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. 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. 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. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:18-24
This first marriage—the example God gave us for all marriages to follow—clearly demonstrates that marriage was created by God.
Marriage is God-designed, God-given, God-planned, God-ordained, and divinely planned. It is not something that evolved over the ages. Marriage came before the church. Marriage came before government. It is the basic unit of society. One man and one woman were placed in the Garden of Eden, and God Himself performed the marriage.
Until this time in Creation, God had been making wonderful, glorious things, and after each one He said, "And it was good, it was good, it was very good.”
But now we read something very strange: "And the LORD God said, It is not good." What was not good? “It is not good that the man should be alone” (v. 18). God said, "I will make a helper suitable for him."
God planned a bride for Adam.
Why did God plan a bride for Adam?
For Companionship
Adam needed a companion, someone like him, someone he could share with and enjoy all the bountiful blessings of God. There is no greater fellowship or companionship than that of a husband and wife loving one another, loving God, and enjoying the things of God together. A Christian home is the nearest thing to heaven we will experience on earth.
For Cooperation
God didn't make someone to help Adam pick fruit. If He wanted that kind of helper, He could have gotten another man—who perhaps would have done a better job than Eve. He wanted someone who would help Adam maximize his strengths and gifts, someone to help him be all he could be to reach his full potential, to strengthen him.
For Completion
Wives are sometimes described as “my better half” or “my other half.” Actually there's a lot of truth in that. Eve was taken out of Adam’s side. There was a part of Adam now missing and he wanted to get it back. You see, a husband without his wife would be like a violin without a bow. But together, they can make beautiful music, and that's the way God has intended. Have you ever heard a man say about his wife, "She just completes me,” or “I'm not myself without her"? That's the way it ought to be, because that's the way God intended.
For Communication
Not just communicate with one another, but communicate a principle to all creation! This first home in the Garden of Eden is meant to picture Christ and the church (Ephesians 5). Nothing brings a better message to this world of the love of God and what God really intended than a Christian home. God had a purpose here, and He used Adam and Eve as a figure of Christ and the church.
It is God's marriage in God's home, not your marriage in your home. His home, His marriage, His children—it belongs to Him, to communicate to the world what God is like and to reflect to the world what God's plan for the world is. God planned a bride for Adam.
God provided a bride for Adam
In the middle of chapter 2, there’s an interesting “interruption”—the naming of the animals (Genesis 2:19). God knew exactly what He was doing when He said, "Adam, I've got a job for you. I want you to name all these creatures.” Adam got to thinking. “You know, that giraffe is interesting, but I wouldn't like to live with a giraffe all my life. He's got too long a neck and somehow he just doesn't…. You know, a hippopotamus, he… I just don't think I would enjoy fellowship with a hippopotamus. No, that's not for me.” Adam’s not finding someone suitable.
He notices something else as he names all the creatures: for Mr. Giraffe, there's Mrs. Giraffe. For Mr. Hippopotamus, there's Mrs. Hippopotamus, although she doesn't like to be called that. He realizes, “There’s no Mrs. Adam.” God is working on Adam. First thing you know, he has a longing in his heart for a suitable companion.
God now performs the first surgery. Making an incision in Adam’s side, He takes out a rib and fashions a woman. God provided Adam’s bride.
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:27).
God made a man to be a man and a woman to be a woman. This is the way God designed it. This is the way God wants it.
Some today try to obliterate the line between male and female. But this is not God's plan. Men and women are different biologically, physiologically and psychologically. Psychologists have found there is an innate difference between men and women—who are equal but not the same. The reason God made them different is that God wanted to make them one. And it is the difference that makes the difference.
God presented a bride to Adam
God presented his bride to Adam in the Garden of Eden.
“And the rib which the LORD God had taken from man made He a woman…and brought her to the man." (2:22)
Actually, the Bible says the LORD “built her.” Then when He's finished, God said, "Adam, I've got a surprise for you.”
This was the first wedding. God Himself performed the first wedding ceremony. Wedding bells in Eden! What a wedding must this have been! I don't know all that took place, but I can imagine the cathedral of the skies, the canopy of the trees, and all of the flower-strewn hillsides decorating that wedding chapel of eternity as God the Father presented the bride. Can't you see God the Father with Eve on His arm as He's walking toward Adam?
Adam sees them coming. He sees the Father bringing her. He sees Eve for the first time. I don't know everything that went through Adam's mind, but we know Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.…" What he really said was, “Wow! This is it! This is what I've been looking for. LORD, that's the one. She is for me. Thank you, LORD. And she is so much like me. She's not like all of these other creatures. That's the one I wanted.”
He gave her to Adam to nourish (to build up, give strength to, and take care of) and to cherish (to tenderly watch over and love—Ephesians 5). What does all this tell us? That marriage is God’s creation,
Marriage—A Divine Institution
Marriage is God’s design. He defines it.
“Therefore, shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)
"Wherefore they are no more two, but one flesh; and what God therefore hath joined together, let not man put asunder."(Matthew 19:6).
The devil knows the basic unit of society is the home, so he's leveled his fieriest darts, all the artillery of hell against the home. He’s doing all he can do to wreck God’s plan, wreck our homes, for he knows if he can wreck our homes, he can wreck our churches and our nation. We would expect him to.
In the face of every Satanic attack, it still stands. God has a plan: one man for one woman till death do them part. Marriage—made in heaven. No scheme of man nor Satan can ever change that. It was ordained of God in the Garden of Eden.
