Covenant of Marriage

Then the Lord God said,

“It is not good for the man to be alone;

I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

Genesis 2:18

The earth was ready. The garden was ready. The man was ready, almost.

God breathed life into Adam and placed him in the garden to keep it and cultivate it.

God showed him what to do … and what not to do.

God told him that he was free to eat of all the trees of the garden except one—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—and he told him that in the day he ate of it, he would “surely die.” (Genesis 2:17)

Then God brought beasts out to the man, and he took ownership over them by giving them their names.

God looked at man, and God looked at the beast, and He knew He was not yet finished with His masterpiece.

Man still needed a suitable helper.

So God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and as he slept, God took from his side a rib. From this rib God fashioned a helper. God awoke the man and presented to him his gift, and the man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called woman” (Genesis 2:23).

This woman, this gift from God, was taken from his side, close to his heart. She was not taken from his head to rule over him or to be ruled by him. She was not taken from his feet to walk all over him or to be walked all over. She was taken from his side, to complement him, to be his helper, to be his friend. The man was given responsibility over his woman, not dominion. She was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh.

Then God said, “They shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24), the first blood covenant.

Our Creator is a God of covenant.

A covenant is a solid, binding agreement that is made by passing between two pieces of flesh. It supersedes all other relationships and contracts. It is an unconditional agreement.

God created the marriage covenant. In this covenant we also see another picture of our triune God. In the book of Ephesians we read that the husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5:25). When God chose to create the woman he called her “a helper.” In John 14:16, Jesus tells the disciples that the Father is going to send them a helper. This helper is the Holy Spirit.

In a marriage covenant, we have God as the head, we have the husband who is to love as Christ, and we have the wife, the helper. Do you see the beautiful image of the Trinity of God that is displayed through the covenant of marriage?

Oh precious one, God provided all for man. He met his physical need, his emotional need, and his

spiritual need. He walked with him. He talked with him. I imagine He laughed with him. God’s work was complete, and on the seventh day he rested. He rested not from fatigue, but because He simply was done. His masterpiece was completed.

Oh Father,

I can only imagine how those days in the garden must have been; You and the man and the woman—no sin separating the relationship. The joy and the peace of life in the garden is almost unimaginable for me. Yet, because of Your Holy Spirit within me, I can close my eyes and fall before You in complete worship and adoration. I feel the hope of Your peace, the hope of my utter joy complete in You.

In the creation of woman, I also can see a picture of my life in Christ. On that cross a spear pierced my bridegroom’s side, and by the blood that poured out from His side, I was able to become His bride.

Oh Father, I love You, and I am so excited to be the bride of Christ.
Oh Father, may I be presented to my Bridegroom “as a pure virgin”
(2 Corinthians 11:2).

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.