Is God a bigamist? Today we started to unpack our study of Matthew 19:1-12 (Mark 10:1-12) and the issue of marriage and divorce. As dispensational believers we study the Bible from a literal, historical, grammatical hermeneutic without adding layers of interpretation allegorizing whole areas of scripture that seem too fantastic to believe at face value. I mentioned “Occam's Razor” (The simplest explanation is usually the correct one.), and that I consider myself this type of Bible student comparing scripture with scripture and taking the simplest explanation as true. I adhere to the “plain sense” philosophy of Bible study...When plain sense makes good sense seek no other sense.
This brings us to our subject matter for the next couple of weeks. Matthew 19:1-12 deals with marriage and divorce. It seemed to be as much a delicate subject in the first century as it is today. Jesus was very clear that marriage is between a man and a woman only. It is sacrosanct and inviolable, regardless of what today's culture may think. Jesus once again revealed that his standard for marriage and divorce was higher than the law of Moses. He reiterated his position that he stated in Matthew 5:31-32 at the sermon on the mount.
There are two legal paths that can end a marriage. The first is through the death of a spouse. The state will send the survivor a certificate of death, which will be needed to remove the name of the deceased spouse from all legal documents. The second legal path is a bill of divorce. There are more legal ramifications, but ultimately, both parties will receive a certificate of divorce, which declares the death of said marriage. Once again, the certificate must be used to remove the former spouse from all legal documents declaring them ineligible for any benefits they had while in the marriage agreement.
Marriage in human context is a picture of God's relationship to Israel, and Christ's relationship to the Church, the body of Christ. We have seen how God courted Israel, and declared her to be his wife in the wilderness journey and into the promised land. He gave her the marriage document she was to abide by – the law of Moses, and we have read how she violated her vows over and over, leading up to the divorce decree. We read Deuteronomy 22:22 and Deuteronomy 24:1-2 observing the severity of violating the marriage contract, and how simply one can receive a divorce.
We will continue our our study this coming Sunday and how God finally had to divorce his wife, Israel, and his plans for reconciliation. Please read Jeremiah 3:1-20 and Hosea 2:18-3:5 (Jeremiah 30:9) this week in preparation for our study.
