Christian sermons | Biblical studies
Biblical text: Genesis 1:27; 2:18-25
INTRODUCTION:
Have you ever wondered why there are so many colors in the universe? Because in the wisdom of God there is the element of polychrome. So when one looks at God’s creation the first thing one sees is his unique quality to make everything different and fill the world with his multiform diversity. Observe each landscape that surrounds you and you will be filled with admiration when you see the “brush of God” coloring his creation. From this follows our understanding that God in his creative variety has made a man and a woman totally different from each other. So God made everything beautiful. Men and women are beautiful because God created them that way.
What happened after Genesis 3? Well, sin spoiled the original design. The degradation of evil reached the extreme that men began to like each other and the same thing happened with women. In this way, when sin entered Eden, a drastic change began in the family that God formed. What the Supreme Court of the United States has done, in allowing its fifty states to perform same-sex marriages, is nothing but the consequences of sin, not what God did. Reactions to this decision had to be expected. Of course there are those of us who defend the marriage established by God between a man and a woman, and those who now celebrate with an “amen”! this decision of the court with the character of law, raising the “rainbow” between friends, family and even brothers in faith. Of course this is not normal.
However, we have to say that we are not “homophobic” (aversion or rejection of homosexuals), but we have to see those who practice such things in need of saving grace, like any other who lives in their “crimes and sins.” We cannot, therefore, accept as Christians that what the Supreme Court has declared is normal for everyone. We do not govern our faith and conduct by what an earthly court tells us, but by what the word of God has revealed to us. Therefore, it will do us a lot of good if, when faced with this decision, we fix the only position that a believer should have, the biblical one. So why defend the marriage instituted by God?
I. MARRIAGE IS THE FINAL WORK OF A MASTERMIND
1. The best for the end of the day v. 26, 27.
God is always happy to leave the best for last. Human beings are the other way around. The “good wine”, according to Jewish tradition and according to the experience of Jesus, was served first, but Jesus had reserved it for the end of the party. This happened with the creation of him. While it is true that he had made everything beautiful in his time, the best of his creation was missing: man and woman. We have already discussed how man continues to seek his origin outside of the revealed word. His own corrupted nature and his inveterate pride do not allow him to humbly accept that behind so much beauty where the man and the woman appear, there is a mastermind that made this being special. Why did God create man and woman? For him to be the crown of his glory. See the qualification the psalmist makes when he asked “What is man that you are mindful of him?” The sacred text responds by saying: “You crowned him with glory and honor… you put all things under his feet” (Psalm 8). The man and woman with whom God first founded marriage and then the family, has been the summit of divine creation. This is what Ecclesiastes 7:29 says.
2. He made them in his image and likeness v. 27.
The importance of the creation of man in the image and likeness of God is preceded by the words “let us make man”. It is clear that this decision involves a God who would reveal himself to us in all his majesty and glory. Thus, from the beginning, the Trinity was part of this design which will show us how important it was for the Divine to create a man and a woman. What is the image and likeness of God? The “image and likeness of God” has nothing to do with the physical appearance of man, nor in his intellect; let us remember that the devil and the angels are also intelligent. Nor in his immortality because man does not have it as God. So what does it consist of? The image and likeness that man bears of God has to do with the moral dispositions of his soul, which is known as his original justice and beauty. This distinction that man carries and that makes him different from the animals puts, above all things, the great purpose of God with marriage. The image and likeness of God is the holy seal that he placed on a man and a woman by which he would be distinguished from the rest of his creation.
3. Male and female he created them v. 27b.
These two beings that God placed at the end of his creation were objects of the highest divine pleasure. Thus, God made the man and then the woman to like each other, attract each other, fall in love, unite their bodies according to their own sexual organs. In that same creative act, God left us his design to be followed in every marriage. See first how God plays the role of father, bringing the bride to the groom: “And from the rib that God took, he made a woman and brought her to the man” v. 22. After the man receives his wife then he makes the declaration of love for him, saying: “This is now bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh…”. As you can see, God did not take Stephen out and bring him to Adam, nor did he make Mary and bring her to Eve. God did not create “male and male” or “female and female.” He tells us the text “male and female I create them”. Trying to change this original design by human laws does not change what God has done. What the Genesis of man and woman tells us confirms what science has not been able to discover, and that is that until now there is no gene that a man or woman is born with that makes them gay. It is the sin that makes a man and a woman homosexual. Behind this behavior there is always a sexual deviation.
II. MARRIAGE WAS BORN UNDER DIVINE BLESSING
1. Blessed by God v. 28th
The first thing God did upon seeing his “masterful creation” was to give him his blessing. Since then, the blessing of God is the one that each couple that has decided to join in marriage seeks the most. And the blessing of God is going to be one of the most serious matters that we find in the entire Bible. From Abraham to the formation of Israel, God spoke to them of the importance of this blessing. But equally, nothing is more devastating than a curse from God. The people of God knew the importance of this blessing from heaven, and what they yearned for most as couples and families was to hear the priest say: “The Lord bless you, and keep you; Jehovah make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace” (Num. 6:24-26). Did you know that this blessing accompanies Israel to this day? So it is a couple, made up of a man and a woman, who receive this blessing. Therefore, pretending that a couple made up of two men or two women receive God’s blessing is the most contradictory matter. Neither a church nor a pastor can be channels of that blessing. God cannot endorse what he himself has not done. The blessing is for holy matrimony.
2. Blessed to multiply v. 28b.
Here we meet the other great purpose of marriage. Have you noticed why God created the angels at once while telling man to “be fruitful and multiply?” The reason was obvious, God created man and woman so that through them the earth would be populated. God created a masculine and a feminine gender so that from there the human race would begin. In the mind of God were the arrival of the beautiful babies that would bring joy to the family. God knew of the arrival of Cain and Abel in the home of Adam and Eve. It was God’s plan that this first couple would grow in number. As can be seen, this multiplication can only be valid between a man and a woman, not between a man and a man or between a woman and a woman. “Marriage” is a word formed from the root matr- from mater, matris (mother). Therefore, “marriage” is the right of a woman to be the legitimate mother of her children conceived through a relationship with a man. It’s that simple. Homosexual couples can’t have children, that’s why they adopt them. Therefore, they cannot say that they form a “marriage” because men do not have a womb. God blessed the man and woman to have children of their own. It is the only blessing she imparts because of her own children.
III. MARRIAGE IS THE MYSTERY REVEALED IN CHRIST
1. Revealed in the union of Christ with his church (Gal. 2:24).
When God created man and woman, he ruled that they should live apart from their parents, to merge into one flesh and an exclusive intimacy. The concept of the church points to the idea of separation (ekklesía) or “the called out ones”. It is the community of believers who have been called by God to separate themselves from the world and come to form an intimate unity with Jesus Christ. In this way we can see that the very creation of man and woman brought with it a future revelation in a greater fulfillment. Thus, Eve was the representation of the church, while Adam was a type of Christ. In Genesis 2 we see a woman, and Ephesians 5 also presents a woman. So, if Eve represents the church, we are in the greatest mystery of marriage and only this can be explained in a relationship of a man with a woman. The new concept of marriage could not be further from everything that has been God’s plan that transcends time and rises to eternity itself. The union of the man with his wife would ultimately be the union of Christ with his church. In a same-sex relationship this prophecy would be unthinkable.
2. Revealed in the love of Christ for his church v. 23.
The other mystery of marriage has to do with Christ’s love for his church. The church is primarily the Bride of Christ. Let us see the typology of the creation of women. The Bible tells us “male and female created he them”. Why was it like this? Because God had an even bigger and more sublime plan. And even when man tries to change the original design, justifying same-sex marriages, God’s plan will continue. Let’s see it this way. The biblical text tells us that God took Eve out of Adam’s rib and presented her to him. When this happened, Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” The typology that is hidden here is that just as God took Eve out of Adam’s rib, the church also came out of Jesus’ side. When the husband is asked to love his wife, the comparison he makes is with love with Christ loved the church: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church, and gave himself up.” same for her…” (Eph. 5:25). So…