- When was the first marriage recorded? It’s in Genesis 2. There in Genesis 2, before the Fall of Man, marriage was created and ordained by God. Indeed God is the first match maker.
- Even before Genesis 2, in Genesis 1:28, right after God created Man, God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number.” The concept of marriage is already there. God did not just ordain marriage; God considered it as something good, something blessed. “Be fruitful and increase in number”, God said. You see, without marriage, it’s not possible for mankind to be fruitful and increase in number. Adam, by himself, without Eve, cannot bring forth Cain, Abel or Seth. If there never was Eve, then there will ever be just Adam, and millions of years later, it’ll still be only Adam — you and I will never exist. So as children, we should thank God that He has led our parents to get married so that we may exist.
- After God created Adam, God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” In other words, the husband and wife are all tailor-made for each other. God looked at Adam, and He knew Adam isn’t complete, and He knew what would make him complete, and so He made Eve — a perfect complement for Adam. This is what is meant by “helper suitable for him”.
- Note that 1 Cor. 11:23 states that the Lord Jesus instituted His Supper on “the same night in which He was betrayed” — not the eve of His death, but on the night of His betrayal.
- Remember how on that night of betrayal, the disciples, unaware of what was about to happen to Him, were quarrelling among them as to who was the greatest among them. James and John were fighting to be right beside Jesus in His kingdom. One of them, Judas, was scheming to trade Jesus in for a mere thirty dollars. Such is the backdrop.
- In stark contrast, Christ gave Himself, His own life. He instituted His Supper in this spirit of love and forgiveness, for His friends and enemies alike, for the world. He instituted His Supper knowing full well the wickedness of men’s heart, the untrustworthiness of His followers, the sinfulness of our soul.
- So this Supper, instituted on the same night in which He was betrayed, is a sign of His selfless love, His unchanging love which loves the unlovely and loves them to the uttermost.
