In the beginning
But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ Mark 10:6
This is a passage that looks like Jesus is talking to the Pharisees about divorce. They were trying to trap Him again with their questions, but I believe Jesus is talking about something deeper. He is talking about God’s original intent for mankind. He said, “in the beginning they were made one flesh, male and female. (See Gen. 1:27, 2:23) God made Adam and Eve, man and wife. Everyone after that was to leave (separate from) mother and father to become man and wife. He started by saying that Moses permitted divorce because of hardened hearts or rebellion against God’s original intent for mankind. The deeper meaning in this passage is that because of sin, God gave the law to Moses for people to have a standard of what was right and wrong. The high priest was to make sacrifices for the people’s sin, and it was a provision offered for sin until the time Jesus’ blood was offered up for forgiveness and eradication of all sin. God’s plan for creation never changed. Even though sin entered into it, God’s will was the same as it was in the beginning. In accepting Jesus’ sacrifice, people are brought back to the place of God’s original plan of Kingdom living. This doesn’t mean that we never sin again, it simply means that God made provision for us to live in a relationship with Him and to walk out His best plan for our lives in Jesus!
In times past, the Christian church has made it seem like divorce is a sin that cannot be forgiven or at minimum, a divorced person cannot join in the church body of believers. Yet, even in the law, God made provision for divorce, how much more of a deliverance is available for those who now are in Christ Jesus. Today, we live in a society that is rampant with divorce and although we know this is not God’s original plan for us, we also know that in Christ Jesus, there is life beyond it.
Today I want to encourage you to love those who have suffered the pain and heartache of divorce and broken families. Help them to pick up the pieces by showing them the life that is possible when given to Christ Jesus. There is a way to get back to God’s original plan for us and that is by receiving the provision He made in Jesus and walking close to Him each day. Don’t settle for any life less than what God originally planned for you to live, walk in all His goodness and power that He planned for you since the beginning of time.
Today’s scripture reading: Mark 10:1-12
1 Then He arose from there and came to the region of Judea by the other side of the Jordan. And multitudes gathered to Him again, and as He was accustomed, He taught them again.
2 The Pharisees came and asked Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” testing Him.
3 And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?”
4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.”
5 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.
6 But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’
7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,
8 and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.
9 Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
10 In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter.
11 So He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.
12 And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
The Daily Dose 