's what God has given us in Genesis 1. But now what God does in Genesis 2 is He takes a camera and He zooms in on just a segment of day number 6.

40:56 And in that zoom picture we're going to be given details that we cannot see in the panoramic picture. God's going to take the zoom lens and He's going to give us details with respect to precisely how He made the man and the woman the circumstances surrounding the creation of the male and of the female. Now I want to read those selective portions and then I want to set forth a principle that we must lay hold of with a death grip. And it has just, not revolutionized, but it's caused a holy tumult in my own soul as I've pondered these things in the past days.

41:43 Genesis chapter 2. Follow now as we look at the details given to us by the zoom lens. Verse 4. These are the generations or the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.

42:04 Verse 7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into not their nostrils. Here he's referring to man singular, referring to Adam. God formed man of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became living soul.

42:30 In creating Adam image and likeness we are given this detail from the zoom lens that God did not speak the man into being as man but God took the dust of the ground and formed the man, constituted the man breathed into him breath of life and man became living soul. Now then, what happens? Well, I want you to move down to verse 8. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.

43:13 So He creates the man out of the dust of the ground, breathes into him this life principle, he becomes living soul, and then God puts him. How he put him? Took him by the hand, guided him by internal impulses. We don't know, but God puts him into a garden.

43:34 God puts him there. So here we have the man created first, out of the ground, living soul, placed by God into a garden, prepared and planted by God. Verse 15. And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden.

43:53 Now notice an additional thought. Into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. To be a gardener. There were no weeds, but there was a profuseness of life, a prodigality of God's created generosity that this garden needed to be trimmed back and pruned and ordered.

44:16 And so the man is created and placed in the garden, not primarily to admire the flowers and the fruits, but to work, and to work productively in the area that would be part of his subduing,

44:34 organizing, arranging. He's placed there. Now then, verse 18, And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a help meet or answering to his needs then verse 20 and the man gave names to all the cattle to the birds of the heaven to the beasts of the field but for the man there was not found a help meet or answering to him and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and he slept and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh thereof and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man made he a woman and brought her unto the man

45:19 and the man said this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh she should be called woman because she was taken out of man now here God in his zoom lens view gives us details not even hinted at in Genesis chapter 1 the panoramic view would give the impression that the man and woman were created at the same time in the same circumstance and immediately charged in that setting with this five-fold blessing and mandate and promise of God's provision. But that's not the way God did it. The only one who was there has told us how He did it. And as we shall see, He did it the way He did it

46:08 because there is profound significance with respect to what it means to be a man, to be a woman. What marriage and motherhood and homemaking are and why they should be elements in our holy aspirations. They are embedded here in chapter 2. Now, as we try to identify the specific teaching of these verses, here's the principle that you've got to grasp with a death grid and never, never let it go.

46:43 Now, if you ain't listened to a thing till now, please get on the edge of your seat and listen. If I see anyone nodding off, getting dopey-eyed, and that glassy look, if I know who you are, I may call you by name and say, look, you need this too. Listen carefully. Listen carefully.

46:57 Here's the principle. Nothing in chapter 2 must be understood or applied in such a way as to overlook, dilute, or negate what is clearly taught in chapter 1. God didn't give us the zoom lens to distort the picture in the panoramic picture.

47:24 Nothing in chapter 2 should ever be understood or applied in such a way as to blur, to dilute, let alone to negate what is clearly taught in chapter 1. The man and the woman both equally share the image of God.

47:47 As image, both receive equally the divine blessing. Both receive this capacity to hear the voice of God. Both are charged with the procreative mandate, the dominion mandate. Both are blessed with the promise of abundant provision.

48:09 The man and the woman stand equal before God in those five specific areas as image of God. Never let anyone take anything out of Genesis 2 that will in the slightest way drive you to relinquish what is clearly revealed in chapter 1. Hold it with the desperate.

48:39 Now the flip side is,

48:43 never hold to what is clearly revealed in chapter 1 in such a way as to blur, to dilute, or to relinquish anything that is clearly taught in chapter 2. God gave us both. And the truth of our identity as image of God, as male and female, is to be held in the death grip of chapter 1 and chapter 2, not as contradictory, but as complementary. And they present the beautiful picture of what I'm to think about myself as a man, what you're to think about yourself as a woman.

49:38 and as I try to be sensitive to what's going on in our own generation it seems to me that part of the problem is there is this determination on the part of some so to hold to what is clearly revealed in chapter 1 that they essentially negate the distinctive revelations of chapter 2 and in many circles that would be closer to ours people so determined to hold to the principles of chapter 2 that they overlook what is clearly revealed in chapter 1. So you got me? You're following me? You're with me?

50:19 You're with me? I'm working. I hope you're working. Are we together in this?

Five Distinctive Truths from Genesis 2

50:23 Alright. Now then. What is clearly taught in chapter 2? Open your Bibles with me and let's look.

50:30 Number one. We're going to see five things here. Just like we saw five things equally true of the image bearer. We have five things that are taught in these verses.

50:40 Number one, the man, the male, was created first in order out of the dust of the earth. Verse 7, And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. The man, the male species, was created first in order, but he was created out of the dust of the earth. Very significant as we'll see.

51:15 Secondly, the man was immediately placed by God in his basic sphere of stewardship and assigned his fundamental calling. Verses 8 and 15. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man whom he had formed. God decides where the man's going to be placed and according to verse 15 what his fundamental calling in that place is to be.

51:50 The Lord God took the man, put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. The man formed first out of the dust of the ground. And secondly, the man is immediately placed by God in his basic sphere of stewardship and assigned his fundamental calling. He has a calling to do something with the ground, with the garden.

52:17 Thirdly, the man is incomplete without a creature that is agreeable, suitable, or answering to him. That is, a fitting counterpart. God, first of all, knows this fact and states it, verse 18. And then verses 19 and 20, God makes Adam feel it and acknowledge it.

52:41 That's what those verses are about. First of all, the man is incomplete without a creature that is agreeable, suitable, answering to him a fitting counterpart. God knows it and God states it, verse 18. The Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone.

52:58 He's alone in the garden. Alone working. He's alone doing what God told him to do. So God is the one who declares this is not a good state.

53:09 And God declares what he's going to do. I will make a help meet answering to. I will make a helper fitting to his need. Please don't talk about your wife as your helpmate.

53:24 That's a mixing of things. A help meet answering to. God says he is not good in that state. He has no counterpart to himself.

53:34 I'm committed to make a helper that is his counterpart, that answers specifically to him in his distinctive maleness. And all that he needs in that counterpart, I'm committed to do it. But before I do, I want Adam to know and to feel how much he needs her.

53:55 Now, God didn't have to do that, but he did. I love that.

53:59 So what does God do? He said, I'm going to give him another job. Adam, put your hole down for a little bit. Put your rate down, Adam.

54:08 Adam, I've got a task for you. Let's look at it. Verse 19. And out of the ground the Lord formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens, brought them unto the man to see what he would call them.

54:19 And whatever the man called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for man there was not found a helper answering to him commensurate with what he needs. Here's Adam.

54:41 Can you picture him? God brings, and I share the judgment of some of the commentators, that God didn't bring all of the creatures he made, but those that were particular there to the Garden of Eden and its particular ecological life. And Adam's to name them. Naming them was not just saying, oh, let's, you know, play with words.

55:01 But Adam was to look at them. Adam was to think in terms of what he could perceive their function would be as he exercised dominion over them, as he sought to be God's governor in God's world and especially this little beautiful patch of this world called the Garden of Eden. and Adam would see that for every one of those animals each had his counterpart. There was the male.

55:29 There was the female. Like the male but different from the male. A counterpart of all the beasts of all the birds. We see the male and the female mourning dove.

55:43 It's been a lovely experience this spring. A mourning dove built a nest in one of our window boxes right outside our guest room, right between where the two windows come together. So every morning we get within six inches of that mama bird sitting on her eggs and she doesn't get spooked by us. And it's been lovely to see the male and the female working together in this matter of hatching those babies and caring for their new little family.

56:08 Adam would have seen this. And Adam would have increasingly come to the persuasion that horse has his counterpart. That sheep has her counterpart. That ox has his counterpart.

56:26 Where is my counterpart? You see, there is some kind of communion and communication between man and beast. Any of you that have had a pet cat, pet dog, pet, you know that. But you see, the communication is only as you come down to the level of that animal.

56:44 You can't bring the animal up to your level. Or you may find some psychological release when you look at your dog in his big brown eyes and tell him all your troubles.

56:56 But he's not bearing your burdens.

57:00 Right? You can come down to the level of the animal. The animal can't come up to your level. You see, there was no counterpart to animal.

57:08 There was no helper answering to him. There was no mirror image in which Adam could sense intelligence and communication of mind and soul and of the distinctive capacities of what? Image of God Far above mere felt animal needs that which makes man distinct as image He saw nothing of image in any of the beasts of the field. So God makes him feel in the depths of his gut what God had already said was true.

57:45 It's not good for you, butter, to be alone. Adam, you may think you've got your act together, but you don't. the only thing of which I've said not good in all that I've made is you all by yourself Adam is not good I'm going to respond to that not good and make it good but Adam I want you to feel keenly your need for what I'm about to do then you'll appreciate it when I do it and you see if you don't feel that and that's what I felt afresh in pondering this in fact I had to come out of my study sometime yesterday laughing I'll tell you why in a little bit and share with my wife why I laughed. But that will have to hold off.

The Woman's Creation and Purpose as Helper

58:22 All right. So man is incomplete. God knows it, states it. Then God says to Adam, you're going to feel it.

58:29 And he does. George Bush, not the president or the former president, but a commentator of the 19th century, commenting on this very reality, wrote this. Though Lord of creation, speaking of Adam, yet pining. Yes, though Lord of creation, yet pining for something unpossessed, though surrounded with living creatures, yet feeling the listlessness of solitude, Adam would discern that he alone was destitute of a companion, a cheerless and lonely hermit, roving amidst a wilderness of delights.

59:15 Now, if you've got any love of words, you've got to love that. That's poetic. He was what? He was this man destitute of a companion, a cheerless, lonely hermit, roving amidst a wilderness of delights.

59:31 It is not good for the man to be alone. So what happens? Well, in the fourth place, we're working our way through now. We've seen God made the man first, breathed into him breath of life.

59:42 We've seen that God put him in his fundamental sphere of responsibility and of labor. We've seen thirdly, the man is incomplete without a creature that is agreeable, suitable, answering to him. God knows it. God states it.

59:56 God makes Adam feel it. Now in the fourth place, the woman was created out of the man in order to be a helper to the man. Verse 18b. I will make him a help answering to suitable for him.

60:17 The rationale of the creation of the woman had respect to the need of the man.

60:28 Now, you find the same words in verse 20b. The man gave names to all the cattle, birds of the heaven, to every beast of the field, but for the man there was not found a helper answering to him, suitable for him. Verse 21, 22. The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh thereof, and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man made he a woman and brought her unto, not the garden to dress it and to keep it, but brought her to the man.

61:11 now I saw a parallel that I've never seen before in my preparation there's a parallel between Adam and the need of the ground and Eve and the need in Adam look at 5b 2-5b what do we read we read there was not a man to till the ground God didn't make but there was not a man to till the ground So what does God do? God then creates a man in order to till the ground.

61:50 No tiller for the ground? I'll make a tiller for the ground. He makes man out of the ground to be a tiller for the ground. Now here's man.

61:59 No helper answering to him. So God says, I'll make a helper answering to him. What does God do? Take the dust of the earth?

62:06 No. He takes a rib out of Adam. to show that in her very creation has a connection with the significance of her identity as helper for the man.

62:26 See the connection? Now, then there's this fighting words. Now, you girls perhaps don't know. You haven't encountered a lot of raw feminism.

62:33 You will. But when you say to the modern feminist, A woman's identity is to be understood in relationship to a man. Them's is fighting words. Rear back on her hind legs and say, No! My identity is in my personhood.

62:56 And I say, you ain't got no innocuous personhood. You're a woman. And woven into the very fabric of what you are is God's declaration. It is not good for the man to be alone.

63:11 I will make a helper answering to him. I'll take one of his ribs. I'll construct that creature in all of the amazing wonder of what she is. And I will bring her to the man so that from the dawning of her consciousness she sees that her identity is inextricably bound up in this one from whose rib she was made and to whom she is now brought.

63:46 And this activity has profound significance with respect to the issues of the relative roles of men and women, husbands and wives, authority, both in the family and in the church. That's why Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, when dealing with some of these things, noticed his language. I'm not just using an active brain here this morning. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul is arguing about these matters or demonstrating the validity of these role distinctions and sexual distinctions having implications for life together in the church and men and women relating to one another.

64:27 And he says in verse 8 of 1 Corinthians 11, For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. For neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man.

64:46 You see, Paul sees in this Genesis 2 account profound significance with respect to our identity in 1 Corinthians 1 Timothy chapter 2. when he's laying out why women must not take a position of authoritative instruction and government in the church. He says, for the man was created first. This has tremendous significance.

Adam's Rapturous Reception and Recognition of Eve

65:12 And we'll not be able to think biblically about marriage, motherhood, and homemaking unless we go back and root our thinking in this beautiful synthesis of Genesis 1 and Genesis chapter 2. So we come to the fifth thing then, and that is that the woman is brought by God to the man who receives her with rapturous delight, immediately recognizing two realities. the woman is brought by God to the man who receives her with rapturous delight immediately recognizing two realities look at the text and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man made he a woman and brought her unto the man

66:00 and the man 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.

66:17 You got an imagination? It's a wonderful faculty. I hope you use it when you read your Bible.

66:27 Don't build weird theology on it like a certain man is doing and causing such confusion throughout the church.

66:36 But sticking within the lids of your Bible, try to put yourself back in that situation. Adam has spent an hour, two hours, I don't know how many on that sixth day, working the field. God's called him away to another task and he's named the animals. And what God had already said was true and in essence said, now my son, what I know you're going to know.

66:58 And he feels in his gut, he has a visceral existential awareness.

67:04 I ain't made it. I wasn't made to make it on my own in all that my God and my Father has made me to be and to do here in this garden. I feel no helper answering to my need. No one that is my other self.

67:22 Next thing he knows, he's waking up in the recovery room. That's a weird feeling, isn't it? You've seen the surgeon, you're lying here on the table and you're off in la-la land. and the next thing you know, somebody's talking in your ears saying, Mr. Martin, breathe deeply, breathe deeply.

67:36 And a couple of hours have gone, and you don't know where they've gone. You don't remember going out, coming out. Adam had something like that. God put him in a deep sleep.

67:44 God anesthetized him.

67:47 Adam comes out of that. And the Lord had closed up the flesh. I wonder if God left a little scar.

67:54 You should imagine. I wonder. I'm not saying He did, but I wonder. Closed up the flesh there.

67:59 Maybe Adam's feeling down. What's happening here? The next thing he knows, a creature begins to walk toward him. Now whether God came in the theophany, in some kind of physical appearance, as he seemed to come later, after Adam and Eve sinned, they heard the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

68:21 And there is this bright glory of God. And there in God's hand comes this creature. and Adam's eyes begin to get wider and wider she's not hairy all over like the other beast of the field she's not walking on all floors like the other beast of the field this creature is coming toward him he looks down I've got two legs she's got two legs I've got two arms she's got two arms I've got two eyes she's got two eyes and he begins to see in her. Something that answers to his identity in terms of his basic physiology.

69:05 But then he begins to notice she has and I don't. And he begins to take in the differences in the male and the female physiology. And Adam is taking all of this in and then it says, and when the Lord had brought her to the man before God says anything, this is what's amazing, before God says anything The man says, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This is my counterpart.

69:35 And what struck me at my desk, I said, I wonder if when God first brought her and Adam began to take all this in, he didn't just bell her out and say glory to God and do a backflip. I sat at my desk, picturing Adam, throwing up his hands, glory to God, look what he's given me, doing a back flip and saying, now what do I do with this?

70:03 Well, my wife laughed with me.

70:07 But do you catch something of the exuberance? The man said, this is now. She's here. What I didn't know I needed, and God made me feel I needed.

70:18 Now he's met the need. This is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. Woman's brought to the man, receives her with rapturous delight, and immediately recognizes two realities. Number one, she is his counterpart, equal and divinely designed helper.

70:39 He recognizes that immediately. This is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, of the same stuff, of the same kind. He could see it in her eyes long before they said any words. There was the sense of the communion of my same kind.

70:57 But then he also recognizes he is her definer. He is her leader. May I use the word he is her head? For look what the text says.

71:07 She is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman. Because she was taken out of man. God doesn't say now name her.

71:18 He instinctively names her. And naming was giving identity and significance to the animals. It was an expression of male leadership and headship. And he says, she shall be called woman, Isha, for she is taken out of man.

71:37 I'm Isha, she's Isha, of the same stuff, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, equal under God, sharing dignity as image bearer with me. but she shall be called woman. She is taken out of man. He names her.

71:52 He asserts his loving royal headship and assigns her a name.

72:02 He sees her who will be his helper answering to his need. And then I wonder, and I've never thought of this until preparation for today, whether it is at this point that what we read in Genesis 1, 28 and following, is actually said by God. And God blessed them. He couldn't bless them until them was in existence.

72:29 All right? So it seems to me it would be at this very point that the realities expressed in Genesis 1 were actually spoken by God. And now God takes over. Adam, you've said your hallelujah.

72:43 You've done your backflip. you've expressed with rapturous delight her identity, and you have named her. Now, Adam, you be quiet for a minute while I tell you what this is all about. And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, replenish the earth, so do it, have dominion.

73:04 And if that's so, if that's so, do you see how beautifully God has bookended this perspective on what we are as image bearers, what we are as male and female. He gives us this general statement in chapter 1 in order that these categories of male and female equality under God should be firmly embedded. He doesn't wait. He could have omitted that and said, that's going to come later.

73:33 But he put it here, that they might be fixed in our thinking. And then God says, now I'm going to zoom in on a part of that sixth day when I did my most significant work in creating the crown of my creative activity, those who alone will be my image. And he creates the man and he creates the woman. And all that God is saying in these chapters is to set before you and before me that framework within which we are to think of marriage, motherhood, homemaking, and all related to it in the light of what is clearly revealed in chapter 1,

74:19 clearly revealed in chapter 2. For Moses then gives his editorial comment, and we're not going to have time this morning to address it. God willing, we'll take it up as I carry on the message tonight. Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh.

74:40 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Oh my, I didn't have a clue that it's already one o'clock. I'm sorry, I just hadn't looked at the clock in half an hour. What can I say?

74:54 Except, dear people, don't take this stuff lightly. and if you find in your heart you've got any rebellion against this go read Psalm 2 the kings of the earth gather together and set themselves against the Lord and against his anointed saying let us cast their cords asunder what we see in the fabric of society today is a massive expression of Psalm 2 organized rebellion against almighty God and rebellion against God brings bondage and we've got two generations of precious image bearers of God who have been brought into the most miserable bondage because they're not thinking biblically about who and what they are. And between feminism on the one hand and machoism and male domination on the other,

75:46 what a horrible picture is out there in society. But may God grant that here in the house of God something of God's original intention, though marred by sin as we shall see yet under the dynamics of restorative grace we can have something of Eden restored let's pray our Father we do pray that you would take the things we have considered together today and give us understanding and light and grace to embrace them Father, whatever has had the mixture of the mere thoughts of men, blow upon it whatever has been true to your word, seal it to our hearts. Have

76:32 mercy, we pray especially, upon the precious women and girls in our own assembly, bombarded as they are by so much that would undermine the glory of their significance as women. We pray that you will help us to cut a straight course in your word as we continue to meditate upon these things throughout the day. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.