Let God Do It: How Adam and Jesus Illustrated God Ordained Marriage

Psalm 127 reads: 

1 Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. 2 It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones. 3 Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. 4 Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands. 5 How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates. ~Psalm 127:1-5 (NLT) [1]

This is a wisdom psalm written by King Solomon [2]. Though it is a pilgrimage song, its wisdom undoubtedly speaks of the family unit, as Biblically the word house also refers to a family. To let the Lord build the house means to allow Him to arrange the union of husband and wife and their offspring. Submitting to this divine orchestration has been challenged since antiquity and may possibly be one of the most difficult challenges of faith. (Consider Abraham, Gen. 12:1-25:11.) However, the divine blessings an individual receives from the Lord after following His will instead of their own are far more enjoyable than anything humanly imaginable. 

This points back to Creation, when God created Eve as a wife for Adam (Gen. 2:18-25). 

Adam had no part in the creation of Eve. God knew what Adam needed and created it—not Adam’s preferences or proclivities. (Given that she was the first woman and Adam’s only other interactions with living beings were with animals, his input likely would have had dreadful consequences.) Instead, he was placed in a divinely induced coma while God took his rib (the husband’s first sacrifice—marriage is a man’s commitment to a lifetime of it) and fashioned it into a wife. Eve had no part in her creation, either. She was made by God for His purpose and allowed Him to present her to the man He had already made for her. She did not approach Adam. She was presented to him. Adam was not her goal; submitting to God’s plan and design was. Thus this was her worship and the beginning of family worship for the two of them.

The example of Adam and Eve’s God-ordained and arranged marriage is seen in Christ’s union with the Church. Like Eve, the Church was God’s idea, created to display His wisdom in all of its variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places (Eph. 3:10-11). The church was created for His glory and reflects the glory of Christ just as Eve was created for His glory (made in His image) and reflects Adam’s glory (1 Cor. 11:7). The three days that Christ spent asleep are the equivalent of Adam’s time asleep as well. Both woke up and got a bride. When a husband and wife love each other the way that God calls them to (love, mutual submission, and respect), they are walking illustrations of Christ’s union with the church (Eph. 5:32). Therefore marriage is honorable, and it must be respected and protected. A godly marriage is one that honors Christ. It is the living sacrifice required for family worship. 

In conclusion, marries are made in heaven. Any labor contributed to one that wasn’t in an effort to gain godly blessings is work done in vain. 

REFERENCES 

[1]  Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ps 127. 

[2] Leslie C. Allen, Psalms 101–150 (Revised), vol. 21, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), 238.