Lesson 12 for March 24, 2012
“So God created man in His
own image; in the image of
God He created him; male
and female He created
them” (Genesis, 1: 27)
Love is part of God’s nature. “God is love” (1 John 4: 8). When He created us in His image,
He created us with the ability to love and to be loved.
The love that the man and the woman felt for one another was a replica of God’s love for
them. That was a feeling that grew because both Adam and Eve nurtured and respected
their relationship. Man and woman were given to one another in order to take care of
each other and to complement each other.
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and
mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall
become one flesh. And they were both naked,
the man and his wife, and were not ashamed”
(Genesis, 2: 24-25)
When God created humanity in His image, the ability to love that He gave them involved
romantic love and sexual pleasure within marriage.
There is nothing more intimate than the relationship between husband and wife, except the
personal relationship of one person with God.
God gives several examples of
romantic love in the Bible. That is
a proof that this kind of love is
blessed by God.
Isaac and Rebecca.
• “Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent; and he took Rebekah and she
became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death”
(Genesis, 24: 67)
Jacob and Rachel
• “Now Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel your
younger daughter”… So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a
few days to him because of the love he had for her” (Genesis, 29: 18, 20)
Ruth and Boaz
• “Then she said, “Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out; for the
man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day”… So Boaz took Ruth and she
became his wife; and when he went in to her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a
son” (Ruth, 3: 18; 4: 13)
Solomon and the Shulammite
• “Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for
love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised” (Song of Solomon, 8: 7)
God created human beings with the ability
to enjoy physical pleasures.
There is no book in the Bible that deals with
this subject better than Song of Solomon.
It’s a book of pure romantic pleasure that
remembers the specific pleasures that God
designed for marriage. The source of
romantic love is found in God.
Mutual dependence, help in pain times, empathy, sympathy and
romance. All those are expressions of love, both between human
beings and between God and the human race. God created
humanity in His own image, to be and do like God is and does. God
didn’t take His image from mankind even when we sinned. Keeping
His love in our hearts was the greatest expression of love He showed
towards a fallen humanity
CHOSEN AS BELOVED
Jesus blessed the sacred bond of matrimony again as He carried out His first public miracle
during a wedding celebration.
Besides, God uses the romantic love and marriage in the Bible as examples to explain His
feelings towards us.
God loves every person with the same love husband and wife must love each other. “I have
loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah, 31: 3)
He wants His children to show the same faithfulness husband and wife want from his/her
spouse. “For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous
God” (Exodus, 34: 14)
In His relationship with the people of Israel, God compares
Israel to a bride that wants to marry (Ezekiel, 16: 1-15)
“You shall also be a
crown of glory in
the hand of the
Lord, and a royal
diadem in the hand
of your God … For
as a young man
marries a virgin, so
shall your sons
marry you; and as
the bridegroom
rejoices over the
bride, so shall your
God rejoice over
you”
(Isaiah, 62: 3, 5)
God still shows the same feelings he
showed with the ancient people of Israel
with His Church.
The final meeting of Jesus and the
redeemed is shown just as a wedding.
“And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, as
the sound of many waters and
as the sound of mighty
thunderings, saying, “Alleluia!
For the Lord God Omnipotent
reigns! Let us be glad and
rejoice and give Him glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb
has come, and His wife has
made herself ready.” And to
her it was granted to be
arrayed in fine linen, clean
and bright, for the fine linen
is the righteous acts of the
saints. Then he said to me,
“Write: ‘Blessed are those
who are called to the
marriage supper of the
Lamb!’” And he said to me,
“These are the true sayings
of God.””
(Revelation, 19: 6-9)