The Flow and Purpose of Marriage (2)

People are drawn together

In the previous post we looked at the account of the first marriage in Genesis two. We traced the theme of Adam’s deep sleep resulting in the creation of Eve ultimately being fulfilled in Jesus’ death and resurrection and resulting creation of the church, his bride.

Vs21 - Adam falls into a deep sleep resulting in the creation of Eve.
Vs22 - God brought Eve to Adam.
Vs23-24 Adam rejoices. There is separation, union, and communion.

Today we are going to think about God’s action of bringing Eve to Adam. Let’s compare this with stories that come later.

God brought Eve to Adam - People are drawn together.

Once again if we start with the story of Rebekah and Isaac (Gen 24) Abraham sends his servant to find and bring Rebekah to Isaac. Jacob is sent away by his mother and father to Laban where he sees Rachael. There is no servant mentioned here but Jacob’s love for Rachael drawing him to work seven years for her is on prominent display. There is an interesting parallel with Esau. Esau is said to have taken his wives (Gen 26, 28), while Jacob’s wives were brought and given to him (Gen 29, 30). In Joseph’s story his wife Asenath is given to him by pharaoh (Gen 41). Later in the book of Ruth, Naomi is instrumental in bringing Ruth and Boaz together. If we think in a larger scale, God led the people of Israel out of Egypt by a cloud by day and fire by night. He drew them to Mt Sinai where he made a covenant with them and they became his people.

The servant of Abraham, Jacob’s love, Ruth’s Naomi, the pillar of fire …etc continue the theme of God bringing Adam and Eve together and point us towards the role of the Spirit in drawing people to Christ. Jesus famously said ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him’ (John 6:44). This kind of language can make some people nervous especially when spoken along with words like predestination and election. I don’t believe we need to be nervous though. Actually people speak like this all the time and no one thinks it’s strange. It is the normal beginning to any love story. No one goes out and simply picks someone to marry.. that is too cold. Every good love story shows people being drawn together. There was something magical in the air… it was just meant to be… like two people suddenly realized their lives were woven together in a story somehow already written just waiting to be discovered. What kind of language is this? It is the language of predestination, calling and election. It is nothing abstract but a normal and wonderful part of our lives. For Christians when the Spirit draws us to Christ we discover that God’s love has been pursuing us from eternity. To know he chose us and loved us before we knew him only fills us with greater love for Him.

Practically we may learn from this that two people are drawn together into marriage by the spirit of love. It is love which brings people to freely make binding lifelong commitments. People should not be forced to marry against their will. Rebekah responded freely, as did Ruth, as do believers when the Spirit calls. It is love which draws people together. It is love which keeps people together for the long haul. In our next post we will look at how love is cultivated.