This transcript was auto-generated. 

So, time we saw that God also created woman and a bit like the father of the bride he presents her to Adam. He forms her out of his side, which is a strong image of equality. And Adam was literally beside himself with pleasure, pun intended  

OK, final verses.

24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

(Gen 2: 24-25)

Remember this is being written years later by Moses years and he is commenting on how this relationship should form as a template for future relationships between men and women. Illustrating it by the joining together of a man and a woman in something called marriage. Verse 24 is laying down the template for marriage. I love the KJV that describes what the man does as leaving and cleaving.  Marriage is about leaving your family of birth and starting a new family and the two shall become one flesh. Becoming one flesh refers to something much more even than just the physical. Becoming one physiologically, becoming one emotionally, and becoming one spiritually. The physical co-habitation serving as a gateway into a deeper spiritual co-habitation. This is marriage, two becoming one. Right at the beginning God defines marriage as a spiritual, social and public contract between a man and a woman. They are called to be totally, spiritually at one with each other. Literally in living in a kind of Paradise. 

The naked condition of Adam and Eve is not just describing their physical appearance, but it also refers to the transparency that existed in this first married relationship. Open with each other with nothing to hide. They were at ease with each other as only people who have totally committed themselves to one another can be. 

We have looked at the various element of this passage and we have arrived at a point where there is a garden populated with a man and a woman who are there to tend to the garden and to trust God. I want to conclude now by making some observations and applications. 

I asked at the start of this section a few days ago by asking, what is paradise? What for Adam were the elements of Paradise? What did God give to Adam? Quite simply he gave him a garden, a tree, and a girl. For human beings Paradise can be no more than a safe place to live in, a God you can serve, and a wife or a husband you can love. If we have got those three things, then the bible tells us we’re in Paradise. Paradise can be nothing more than, work, worship with the right wife or husband. For a woman it can be a good relationship with God, a good relationship with her husband and a safe place to live in. The rest is just the icing on the cake. Widening the perspective, because not everyone is called to be married this also tells us that for anyone paradise is just about having a proper relationship with God. Also having a proper relationship with other people and meaningful employment or activities to fill you day. To have one of these areas out of balance means you will be missing the blessing that God wants you to experience in your life. 

The problem for many people is they look outside of these three areas for their perfect life. Sadly, some people are inclined to think that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. God has told us what paradise is like, he even put a hedge around it for us. And that is all we really need to make life worthwhile 

·        A good relationship with the Lord. 

·        A good relationship with other people. 

·        And meaningful activity. 

Whatever activity you do you should take pride in doing it. You should be doing it in such a way that it at some level makes the world a better place and an ability to keep those things in their proper place and keep them in balance. By doing it you are subduing the world and bringing in a small way chaos to order and bringing a little bit of paradise here onto earth.