Marriage and Naked Barbie Dolls

When it comes to the unchanging purpose of marriage given by God at the first wedding in human history in Genesis 2:25-25, we’ve now seen severance, permanence and interdependence in the last two blog postings.  Now let’s look at the fourth and final purpose = intimacy. 

If verse 24 describes the wedding ceremony of Adam and Eve, then verse 25 describes the honeymoon.  It says that they were, “naked and unashamed.”  What a great motto for marriage.  I think it ought to be inscribed inside of every wedding ring – “naked and unashamed.”  This is true because marriage is God's design for sexual intimacy at its best.

When I preached a sermon on this at the church I pastor here in Gaylord, Michigan, I used a “Ken” and “Barbie” doll through the whole series as object lessons.  This visual fit verse 25 more than people thought it might.  When my daughter was real little, she had dozens of Barbie Dolls.  She kept them in a big tub and she would often take most of them in to the bathtub with her.  Then she would just throw all of the dolls back in the tub all wet. 

I don't know if your daughter had Barbie Dolls or not, but if there's one thing I noticed it is that for some reason they were always without clothes.  I don't know what the situation is but they always were.  My wife one day discovered an odor coming from this tub.  All of these wet Barbie Dolls had begun to mildew.  As a good mother, my wife cleaned and bleached them all.  She then needed a place to allow them to dry.  When I drove home from the church office that afternoon, I got the surprise of my life.  As I went to pull into our driveway, I found that it was covered with literally dozens of naked Barbie Dolls sunbathing.  To this day I wonder what our neighbors must have been thinking! 

Anyway, back to Genesis 2:25 – “naked and unashamed.”  In our world today, we are inundated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with the world's view of intimacy.  Here's what I need you to understand.  Any intimacy that is outside of one man with one woman in the bounds of marriage is a cheap imitation to God's best.  God created the best.  Anything else is a cheap imitation.  It is impossible in my opinion, based on scripture, to experience intimacy at its best anywhere other than one man with one woman in marriage.  In Proverbs 5:18-19, the writer describes intimacy in marriage like a fountain you drink from to be refreshed.  He says, “Let your fountain be blessed.” 

Do you realize what God's desire is for you in marriage?  God's desire is that your intimacy in marriage be blessed.  That's God's desire for you.  That tells me that intimacy between a husband and a wife in marriage is nothing short of worship.  He then says,

“Rejoice in the wife of your youth.  As a loving hide and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times.” 

The problem is that most men put a period after the word "times" and go, “Amen!”  Believe it or not, men, that line is not the best part.  It's the last line I want you to see. 

“Be exhilarated always with her love.” 

That word exhilarated is a Hebrew word that's also translated “intoxicated.”  Do you know what God's view of sexual intimacy is?  God's view is that there be a marriage relationship between a man and a woman that has intimacy that's so incredible that you become intoxicated with each other.  In fact, you become so intoxicated and addicted with each other that you would never even want to look anywhere else for sexual satisfaction.