SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/12/2023 7:53 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Answer”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
19:4-6
Message of the verses: “4 And He answered and said, "Have you not
read, that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND
FEMALE, 5 and said, ‘FOR THIS CAUSE A
MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, AND SHALL CLEAVE TO HIS WIFE; AND THE
TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’? 6 “Consequently they are no longer two, but one flesh.
What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.’”
The fourth reason Jesus gives for divorce not being
in God’s perfect design is that, in the creative sense, every marriage is made
in heaven. I suppose that you have heard
the phrase “marriages are made in heaven,” and perhaps this is where it came
from. MacArthur adds “From the very
first marriage of Adam and Eve, God has joined together every husband and
wife. Marriage is first of all God’s institution
and God’s doing, regardless of how men may corrupt it and deny or disregard His
part in it. Whether it is between
faithful believers or between rank pagans or atheists, or whether it was
arranged by the parents or by the mutual desire and consent of the bride and
groom, marriage as a general social relationship is above all the plan and work
of God for the procreation, pleasure, and preservation of the race. Whether it is entered into wisely or
foolishly, sincerely or insincerely, selfishly or unselfishly, with great of
little commitment, God’s design for every marriage is that it be permanent
until the death of one of the spouses.”
It
is God’s plan, as He engineered man and woman to complement, support, and give
joy to each other through the mutual commitment of the marriage bond. It is by His divine hand that they are
created to fulfill each other, to encourage each other, to strengthen each
other, and to produce children as fruit of their love for each other. It make little difference that they recognize
it or not, every couple who has enjoyed the companionship, happiness, and
fulfillment of marriage has experienced the miraculous blessing of God, and
perhaps many will not recognize this, but that does not make it true.
MacArthur
writes “No child can be conceived by the procreative act of a man and woman who
is not first conceived by the creative act of God. Every marriage every child is a creation of
God, and therefore divorce and abortion share this tragically evil common
denominator: they kill a creation of
God.
“To
destroy a marriage is to destroy a creation of Almighty God. “What therefore God has joined together,”
Jesus warned, “let no man separate.” The
word separate is from chdrizo, which
in the context of marriage always carried the idea of divorce, not simply temporary
separation. It is translated ‘leave’ in
1 Corinthians 7:10, where Paul is clearly speaking of divorce.”
The
point that Jesus is making here is that marriage is always the work of God,
while divorce is always the work of man, and that no man whoever he is or
whenever he is or for whatever reason he may have, has the right to separate
what God has joined together. A pagan
husband and wife who divorce break God’s law just as surely as believers who
divorce. It is in the ultimate sense that
every marriage is ordained of God and every divorce is not. At best, divorce and remarriage is only
permitted by the Lord, never commended and certainly never commanded, as some
of Jesus’ contemporary rabbis taught.
Jesus said that God permits it only on the basis of sexual immorality
and even then as a gracious concession to man’s sinfulness, see verses
8-9. To claim, as some professing
Christians do, that the Lord led them out of a marriage is to lie and to make
God a liar.
MacArthur
concludes: “Although Jesus here mentions
only Genesis 1:27 and 2:24, the Old Testament is replete with other teachings
about the divine sanctity and permanence of marriage. Two of the Ten Commandments—the one against
the physical act of adultery (Ex. 20:14) and the one against coveting a neighbor’s
wife (v. 17), which is the mental act of adultery (Matt 5:28)—specifically protect
the sanctity of marriage. Adultery was
such a heinous sin that its punishment was death (Lev. 20:10; Deut.
22:22-24). God made no legal provision
for divorce. Adultery could bring the
end of a marriage, but by execution, not divorce.”
2/12/2023 8:22 AM
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