Divorce And Remarriage

Luke chapter 16. I'm going to read verse 18. Luke chapter 16, verse 18. Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, commiteth adultery. And whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband, commiteth adultery. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word.

So that's a short reading today, just the one verse. And we're only going to take that one verse. Just let me see there. We're only going to take this one verse today. because I think there's plenty in it to fill our attention for a little while. There's more than sufficient material in this verse, I'm sure, to take many services like this, particularly one that's slightly shorter in time availability.

The material in this verse and its parallel passages in Matthew 5 and in Matthew 19 and in Mark 10 have caused a lot of questions in churches down through the ages. The question of divorce is not a new question by any means. Indeed, it had taxed and afflicted the children of Israel from the times of Moses. In Moses' time, and we'll remember that Moses was called a meek man. In Moses' time, in that meek man's time, God granted leave for a man to divorce his wife if he found in her some uncleanness.

The process of doing so required what was called a Bill of Divorcement. That Bill of Divorcement had to be constructed, it had to be made up, and it had to be written, and it had to be placed into the woman's hand personally by her husband. And it's been pointed out that this formal process, even way back then in the earliest times, thousands of years before the time of Christ, even a way back then, this formal process took time and gave opportunity for reconsideration and reflection before such a serious and irreversible action was undertaken, the action of putting away one's wife or divorcing one's wife. By the time of the Lord Jesus, amongst the Jews, two schools of thought had developed, had grown up.

One taught that a man could divorce his wife for any reason, be it ever so trivial. If something about his wife displeased him, it could be anything. It could be the way she dressed. It could be the way she spoke. It could be how she cooked his meals. If something about her displeased him, or simply if he found a more beautiful wife, then that first wife could be divorced. Another school taught that divorce was allowed only when the wife committed serious sexual sin. And the Pharisees tried to tempt the Lord into siding with one school of thought or the other.

But the Lord's response was to take them back to basics and to remind them that from the beginning of the world, divorce was not permitted. From that time, when the world was created, it was not permitted for a man to put away his wife at all. The marriage bond formed one flesh of two individual people. And to quote the Lord Jesus, what therefore God had joined together, let not man put asunder. The Bill of Divorcement was not an entitlement. The Bill of Divorcement was a contrivance for wicked people. It certainly wasn't the will of God.

God's will was made very clear in Malachi when the prophet declared, let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away. That's Malachi. Malachi 2, verses 15 and 16. The emphasis there is on the fact that the Lord hates putting away. The Lord hates divorce. And Malachi also tells us, I think interestingly, in this passage, the reason for this and that is that he might seek a godly seed, so that the Lord established marriage in order for that godly seed to be produced in time.

And divorce had only been instituted because of the hardness of man's heart, because of sin and because of lust. And this principle that God hateth putting away ought to be the foundation of all our thinking on the subject of divorce. In fact, the place to begin our thinking is not divorce at all, but marriage. It is how the Lord dealt with the Pharisees when they raised this question about what are your views on divorce and remarriage.

The Lord took the Pharisees back to the Garden of Eden where the woman was given to the man as a help meat. Marriage was constituted as a mutually comforting and supportive role founded on love and honour and given for the procreation of our race. There it is again, the bringing about of the godly seed that Malachi spoke about.

But more importantly, marriage was given to be a picture of God's love for his elect and the church's union with Christ their head. We, the church, are the bride of Christ. Think on that, think on what that means, that the Lord should describe the church as the bride of Christ. He goes on, the gift of marriage, the experience of marriage typifies our mysterious union with our covenant God. and particularly with his son Jesus Christ. Christ's union with the church is not a picture of marriage. Marriage is a picture of Christ's union with the church. Christ's union with the church came first and marriage typifies what God had ordained.

Now Paul speaks quite extensively about marriage in Ephesians 5. And at first, when we read that passage in Ephesians 5, we think he's talking about husbands and wives loving and honouring one another. But then, as it were, the apostle seems to catch us out a little bit when he writes in chapter 5, verse 32, they too shall be one flesh. He says, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. So what he is telling us here is that when he has been speaking about husbands and wife, he has really been speaking in an analogous way about Christ and the church. But he finishes off this little section by saying this, nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband. So having spoken about the husband's love for the wife and the wife's honouring her husband, Paul is telling us that it is Christ and the Church that is being spoken about here.

But understanding that it is Christ and the Church that is being spoken about ought to impact the way that we deal with one another. And we deal with one another the same way as Christ deals with us. This is the principle. This is the pattern. Love your wife, reverence your husband because you love and reverence Christ and because he loves and reverences you. Paul is telling us that underneath the whole ordinance of marriage lies this eternal union between Christ and the church.

Now I don't imagine for a moment that very many newlyweds think about this, that Paul has been saying. I suppose believing newlyweds should think about it and it perhaps behoves preachers and teachers and elders in the church, both male and female, the elder women as well, to be in a position to explain something to young men and young women about the seriousness of marriage. Young Christian people contemplating marriage should think about these things and ought to think about these things, such as the importance of the relationship that they are entering into. And married couples should, so far as our conduct is concerned, consider these things.

The gracious relationship between Christ and God's elect people is the foundation of marriage between a man and a woman. And messing up our relationships is tantamount to saying we do not value our union with Christ and the heavenly blessings of the marriage feast of the Lamb which he has set before us. wedlock in this world points to our everlasting union with Christ. And let me just return to the Old Testament for a moment because I think we can see this pattern in the way in which the Lord speaks to his people and describes his faithfulness his faithfulness to his elect, despite their many sins, despite their wanderings away, despite their idolatry, which in Scripture is termed adultery. And we might think of, for example, Hosea and Gomer, his adulterous wife.

The Lord says concerning this woman, I will betroth thee unto me for ever. This is chapter two, verse 19 of Isaiah. Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in lovingkindness and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness and thou shalt know the Lord.

And this is a picture, surely, of the great work of redemption. The fact that we are sinners, the fact that we have wandered far from God, the fact that we have had no desire after him, that our desires have been for another. Yet the Lord in his faithfulness, yet the Lord Jesus Christ in his humility, came and died and brought us back through redemption to that relationship with him, brought us into adoption of the family of God. So that this is despite Gomer's whoredoms. The Lord stresses this enduring union still further.

In Isaiah, there are many passages I could have selected, but here's a couple. In Isaiah 54 verse 5, the Lord says, The Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he be called. So here the Lord is telling us that he is our husband. In Isaiah 43 verse 1 we read, But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. That's that possession in there. The Lord has called us out, called us to himself, redeemed us, bought us, brought us into that relationship. And he says, you are mine.

The next chapter, the opening verse, Isaiah 44 says, Yet now hear, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. This is the elect again that has been spoken to, Jacob, my servant, and Israel, being typical of the chosen of God, the elect of God. Hear ye now whom I have chosen. Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee.

Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and thou, Jeshurun, that is, my beloved, my dear one, whom I have chosen. One shall say, I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. Why is it that women very often take the surname of the man when they marry? Well, there's the picture, there's the pattern in the Word of God, that when the Lord calls a sinner to himself, one of the ways in which that is described is that that sinner surnames himself by the name of Israel, by the name of the Lord. and the teaching of scripture is that our union with Christ is the foundation of eternal life.

We cannot be lost, we cannot be cast aside, it would be contrary to God and the things that he has revealed of himself. We shall not be plucked from the Father's hand. We are united to Christ and by our marriage, by our redemption and the price that has been paid for us, we are one with him in everlasting union. We are married to Christ and there is no divorce from him. and that's the significance of marriage. It is what our religious and civil ceremony is a type of. When two people join in matrimony, they take a vow before God and before men and women to remain faithful to each other as the Lord is faithful to us. They unite themselves together as one in the sight of God, just as Christ has united himself to our flesh and made us his own, securing our redemption with his blood.

Now, I do not believe that Christians should divorce because there should be no need to divorce. A believer who understands scripture and the admonitions to love and honour their wife and husband would never by their sin place their spouse in a position of desiring a divorce. Furthermore, a person who has been forgiven their own sins by Christ should be a forgiving partner to one who has sinned against them, especially where sorrow and repentance is expressed.

Now, I recognise that every situation is different, that there will be times when someone who claimed to be a believer rejects their profession and abandons their faith and their family. I acknowledge that women especially can be vulnerable in a marriage situation to violence and abuse, and that steps must be taken to safeguard such people, women and children. Moses gave license to the Jews because of their hardness of hearts. It is sin that breaks marriages. Sometimes we have to accept the damaging reality of sin and make suitable provision for the care and well-being of the innocent and victims.

There is always mercy and forgiveness with the Lord. Praise his name. Nevertheless, let our overriding principle on this subject of divorce be that God hates divorce and from the beginning it was not so. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Amen.

Divorce And Remarriage

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