Marriage is GOD’S Holy Covenant! By Dan Spitz
(Note from Linda: Dan recently shared the following post on the private website and since it is such a powerful and important message for everyone standing for marriage restoration, I appreciate his permission to share it here as well. No matter what anyone else has to say about marriage, as Christians, the only thing we need to know is what Jesus said about it, and Matthew 19:3-6 makes it undeniably clear that Jesus considers marriage a life long covenant because it says 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?” “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. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” Once we understand that marriage is a HOLY Covenant in the eyes of God and that the responsibility of upholding His covenants is His; which He assures us that He will do in Malachi 2:10-16 and 1 Peter 3:7, then all we have to do is learn how to stand on the power and promise of His Word in faith and obedience; and God will do the rest! So be blessed and encouraged…GOD CAN AND WILL UPHOLD THE COVENANT OF YOUR MARRIAGE!!!)
Last week, I shared from the 39th day of The Love Dare concerning love never fails.
The 40th day is Love is a covenant. And it is the most powerful piece of writing I have read on the covenant of marriage. I know many of you have read the book or are reading it, but I want to share the message with those who don’t have access to it.
The authors base their beliefs in what the scriptures teach about covenants with God. And they remind us that the Bible contains several major covenants as part of the history of God’s people. They point out that God made a covenant with Noah, promising never to destroy all flesh with a worldwide flood (Genesis 9:12-17). He made a covenant with Abraham, promising that an entire nation of descendants would come from his family line (Genesis 17:1-8). He made a covenant with Moses, declaring that the people of Israel would be God’s permanent possession (Exodus 19:3-6). He made a covenant with David, promising that a ruler would sit on his throne forever (2 Samuel 7:7-16). And ultimately, He made a “new covenant” by the blood of Christ, establishing an unending and unchanging legacy of forgiven sins and eternal life for those who believe in Him (Hebrews 9:15). And they end with the powerful statement, “Never once has God broken any of these covenants.“
One of the points they make is that God was the one who initiated covenants with His people. And the marriage covenant, a covenant between a man and woman to establish a love that is unconditional and lasts a lifetime is the strongest covenant. We don’t keep the marriage covenant on our own strength; He alone fulfills the demands of His promises regardless of what His promise may be.
They go on to define the difference between a contract and a covenant, and link it to what God’s Word states. A contract is usually a written agreement based on distrust that outlines the conditions and consequences if the agreement is broken. It is self-serving and comes with limited liability. It establishes a time frame for certain deliverables to be met and accomplished. And it can be broken with mutual consent. Where as a covenant is a verbal commitment based on trust, assuring someone that your promise is unconditional and good for life. It is spoken before God out of love for one another. It is for the benefit of others and comes with unlimited responsibility. It has no expiration date. And it is “til death do us part” and intended to be unbreakable.
The most powerful message for me personally was in this next paragraph. Most of the sermons or messages about marriage and divorce end with a qualifier, adding justification the world has established for divorce, but the authors stick to the Word. They state, “If your spouse is not in a place of receiving your love right now, the act of covenant keeping can grow more daunting with each passing day. But marriage is not a contract with escape clauses and exception wordings. Marriage is a covenant intended to cut off all avenues of retreat or withdrawal. There is nothing in all the world that should sever what God has joined together. Love is too holy a treasure to trade in for another, and too powerful a bond to be broken without dire consequences. He alone is able to forgive the receivers of His covenant when they fail to uphold their part of the agreement. We can exercise our role as covenant keeper, no matter what may arise to challenge our faithfulness to it, because the Spirit of God is within us by virtue of our faith in Jesus Christ and the grace bestowed upon us in salvation.“
As we ponder what has been written, may we always remember that love never fails, we can’t do it on our own and God NEVER breaks a covenant. Blessings.