God hates divorce:
Marriage is not a trial and error experiment, it is a commitment
for life. This is the reason why you must be absolutely sure that God has
spoken to you concerning that future partner, otherwise you will have released
hell upon the earth in your life. "But
you ask, "Why aren't our offerings accepted?" It is because the LORD
is a witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been
unfaithful. Yet, she is your companion, the wife of your marriage vows. Didn't
God make you one? Your flesh and spirit belong to him. And what does the same
God look for but godly descendants? So be careful not to be unfaithful to the
wife of your youth. "I HATE DIVORCE," says the LORD God of Israel.
"I hate the person who covers himself with violence," says the LORD
of Armies. "Be careful not to be unfaithful" (Mal 2:14-16 GW).
When you make a commitment to be married to another, God Himself comes to
witness and establish the covenant. Every covenant is made by the shedding of
blood. When husband and wife make a commitment in front of physical witnesses
that is not the beginning of the covenant. The true covenant is enacted in the
marriage bed when the virgin's hymen is broken and blood is shed. "If this happens, the young woman's
parents are to take THE BLOOD-STAINED WEDDING SHEET THAT PROVES SHE WAS A
VIRGIN, and they are to show it in court to the town leaders. Her father will
say to them, 'I gave my daughter to this man in marriage, and now he doesn't
want her. He has made false charges against her, saying that she was not a
virgin when he married her. But HERE IS THE PROOF that my daughter was a
virgin; look at the bloodstains on the wedding sheet!" (Deu 22:15-17
GNB). We see from the account in Deuteronomy that the proof of a young woman's
virginity is the blood stained wedding sheet, showing that a covenant was
established through blood being shed.
Marriage is made
even more sacred because it is symbolic of our marriage to Jesus Christ as the
church or bride of Christ. "For
this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto
his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I SPEAK
CONCERNING CHRIST AND THE CHURCH" (Eph 5:31-32). In the book of
revelation we are even told about the marriage supper or feast of the Lamb
which we shall be part of when we have been raptured from the earth before the
great seven year tribulation. "Let
us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB is
come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the
righteousness of saints" (Rev 19:7-8). The bride of Christ is the
church or the saints. That is the reason why there shall be no marriage in
heaven, because we shall be married to only one, Jesus Christ. Jesus said this,
"For in the resurrection they
neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in
heaven" (Mat 22:30). After the resurrection all earthly marriage ties
shall be dissolved and the wedding feast celebrating our marriage to Jesus
shall begin. Dare not to miss the menu at this feast!
Paul also points
out that divorce is out of the question if the husband or wife is still alive, "For the woman which hath an husband
is bound by the law to her husband SO LONG AS HE LIVETH; but if the husband be
dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband
liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but
if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no
adulteress, though she be married to another man" (Rom 7:2-3). Someone
can only marry another if the former partner dies, showing us that marriage is
a permanent bond sealed by God Himself.
Jesus gave one of
the conditions for divorce which is adultery, "And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, EXCEPT IT
BE FOR FORNICATION, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso
marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery" (Mat 19:9). This
shows us one of the two exceptions to the bond of marriage. The next exception
is when both partners got married when they were not born again and one of them
gets saved along the way, "I (not the
Lord) say to the rest of you: If any Christian man is married to a woman who is
an unbeliever, and she is willing to live with him, he should not divorce her.
If any Christian woman is married to a man who is an unbeliever, and he is
willing to live with her, she should not divorce her husband. Actually, the
unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and an unbelieving wife
is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise, their children would be
unacceptable to God, but now they are acceptable to him. BUT IF THE UNBELIEVING
PARTNERS LEAVE, let them go. Under these circumstances a Christian man or
Christian woman is NOT BOUND BY A MARRIAGE VOW. God has called you to live in
peace" (1Co 7:12-15 GW). This only applies when both husband and wife
were married when they were not born again and is not a sanction for marrying
unbelievers. This kind of official divorce is only effective if the unbelieving
partner no longer desires to remain with their husband or wife.
"And unto the married I command, yet
not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she
depart, LET HER REMAIN UNMARRIED, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not
the husband put away his wife" (1Co 7:10-11). Apostle Paul strictly
forbids the wife from departing from her husband. However in case she does
depart which could be as a result of the man's infidelity, she should remain
unmarried. This is another safeguard to prevent wives or husbands from coming
up with false allegations of immorality so as to marry someone whom they have
unlawfully desired.
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