lets look at a couple things before I get into the whole study
- God created marriage as a union between Man and Woman,
not man and man or woman and woman,
- Marriage between man and woman is sacred.
- .it says ”Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate” meaning no one should come between a marriage God himself put together.
Now lets get a little deeper in.
where is marriage first ever mentioned
Genesis Chapter 2 Verse 24 ” This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.”
Here the word marriage isn’t exactly mention but its referred otherwise the word wife wouldn’t be used if no one was married.
‘Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” Matthew 19:3
The pharisees didn’t like Jesus , they wanted to see him fail and say the wrong things so they can have something against him. They wanted I’m to give the wrong answer here , this is why they ask a question they believe Jesus will have a hard time answering.
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ ? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”Matthew19:4-6
Jesus is mentioning when God first created Man and Woman back in Genesis. He is reminding the pharisees that he knows the word of God and what was said then, reminding them that God is the one who created marriage and what God has put together no man shall separate.
“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” ‘
Matthew 19:7
The pharisees are now referring to Deuteronomy Chapter 24 Verses 1-4 which says
Suppose a man marries a woman but she does not please him. Having discovered something wrong with her, he writes a document of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house. When she leaves his house, she is free to marry another man. But if the second husband also turns against her, writes a document of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away, or if he dies, the first husband may not marry her again, for she has been defiled. That would be detestable to the Lord. You must not bring guilt upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as a special possession.
Again here the pharisees are trying to trap Jesus and make him say the wrong thing so they can have something against him. The pharisees are not asking Jesus these questions because they are curious and want answers, they are asking him these questions so they can trap him and convict him of saying wrong things and misleading people.
”Jesus replied, “Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended. ‘Matthew 19:8
now lets understand what the word concession means it is a thing that is granted, especially in response to demands
so now that we know what concession means we can understand that Moses only granted them the option of divorce because they were very stubborn and hard hearted he was practically forced into giving them this option because they were demanding it. So Moses granted them it to keep them contempt but also gave specific rules to go along with it .
‘And I tell you this, whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery—unless his wife has been unfaithful. ” ‘Matthew 19:9
Since divorce is not what God had intended is a man was to divorce his wife for any reason except for the wife committing adultery and that man was to remarry he himself has committed adultery.
it says here in Hebrews Chapter 13 Verse 4
‘Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.’ So here we see that God tells us to honor marriage otherwise he will judge the immoral and the adulterers. What we can get from that is that God sees marriage as something worth being honored therefore it is a sacred thing God has gifted us with and anybody who abuses that gift by cheating and not honoring their spouse and marriage will be judged by God
”Jesus’ disciples then said to him, “If this is the case, it is better not to marry!” “Not everyone can accept this statement,” Jesus said. “Only those whom God helps. Some are born as eunuchs, some have been made eunuchs by others, and some choose not to marry for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.” ‘
Matthew 19:10-12
The disciples here are now a bit confused it seems because they are asking Jesus whether it is better to just not be married at all or to be married and not be able to be divorced because if they divorce they will commit adultery because divorce is not what God intended . Jesus answers them by telling them that not everyone can accept this statement and goes on to talk about the eunuchs.
Jesus says that ” Some are born as eunuchs, some have been made eunuchs by others, and some choose not to marry for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven” meaning there are 3 different types of eunuchs. One by birth, One by choice, And one by the choice if someone else.
A eunuch by birth means that when the baby was born its parts were defected so from birth they became a eunuch
A eunuch by choice was that the man chose to not marry for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and to serve the Lord most time these men were not castrated but took the title as a eunuch and serves as a eunuch by birth would
A eunuch by the choice of someone else is someone who was castrated with out choice to become a eunuch
Lets talk more about marriage and how God made it such a special gift.
Proverbs Chapter 18 Verse 22 says ”He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord”
the word favor means approval, support, or liking for someone or something. God wants us to be married and when a man finds a good wife he favors them for it.
1 Peter Chapter 3 Verses 1-2 says ”Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.”
Now if a wife is good and holy and knows the difference between right and wrong her husband will see the way she lives her life and the husband will be won over and believe the word of God.
Marriage can save you and your spirit and if you don’t believe me here is scripture to back me up
Corinthians Chapter 7 Verses 12-16 says ”’Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord. If a fellow believer has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to continue living with him, he must not leave her. And if a believing woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to continue living with her, she must not leave him. For the believing wife brings holiness to her marriage, and the believing husband brings holiness to his marriage. Otherwise, your children would not be holy, but now they are holy. (But if the husband or wife who isn’t a believer insists on leaving, let them go. In such cases the believing husband or wife is no longer bound to the other, for God has called you to live in peace.) Don’t you wives realize that your husbands might be saved because of you? And don’t you husbands realize that your wives might be saved because of you? ‘
Now that you see why marriage is a good thing that God has gifted us with ,let me show you something else.
Isaiah Chapter 62 Verse 5 says ”As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”
Our relationship with God is a marriage we are the church and the bride and Christ is our bridegroom.
Marriage isn’t just a symbol of a man and woman’s love for each other its also a symbol of Christ and church let me explain how a marriage and our relationship with God are exactly the same.
Ephesians 5:21-33
‘Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.’
What are key components in a marriage?
commitment – we need to commit to our spouse fully
communication- without communication we wouldn’t have a marriage, how can you be married and not communicate?
love- this is the main thing in any relationship you need love to make anything last and love needs to go both ways
faith- you need to have faith in the person your marrying otherwise you will only have doubt and then your marriage wont last
trust- without trust we will always wonder what is going on and that will prevent us from having faith
patience- you need patience in your marriage , you cant rush it otherwise it will fall apart faster then it came together
what is the meaning of commitment? the meaning is being loyal and willing to give your time, attention and energy to something you believe in
now that we know what makes a marriage work lets see what we need to have a relationship with God.
commitment – you need to be fully committed to serving God otherwise you will be lukewarm
communication- in order to have a relationship with God you need to communicate with him by praying, talking, and worshipping him.
love- for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son so that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. He loved you so much but that love needs to go both ways with out love how can we be committed to him?
Faith- we need to have faith in God otherwise how can we believe in him? if we have no faith in God how can our relationship last Hebrews 11 6 says ”And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
trust- we need to trust that God is doing what he knows is right for us, we need to trust that he will deliver us from evil because if we doubt him then we lose faith.
patience- we need patience in our relationship with God because if we try to rush the blessings he is giving us we can destroy them as well as ourselves and our relationship with God
We need to not only be committed to our marriage on earth but we need to be committed and honor our relationship with God we need to open our eyes and see what’s missing in our relationship we God. Are you not communicating with him enough? Are you not having enough faith or trust in him? Or maybe you are not being patient . What ever it is we need to pray that God opens our eyes and shows us how to get back in our walk and relationship with God.
