PT-3 "The Teaching of the Old Testament"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/29/2020 10:40 AM

 

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  PT-3 “The Teaching of the Old Testament”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                 Reference:  Old Testament References

 

            Message of the verses:  We will pick up from where we left off yesterday in looking at this subject on divorce and remarriage as we continue to look at the foundations and the text from the Old Testament.

 

            Looking at adultery from several verses in the Old Testament shows us how serious God takes marriage.  Every form of sexual intercourse that is outside of marriage is sinful and defiling, however any illicit sexual activity that involved married persons was actually punishable by death as see in Leviticus 10:10-14 “10 ’If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11 ’If there is a man who lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death, their bloodguiltiness is upon them. 12 ’If there is a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed incest, their bloodguiltiness is upon them. 13 ’If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them. 14 ’If there is a man who marries a woman and her mother, it is immorality; both he and they shall be burned with fire, so that there will be no immorality in your midst.”  Actually two of the Ten Commandments relate to the sanctity of marriage as not only is the act of adultery forbidden but even the intent of it in coveting another man’s wife as seen in Exodus 20:14 and 17 part of the Ten Commandments.

 

            Some people say that they live by the Ten Commandments which would be their ticket into heaven, but no one can do this, especially as we look at the tenth of the Ten Commandments:  “"You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’”  If a married person even desires another partner it was a grievous sin.  In Matthew 5:28 we learned that adultery is forbidden to both the body and to the mind.  As we will not look at Lev. 18:18 WE WILL SEE THAT God went a step further and forbade polygamy, so every violation of lifelong, faithful, monogamous marriage was forbidden by the divine law.  “’You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness.”  I understand that this law was broken all throughout the Old Testament by some of the greatest saints including David.

 

            MacArthur writes “God established marriage as the physical, spiritual, and social union of one man with one woman, a lifelong, indivisible union that is never to be violated and never to be broken.  He confirms His absolute hatred of divorce in Malachi 2:13-16.

 

13  "This is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 “Yet you say, ’For what reason?’ Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 “But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth. 16 “For I hate divorce," says the LORD, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with wrong," says the LORD of hosts. "So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously."

 

I wish to close this portion of this SD with what John MacArthur wrote in his Study Bible on verse 15 a portion that I have highlighted:  “Noting God’s original institution of marriage (Gen. 2:24), in which He made two into one, Malachi reminded them that God provided only one woman for one man.  Though He had the life-giving power of the Spirit, and could have made Adam a number of wives he created only one—to raise up a ‘godly offspring.’  Polygamy, divorce, and marriage to idolatrous women are destructive to obtaining the godly remnant in the line of the promised Messiah.  Only when both parents remain faithful to their marriage vows can the children be given the security which provides the basis of godly living.  Because this foundational divine instruction of marriage was being threatened, Malachi urged that no husband act in a treacherous way toward his wife.”

 

Quotation from “The Battle of the Ages:”

 

I.                   The Battle of the Mount of God.

 

            “Therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire” (Ezek. 28:16b).

 

            “The inspiration of the writers of the Scriptures had to do not only with the foretelling of events future but also with the forthtelling of events past.  There is an inspired retrospect as there is an inspired prospect.  The vision of the Old Testament prophet embraced the backward stretch of history as well as the forward sweep of prophecy.  In two such remarkable passages the Prophet Isaiah and Ezekiel lift the veil from the distant past and show us the beginning of sin.

 

            “…Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire” (Ezek. 28:12-16). 

 

12 “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 “But you said in your heart, ’I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ’I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ 15 “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit” (Isa. 14:12-15).

 

            “In these obscure passages we find some light upon the beginnings of this mighty conflict that has been going on through all the millenniums, and will not end until Jesus Christ has put all enemies under His feet, and delivers up to His Father a kingdom with every stain of sin effaced and righteousness triumphant.

 

            “The battle of the Mount of God refers to this scene in heaven when Satan, a mighty angelic being, invested with power and great authority, and lifted up with pride, covets the heavenly kingdom, rebels against the divine rule, and strikes at the throne of God.  As a result of this titanic conflict Satan and his host of angels lose their first estate and are cast out of heaven.

 

            “This tremendous event when Satan says “I will,” marks the intrusion of sin into the universe.  Between a holy God and sin there must be unceasing and uncompromising warfare and from that moment the Battle of the Ages began.

 

            “We can see from this incident that the essence of sin is ‘I will,” instead of “Thy will.”  Five times in the Isaiah passage Lucifer declares “I will.”  When God’s man comes He will say “Not my will but Thy will,” and in this sign He will conquer.  Sin therefore is my versus God’s will, it is the clash of the human will against the divine will.  Sin therefore is war against God.  Satan’s rebellion was doomed to defeat and himself to destruction.  Are you following in his steps?  Be warned in time!”

 

8/29/2020 11:27 AM