This month we are, as a body, praying for two restorations. The first is the restoration of natural biblical marriage. The second is the restoration of a spirit of love for children in our nation. First, what do we mean by natural biblical marriage?
In the creation of the world there was a specific order given to it. When Adam had named all the animals that God brought before him, when all had passed by, Genesis 2:20b tells us that “there was not found a helper fit for him.” All the other animals had complimentary companions with which to continue their specie except for humans. Adam in his first act as a scientist, naming and classifying the animals, beginning his ordained purpose of “subduing the earth” (Genesis 1:28b), he made an important discovery. “(T)here was not found a helper fit for him.” So God took a bone from man and fashioned a complimentary helper that was fit for him. And when Adam awoke from the first surgery he finished the act of classifying and naming by recognizing the unique person that complimented him and was his moral equal.
“Then man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’” (Genesis 2:23)
So biblical marriage is between a man and a woman. But it is also natural marriage too. All over the world, from the beginning of time and recorded history, every explorer in every age has traveled by whatever means was at his disposal to arrive in distant lands to find there, what was also in his own homeland. Namely, that men and women married and established a home. This is a universal natural law. So the natural world bears witness to the created order, and the created order, as revealed to us in Scripture, bears witness to the natural order.
Natural biblical marriage creates a family, the place where children are to be nurtured and cared for, the primary building block of any peaceful and fruitful nation. It is the foundation of all godly societies. How important is it? Marriage is uniquely linked to the peace and safety of a people. When marriages begin to fail the nation becomes more violent and less stable. “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malchi 2:16) To cover ones garment with violence is an interesting phrase, what could it mean? Have you ever seen a young man with skulls and cross bones or AK 47s on a hoodie walking down the street? For just a second then made eye contact with him only to be stunned by the anger in his eye and the callous look on his face. Outward expression of a love for violence show an inward expression of a love for it too. People in prison for violent crimes all have one thing in common in most cases. 8 out of 10 will be from broken homes or from homes that never existed. Suicide, drug addiction, cutting, and other forms of self loathing and self destructive behaviors are much higher among the children of broken and never existent homes by orders of magnitude. They are also outward forms of violence, instead of being done to others they are against themselves. Divorce and sexual immorality resulting in child birth outside of a biblical and natural family structure results in multiple forms of outward expressions violence, as well as actual violence.
So as we pray for the restoration of natural biblical marriage, we are praying also for societal peace and justice while simultaneously praying against the satanic foundations of violence in our country as well.