MARRIAGE IS ORDAINED BY 
GOD 


"Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman (Gen. 2:22, NKJV)
 
 
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Marriage is not a man-made idea. It came from God at creation. Marriage is the first institution on earth. God officiated at the first marriage ceremony in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:22-24), just as Jesus was invited to the wedding at Cana where He performed His first miracle (John 2:1-11). Marriage is a coming together of two total persons. The Bible says, "The two shall become one flesh...," (Mark 10:8-9). In his book Agape and Human Relations, Jack V. Rozeil explains: Christian marriage is an agape relationship in which a man and a woman make a commitment before God and to God and each other of their whole persons for their total life." God-ordained marriage involves "leaving" and "cleaving," Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24). Leaving and cleaving probably means spiritual, psychological and physical separation and union under normal conditions. For a marriage to succeed there must be a commitment to "leave" parents and "cleave" to one's spouse from then on (Matt. 19:5). 
 
Cleaving can be compared to weaving two threads into one new piece of cloth. 
 
Three things are involved in marriage:
i. Husband leaves his parents and, in a public act, promises himself to his wife. 

ii. Both man and woman are joined together by taking responsibility for each other's welfare and by loving the spouse above all others. 
 
iii. The two become one flesh in the intimacy and commitment of sexual union that is reserved for marriage (Heb. 13:4). 
 
How committed are you to your spouse? Examine yourself. Could you boldly say that you have left all other strange men/women and cleave only to your spouse? Remember God is watching. "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge" (Heb. 13:4).

God-ordained marriage involves "leaving" and "cleaving"