Why Marriage Is Under Such Intense Attack

That marriage is under intense attack isn't in question. But why is marriage under attack? Why does Satan hurl so much of his energy toward destroying our marriages? That is a question I want to think about. There are a couple of reasons -the first we'll look at today, the second on a following day. But the first reason is that marriage is the foundation of society. If marriage crumbles, all of society does too.

Long before there were governments, schools, hospitals or churches, there was a family. God established the family as the first and most basic of all human institutions. God first established a home with a loving husband and a loving wife, and later with children running around in the yard long before He established any other human institution.

On the sixth day of creation, we see this conversation in heaven as the Triune God talks with Himself in Genesis 1:26-28,

"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the seas, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'" NKJV

To fulfill that plan, God acted to create the man from the dust of the ground and breathe life into him. Then from the man, He formed the woman, and presented her to the man. God's inspired commentary on the first marriage is found in Genesis 2:24, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." That was the creation of the first marriage - the first of all human institutions. All other institutions grew out of marriage.

What grew out of marriage? First, from the authority of the father developed the patriarchal system of government with an aging father/grandfather ruling over his extended family, and then his tribe. This developed into other forms of government - into monarchies with the city kings of ancient times ruling over their city and surrounding territory, to kings over countries, and eventually to democracies. Second, from the parental responsibility to raise and educate their children developed the formal systems of education we see today, and schools, colleges, and universities developed over time. Third, from the nurturing responsibility of parents developed those institutions designed to care for those who did not have families, and we see the development of hospitals and orphanages and retirement homes. Fourth, from the responsibility of parents to train their children about God developed the system of synagogues in Judaism, and churches, Sunday Schools, and Vacation Bible Schools in Christianity.

You can not think of any social institution or cultural organization that did not grow out of the family - that did not grow out of the home - IT IS THAT BASIC AND IMPORTANT! So if marriage fails, so do all the institutions built upon it. If marriage fails, so does every other social institution. Can you see how important the home and marriage are? They are the cultural building blocks of society.

As a result, marriage has always been under attack from the enemy - by Satan the adversary, the Devil, the destroyer and the enemy of our faith and well being - and by the world system he controls. Satan does everything he can to demean the marriage and the family, because if he destroys our homes, he has effectively destroyed our society. That is one reason why we must defend and protect our marriages.