SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/17/2023 9:23 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-4 “The Affirmation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
19:8-9
Message of the verses: “8 He *said to
them, "Because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce
your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. 9 “And I say to
you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another
woman commits adultery.’”
It is my desire to conclude this section on divorce
in today’s SD, although this will not be the end to writing about divorce, just
the end in this section. I have to say
that divorce is something that is not new to me, as I myself went through it
before I became a believer in Jesus Christ for my salvation. I have been married to my wife now for almost
50 years and God has blessed our time together as I became a believer some 6
months after my wife and I were married.
My divorce happened just like what Jesus said in that there was infidelity
that could not have been resolved. The
man that my ex-wife married died a few years ago rather suddenly, and then a
couple of years later my ex-wife also died.
I was with her a few weeks before she died and she told me that she was
sorry about what she did to me. I told
her that the most important thing for her was to become a believer just like I
am and spent a short time explaining the gospel to her. I went to her funeral and it is my hope that
she became a believer, but after listening to the “woman” preacher I have my
doubts though. It was a difficult time
for me after we divorced, but God had a plan for my life and has blessed my
wife and I with two children and seven grand-children all of whom are
believers.
John
MacArthur speaks to what happened to me when he writes “A divorce on any other
grounds than immorality, that is, adultery by one of the spouses, is always
illegitimate, regardless of which one initiates the divorce. Jesus here uses immorality and adultery
synonymously. He is saying that divorce
that does not result from adultery results in adultery if there is remarriage.”
We
have learned that in the OT that death results in adultery, but also that God
is gracious, as that is part of His attributes, and so since He is gracious to
the sinning spouse by tolerating divorce instead of requiring execution. God would surely also be gracious to the
innocent spouse by permitting remarriage, which was permissible when a spouse
died (cf. Rom 7:2-3). MacArthur adds “The
purpose of permitting divorce is to show mercy to the sinning spouse, not to
condemn the innocent one to a lifetime of singleness and loneliness that would
not be required if the Lord had the sinning executed. Should His grace to the sinner penalize the
innocent? The Lord allows divorce in
order that the adulterer might have opportunity to repent rather than be put to
death. And both here and in Matthew 5:32
Jesus specifically allows remarriage by the innocent spouse in order that he or
she might have opportunity to enjoy again the blessings of marriage that were
destroyed by the other partner’s adultery.
The qualification except for immorality clearly permits the innocent
party who marries another to do so without committing adultery.”
As
we see that what Jesus states about marriage and remarriage for the spouse who
was not the sinful one has reinforced His previous teaching about divorce and
remarriage but this was also a devastating indictment of the Pharisees who were
then trying to devastate Him. I have to
say that even when they were a large part of having Jesus Christ put to death
that that in no way was devastating to Him, for it was in the predetermined plan
of God. Let us look at a couple of
verses from the Sermon on the Mount at this time. “"For I say to you that unless your
righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not
enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20).
“But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her
has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt. 5:28). Verse 20 contrasts true righteousness with
the false righteousness that the scribes and the Pharisees had. Verse 28 gives the true meaning of adultery
that is it takes place in the mind before it takes place with the body. As we have already mentioned that divorce on
any grounds but immorality also resulted in adultery when there was remarriage,
as was almost always the case, and so this strong implication of that statement,
which the self-righteous Pharisees could not have missed, was that they
themselves were guilty of proliferating adultery.
MacArthur concludes this rather long section by
writing “It should be noted that the Holy Spirit adds one other gracious
concession by also allowing divorce and remarriage as an option for a believer
who is deserted by an unbeliever.” If
you are looking at a full treatment of this issue you can look at MacArthur’s
commentary on 1 Corinthians.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am thankful for this study on divorce and
remarriage, and other things that the Lord is teaching me through it.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Putting on and using the Spiritual armor is a
key in not giving into temptation. “No
temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful,
who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the
temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to
endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13).
2/17/2023 10:03 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment