The family is God’s masterpiece. Out of His goodness, God intended it to reflect His character in that there would be unity and love, and the miraculous potential to produce life. Unfortunately, as the age draws to a close, families are coming under increasing attack. This prophecy alert needs to be an encouragement and directive to families. God doesn’t just want them to survive, but to thrive.
Adam was created by God, but something was missing. Even though God had placed Adam in a perfect setting, yet the Lord said, “It is not good that the man should be alone: I will make him an help meet for him” (Gen. 2:18). Husband and wife would unite to form something that would meet the need occasioned by man’s aloneness. In Genesis 2:23–25 God sets forth His plan:
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
The plan has four elements:
- Severance—“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother”
- Permanence—“and shall cleave unto his wife”
- Unity—“and they shall be one flesh”
- Intimacy—“And they were both naked…and were not ashamed.”
It was a great plan, but something went terribly wrong.
Several years ago Vice President Dan Quayle made a comment about the importance of the two-parent home. He was ridiculed and regarded as a scaly monster from the Stone Age. However, the April 1993 issue of Atlantic magazine devoted almost half of the entire issue to the American family. The cover demonstrated a radical change in the hearts of many about Dan Quayle’s comments: DAN QUAYLE WAS RIGHT. After decades of public dispute about so-called family diversity, the evidence from social-science research is coming in: The dissolution of two-parent families, though it may benefit the adults involved, is harmful to many children, and dramatically undermines our society.
Yes, Dan Quayle was right. And Bible-believing Christians have known all along that when God’s blueprint for the family, or for any institution, is jettisoned, trouble will result. There will be heartbreak, frustration, and fear. Children will be brought up in a climate of tension and confusion, resulting in lower test scores, violent behavior, and delinquency of all sorts.
Perhaps one of the tragic consequences of all of this is that the Christian’s spiritual effectiveness in service, prayer, and worship will be compromised. Peter addressed husbands and wrote:
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them [your wives] according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered (1 Pet. 3:7).
We live in incredibly dangerous times. Do we want our prayers hindered? Obviously what happens in the home is of monumental significance.
In the history of the planet, there has never been a time like the present. Is this any surprise? We are living in the first generation of human existence in which every Bible prophecy can be literally fulfilled. Everything is perfectly in place. Israel is in her own land. Mark of the beast technology has been developed, and is being utilized. There is nothing more that need happen to bring us to that moment when the trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will rise first.
First John 2:28 is a hard-hitting sobering exhortation for us all:
And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
Will this be a reality in your life or will your home and marriage bring nothing but shame?