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I suggested last time that there are 5 guidelines contained within this chapter as to what God’s design of marriage looks like The first was that Marriage is God’s institution. Or to say the same thing another way created marriage 

The second of the marriage principles that God ordained is the fact that marriage is between two people.

 So, the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman  from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

(Gen 2: 21-22)

I told you what I had to say this morning is incredibly simple, that being God’s design for marriage is that it should be just two people. From this verse we alone we can strongly imply that marriage should be monogamous. Two people, not three or four, or five or six - Just two. Henry Ford A man was asked on his 50th wedding anniversary what was his recipe for a happy marriage. He said, “it’s just the same as it is for the automobile industry. Stick with the one model”. God also has a model for marriage and the Bible recommends us to stick with it. Now people who think they know the bible will throw at you the story of Solomon who is described as; “having 700 wives”.That is the first half of a verse that people will love to throw at you. (1 Kings 11:3a). They say, what about Solomon? Have you ever had people use that statement at you as if it refutes the whole bible? Well, let’s look at the background to what is going on here. We are told Solomon was one of the wisest men on the earth, one of the wisest men who had ever lived, yet he made one of the dumbest mistakes a man has ever made. People just know that fact that he had many wives, but don’t even know the whole verse and the consequences that decision wrought for him. Let me read you the entiret verse. (1 Kings 11: 3) 

He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines…. and his wives led him astray.

Just because one man had wisdom doesn’t mean he got everything rights, and the consequences of this wrong choice meant that…. “his wives led him astray”. Just because things are described in the bible is not the same thing as saying that the bible says those practices were right. Both Jesus and Moses before him made it very clear that God intended marriage to be between two people.

So, my second point is very simple, and that is that God intended marriage to be between two people, not three or four or five or six. Just cause the bible shows that some men violated that standard, sometimes as a means of offering protection to woman, or sometime for less honourable reasons this does not mean that it was right or God approved of it. It would be like saying David because was seen to commit adultery and even murder, I am free to go out there and commit murder and adultery. So firstly, it is God who instituted marriage and secondly, he designed it to be between two people. 

Thirdly… We will look at that next time.