Genesis and Gender

A friend had mentioned on our walk this morning about Mary Kassian's talk on "Genesis and Gender" on Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss. So I listened online during lunch today.  Today's broadcast is the third in the series, but I went back to begin with the first one. I'd like to share a bit of that with you, and if you'd like to hear more, just click on the image. I'm sure you'd be encouraged by it. Mary is talking about how gender tells the story of the gospel.

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, 

have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, 

in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 

Romans 1:20

From the time of creation until now, gender and sex, manhood and womanhood constantly display truths about God. God wrote His story on our flesh. In who He created me to be as a woman and in who He created you to be as a woman tells a story about God. Paul says that people are without excuse because God's story is displayed everywhere, and it is even displayed on gender and His creation.

Ephesians chapter 5 connects all the dots and indicates that manhood and womanhood, marriage and sex, all point to the story of the Bridegroom, the Son of God, who loved and gave His life to redeem His Bride, the Church. Gender exists to tell the love story of the gospel, and that is why God created male and female.

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 

Ephesians 5:32

God had the story of Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom, the Church, His Bride, in mind before the foundation of the earth, and it’s that story that He had in mind—the love story of God that He was thinking about when He set His hand to create male and female, when He said, “Let us make man in our image” and created man, male and female.

So with this larger cosmic context in mind, we’re going to go back to Genesis, and we’re going to observe twelve points of God's pattern for manhood and womanhood. Six points about manhood; six points about womanhood. The truth that God wanted to display between male and female was really important. So it stands to reason that He was very intentional when He created us.

~ Mary Kassian on reviveourhearts.com