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This piece is partly related to our earthly marriages, but it is more related with our union with God. Everything that we know about marriage today, and all that we will still ever discover, began with God’s relationship with mankind. After God was done making man, he got to a point where God said in Genesis 2:18-24:
“And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: “This is not bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
Now, you will notice something so beautiful in this passage that I am going to point out to us in a moment. In that verse 18, the Bible says: “And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Notice it was not Adam who went to God and say something like “I am lonely, how can you put only me in this massive garden of yours without a companion.” Adam did not go to God and started complaining about all that. It was God Almighty Himself, in His providence; who thought it out that Adam needed a companion, a helper comparable to him.
Listen to Podcast: The Perfect Marriage: Reestablishing the Vital Union Between God and Man
As beautiful as the animals are, they are not comparable to Adam, they cannot give Adam the needed help and companionship that he needed. It is an ANOMALY TO SEE NOWADAYS THAT CERTAIN PEOPLE IN THE SOCIETY GET MARRIED TO THEIR PET AND THEIR DOGS and all manner of terrible things happening in our world today. It is a perversion from the pit of hell. We have seen and it has been established that the devil cannot destroy the works of God. The reason is because the devil did not make them and so, he cannot destroy them. The best he can do, and that He has been doing, is to create a caricature of the works of God. Now, anywhere you see fake, it means there is an original somewhere, and what we are talking about here is the original.
God Almighty, the maker of all things Himself said He will make for Adam a helper comparable to him. If it was good for humans to find marital companionship in animals, God would have told Adam from the beginning to pick any of the animals he desires and then joined them together in marriage. But He didn’t do that. He needed to make a suitable/comparable helper for Adam from Adam. Verse 21-23 tells us:
“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: “This is not bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.”
Now, immediately this happened, after Adam had seen the woman and had appreciated the works of God in her, God then said: “Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” This statement ushered in the original marriage institution ordained by God. Any other marital union: MEN MARRYING MEN, WOMEN MARRYING WOMEN, HUMANS MARRYING DOGS, are not original and can never be. It does not matter whether there are human laws, human legislations that gives backings to some of these reprehensible behaviors, but they are not the marital institution that God Almighty established.
Marriage: The Perfect Picture Between God and Man
In several places in the Bible, God has used marriage to describe the kind of relationship He has with mankind. In Hosea 2:19-20, the Lord Almighty said:
“I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And you shall know the Lord.
The word “betroths” there means: “to give in marriage.” In other words, God is saying I am going to marry you and we would remain inseparable forever. When God was instituting marriage, He was showing us a physical semblance of the kind of relationship that He has with us. This is why God would go to any length to see that Satan does not have you. You are God’s property, not Satan’s. You were made in the image and likeness of God and not Satan’s. This is why when Adam lost it to Satan in the beginning, God would still not give up in rescuing us. Why? Because WE HAVE BEEN BETROTHED TO HIM FORVER.
Let me show us another case study for the sake of emphasis. Jeremiah 3:1-15. It is a long read. But I want us to see why God would not let go of us so easily because our union with Him is forever. The Bible says:
“They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife,
And she goes from him
And becomes another man’s,
May he return to her again?’
Would not that land be greatly polluted?
But you have played the harlot with many lovers;
Yet return to Me,” says the Lord.
2 “Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see:
Where have you not lain with men?
By the road you have sat for them
Like an Arabian in the wilderness;
And you have polluted the land
With your harlotries and your wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
And there has been no latter rain.
You have had a harlot’s forehead;
You refuse to be ashamed.
4 Will you not from this time cry to Me,
‘My Father, You are the guide of my youth?
5 Will He remain angry forever?
Will He keep it to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken and done evil things,
As you were able.”
6 The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. 7 And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. 9 So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. 10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretence,” says the Lord. 11 Then the Lord said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say:
‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord;
‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you.
For I am merciful,’ says the Lord;
‘I will not remain angry forever.
13 Only acknowledge your iniquity,
That you have transgressed against the Lord your God,
And have scattered your charms
To alien deities under every green tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord.
14 “Return, O backsliding children,” says the Lord; “for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15 And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”
The reason why God is so keen about mankind is because of this union. Despite all the wickedness of man on the face of the earth today, God is still waiting and hoping that man would repent of them all and return back to Him. People do all they do against God because of lack of knowledge of Him. Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:33-34, it says: “Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” 34 Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.” Why do we have so much evil and perversion in the world today? Because some have deliberately refused the knowledge of God.
Romans 1:28-32 says:
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”
But the truth is, God has a solution to all these problems if mankind shall return back to Him, if they shall desist from their evil ways and genuinely repent of their sins and atrocities. Jeremiah 3:15 says: “And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Their problem is lack of knowledge and understanding of God and if they shall return, God says He will give them shepherds according to His own heart who shall feed them with knowledge and understanding. The truth is, if you know everything else in the world, and you do not have the knowledge of God in you, you haven’t known anything yet. The knowledge of God is the ultimate knowledge, and it supersedes every other knowledge.
I DON’T KNOW IF YOU ARE OUT THERE LISTENING TO ME, AND YOU WANT TO RETURN BACK TO THE ALMIGHTY GOD, THIS IS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO DO SO.
The truth of the matter is that, you cannot continue to run away from God, you cannot afford to continue to do things that does not give glory to His name. Irrespective of what you have done, He is waiting for you with an outstretch arms, his hands are opened wide to receive you once again. Just like the father in the prodigal story of Luke chapter 15 was waiting to receive his younger son, God is also waiting for you daily to return back to Him. Most times when we read the story of the prodigal son, we are always too quick to wrap it around the sons, forgetting that the story too is about a Father who would not give up on he has returned home.
God is waiting for you to come home to Him, to take your rightful place in His heart. Jesus said in Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” God is waiting for you at the door of your heart, beckoning unto you to open up. The truth is: HE HAS BETROTH YOU TO HIMSELF FOREVER, AND HE IS NOT READY TO LET YOU GO. HE IS NOT READY TO DIVORCE YOU. I remember that song: “RECKLESS LOVE” by Cory Asbury. It says:
“Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, you give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me.”
This is how far God would go to bring you back unto Himself because He has betrothed you to Himself forever! In Isaiah 1:18-19, God Himself said:
“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.”
I believe you have been blessed!
Article Source: [Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
