|
|
Throughout the preceding nine chapters we have selected such material
as we have deemed necessary in the laying of firm foundations. Now as
we honour an important law for bible students; the law of
‘first and last mention.’ ‘First
Mention’ of course is that initial word from God in Genesis
chapter 2 – “and they shall be one
flesh.” However, Malachi some three thousand six
hundred years after Adam is forced to acknowledge the chaos amongst his
people as a result of their departure from God’s original
commands. Neither Malachi nor the Lord Jesus who came some four hundred
years later made any attempt to patch up the mess, but pointed straight
back to what God said “in the beginning.”
The Lord Jesus “came unto His own”
after two thousand years had been fulfilled upon them and found Israel
in a pathetic state, “His own received him
not,” Now the church’s two thousand years
have been all but fulfilled. Those who have been so quick to call
Israel blind are blind indeed to the pitiful state of things in our
time. For we are presiding over the greatest chaos in marriage and the
family that the world have ever witnessed.
Malachi opens his 2nd chapter with these words; “And
now oh ye priests, this commandment is for you.”
God has always demanded the highest standard for those who represent
Him. Though Moses allowed low standards in order that the hard-hearted
may be accommodated within the secular nation of Israel, God had no
room for them in the “Israel of God,”
the “circumcised of heart.” To
those who would claim that God’s high standards were set for
priests only, we would say that in the church we hold to the priesthood
of all believers. Malachi continues with his startling revelation and
declares that God had cursed the priesthood of his day because they had
“profaned the holiness of the Lord which
He loveth.” As a consequence of their profanity
they were to be “cut off” both
great and small, teacher and scholar alike. They had “gone
in the way of Cain.” God had “no
respect” to their offerings and totally ignored
their tearful intercessions. Then in verses 14 – 16 God
reveals the grave matter that had precipitated their fall from grace.
14
Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been
witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast
dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy
covenant. And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the
spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore
take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the
wife of his youth. For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he
hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith
the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not
treacherously.
(Malachi 2: 14 –16)
The consciences of these priests were “seared as
with a hot iron” for when God strove with them they
looked up in amazement crying, “wherefore.”
The Lord then pointed out that He had been a witness at their weddings.
In fact every son of Adam who shall “leave his
father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife,”
has God to his witness. Please note also in verse 14, that the
treachery of these men had in no way annulled or dissolved their
marriage covenant. God still counted them “one”
with the wife of their youth. You see dear reader, God’s word
cannot be made to subject to treachery or any other sin or
circumstance. If He says “the two shall be
one,” that then is final. The prophet’s
question; “And did He not make one? ”
demands a positive answer. God’s faithful servant then
continues and impresses upon his audience the fundamental role that
holy matrimony plays in the raising of children. If this holy
foundation be destroyed, total confusion and
anarchy will break out for the children’s ability to fear, to
trust , to respect and to obey will be destroyed. “Take
heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously against the wife of
his youth.” Marital unfaithfulness is spiritual
suicide, for no unrepentant adulterer can be a priest before God
neither shall they enter into His holy presence. Malachi continues in
verse 16 to emphasise that “God hates
divorce.” We have heard some agree that this is not
His perfect will but His grace causes Him to tolerate our weaknesses
and abide with what He hates. There is nothing new though under the
sun, they were saying such things in Malachi’s day also.
Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we
wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the
sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of
judgment? (Malachi 2:17). If the mighty God of creation
declares that vow breaking is evil, who then will dare say, “everyone
that doeth evil is good.” Even Solomon gives us
grave warning of the woman “which forsaketh the
guide of her youth and forgetteth the covenant of her God”
(Proverbs 2:17) The marriage covenant we see here is not ours to do
with as we please, it is the covenant of our God. How terribly hard it
must have been for Malachi to stand before his fallen people. By the
time our Lord Jesus came among them things were even worse. It caused
his disciples great amazement when the Lord stood with Malachi and
pointed back to Genesis chapter 2. Not even the strictest
interpretation among the Pharisees had dared to go that far for many
were offended but true hearted men knew that He was true.
But what about the church, we now have had our two thousand years. Have
we done better than Israel? Soon the Lord Jesus will come again and
what will He find? The so-called priests of our day have mauled and
manipulated His words to allow for virtually any kind of marital
conduct at all. Humanism and worldly ways have dictated the pace of the
most rapid slide down the broad way that this weary old world has ever
witnessed. However even as God had preserved a remnant of righteous men
in the day of Israel’s visitation so too will there be a
remnant in the church in that day when the trumpet shall sound. The
time has come again for those who stand with Malachi and their Lord to
declare, “the two shall be one,”
“they shall no more be two,”
“the wife is bound to her husband as
long as her husband shall live,” yes the time has
come to be despised and rejected. It was Asaph who has so well summed
up the state of things to which we are referring. “But
unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes,
or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou
hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. When thou sawest
a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with
adulterers...…These things hast thou done, and I kept
silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself:
but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now
consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there
be none to deliver. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him
that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.
(Psalm 50:16-18, 21-23) , “And hast been partaker
with adulterers.” Even those who have not been
treacherous in their marital relationships but quietly go along with
the treachery of others are culpable. When friends, relatives or church
members divorce and remarry it is much easier to remain silent, just go
along with it. We have spoken to many who against their better
judgement have gone along with divorce and remarriage. Such have become
[a] “partaker
with adulterers” If we have been convicted of this
we should repent by confessing our sin before God and man.
God’s greatest wrath is reserved for church leaders
‘who have looked out of their windows to see which way the
wind is blowing and then gone along with it.’
How awesome will be the judgement of those who bless what God has
cursed, Throughout the ages people have sought to represent God and at
the same time make alliances with “the mammon of
unrighteousness” (i.e, money, prestige, power and
influences). “No man can serve two
masters.”
So we see that there is no variance at all between God’s
first and last mention of holy matrimony in the Old Testament. “The
two shall be one flesh,” is God’s first
and last word. Will we bow our knees, our backs, our heads before a
righteous God, or will we bend over backwards to please the people? Any
who choose the latter will break their backs along with their power and
authority with God’s holy word. Should we choose the former
we will be “hated of all men.”
Yet our God given power and influence shall remain. “If
they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have
kept my saying, they will keep yours also” (John
15:20). Have mercy upon us oh God in this most dreadful time. May we
continue to be ‘salt’ and
‘light’ until He comes. “Even
so come Lord Jesus”
© Copyright Dirk Evenhuis. The book Holy Matrimony is
protected by Australian copyright law. No part of the book may be used
or distributed for commercial reasons without the written permission of
the author Dirk Evenhuis.
|
|
