Genesis 1 through 3,
Why marriage? Why did God create or institute marriage? What is the role of marriage aside from procreation; "Be fruitful and multiple and fill the earth and subdue it..." Genesis 1:28.
Marriage was actually initiated at Creation and before the Fall of Mankind; at the creation of everything we know and don't know; at the creation of everything we see and don't see. When God Himself spoke Creation into being, and scooped the soil of earth to form mankind, then kissed Adam breathing the ruah of God's life into him, Adam awakens to the revelation of God as Father and Creator. He knew God in a way that we won’t know God until we pass from this life to eternity with God.
It's fascinating to see marriage present in the very first chapter of Torah, the Old Testament, the Bible. In the order of creation, it is a command from God to mankind upon being created. The Genesis of everything God created contains the relationship of marriage.
Perhaps, the reason why marriage is so fiercely under attack by God’s enemy is because the act of marriage, the actions of a married couple, and the institution of marriage somehow represents the Triune God - God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit in relationship. Perhaps marriage is to represent the Triune God on earth as He is in Heaven.
In Ephesians, Paul called marriage a mystery as it represents Christ’s relationship to the church (Ephesians 5:32). And the act of submitting to one another in marriage, as Paul also describes, as the way the husband and wife mimic and reflect Christ as husband and the church as bride, is about the act of meeking oneself to the other, by restraining the sinful tendencies to be self-centered. Instead we are called to love and respect the gift of the other person as a like kind, power and nature to each other as God created, identified and co-joined during creation calling it marriage.
Marriage in creation was one man and one woman joined by the presence and infilling of the Holy Spirit. God had breathed His ruah of life into Adam to put His life into mankind which is a revealing light or called Light; it’s a revelation of God to mankind as well as a life giving empowerment.
Upon creating Woman, a like kind in nature yet female making her complimentary (different), yet also a like in kind in power. His presentation of Eve to Adam is the precursor of the Father of the Bride presenting the Bride to the Bridegroom.
And with the presence of the Holy Spirit both in each body and as a joined coupling unit, the marriage now reflects the Triune God on earth as He is in Heaven. As Paul aptly states, marriage is a mystery to us about God and His relationship with mankind. (A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12)
Marriage also states something profound about God that His relationship with us is compared to the intimate, loving, self-sacrificing relationship between husband and wife. Even the joy that comes with a sexual relationship was created by God. That will make you stop and ponder, considering how that joy reflects a joy God enjoys as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
With all of these aspects of marriage it is no wonder why divorce, adultery, sexual perversion and promiscuity are an affront to God the Creator. We - mankind - are the only ones in all of Creation that were created in the image of God, as He created everything then created His dwelling on earth as it is in Heaven; to have a place to share with beings created in His image to enjoy an eternal relationship with the Creator Himself. Within the Kingdom of the revealed God, the Kingdom of Light called Day.
Yet, as God revealed Himself prior to creation then spoke everything into being with a Word of pure authority and truth, He knew mankind would sin - miss the mark of reflecting God in His perfection - so He planned and launched the redemption of mankind for the time He will recreate all of Creation to be void of a Kingdom of Self, which is a kingdom void of God, the Kingdom void of the revelation of God, called Darkness or Night.
When we join together in marriage, one man with one women, and invite God into that marriage as priority, we enter into iron sharpening iron, learning to be humble, restraining the desire of self, and submitting our power to benefit the marriage unit over self, to benefit the other person over self and to benefit the family of offsprings over self.
This doesn’t happen overnight, it’s not easy and we married couples hurt our partner and our families deeply and multiple times. Yet, with God as guide and empowerment, we learn to love the other person for his/her benefit over ourself. We learn to truly love as God loves also understanding that this marriage is a continuous work in progress.
Marriage becomes a true working unit, a true friendship, with true intimacy and an enduring love that sustains through fierce trials and when sexual intimacy wains being dominated by closeness in presence, words with actions of love, and touch.
Marriage is the environment to grow closer to God and shape your life in ways you would have never contemplated without marriage.
It’s a beautiful gift when lived with God and with loving one another in a sacrificial way. We must understand our purpose as husband or wife and trust/in and rest-on God to continue to live as He created.
