In the beginning
“And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ ” Matthew 19:4
This is a passage that looks like Jesus is talking to the Pharisees about divorce. They, of course, 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. Then after further questioning He went on to say 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 the punishment for sin. In accepting Jesus’ sacrifice, God’s intention for man is brought back to the original plan of Kingdom living. This doesn’t mean that we never sin again, it simply means that God took care of the payment that was required for sin!
In times past, the leaders of the church community have made it seem like divorce is a sin that cannot be forgiven or at minimum, a divorced person cannot be an active member in the body of believers. Yet, even in the law, God made provision for divorce, how much more of a deliverance is available for those who are in Christ Jesus. Today, we live in a society that is rampant with divorce and although we know this is not God’s best and 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 we give all 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 that 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: Matthew 19:1-12
1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.
2 And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.
3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”
4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’
5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”
8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”
10 His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”
11 But He said to them, “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given:
12 For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”
The Daily Dose 