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. 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. 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)

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 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.

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) “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)