Yesterday at our Good News Club – February 14th – we spoke of the origin of Valentine’s day. It is named after a third century A.D. Christian named Valentine who was executed by order of the Roman Emperor Claudius on February 14th, 269. Although some of the events surrounding Valentine’s life are unclear, it is widely held that he was imprisoned and martyred for defying the Emperor’s decree that forbade engagement and marriage in an attempt to enlist more men for Rome’s military campaigns. Valentine recognized the Emperor’s decree as unjust and proceeded to perform weddings in secret, in some instances even for soldiers.
One important lesson for the children at our Good News Club (and for us) is that love, including married love, is sourced in the God of the Bible – not in the false gods of Rome or of our own day. In 1 John 4:7 we read: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Another important message is that marriage is from God – it was ordained by God at creation as the sacred union of one man and one woman. Genesis 2:24 states: For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. That verse speaks as well to the physical union between a husband and wife that is also from God – it is not man’s idea – and all physical relations must therefore be reserved for that union. It is also from the marriage union that families were to be formed through the birth of children. In Genesis 1 beginning in verse 27 we read: And God created man in His own image…male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”
Human governments have made laws to attempt to regulate marriage and family formation: whether in Rome in the third century A.D.; the one-child policy in Communist China from 1980-2016 leading to millions of forced sterilizations and abortions; or the current efforts in the United States and other nations to redefine marriage along with legalization of abortion. This should not surprise us. Paul the apostle wrote to Timothy (1 Tim. 4:1-3): The Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons…men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and love the truth. But only the God of the Bible has the authority to give laws to govern what He has created; and He has spoken clearly in His Word. Marriage and children will continue to be an opportunity for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ to testify of the truth and of God’s glory until He returns for us. Will we be faithful?