WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.120 Good morning, Church. 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:06.400 Our reading is from Genesis two, fifteen through twenty-five. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:13.039 The the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:25.120 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:30.320 Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:33.039 I will make him a helper fit for him. 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:42.719 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:47.439 And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:54.000 The man gave names to all the livestock and to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast in the field. 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:58.000 But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:07.280 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its fle its place with flesh. 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:15.439 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her the man and brought her to the man. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:22.000 Then the man said, This at last is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:26.159 She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:34.159 Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:35.680 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:37.040 Please be seated. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:43.359 Alrighty, good morning. 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:46.079 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:47.359 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:50.239 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:53.120 And it's great to be with you all this morning. 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:56.480 I think uh Zach, when you head back there, could you change the lights? 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:58.319 It's too dark in here. 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:01.680 I have this thing where I don't like preaching when it's dark. 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:02.879 It was my fault. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:04.719 It was Zach's fault. 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:06.640 But we forgive him. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:09.439 We have to, because we're at church. 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:12.400 So thanks for joining us this morning. 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:15.840 My name is James Rathman, pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:20.400 It's uh been two weeks, no, no, no, just one week since I preached up here. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:28.960 Uh Mark Luby preached for us last week, and I thought he did such a wonderful job of uh sharing with us the story of Gideon. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:32.879 It was a wonderful sermon that I thought was uh really great to hear. 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:39.199 And before that was Easter, and we had closed up uh our time in the Gospel of Mark. 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:50.639 And now we're beginning our next sermon series today, which is uh a series about marriage, and so I've cleverly titled it the marriage series. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:53.439 So welcome to the marriage series. 00:02:53.759 --> 00:03:06.400 As I've introduced the idea of doing a marriage series to different folks in the church, I have received variations of different groans and uh things of things of that nature. 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:10.400 Um and that's the perfect place to start a sermon series. 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:14.000 You want to start with uh with low expectations. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:17.520 And so that's what we're doing together this morning. 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:23.280 So before we move into our text today, um, oh, and also we have a baptism today. 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:29.599 Uh Bridger and Juniper Roth will be baptized later, so very excited for that uh this Sunday morning as well. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:31.840 So it's a great Sunday to gather together. 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:36.719 So before we move into our text this morning, let's pray together. 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:43.680 Lord God, you are our creator and our redeemer. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:53.840 And we see the shape of your redemption, Lord, just as we walk down the street and we see the trees that look dead now springing to new life. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:58.400 Lord, we pray that you would work that same transformation in our hearts. 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:04.000 Lord, that you would spring us to new life in you by the power of your Holy Spirit. 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:14.879 Lord God, you renew our souls and you comfort and encourage us amidst the toils and struggles of this life. 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:37.279 Father, I pray that as we enter into a sacred space together this morning of the topic of marriage, Lord, that we will we are drawing close to some of the most intimate spaces of people's lives where the greatest hurt is experienced and joys are experienced, longing is experienced. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:49.759 Father, I pray that by your spirit you would show us the glory of marriage by your word, that you would comfort us in the ways that we're not able to participate in it as we ought. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:55.439 And Lord, that you would attend to our hearts to give us a vision for marriage that comes from you, Lord. 00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:57.600 Father, we lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:04:57.839 --> 00:04:58.319 Amen. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:26.399 So, one thing that I've noticed in speaking about marriage, uh in either preaching context or counseling contexts, or when you just sort of look at like what marriage books are out there or how marriage is discussed, then you'll see that the thing that's that happens is that marriage is we just jump to advice with marriage, but we take for granted that we know what we're talking about. 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:29.680 We take for granted that we know what marriage is. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:42.959 And so what happens is the advice that is given for marriage often just starts to just feel sort of arbitrary or constraining, especially Christian advice for marriage. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:50.800 Marriage, like everything else in our culture, is something that has been flattened by our modern sensibilities. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:06:11.600 So it's been, in a sense, just reduced to another form of relationship or another uh opportunity for individuals to opt into some contract or some deal or some form of self-expression or some opportunity to seek individual satisfaction. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:14.319 And we think that that's just what marriage is. 00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:17.759 So we take for granted what exactly marriage is. 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:27.120 And and especially because we're modern folks, it's hard for us to imagine that invisible things are real. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:33.439 And so we don't think of invisible things as having been made by God. 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:39.519 And you can't you can go and see a wedding ceremony, but for the most part, you can't see a marriage. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:46.879 You just have to take people, you know, you just have to believe people when they tell you that they're married, and you're like, well, show me the marriage. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:50.560 And it's like, well, I just we're just we are. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:51.600 And then that's it. 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:53.279 And then you just have to believe them. 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:58.399 And because it's invisible like that, we tend to think that marriage isn't real. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:10.319 And we think that if it's not really real, then it can actually just be transformed into anything that we would like it to be transformed into. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:24.000 And it must just be, we come up with these like post-hoc descriptions of what marriage is, and we'll say, okay, marriage must just be a whoops, excuse me. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:36.639 Marriage must just be based on a mutual agreement for individual satisfaction and for our own uh self-expression. 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:40.800 And so that becomes the fundamental basis of what marriage is. 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:49.680 It's just another opportunity for us to achieve individual satisfaction or personal self-expression. 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:58.879 And then since that's what we take it for granted that marriage is, then our conversations about marriage become just ripe for equivocation. 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:14.399 We think we're talking about the same thing because we're all using the word marriage, but marriage in the Bible is not based on a desire for personal satisfaction or for individual self-expression. 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:16.800 It's based on something different. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:20.000 Those aren't the ultimate goals of marriage. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:27.360 So you would think that what happens is the Christian jumps into the conversation and they start giving this marriage advice. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:40.799 And they think they're giving you know helpful marriage advice, but it just feels arbitrary and constraining because it doesn't have anything to do with personal satisfaction or personal self-expression. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:55.200 So you would think that perhaps the Christian would be not susceptible to the arbitrariness of the advice that we give or the advice that we receive. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:03.440 But our own understandings of marriage are really just as arbitrary as the rest of the world's. 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:20.399 Because when it comes down to it, what you think of marriage and what you think marriage is, there's probably some Bible in there, but it's probably mostly informed by the love songs that came out while you were in high school. 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:28.559 It's probably mostly informed by, like, I think when I when I was growing up, it was like, what is what does dating look like? 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:30.799 It looks like friends. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:36.320 Not the way not my friends, the show, the show friends. 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:37.919 And so how do you get married? 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:43.039 Well, Monica and Chandler got married, and it all follow a relational trajectory like that. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:48.080 Well, it's a hor it was terrible relational advice in that show. 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:52.240 And I should update this for the younger folks to something that's not 30 years old. 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:57.759 But I the closest I can get is just like five years later with Jim and Pam. 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:02.720 And then I don't then all the shows became anti-hero shows. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:05.200 So there's no romance in them. 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:06.159 Sorry. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:24.799 And we collect those sort of intuitions for what marriage is, and then we hear the Bible's counsel for marriage, and it's like, okay, uh, husbands, uh lead your wives. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:31.440 You're the head of the wife as Christ is head of the church, and love her in the way that Christ laid himself down for her. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:33.919 And wives, submit to your husbands. 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:41.759 Well, it we'll read in 1 Peter, where he says, Be like the the women of old, who like Sarah, who called her husband Lord. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:49.759 And it's like, I don't remember Monica calling Chandler Lord. 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:52.879 That would have been a weird episode. 00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:58.960 I don't remember Jim and Pam having that sort of relational dynamic, and it just feels like, what is this coming from? 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:04.480 It's like we're talking about these two totally different things, and and the the reality is we are. 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:09.200 We are talking about these two totally different things. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:18.639 And so that's why before we're talking about the advice or the counsel of marriage, and I know I've taken a long time to get here, we've been a bit scatterbrained this morning. 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:20.240 Thank you for dealing with me. 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:31.519 Before we get to the advice of marriage, we have to establish together what marriage is and what the ultimate goal of marriage is. 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:36.879 And what we'll see is that marriage is a created thing. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:40.559 It's real because it was made by God. 00:11:41.360 --> 00:12:00.720 And in the reality of marriage, with it being real as it was made by God, we are uh we're asking the we're asking the question, how does it relate to, how does marriage relate to God? 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:03.919 That is the fundamental question of what marriage is. 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:09.600 To ask how does marriage relate to God, and to ask what marriage is, is the same question. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:17.840 Now, if we were to ask, what is a person, what fundamentally is a person, we would say, well, how does a person relate to God? 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:26.080 And when we see what a person fundamentally is and in how they relate to God, well, if we were to answer that question, we have to tell a story. 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:35.440 Because to say, how does a person relate to God, the Christian would say, well, there's a whole story that I have to tell in order to explain how a person relates to God. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:38.639 And this story goes something like this. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:54.320 Theologians have described it as, well, there's the creation of man, and then there's the fall of man, and then there's the redemption of man in the story of man's relationship with God, and then there's this hope of future glory for mankind. 00:12:56.320 --> 00:13:00.720 Now, marriage follows this very same pattern in scripture. 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:08.639 In fact, you can understand that narrative flow of scripture: the creation, fall, redemption, and glory. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:15.519 That whole narrative can be told through the lens of marriage in Scripture. 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:26.879 And so, in order for us to understand what marriage is, we have to understand how it connects to the redemptive story that is laid out over the whole of the scriptures. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:30.159 So, this is the way this marriage series is going to work. 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:37.840 First, we are going to, in four parts, look at the whole story of marriage. 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:42.320 By looking at the whole story of marriage, we'll be able to understand what marriage is. 00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:48.399 Second, so that will, so the we'll look at creation, fall, redemption, and glory. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:57.440 Now, the second part of this series, we are going to look at three case studies in Scripture of particular marriages. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.639 So we're going to look at the marriage of Abraham and Sarah. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:05.360 We're going to look at the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah. 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:08.720 And we're going to look at the marriage of Ruth and Boaz. 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:26.320 So these are famous marriages in Scripture, but we'll see that these marriages find their ultimate purpose and their ultimate meaning in how they tie up to this grand narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and glory. 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:36.320 We'll see that these marriages find their ultimate meaning in God's purposes to redeem all things in Jesus Christ. 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:52.080 And so we'll see that we'll start to we'll start to understand that, okay, so the purpose of marriage is to be patterned after and participate in the redemption of all of creation in Jesus Christ. 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:55.120 Now, Jim and Pam never talked about that at all. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:23.600 And so when we have these intuitions that are informed about what marriage is supposed to be, the type of romantic experiences I'm supposed to have, the internal senses of pleasure, and or the way that I'm supposed to be ultimately satisfied by my marriage partner in some way, and we aren't able to connect this story up to the redemption of all things in Jesus Christ, then we see that we're not even talking about marriage anymore. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:29.600 We're talking about something that because marriage can't be defined apart from that. 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:33.039 It's of the essence of marriage. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:39.279 Okay, so then after that, we'll move into the New Testament instruction for marriage. 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:43.039 Because by that point, you'll see these wonderful marriages in Scripture. 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:50.159 You'll have heard the glory of what marriage looks like, and you'll just be chomping at the bit, and you'll be like, man, I want my marriage to look like that. 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:52.080 That's the way the series is supposed to work. 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:59.519 Where could I, where can I get some instruction for how my marriage could be, could fit this glorious pattern of what marriage looks like in Scripture? 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:02.000 And great news, that that's also in the Bible. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:05.600 So we'll be able to go to the New Testament's instruction on marriage. 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:10.960 We'll look at Ephesians 5 and 1 Corinthians 7 and 1 Peter 3, where marriage is spoken to in particular. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:12.720 And then we'll be, and then we'll be done. 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:16.639 And we'll all glory in the marriages that we have. 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:19.440 We'll we'll bless the marriages that we don't have. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:32.080 We'll, by simple acts of imagination, if you're single while listening to this series, you'll be able to see, oh, I'm participating still in this same glorious marriage story as all things are summed up in Jesus Christ. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:34.960 And it'll be good. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:38.480 Are you ready to start? 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:40.480 That wasn't the start. 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:46.399 So the marriage series begins by the end of this sentence. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:50.879 Let's start with the creation of marriage. 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:52.879 The creation of marriage. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:54.320 You think you know what marriage is? 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:56.240 I hope I've proved to you that you don't. 00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:58.080 So what is the creation of marriage? 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:01.039 Genesis 1, verse 27. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:04.319 It says, So God created man in his own image. 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:06.400 In the image of God, he created him. 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:09.119 Male and female, he created them. 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:14.559 Male and female in the image of God. 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:17.839 That is the way God decided to do it. 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:19.680 That's the way he made us. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.480 Male and female in the image of God. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:28.799 So right away, you might ask, well, why not just one? 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:33.200 Why not just one type of person? 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:36.160 Why not just persons? 00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:43.599 And the way we could reproduce would be something like, you know, we know God could do this. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:48.000 He could just take out parts of our ribs and make new ones. 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:52.559 And then and when he made a new one, it would just be another another Adam. 00:17:53.759 --> 00:18:01.599 Why why does God make male and female in the image of God? 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:09.039 Well, I think we can begin to understand this just by knowing who God is. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:14.000 And we know that God is a Trinity. 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:22.240 He which is it's just the the word for three and one put together. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:28.720 That within God Himself, who is one, we've confessed it already this morning. 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:31.839 Hero Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:42.240 And we know that God has revealed Himself within this oneness to be three distinct persons, Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:47.359 There are three persons in one God. 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:50.400 That's uh in case you do that catechism. 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:56.640 And if you don't, that was just for you to hear my singing voice. 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:00.079 There are three persons in one God. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:11.839 And so within God, in his unity, is this unstopping, unceasing love of the other. 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:22.480 This is intrinsic to God's nature, is that he is able to love a person who is other than him. 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:32.480 And so when God creates humanity in his image, he creates in us this capacity to love the other. 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:35.680 Love the one that isn't us. 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:40.559 They correspond to us, but they are not us. 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:42.960 The male loves the female. 00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:46.240 The female loves the male. 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:52.960 Now, this this is like God's love, the capacity to love the other. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:20:06.480 Likewise, in God, not just within God Himself, but in the way that God has formed creation in the first place, we see that God is setting things up so that he might love the other. 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:09.279 Love the thing that is not him. 00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:18.960 You know, there God is um, if you if you go to like Boulder or Netherland, Boulder's just like rich tech guys now. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:30.480 But so if you go to Netherland, where it's like hippies and dances and festivals to like the moon and stuff, you'll hear people describe that the God is everything. 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:32.240 He's in everything. 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:35.039 God is the leaves and God is you. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:39.279 And it then it feels wonderful and insightful. 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:42.400 Okay, but it's it's it's not. 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:48.240 It's just a modernist flattening of everything to eliminate all categories that we have no responsibility and no distinction. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:49.839 It's bad. 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:55.119 But that's not the way creation is described in the Bible. 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:01.680 In the Bible, God makes things that aren't Him. 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:04.559 The creation is not God. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:16.960 It is that He does not inhabit it or like He's God isn't this table or pulpit or lectern, depends on where you're from. 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:20.559 But God isn't this, He's distinct from it. 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:26.880 God isn't me, He's not you, He's distinct from you. 00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:33.519 And and then He relates by love to His creation. 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:36.319 He loves the other. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:51.279 And so when God creates man, male and female, they are in His image and He builds into their very nature, in their distinctness, He's patterning this ability to love the other. 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:58.079 And it is a love that is like God's because it's not a God's love is not a devouring love. 00:21:58.160 --> 00:21:59.759 He is not bringing everything to dissolve. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:00.960 Into himself. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:03.359 God's love is a manifesting love. 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:10.960 It is love that brings things from what they from from what they're made to be to the fullness of their potential. 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:13.039 That's the type of love that God has. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:16.880 And this is the type of love that God calls for humanity to have. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:29.279 And so he makes humanity male and female so that we might participate in the pattern that he shows in himself to love the other as the other. 00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:49.440 There they are, male and female, both given equal dominion of the world, the same calls, be fruitful, multiply, the same blessings, the same promises, male and female, not just one. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:56.319 In Genesis 2, 18, we need to look in particular at the creation of marriage. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:01.839 It is the creation of the woman, but it is also the creation of marriage. 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:06.720 Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:09.359 I will make a helper fit for him. 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:30.880 Okay, so it's the sixth day, the second half of the sixth day, the beasts have been made, Adam has been made, and for the first time, in the pattern of the creation of the days, the Lord steps back and he looks and he makes an assessment, and the assessment that he makes is negative. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:36.000 It is not good that the man should be alone. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:38.559 Now the Lord is making a good world. 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:40.559 He's not making a perfect world. 00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:50.480 Because the Lord makes the world with this potentiality built into it, in which he desires humanity to participate in bringing to its fullness and its flourishing. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:57.519 But he looks and it's like there's that at the beginning of the creation story, it is formless and void. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:04.960 And at this moment, at the scale of the human, it's like there's another void that he sees. 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:13.200 And when there's another, we've seen already that when God sees a void, he fills it with life and flourishing. 00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:20.720 And so the second void is the void for Adam, which is it is not good that man should be alone. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:25.440 Now, why is it not good that Adam, the man, should be alone? 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:27.440 Well, I can think of a couple of things. 00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:29.039 What if he falls down? 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:32.400 It'd be nice if there was somebody there to help him back up. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:34.400 If somebody falls down, two are better than one. 00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:37.839 One falls down, it's nice somebody can help him back up. 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:41.519 What if he's cold at night? 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:44.640 How can someone stay warm alone? 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:49.039 It'd be nice to have someone to warm him up. 00:24:54.079 --> 00:24:58.400 What if Adam thinks something is smart and it's dumb? 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:04.240 And he has nobody to talk it over with. 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:09.440 We'll see later. 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:11.680 My interpretation on this has changed just this past week. 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:28.400 I used to think, you know, we'll see next week when um at the fall, when Eve is being tempted by the serpent, and the um serpent says, The tree that you can't eat of it, and Eve says, Yeah, we shouldn't eat from that tree, and we shouldn't even touch it. 00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:32.079 I used to think like Eve is adding extra commandments. 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:37.920 This is, you know, legalism or something in the garden that leads to the fall. 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:39.039 I don't think that anymore. 00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:41.920 My opinion on this has been changed this week. 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:51.920 Um because it when you look at the cleanliness laws in Leviticus, the the things that you don't eat, you don't touch. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:56.000 And so what I think happened is Adam was something more like this. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:26:01.440 Adam is like, uh, God says we don't eat from that tree. 00:26:01.759 --> 00:26:06.720 And Eve is like, well, if we don't eat it from it, maybe we shouldn't even touch it either. 00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:09.440 And Adam's probably like, that's a good idea. 00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:15.839 You know, so I told you a little something, and then you added this whole other thing to it. 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:16.799 That's a really good idea. 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:18.160 I wouldn't have thought of that. 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:22.319 And then it's like, yeah, it's a pretty good thing that there's two of you. 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:35.359 It's nice that there's the man who can like present this thing, and there's the woman who can bring it to this fullness and make this addition to it, and and uh uh improve upon it and show a glory in it that wouldn't have been there if it was just Adam. 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:39.279 So there's some good reasons why it's not good that the man should be alone. 00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:45.759 But likewise, as I've already explained, that his call is to image God. 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:49.039 And so he must be loving the other. 00:26:50.160 --> 00:27:01.359 So there needs to be an other for him to love in a way that is that is fit to him, in a way that is a complement to him. 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:06.480 And so God says, I will make a helper fit for him. 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:16.799 And you would think that the the plainest thing that would be explained here and what would be jumped to right away is remember, be fruitful, multiply. 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:19.039 Adam, can't do that alone. 00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:24.240 Uh you're gonna need a you're gonna need someone to multiply with. 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:26.720 Men and women are where people come from. 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:28.480 There's no woman. 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:37.920 But the helper, it cannot be uh made to only mean reproduce. 00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:42.799 It it is, it doesn't just say reproduce with, which is kind of interesting. 00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:47.759 Because the blessing, what we've been told so far is be fruitful and multiply, and don't eat that tree. 00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:49.599 Those are the things that we've been told. 00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:54.880 But what we see is that Adam requires this helper for the whole of his life. 00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:02.559 That this is not a this is not a narrow, narrowly banded helper that Adam is given. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:07.039 This is a helper for the whole of his life that the woman is meant to be. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:19.359 So in Genesis 2, 19 through 20, it says, Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. 00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:24.000 And whatever the man called, every living creature, that was its name. 00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:32.640 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens, to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:39.279 So Adam is like this preter Noah, where uh God brings all of the animals to him. 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:45.759 And the purpose of bringing all of the animals to Adam was not just like, hey, I got some leftovers, we need names for these. 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:48.160 It was to look for a spouse. 00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:51.759 It was to look for a helper who would be fit for Adam. 00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:57.519 And Adam's naming all of these animals, which you can see he's already acting like his father. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:06.480 Because he's using his words and he's bringing identity to the world, which is form and structure. 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:08.880 And that's exactly what God had been doing. 00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:14.160 He uses his words and he brings form and structure to the world. 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:16.240 So that's what our words do. 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:19.119 They structure the world and they and they interpret it. 00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:22.880 And so the world is made with man at the center. 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:26.079 The world is anthropocentric, is the way to think about it. 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:28.000 It's a man-centered world. 00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:34.160 So when you try to understand the world from outside the perspective of a human, you don't understand it. 00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:36.640 You're doing bad science. 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:43.039 You should only try and understand the world from the perspective of a person because that's the only way that the world exists. 00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:45.920 It's by design that it exists that way. 00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:53.119 So Adam names the animals, and as he's naming the animals, he's describing, you can think of the name of the animals. 00:29:53.279 --> 00:29:58.400 They're not just generic names, they describe their relationship to Adam. 00:29:58.880 --> 00:30:00.720 Because that's how he would name them. 00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:08.400 He's naming them, and this describes the relationship to him, and he is the one that names, which means he is above it. 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:09.920 He is the head of it. 00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:19.039 He is the authority over it, which is that's what's been granted to him as the head of humanity in the image of God. 00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:27.759 But as the animals go by, he keeps probably noticing the same thing over and over again, which is that none of them talk. 00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:32.720 You know, this is these are I mean, it's not like they're not helpful. 00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:37.200 This dog one is really friendly, and honestly, it's kind of nice to just have around. 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:40.640 Picks up the crumbs that I keep dropping. 00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:43.680 This oxen would be great for plowing. 00:30:43.759 --> 00:30:46.400 I've got some garden ideas, like we were talking about the garden earlier. 00:30:46.799 --> 00:30:48.079 See, I remember things. 00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:57.119 And uh, we could plow with this, and this horse one will be nice for traveling long distances and racing. 00:30:59.920 --> 00:31:01.440 Yep, it's topical. 00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:11.599 So, but none of them are are a real fit, and so the void remains. 00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:17.920 The problem has been named, but there is no real helper here for Adam. 00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:22.240 So here's the creation of marriage. 00:31:23.759 --> 00:31:27.039 Look at this, could have been done so many ways. 00:31:27.279 --> 00:31:34.160 Look at the strangeness of the way that God creates marriage in the creation of Eve. 00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:37.279 Genesis 2, 21 through 22. 00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:51.519 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:59.599 And the rib that the Lord had taken from the man, he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:03.359 Now I know this is a familiar passage. 00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:05.839 You know, many of you have heard this your whole life. 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:13.920 You know that the woman was formed from Adam from the rib, but it's still weird, right? 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:18.960 Why, what's going on here? 00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:27.200 We know that God can make humans from dust, and there was probably plenty around, you know, enough. 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:31.680 And he could he could just mix up another Adam. 00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:39.920 Why does he make her from Adam and from the rib? 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:42.160 Okay, let's well, let's look at this. 00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:46.240 I think there's something magnificent going on here. 00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:51.519 First, the Lord causes a deep sleep to fall upon the man. 00:32:52.160 --> 00:32:54.720 Adam goes into a deep sleep. 00:32:55.039 --> 00:32:57.519 And we think, well, anesthesia. 00:32:57.839 --> 00:32:58.559 I know why. 00:32:58.640 --> 00:32:59.920 It was surgery. 00:33:01.039 --> 00:33:02.559 I know how surgeries work. 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:04.319 Like we're laughing. 00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:06.799 But that is how I've always thought of it. 00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:09.519 I've always thought of just like, yeah. 00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:23.920 If I were to take someone's rib, you know, not in a, you know, I don't know, hostile way, in a helpful way, like the way God's doing it, I'd put them to sleep first. 00:33:24.160 --> 00:33:26.640 But the word and we get the word deep sleep. 00:33:27.599 --> 00:33:29.519 A deep sleep fell upon the man. 00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:32.799 The w it's it's a weirder word than that. 00:33:33.759 --> 00:33:41.440 The word is the word is tardama, which is the Hebrew word, and it's not the word deep plus sleep. 00:33:41.839 --> 00:33:43.359 It's its own word. 00:33:44.240 --> 00:34:01.839 It's the word in Genesis 15, when uh the the smoking pot and the fiery torch go between the dead animals in Abraham's vision, when Abraham is asleep and he has that vision, he's in Tardama. 00:34:02.640 --> 00:34:05.440 He's in this like very very deep sleep. 00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:13.039 When when David goes into Saul's camp and he takes Saul's spear. 00:34:13.679 --> 00:34:15.440 Remember that uh scene? 00:34:15.760 --> 00:34:18.320 And the whole camp of Saul. 00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:24.000 And the point is that David is trying is making is I could have killed you. 00:34:24.239 --> 00:34:28.159 I could have killed you were this close to dead. 00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:30.480 But the whole why were they able to sneak out? 00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:32.239 Because the whole camp was in Tardama. 00:34:33.280 --> 00:34:37.440 They were in this super deep sleep. 00:34:38.559 --> 00:34:43.920 What the another example is um Jul and Sisera. 00:34:44.079 --> 00:34:53.679 When you you know um in Judges, when uh you take the the lady takes the tenth stake and hammers it into the guy's head. 00:34:54.800 --> 00:34:56.239 Remember, remember that? 00:34:57.440 --> 00:34:58.719 What a book. 00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:04.960 Uh he the sleep that he was in, Tardama. 00:35:05.599 --> 00:35:07.199 You see, this is like death. 00:35:07.360 --> 00:35:11.440 It's like it's like death, you know, right there. 00:35:11.519 --> 00:35:13.840 It's it's like death. 00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:25.039 Jonah, when he's asleep in the belly of the ship before he goes to sleep in the belly of the whale, an analogy that Jesus uses for his own death. 00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:28.159 That's Tardama. 00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:29.360 That's this word. 00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:35.920 So there's something there's something we it's like death, right? 00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:42.400 But it's like you know, the fall hasn't happened yet. 00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:45.440 So think death with no sin. 00:35:46.559 --> 00:35:48.480 So there's no sting in it. 00:35:49.039 --> 00:35:54.480 The problem with death is that is the sting, sting of sin. 00:35:54.880 --> 00:35:59.760 Sin takes this, like d So here's another way to think of it. 00:35:59.920 --> 00:36:12.320 Like um in when Paul is writing to the Thessalonians and he's talking about Christians, uh, he doesn't even call it death anymore when Christians die. 00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:14.239 He says that they've fallen asleep. 00:36:15.440 --> 00:36:17.039 It's something like that. 00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:29.519 It's like this this you should think it's like death, but it's it doesn't it doesn't it's not tainted by sin yet, so it doesn't hold you down in the same way. 00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:36.159 So Adam goes into this Tardama sleep that the Lord causes to fall upon the man. 00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:43.440 And while he slept, he opens his side and he takes one of his ribs is a little too particular. 00:36:43.599 --> 00:36:49.599 It's it's like flesh and bone from the side, is what we should imagine. 00:36:50.800 --> 00:36:56.559 And he closed up its place with the flesh. 00:36:56.719 --> 00:37:01.280 So he takes apart and then he closes up Adam. 00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:06.639 I think that tells us something about the marriage relationship, which we'll see later. 00:37:07.440 --> 00:37:20.159 Because it shows us that we're not halves that are meant to fulfill one another and like make each other whole. 00:37:20.400 --> 00:37:21.440 That's not what we are. 00:37:21.519 --> 00:37:26.000 There's a distinction between us so that we love the other. 00:37:26.159 --> 00:37:28.639 Love is the thing that bridges that gap. 00:37:30.159 --> 00:37:34.800 So then the Lord takes the rib, Adam's sealed up, almost dead. 00:37:34.960 --> 00:37:39.440 The Lord takes the rib, and then fashions it. 00:37:39.840 --> 00:37:42.400 Uh, you should think like builds, constructs. 00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:45.440 It's the same word for the building of the temple. 00:37:46.639 --> 00:37:50.320 And so he like builds this temple woman. 00:37:51.440 --> 00:37:54.559 It's different than what than the way Adam was made. 00:37:55.519 --> 00:37:59.519 And he he fashions and builds this the woman. 00:38:00.159 --> 00:38:07.360 And then like at a like at a wedding, the father walks the bride to the groom. 00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:09.679 He brought her to the man. 00:38:12.079 --> 00:38:22.400 And then the man said, when he sees the woman, this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. 00:38:22.800 --> 00:38:27.280 She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. 00:38:28.239 --> 00:38:33.679 This at last, this at last, bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. 00:38:33.840 --> 00:38:36.239 This is the one, this is the fit. 00:38:36.719 --> 00:38:41.760 It's the this poetry, this poetic explosion in scripture when Adam sees her. 00:38:42.079 --> 00:38:45.679 And because Adam is her head, he names her. 00:38:47.119 --> 00:38:51.519 But when he names her, it's like he names himself too. 00:38:52.159 --> 00:38:54.719