The Devil's Triangle In Marriage Series

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THE DEVIL’S TRIANGLE IN MARRIAGE

Gen. 2:24-25; Eph. 5:21-33

From the Book “In the Beginning”

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E. An Intimate Union - Gen. 2:24-25

We have seen that God designs and desires marriage to be a sacred union, an equal union, an exclusive union, and a permanent union. Today we it is to be an intimate union.

God has Moses write of marriage, “. . .and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”

They were clothed with the glory of purity. Delitzsch says, “Their bodies were the clothing of their internal glory; and their internal glory was the clothing of their naked¬ness.”

God’s INTENTION for marriage can be pictured as a triangle. Two people, who really don’t know each other like they think they do, are far apart in many ways.

Through the years they are to grow closer and closer together as they are becoming ONE. They fill the void of “loneliness” and each has a companion to share life with. Finding this we find a taste of heaven on earth.

Divorce figures and many couples we know show that many couples do not find this. This is because of the INTRUSION of Satan. Eve leads Adam to disobey God. Adam blames Eve for his failure. Adam and Eve see their nakedness and hide from each other and from God.

Their home becomes a house of tears when their first son, Cain, kills their second son, Abel, out of jealousy.

They didn’t have the CHARACTER of Christian marriage, they have Satan’s CORRUPTION of Christian marriage.

The best place Satan can launch his attack on the Church and Christianity is in the homes of Christians. If he can drive a wedge between husbands and wives, our lives are miserable. One country song says, “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”

When this happens we become crippled church members; parents and citizens. Building a home is an uphill battle because all the weapons of hell are directed against it..

But take heart! What Satan attacks God protects. It is God’s will for you to build a holy, happy home and therefore as you work and pray to that end, all the powers of heaven will be at your disposal.

In Ephesians 5:22-23, we have the basic passage on how to bring God’s INTERVENTION to defeat Satan’s plans. We might call this the CONDITIONS of Chris¬tian marriage. Ephesians says:

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (We hear much about wives submitting to husband, but here Paul infers husbands are to submit to wives and parents to their children.”

Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord. . . Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. . .each one of you must love your wife as you love yourself and the wife must respect her husband” (5:21, 22, 25, 33).

I. GOD’S INTENTION - THE CHARACTER OF MARRIAGE

(Gen. 1:24b-25)

God’s intention for Christian marriage is intimate companionship, where two human beings grow closer and closer to each other in life.

Marriage counselors picture this coming together in many ways. There is mutual ENJOYMENT, mutual ADJUSTMENT, and mutual FULFILLMENT.

In the first the emphasis is on the physical, in the second - the mental and emotional, and the third - the spiritual.

David Mace says that on this second level, there are five major adjustments: sex, money, work, in-laws, and parenthood. (Success in Marriage, Ch. 5-10, Abingdon):

It is in the nitty gritty arena of decision making and change and give-and-take and compromise, that marriages succeed or fail. It is here that you really get to know each other and get closer and closer or drift apart.

We come together in LOVE

The first Greek word for love, is EROS, physical, sexual love. Sex inside marriage is beautiful and it is the gift of God.

Grab a handful of soil and you have the rich, beautiful material that sustains life. Take it in the living room and throw it on the carpet and it becomes DIRT.

Sex within the bonds of marriage is beautiful, but outside of marriage, it is dirt, it is filth, it is harmful and destructive. The Bible does not blush when it mentions the sexuality of Adam and Eve.

The second Greek word is STORGE or family love. How wonderful when husbands and wives take on new roles as father and mother. I think this is why the “Waltons” and “Little House on the Prairie” were so popular.

Here is where husbands and wives and children not only have fun together but learn the important lessons of life together.

One little eleven year old boy put it like this in an essay - “What I Like Best About My Home”: