God designed marriage. Matthew 19.

Many of you may know what Matthew 19 is about.

It is an unfortunate consequence of fallen, sinful humanity. 

In the time of the Garden of Eden, divorce did not exist. It is a direct result of the fall of humanity.

God is perfect, and He is love and He did not design divorce. He didn’t design a man and woman to marry and not remain wed together forever. 

In Matthew 19:4 Jesus replies to the Pharisees’ testing question of whether or not divorce is lawful. “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.” 

However, we are currently witnessing and have been for the last hundred years or so, sky high divorce rates. I know that Jesus’ heart is probably very sad and grieved to see all of this…and so is mine.

Jesus is instructing us here in Matthew 19:4. He tells us what not to do. We, and no one for that matter, is to separate what God has joined together. 

However, it is not so simple unfortunately, as we know all too well in the world in which we live. 

If we read further in Jesus’ teaching, the Pharisees ask Jesus another question. Verse 7; “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

We know that we live in a fallen and sinful world, and so what Moses had done here was to protect, specifically women and children, who were suddenly abandoned by their husbands. He was essentially trying to preserve the integrity of the family and taking a first step towards civil rights, which exists all across the world today. By commanding a husband to write a formal letter stating his intent of divorce would hopefully make him think twice about doing it. 

Jesus, in a way, sidestepped the question of the Pharisees, and instead pointed them to what God created in the beginning. He tells them that instead of asking and looking for reasons to divorce, husbands and wives should concentrate on how to remain together. 

Our law today, specifically in South Africa, has developed a lot since Moses commanded a man to give his wife a certificate. The Divorce Act 70 of 1989 contains extreme detail on how to deal with every type of divorce scenario the courts may be presented with. A lot of time and effort has and continues to go into developing law which protects the victims of divorce, which most often are women and children. 

This, like Jesus said above, should never be where the focus is. The focus should be on remaining married and working through difficulties together, and putting God first in your marriage. If God brought two people together to become one flesh, then I promise you that you can turn to Him when things get tough, and He will help you. You and your spouse. 

God doesn’t want divorce. He never designed it. However, because we are sinful human beings, unfortunately divorce does happen, and the victims of divorce do need to be protected. 

Divorce is an absolute last resort. Jesus says that the only valid reason for a man divorcing his wife is sexual immorality. Other than that, it is adultery to divorce and be remarried. 

So, let us strive for harmony within our marriages. Let us keep putting God first within our marriages, when things are smooth sailing…and when things are on the rocks. 

I am going to close with Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” 

God designed marriage, and so we should not be conformed to the world’s idea of marriage or divorce. 

Stay strong in fighting the good fight!

C xxx