OT Promise 1: Will be One Flesh

  1. Man and Wife will be One Flesh

Genesis 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

A promise is embedded in this historical event, fact, truth and principle. The Lord God married Adam and Eve after He created them and brought them together. Marriage and Family is God’s idea; it is the foundation for stable and productive living on earth. If the foundation fails the building falls: If the marriage breaks the family crumbles; if the family fails society disintegrates. Secure life falls apart and some outside force, like government institutions, take over life and society.

Faithful, committed, and life-long marriages are the foundations of stable societal living in community. For this reason, the moral sins of adultery and divorce are so vitally important for happy, stable and productive lives. If the world would just keep this one Commandment in all its meaning, life on earth would be a wonderful utopia, a safe and happy place to live. Just as sex creates life, so unlawful sex destroys living. This is why God wants us to keep His Commandments: so we can be happy. Illicit sex and its result, divorce, cause untold damage. God knows this, so we should just listen to Him. Cleave! No adultery, no divorce, and the whole family lives happily afterward.

The promise implied in this institution of marriage and family is this: the husband and wife shall be one flesh. The husband and wife are bound intimately together physically, but it’s much more than that. The promise means that the two will be intimately bound together in the soul. Their minds, wills, and emotions become united and solid together. This mutual commitment to each other builds a soul tie. Therein is the promise. They will be one. 

There are many times when a married couple does not feel like, or act like, they are one. That is a deception; it is not true. The promise of God’s Word, His institution, His will and His intention is that they are one. The promise is true whether the two people act like it or not. They are one. Thus, we will not separate what God joined. He made a promise. Use that promise to repair, reunite, reconcile, become bound up and be tied together. There is power in the promise to recreate and make new. The love that brought two people together is not lost; it may have just been ignored. In other words, God promises that the two will love each other. He/she does not have to ask, Does he/she love me? Do I love him/her? God says, “Yes, you both do.” Enjoy the promise.