God Cannot Bear Unfaithfulness
May 31, 2019
Commentary
The following is the outline of a message for this passage of Scripture I read from Brian Bill:
1. Keep faith with others: Don’t allow your relationships to rupture (v. 10).
2. Keep faith with God: Don’t unite with an unbeliever (vv. 11-12).
3. Keep faith with your spouse: Don’t get divorced (vv. 13-16).
These people were being unfaithful. Though not openly saying they rejected God, they were living as if He did not exist (v. 10). Malachi is scolding the men for divorcing their Jewish wives and marrying heathen women. These heathen women worshiped false gods (v. 11). Such marriages had been forbidden because they would lead the people into idolatry. He gives the consequence of a Jew who has committed this sin. He would be “cut off from the tents of Jacob” (v. 12). This meant that he would either die or that his line would cease, and he would have no descendants in Israel (v. 15).
One of the great problems plaguing our nation is the problem of divorce and broken homes. Back in 1900 one in twelve marriages ended in divorce. By 1922 it was one in eight and at the present time it is one in two. What Malachi spoke so many years ago certainly is needed in the day in which we live. What we call divorce God referred to as “putting away” (v.16). Malachi used strong language to emphasize God’s viewpoint on divorce. God said, “I hate divorce“. If God despises something, certainly it shouldn’t be done. However, if He hates divorce, He still loves divorcees.
Application
What the average American couple needs is not a change of partners but a change in the partners. It has been my job to train our children that it is one partner for life. This must be done by example as well as by teaching. That is why I have taught my children to have written dating standards.
Malachi 2:10– 17 (NET)
10 Do we not all have one father? Did not one God create us? Why do we betray one another, thus making light of the covenant of our ancestors? 11 Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the holy things that the Lord loves and has turned to a foreign god! 12 May the Lord cut off from the community of Jacob every last person who does this, as well as the person who presents improper offerings to the Lord of Heavenâs Armies!
13 You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you. 14 Yet you ask, âWhy?â The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. 15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth. 16 âI hate divorce,â says the Lord God of Israel, âand the one who is guilty of violence,â says the Lord of Heavenâs Armies. âPay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful.â
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, âHow have we wearied him?â Because you say, âEveryone who does evil is good in the Lordâs opinion, and he delights in them,â or, âWhere is the God of justice?â
Illustration: Young Man Proposing to His Girl Friend
I once heard of a young man who was proposing to his girlfriend. He had the ring in his hand and said: ââŹĹSweetheart, I love you so much, I want you to marry me. I don’t have a car like Johnny Green. I don’t have a yacht like him or a house as big as his. I don’t have the money of Johnny Green but I love you with all my heart.” She looked into his eyes and said, ââŹĹI love you too, sweetheart…but could you tell me more about Johnny Green?” (Lou Nicholes – Missionary/Author).