October 8 – LD 41, Day 1: Marriage – A Creation Ordinance
by Pastor Steven Key

Genesis 2:18: "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”

We now consider the most profound and blessed institution given by God to His people — the institution of holy marriage. The purity of this holy bond must be maintained by us, no matter whether we are married or single; young or old. As we stand before marriage, after all, we stand before the fountain of life as far as human relationships are concerned. To maintain the purity of this fountain, therefore, is critically important and has far-reaching implications. All the more is that true when we understand the significant symbolism of that God-ordained bond. For as Eph 5:32 expresses it, Marriage is a great mystery, revealing the amazing and glorious relationship between Christ and the Church. The seventh commandment maintains the sanctity of that holy bond.

Marriage is not a sacrament instituted by Christ; but a creation ordinance. Along with the Sabbath day, marriage belongs to the treasures established by God for His people at the time of creation. Already then, as Christ emphasizes in Matt 19, marriage was instituted and established as a precious gift of God, an unbreakable bond which would also serve to reflect the relationship in which man stood to God Himself. At the very beginning of time, God created male and female. He created man first, and then in that great act of mercy, He gave man a wife, creating her out of the man. God did so, “And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matt 19:5,6). That is Jesus explaining and maintaining that creation ordinance of God.

With all the attacks upon marriage in our day, we must be clear that this institution is not open to reinterpretation. Marriage is not a relationship that man established. Marriage is not a relationship that man can redefine. It is a divinely-ordained institution established by God Himself at creation, a one-man-with-one-woman relationship to serve God’s glorious purpose.