30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 16 18 The covenantal relationship of marriage 04 Knowing the Lord
📖 Luke 16:18
21Apr2020 - *Knowing the Lord*_ - _Luke 16:18_ - Bible reading: _Hosea 2:19-20_
Luke 16:18 “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery._
Considering this verse, we have launched into understanding the covenant relationship of marriage.
Let us reflect on _Hosea 2:19-20_ as another expression of God’s covenantal love with His bride, the people of God. _"I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; (20) I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD._
We have been contemplating on the covenantal relationship that God has with His people and we have been seeking to apply the same ways into the way we live out our husband-wife relationship.
_ I will betroth you to Me forever_ Marriage is seen as a life long relationship. In _Romans 7:2-3_ we read, _For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. (3) So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man._
From God’s perspective, marriage is an eternal relationship with the church. This same understanding needs to be reflected in the way we consider marriage here on earth. It is not a relationship that we can come into, lightly or frivolously but cautiously and seriously. We see how far we have moved away from God’s standpoint on marriage. We see that one of God’s institution, which the devil has attacked relentlessly, is marriage. Though marriage looks quite bedraggled today, people still consider marriage as a significant institution.
_...Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice,_ God reveals to the church, righteousness and justice. These are features that the husband brings into the home. This is why the husband is the leader in the marriage and family. Not in a positional sense but the one who brings in the ways of God into family choices and decisions. This is yet another area, where we are far removed for God’s expectations. Few husbands are bringing in the application of God’s word into family life but the majority are not. When husbands fail to bring in the plumb line of God’s word to build the home, the family falls. When families fall, the church too is not obeying God’s word, though God continues to reach His people.
_...In lovingkindness and mercy;…_ God is also, simultaneously, loving, kind and merciful. This is the balance that the husband brings into the home. On the one side to bring in righteousness and justice and on the other to be loving, kind and merciful, for this is the nature of God. How much it becomes necessary for families to seek God for these vital characteristics to be demonstrated.
_...I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness…_ God is faithful and the husband has to show faithfulness, especially in sexual life, to his wife and the wife must reciprocate the same faithfulness to her husband. When faithfulness is experienced in marriage, the church understands being faithful to God, her Husband.
_...And you shall know the LORD._ The church will know the Lord or come into a deep intimate relationship with Him.
*Thought to ponder*
```God has structured the matter of knowing Him through the experience of husband-wife knowing each other.```