The Day of New Beginnings
I Hate Divorce Says the Lord
Mal. 2:14-16
14 You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
15 Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
16 "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith (NIV).
The emphasis of this Word is in the spiritual realm. It is a realm that deals with Christ and His body, not natural divorce.
1st Cor. 12:12-14:
2* ¶ For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13* For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14* For the body is not one member, but many.
Rom.12:4-5:
4* For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,
5* so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Eph. 4:24-25
24* and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
25* Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
These three passages of Scripture indicate a great truth. Christ is a many membered body with Jesus as the head. Eph.1:2-23 states that His body is the fullness of Him who fills all and all. We are members of Christ. “I hate divorce says the Lord.” There are not many things in the Word that God actually says He hates. But divorce is one of them. Now, here’s the spiritual application: On a spirit plane we are married to the Lord. The Lord is in His body. In Eph. 5, which we will get to soon, Paul alludes to the fact that physical marriage is only a type of Christ married to His church. If Christ is manifested in His body, then spiritually speaking, we are married to one another as well. There is no distinction between Christ and His body.
Mat. 19:4:6
4* And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from 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 be one flesh'?
6* "So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.
What God has joined together, let no man separate. What is divorce but the separation of that which has been joined together? When we draw back from our brother or sister, when we judge, criticize, accuse, etc., we are manifesting divorce. Anything that causes us to put up walls to one another is counted as divorce on a spirit plane. And God hates divorce!
I believe divorce in this context is the greatest sin we can commit at the present time. Divorce separates us from our brother or sister. Thus, divorce separates us from the Lord. In the spiritual realm this is a great reality. Paul makes reference to Jesus’ statement in Eph. 5:31-32.
31*For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
32* This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
Christ and the church is not only one spirit in the Lord but one flesh! This is Paul’s revelation! The Lord has married His church and manifests Himself in their flesh. I don’t mean flesh nature, but physical flesh. This is the hour in which Christ is being revealed in flesh. The flesh of His body (2nd Thess. 1:9-10). When we have a problem with a brother or sister, or think they have a problem with us, and we draw back in some way as a result, it is divorce. We are divorcing ourselves from Christ.
This is the battle line at the present time. Just as in other generations the battle line was tongues, or the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or prophecy, etc., the battle line today is Christ united and manifested in His body. This is where the current reproach lies. This is the plumb line by which many will stand or fall. This is the basis on which the sifting of the Lord’s people will yet come. In Mal. 2:15 we previously read:
15 Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth (NIV).
He has made us one that he might bring forth godly offspring! The true sons of the kingdom will be manifested out of this oneness between Christ and His body. This is why He hates divorce! Only in oneness will the Lord be manifested in His sons. This is why Satan rages against the true oneness of the body. This is also how the true spirit of antichrist operates. It seeks to create division, divorce, to separate us from our oneness with Jesus Christ. The apostle John identifies the spirit of antichrist with those who refuse to acknowledge Christ as coming in the flesh (1st John 4:2-4). Notice verse four: …Greater is He that is in you than He who is in world.
It’s important to note that our oneness is based on the divine order of the body of Christ. It’s not a hierarchy or pecking order, but humble vessels given as channels for the free flow of Christ’s life through us.