ON THE baptizing tour this past summer, we encountered a large number of divorce and remarriage problems. It is the common conception that God would not be fair to condemn adultery. This reasoning is faulty, because people do not understand the purpose of human existence. Human beings were put on this earth not just to please the five senses only, but also to develop into members of the God family to inherit the powers and prerogatives of God. Before anyone can ever be born into the God family, he must first possess the character of God. All the power in the universe would become a curse if it were in the hands of one who had not developed the character to control it. So let's understand WHY adultery is contrary to the character of God.
Marriage is FOR LIFE
WHY does God forbid remarriage as long as there is still a living mate! Also, WHY does GOD join together as One flesh a husband and wife FOR LIFE? God is actually reproducing Himself. He formed man in His image. But mans was made of the dust of the ground — mortal — human flesh and blood. God is a Spirit, and man cannot become God until he is born of God. But, further, in order that there be millions and millions of humans who may be begotten and then born into the Kingdom of God, the Eternal wisely made HUMAN reproduction the exact type of divine reproduction, or salvation. In order that humans might reproduce, as God proposes, and further in order that children might be taught from birth on through babyhood and childhood by loving parents, God's PLAN called for the institution of the human FAMILY — which itself is a type of the GOD-FAMILY, which is the Kingdom of God. God's whole purpose and Plan, therefore, revolves around the divinely-ordained institution of MARRIAGE and the human FAMILY. Major points in God's Spiritual Law, such as "Honor thy father and thy mother," and "Thou shalt not commit adultery," are based on the immutability and integrity of the FAMILY. Therefore God, in His wisdom — because, it is BEST for human happiness now, as well as our development into the very character of God — decreed that marriage is a BOND FOR LIFE. God laid down the laws respecting the marriage union. No matter what your human reason may feel in respect to the circumstances of any particular divorce and remarriage case, GOD BOUND THE ORIGINAL HUSBAND AND WIFE UNTIL SEPARATED BY DEATH. Any separation, except by death, is unnatural and contrary to the very LAWS God set in motion. It does violence to the MARRIAGE INSTITUTION. It does violence to God's institution of the FAMILY — the very type of the Kingdom of God. It brings abomination, pollution, defilement, into human relationships and into the lives of those who are potential born children of GOD. God made the family ties SO BINDING — and the marriage tie SO BINDING — that any unfaithfulness to it, ONCE BOUND BY GOD, is a MAJOR SIN. Sin is the transgression of God's spiritual Law. That law says "Thou shalt not commit adultery." God defines ANY unfaithfulness to a mate to whom HE had joined one for life as ADULTERY, and therefore sin. No matter how various circumstances may appear to human eyes and human reasoning. IT DOES VIOLENCE to God's purpose for human existence, introduces confusion and sin, and THE PENALTY IS DEATH — being permanently CUT OFF from salvation and the Kingdom of God and ETERNAL One who does violence to the human FAMILY relationship, which is a type of the Kingdom of God — one who does despite to the MARRIAGE tie, which is a type of our relationship to Christ — has done despite to the spirit of GRACE, and made a mockery of CHRIST AS SAVIOUR, and of THE KINGDOM OF GOD! God had great divine PURPOSE, and eternally binding REASON for making it a SIN to violate the marriage union or the family relationship by remarriage to mother — which in His sight is actually not remarriage at all, but PLAIN ADULTERY! Sometimes children are born of these adulterous unions involving one or two divorced persons. People reason out that it is not fair to the children of this adulterous union to separate. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE INNOCENT CHILDREN THAT HAVE BEEN HARMED BY THESE DIVORCES OF PERSONS WHOM GOD BOUND FOR LIFE? That is where the greater harm has been caused. And it is in order to PROTECT those children that God has laid down a rule which men are forbidden to alter: that a so-called "marriage" of or to any divorced person is ADULTERY, and the penalty is DEATH — and GOD is the final judge, not human reason. But WHY no exceptions! Remember, the carnal mind never can see that God is right. It always seems that God is wrong.
First Lesson to Learn
Now, first, let us remember that the marriage covenant is a vow. The partners promise Almighty God to remain faithful to one another till death. Adultery is the breaking of this vow! The question is not whether the other party proved faithless. What is important is that YOU remain faithful to part part of the covenant with God. He wants you to remain faithful to your vow even if you have to undergo suffering to perform it. Notice the words of David: "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? ... He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not" (Psalm 15:1, 4). God never backs down on His promises! You can always rely on what He says! The one reason that we KNOW God will answer you if you ask according to His will is that God does not change. "Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Heb. 13: 8). "For I am the Lord, I change not" (Mal. 3:6). This is God's character — faithfulness. And if you are to become God, you must develop that same character in yourself now. You must learn to keep your word. Moses instructed the Israelites about this same matter: "This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded." Notice, it was not just Moses, but the Eternal who commanded: "If a man vow a vow unto the Eternal, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth" (Numbers 30:1-2). The same instruction is repeated in Ecclesiastes 5:4: "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed." Observe that it is the foolish who think they are getting by easily by not performing their vows. If you are going to be God, then it is time to learn to be faithful to whatever you have vowed. The hardships that might Sometimes result in being faithful to the marriage vow are not worthy to be compared to the lesson of faithfulness which develops in you the character of God (Rom. 8:18). No matter what the hardship or the temptation, "God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (I Cor. 10:13). This is God's promise. He won't break it! Will you rely on it if yours is the problem of divorce and remarriage that seems to difficult to bear?
Lesson Number Two
Second, marriages ending in divorce result from the fact that marriage vows are often taken without counsel and advice from those who are older and more experienced. "Foolishness," said Solomon, "is bound in the heart of a child" (Prov. 22:15) — but sad to say, most of that foolishness is not removed today because parents do not correct their children as they ought to. It is little wonder that when young people imagine they have fallen in love their foolish ideas often lead them into trouble. "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes," — young people too often think their infatuation is love — "but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise" (Prov. 12:15). How many times the proverb is repeated: "For lack of counsel the people perish." Think of the number of ruined lives, all because human beings have not learned to take advice and counsel from those who are experienced. God wants us to realize the terrible mistakes that can result from failure to take advice. If God would permit remarriage, human beings would never learn the lesson. They would go on making snap decisions, which would bring ever-increasing retribution. How much wiser is God's plan, that we learn the lesson once and for all, so we won't have to continue living a life filled with mistakes and heartaches. The small amount of suffering that a few parents would have to endure by not remarrying would not compare to this fundamental lesson which every child needs to learn. Let's understand divorce and remarriage clearly. God will never tolerate adultery because we would not learn these two fundamental lessons: Seek counsel and obtain all the facts possible before making a decision: then once the right decision is made never deviate nor change. How plain it is that divorce and remarriage cheat us out of the character of God which we must have to inherit the POWERS of God. Let's quit trying to use human reason To evade the laws of God because none who persist in living in adultery will ever enter the kingdom of God!
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