The Time Before

Matthew 19:1-11

It was not this way from the beginning. It was not I-no-longer-love-you-so-I-must-leave-you. It was not you-don't-make-me-happy-anymore. It was not I-need-something-more. It was a promise. It was security. It was the Creator who "made them male and female" (Matthew 19:4). It was "for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife", and it was "the two will become one flesh" (Matthew 19:5). It was love given by a Creator and shaped by two humans. It was the time before sin. It was the time before hard hearts. "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard" (Matthew 19:8). It was creation and God's first plan. It was "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them....And God saw all that he had made, and it was very good" (Genesis 1:27; 1:31).