Judah's Treachery Against The Marriage Bond
Minister: |
Rev. Ronald Van Overloop |
Date: |
9/23/2012 PM
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Text:
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Malachi 2:13-16
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Psalters: |
418, 172, 360, 151 |
- Their treachery.
- The children of Judah dealt treacherously against their God-given mates (15b).
- They said they belonged to God’s covenant, but they broke their vows by divorcing unbiblically.
- They were driven by self-centered desires over against serving their God in loving gratitude.
- God declares them to be covering their garments with “violence” (16), a destructive and violent thing a tearing apart.
- Note how God describes how He views her (14) (she is still his wife even after her puts away!!!).
- “She is the wife of thy youth” speaks of first love and great tenderness.
- “She is thy companion,” i.e., a friend who travels with you experiencing same trials and experiences together.
- “The wife of thy covenant.”
- We are always answerable to God!
- “Jehovah hath been witness” (14a), for He sees and hears all we do, say, and think to and about one another in marriage.
- “Did not He make one?” (15a). Malachi, like Jesus (Matt. 19:4) goes back to the creation of marriage.
- In creating marriage God willed one man and one woman (with her from his rib).
- God could have made them another way (for He has “the residue of the Spirit”), but did not.
- Malachi’s point is that divorce destroys one of God’s purposes in marriage: to bring up “a godly seed” (15).
- God’s response.
- God is blunt: “He hateth putting away” (16).
- And God does not regard their offerings and sacrifices (13).
- So “take heed to your spirit” (16b).