I am amazed at how readily our culture has accepted divorce and remarriage as easily as they have buying a new car or changing their cloths.
I have known since I was born again that divorce and remarriage was sin against God. What is astonishing, is how many people have been told there is no problem with either, and believers who have been told that it is acceptable for certain reasons.
This is what happens when people listen to preachers, writers and theologians rather than the Holy Spirit. I questioned this matter intently for a couple of years because of all the rudeness I experienced when I proclaimed that divorce and remarriage was a sin before God.
I began to pray that the Lord would show me if I was wrong about this,it seemed so very clear to me, even in the face of all the excuses and explanations to negate what God said to me in His Word.
The Lord began showing me the details of what He had already told me. I was in my early thirties when I was battling the divorce and remarriage mentality. I was rejected and hated by nearly everyone I encountered when this subject came up.
Then the Lord began to open the floodgates of truth concerning this matter of marriage. I had heard the Lord correctly, He really does hate divorce and remarriage.
Here are some of the things He showed me a little at a time as I prayed and studied. Later with the onset of internet, I began to find others who thought as I did, and as adamantly. They too had sought the Lord on this matter and were told the same things I was told by the Holy Spirit.
There are many people using the Matthew 19:9 as an excuse to divorce.
"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."
The passage in Matthew that refers to "except for adultery", is not the proper rendering of that verse. In the original language it is "except for fornication", which is before marriage.
In the times of the bible the Jews had a custom of betrothal, which meant that their marriages were arranged from childhood. The betrothed parties were considered husband and wife during this bethrothal period, they were even called husband and wife, even though the ceremony had not yet occurred and they were not living together.
In order to break that betrothal, they had to receive a certificate of divorcement from the engagement and it could only be broken if one of the parties were unfaithful before the marriage.
The reason you do not see it in the other gospels, is because Matthew was written to the Jews and the other gospels were written to Gentiles who did not have this custom.
There was a day in this country when someone could sue for "breech of promise", if their engaged partner chose not to marry after promising to do so. This too was evidence that engagement was once much more binding in the United States in years past than it is now.
Our lax and flippant attitude toward engagement has led to a lax and flippant attitude toward marriage. God takes promises very seriously. When we promise to remain faithful in marriage to a spouse at a wedding, that is when God makes us into ONE! God says "you are no longer two but one." The word for "ONE" denotes in the original language a sort of spiritual glue done by God that no man can undo.
The condition of marriage is a picture of our status as born again believers. When God declares us His and seals us with the Holy Spirit of Promise as is stated in Ephesians 1:13-14, we belong to Him and nothing can undo that.
"13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."
One can leave an engagement condition but no one can dissolve the glue that God used to make us one in marriage. There is an old saying: "when two divorced people get into bed, there are four people in bed together.
When Joseph was betrothed to Mary, he was going to divorce her quietly and she was called his wife, even though they had not been married to one another. He did not want to publicaly disgrace her even though he believed her to be unfaithful to him in the engagement. The Lord explained it to him and they got married. The term wife and woman were interchangeable in the Jewish custom of betrothal.
Also the words "not under bondage" do not mean divorce at any stretch. The word "bondage" here has to do with being in submission to or under authority. We are no longer bound to submit or consider the other person if they are no longer around, but this is not divorce.
When "Moses" allowed for divorce it was not God's command that he did it, it was a protection for the woman in those days a woman had no means of income unless she was married. Moses gave them what they wanted, but it was because they had hard hearts.
Sometimes God gives us what we want, even if it is against His will, and we will pay the price for our decision to rebel against Him.
Only about 70 years ago in the church in our country everyone knew divorce and remarriage was against the Word of God. What had changed? Our culture has twisted and lied about the Word, remained willfully ignorant so that the culture within the church can have what they want.
Being divorced is not adultery unless one remarries. God hates divorce, but God said, if you are divorced, then you are to remain single because you are still glued to the spouse you are not with, until he dies.
1 Corinthians 7:11 "But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife."
There are only two options from God for a divorced person, to remain single or to be reconciled to their spouse.
Remarriage is ongoing adultery in God's eyes. It is not just a one time thing as an act of remarriage but the adultery continues as long as the person remains with that second person.
The original word for "adultery" in the context of remarriage denotes an "ongoing state of adultery."
Again, we have all been brainwashed to believe that second marriages are legitimate marriages, they are not in God's eyes.
Sometimes people do not want a divorce but their spouse does and now days there is nothing that can be done about it. That person does not sin while divorced if they didn't want it, but they do sin if they remarry.
Once again I realize I may take a hit for this post, but I have become weary of the lies that have permeated the church on this matter. The ones who get beat up are those who desire God's best in obedience to Him.
I have actually heard testimonies of churches encouraging divorced people to remarry against God's will, when they have resolved that they are going to remain alone in obedience to God. The people who encourage the divorced person to remarry are harming their divorced brothers and sisters and for no other reason than to feel good about the sin of divorce and remarriage for themselves.
Shame on all those people who encourage divorced people to remarry. Why not come along side them to help them obey God.
I have met people who have bludgeoned a woman for speaking doctrine to others, but have completely accepted divorce and remarriage in their gatherings, how perverted this is. There is no mandate forbidding a woman to speak doctrine to women, children and men on the street, but there are mountains of verses in God's Word that show God's hatred for divorce and remarriage.
All the details of God's hatred for divorce and remarriage are not in this post, but there is enough for each humble and seeking person to go to prayer and dig deeper to see if what I am saying is true.
Please read the account of Gomer and Hosea, it will give more insight into the character of God and His desire for those He loves.
Check out the promises to Israel that God made and will keep until He comes for us.
Study the condition of the believer after we have become a new creation and born again.
All the ways of God, His dealings with Israel and those He has saved, give us very important clues as to what our attitude about marriage should be.
We are to be humble, noble and sacrificial in our dealings with a spouse. We are not to seek revenge or our pound of flesh when we are wronged. All the scriptures that speak of the character of the believer will answer any questions about remaining with a spouse.
We must take the Bible as a whole,without cherry picking to make God say what we want, that He did not say.
Do we want to obey God or do we want to use the Bible to justify our sinfulness?
