Face to Face

In Family Vocation: God’s Calling in Marriage, Parenting, and Childhood (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), Gene Edward Veith Jr. and Mary J. Moerbe write:

A man and a woman become one flesh. In doing so, they engender a child, who is made from that flesh and who is part of the fleshly union that constitutes the family. The Bible uses ‘one flesh’ to describe both sex (1 Cor. 6:16) and marriage (Matt. 19:5-6). In God’s design, the two amount to the same thing. So then Children ‘share in flesh and blood’ with their parents (Heb. 2:14). (p. 104)

A man and a woman become one flesh and a child springs from that flesh. The union of a man and a woman within marriage is a fleshly connection. The birth of a child is a fleshly extension of the one-flesh union. A child begins with God’s gracious giving and results in a life-long reliance on God’s daily bread. The calling of God is very fleshly, for our Lord is the Lord of incarnation. He became flesh and dwelled among us (Jn. 1:14). He anticipated messiness before becoming flesh; he entered into messiness by being flesh; he handled messiness in flesh.

It is a great anticipation to see you face to face in flesh.