Daily Bread - Jan 8 2007

Genesis 2:23 - "And Adam said, 'This is, at last, bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. And she shall be called Woman; for she was taken from Man.' "

The first covenant that we observe in the Bible is the covenant of marriage. God established this covenant by cutting the man open, and, in the midst of the blood, He brought forth the bone and marrow from which He built the woman. Through this act, the man and the woman became one flesh, bone of bone and flesh of flesh (Genesis 2:23).

We were also made one with Christ Jesus through the redemption that He purchased for us with His own blood. It was through the blood and body of Jesus that we were created anew (Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 10:16; Ephesians 2:5,10; 1 John 4:9; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; John 17:22). It may be said that as Eve was built from Adam, we were built from Jesus Christ - insomuch that we have been made one with Him and find all of our identity in Him (Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21). What Adam said of Eve, Christ Jesus has said also of us, "For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and His church" (Ephesians 5:30-32).

The same oneness between a man and a woman takes place today through the act of intimacy. The marriage between a man and a woman is very sacred to God and should be sacred to us as well. In fact, there really is no such thing as a casual sexual act; rather, it is a marriage that results in one person being joined unto another. This truth is made very clear by Paul when he says that if a man is joined unto a prostitute they are made one flesh (1 Corinthians 6:16).

Blessings,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
abidingplace.org