DEUTERONOMY 24 GODS VIEW OF MARRIAGE DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE2021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Deuteronomy 24 Gods View Of Marriage Divorce And Remarriage

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2021. Well, here as we consider Deuteronomy chapter 24 this evening, I've titled the message, God's View of Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage.

God's view of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Now, as I was studying this chapter and meditating on what the Lord might want to say, of course, usually I endeavor to cover the chapter that we read that day, but sometimes the Lord kind of highlights a certain part, and so there'll be a different emphasis, perhaps, you know, or a selection of verses. And here today, the Lord really highlights

focused my mind and my heart on these first four verses. But it's kind of a little bit of a strange passage to focus on and definitely a challenging subject to try to cover and to address in a time of gathering like this.

It's a challenging subject because, for one reason, sin makes things messy and complicated. And in our society, the subject of marriage and divorce and remarriage is intensely and insanely complicated because of all of the predicaments and scenarios that we see take place and that we see happen and that sometimes we find ourselves in.

And as we think about this this evening, again, I want to encourage you to be looking at these things and try to have a fresh perspective and really allow the Lord to speak to you about these things. I think this is one of those passages that is, we take God at his word. And we may not feel super awesome by reading through this passage right in this moment, but

But God here is laying foundations for us about his truths that will help us to understand his perspective, his heart for years and years to come. And as we face difficult situations or as people around us face difficult situations, God will use these truths to help us navigate those difficulties, those situations, and work through the things that were going on.

Last week we looked at in Deuteronomy chapter 17, there was the judges that were to be established within the land. They were, you know, judges appointed over these small towns. And so, you know, you're a small town judge dealing with different situations. And sometimes there would be an occasion, a case that was too difficult for you to figure out and to understand.

And so God said, okay, small town judge, you can take this case to the higher courts. And the court there at Jerusalem would be able to help you determine the mind of God and settle the matter there. And so it was a support system for those judges. I think in a similar way, as we think about the subject of marriage and divorce and remarriage, there is great complexity there that sometimes develops.

And sometimes we need some help as we're working through situations. And so God provides some instruction here in his word. But then also God provides us spiritual leaders and others who can help us to kind of think through and understand the matter in what God has to say about it. One of the things that happens with complicated subjects is that we often think,

kind of a shortcut way to address or to summarize the subject. And so sometimes complicated subjects become reduced down in ways that are easy for remembering, easy for repeating or remembering and addressing. But also whenever you're summarizing in that way, something complex and summarizing it to something simple,

The summaries that we give are not always accurate in every situation, in every case. And many times for us as Christians, I would suggest that traditions develop in our minds and there are things that we repeat and teach others without really understanding the full depth

of the subject and understanding the different elements and the fact that there might be some nuance, there might be some differentiation that needs to be made and distinctions that need to take place within the subject. And so I know I'm spending a lot of time, you know, setting up to talk about the passage, but this is one of those passages. It's one of those subjects. I'll seek to cover some cases and give some examples, but

But there's just no possible way to cover every possible scenario. And so what we're looking at here is some really strong principles of truth to help us navigate. But it's not necessarily, you know, meant to be this is the one answer for all situations, no matter what is going on. There's going to be more difficult cases.

in the lives that we live, in the lives of people around us, there's going to be situations that are more complex than some of the things that we'll see here, even though some of this will be a little bit complex as we look at the different examples found in the scriptures.

And so God's view of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Four points for us to consider. Four points for us to help understand the principles that God has established in this regard. The first point to consider found here in verse 1 is that marriage is a social institution created by God. Marriage is a social institution created by God. Look at verse 1 again. It says...

And he's going to go on with further instruction. But pausing there for a moment here in verse 1 to consider, first of all,

As we talk about marriage, we need to understand that marriage is created by God. And I don't think that's something that is shocking to us, right? We understand that God created marriage, that he is the one who established it. Of course, we go back to Genesis chapter 2.

where God created woman. He took the rib out of man, a portion out of his side. He fashioned woman from that and brought her to Adam. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.

But then God comes to a conclusion and delivers a conclusion there in verse 24. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh.

And so there in the beginning, we find the first husband and wife, how God created them. God formed Adam out of the dust. He formed Eve out of that piece, that portion of Adam's side. He brought them together. And that was the occasion, that was the situation or circumstance by which the first marriage took place. And now applying that to future marriages, God says, verse 24, therefore, so now this

This is the first marriage. This is how it happened, right? Everything after that, all marriages after that are going to be different. They're going to come about differently, right? We're not formed out of the dust of the earth anymore. We're born into this world. It's a little bit different. So the circumstances leading up to it are different, but the principle that took place and what happened as a result, God says, this now applies to all marriages, right?

This is how marriage is to be a man, shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. And they are to be joined together just as Adam and Eve were joined together. They are to be one flesh, just as Adam and Eve are one flesh because she was taken away

of his side. She was formed out of that portion of his side. And so there was a one flesh part of them that was very distinct and important. And in a similar way, God says in regards to all future marriages, there is going to be this oneness

There is going to be this unity and there needs to be a separation from other family to be this cleaving, this joining together, this fusion between a man and his wife. And so God created marriage. He applied it this way. He said, this is how the first one happened. This is how future marriages will be as well. I think that's not shocking to us, not surprising to us. But another aspect of this point is,

is the idea of a social institution. And I think this is one of those areas where we as believers, we need to maybe allow the Lord to help us rethink some things that we might just say as just a matter of habits without too much thought in it. We need to understand that marriage is a social institution. It's created by God, but it was also designed by God to be a part of society.

One of the things that we sometimes say is married in God's eyes. And there is sometimes this idea, this concept of two people being married in God's eyes or not being married in God's eyes. As if there's like a distinction from God's eyes in marriage and society and marriage.

But I would suggest to you as we look at this passage, as we consider what the scriptures have to say, that there's not that kind of distinction. There's no such thing as married in God's eyes as opposed to or different than married in society.

A good example of this to consider is found in John chapter 4. You remember when Jesus was talking to the woman at the well and she'd had several husbands and Jesus is ministering to her, leading her through a discussion to bring her to the knowledge of him. He says, why don't you go get your husband and bring him back? And she says in verse 17 of John 4, I have no husband. And Jesus said to her, you have well said, I have no husband.

For you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband. In that you spoke truly. Here in addressing this woman and being involved in this discussion, Jesus makes a distinction. He helps us to understand she's living with this guy. She's had five husbands. She's been married five times.

She's now with this other guy. She's living with this guy. She has this guy, Jesus says, but they're not married. It's not her husband. Jesus said, you spoke truly. And so we can understand that the idea of like living together doesn't equal marriage. That's not the same thing as marriage. Marriage is a legal status. You could think about it in that term. It's a social institution. It's a legal status, right?

To be married is to partake in a legal ceremony that involves the standards of society to establish this relationship between two people. I think another way this is demonstrated here in this passage, here in verse 1, God makes reference to writing a certificate of divorce. Again, this is...

talking about legal things. It's a legal matter to write a certificate of divorce. Although marriage is created by God, it has this social or society component. Think about it this way. What's the purpose of the certificate in the divorce? Does God need a certificate? Does God need, you know, someone to show proof? Like, all right, God, look, see, I have a certificate in

So this is a real divorce. Who's the certificate for? It's not for God. It's for people, right? And so in this, although God is not saying, you know, I want you to create a certificate of divorce. He's acknowledging this is the practice. This is the reality that there is this certificate. It's a legal matter. It's a social matter that the certificate is for the people around, right?

Marriage is a social institution that's created by God. And so married is a legal status. Divorced is a legal status. It's different than other aspects of our life. Dating is not a legal status.

right? Christian is not a legal status. It's different than other aspects of our life. Married and divorced, they're part of the infrastructure of society that God has established. Now, that's not to say that everything that the society accepts, then God accepts it. And however, you know, society tries to redefine things, that means that God allows or accepts that definition.

You know, in a similar way, God instituted government, and that's clearly, you know, declared and taught throughout the scriptures. But, of course, there are governments that have gone bad, and governors who have disregarded God and fought against God. It doesn't mean that God approves of all governments. But at the same time, as true as that is, that governments have gone bad, that doesn't keep them from being a part of the social system.

infrastructure that God has established. And so marriage is part of that as well. And government might have an opinion on marriage and government, you know, might redefine marriage in different ways, have different views and different perspectives, but that doesn't remove the social aspect of marriage in the way that God has created it. It's interesting about marriage that it's a relationship that is universal.

All societies, all cultures worldwide have and understand the concept of marriage. It's part of what God has created in us, in our relationships with one another. And so marriage is a social institution created by God. So Bob and Jill move in together. They live together for 10 years, have four kids, buy a house. Are they married in God's eyes? No. No.

It's not the same thing. They haven't gone through the legal status change. They haven't made the vows to one another. It is created by God, but it doesn't just mean, hey, we kind of have our own private thing and it's not part of what society is in regards to marriage. No, it's required. It's a social institution created by God. All right, well, moving on to

Point number two as we consider marriage, divorce, and remarriage tonight. Still in verse one, point number two is God permits divorce because of hard hearts. Reading verse one again to keep us grounded in the text. When a man takes a wife and marries her,

And it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her. And he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house. Again, there's more instruction or more explanation that's going to follow. But camping out still here in verse 1.

God is describing this situation. And as you look at this, it's important to understand and recognize God is describing a situation, a context of something that happens in their society, something that's happening in their lives, not necessarily something

saying whether or not he's leading in this or declaring this to help them to, you know, take these steps. He's just describing the situations that they see happening around them. And so here's a couple. They've been married. The man, he's taken a wife. He's married her. But then something happens. She finds no favor in his eyes. There is some uncleanness that's found in her.

Now throughout our reading through this verse, feel free to flip the genders if that helps you to think about this. It's not trying to necessarily be specific about the genders. And so the idea here is that there is this couple in their society, of course, it was strongly favored towards the male, but that wasn't because there's this favoritism that God has. It's just God addressing them in their culture and their society and what they understood and

And so now there is this problem. There's this uncleanness found in the spouse. There's some issue between them. And as he describes the scenario then, well, what the person does is writes out a certificate of divorce. They go through the legal process. They take the necessary steps and they file for divorce. The papers are put in the spouse's hand and the separation follows.

He sends her out of his house. As here, God is describing this situation, this event that takes place, this event that they're all familiar with of a divorce taking place. Before we get into the details, just the very point here is that God permits divorce because of hard hearts. Just that first part, God permits divorce.

There are some people who will have a hard time with just that part of that point. Just saying it that way, that God permits divorce, they would challenge me on that and say, Jerry, you should never even say that God permits divorce. Divorce is not an option. It's, you know, not something that should be framed that way. It shouldn't be phrased that way or spoken that way. And to be clear, I'm not trying to take a soft position on divorce tonight.

But at the same time, I do want to challenge us where we have taken a harder stance on divorce than God does. And sometimes that happens. Where our perspective on things, we can become legalistic about a matter, we can become self-righteous and condemning about a matter in a way that God isn't. And so we need to be careful that we don't

go beyond. We need to be careful that we don't allow the norms of society to water down our perspective of what God says, but we also need to make sure that we don't take what God has said and then take it beyond what he has said or intended in his word. And so God permits divorce.

We need to understand that it is not an unpardonable sin. Sometimes divorce is related to or dealt with or addressed as if it's an issue that is, well, you can never again have any kind of favor or status or position or role or various things that have come up over the years. It's not an unpardonable sin in that way. Now, of course, maybe your mind is thinking, but God hates divorce.

Malachi chapter 2 verse 16. God hates divorce because of the violence that it brings and the damage that it causes there in Malachi chapter 2. You can read through that and understand some of those things. In fact, let me just throw this on the screen here real quick.

Here's some of the primary passages that speak about divorce in the scriptures. And if this is something that you need to wrestle with a bit more, I would encourage you to take a look at those. Deuteronomy chapter 24, where we're at tonight, is the first one to consider. It's the first major passage. Divorce is mentioned a couple times before this in the Bible, but this is the first where there's a couple verses together really addressing the situation.

And then Malachi chapter 2, of course, the prophet addresses divorce and talks about the treachery of dealing with your spouse in a way that dishonors the vows that you made and the promises that were made.

Then Jesus addresses the issue of divorce in Matthew chapter 5 and Matthew chapter 19. We'll get a glimpse of those passages tonight as well. And then 1 Corinthians chapter 7, Paul gives a little bit further light in some different aspects of divorce as well. And so we'll get a glimpse of those things. But again, these are things to consider as you wrestle with these subjects. But God hates divorce. That's a

Common verse, and everybody, not necessarily everybody, literally, right? But as believers, we know that. We quote that verse, God hates divorce. And sometimes we take it, again, I would suggest, too far. Not all the time, but sometimes we do. I would say it this way. Do you remember what else God hates? Proverbs 6, verses 16 through 19 says,

These six things the Lord hates. Same word hate as found in Malachi chapter 2. God hates divorce. Yeah, here's a few other things that God hates. Here's seven things that are an abomination to him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.

Sometimes we overemphasize certain sins and we kind of score them higher or lower and we think, well, murder, that's pretty bad.

shedding innocent blood, that's pretty bad, right? But God puts shedding innocent blood there in verse 17 in the same verse as a proud look. God hates a proud look as well as murder. And how often do you have pride in your heart, a proud look upon your countenance, a lying tongue. God hates a lying tongue, right? And so sometimes we can be like, God hates divorce and very strong and firm on that as if

That is, you know, much worse than or more unpardonable than all these other things that God hates. Now, of course, different kinds of sin cause different kinds of damage. And so there is those kinds of considerations. But I'm just suggesting that we need to remember divorce is not the only thing that God hates. And there's a lot that God hates.

And you know what? We recover from all of those things that we do that God hates because of the grace of God and the mercy of God in our lives and the work of God and the leading of his Holy Spirit is able to work even though we have been involved in or done those things that God hates.

We are able to be reconciled and to move forward and have a life full of blessing and goodness that flows from the mercy and the grace of God. That's the point I just want to continue to encourage you to consider this evening. God permits divorce. He hates it. It's destructive. It's terrible. But it's not the end of the world also. It's not the unpardonable sin. It's not the end of God's work in a person's life. God can work from there to still accomplish his purposes.

Now, part of this passage and part of understanding this passage is understanding that God here is describing situations that were happening in their society. Regardless of what God says about divorce or what God would say in these specific circumstances, this is how people are behaving.

They're getting married. They're finding some uncleanness or some reason to disagree. They're writing certificates of divorce. They're separating. This is the situation that God is addressing. And then going on to address the remarriage and then a possible marriage after the remarriage. Like God's kind of addressing all of that here in these four verses. But here he roots it to this issue in verse one because he found some uncleanness in her. And of course this

phrase here, this finding of some uncleanness, has caused for much discussion and debate for the past several thousand years that the Jewish scholars wrestled with and argued over and debated about what qualifies as uncleanness. There was primarily two schools of thought in Jesus's day. The teachings of Hillel, the

Hillel took a very loose and casual view of the idea of uncleanness and basically said, anything, anything you don't like. You find anything you don't like in your spouse, write a certificate of divorce, you can be out of that marriage, lickety split. Is that a phrase anybody uses anymore? Lickety split, you can be out of that marriage. That was the view of Hillel. They said, basically, anything, any uncleanness, anything.

You don't like their family, you don't like their, you know, their cooking, you don't like whatever you might come up with. Shammai, the other kind of central figure in this debate, had a strict view and suggested that uncleanness was only sexual immorality. That unless there was some kind of immorality, well, then...

there was no valid reason to write out a certificate of divorce. You could not have a divorce unless that could be established. And so the religious leaders were familiar with this subject. They debated and wrestled with and

favored the more loose and liberal view because it allowed them to marry and divorce as much as they wanted. But they brought this to Jesus, it tells us in Matthew chapter 19, as a trap. And if you would keep your thumb in Deuteronomy 24, we'll be back there. But turn to Matthew 19 for a moment.

And let's consider this situation because the religious leaders come in verse 3 of Matthew 19. It says they're coming to test him. They're trying to trap him in his words. And they say, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason? Following the teachings of Hillel, do you have a loose view of uncleanness, Jesus? Or what's your perspective on that?

In Matthew chapter 19, verse 4, Jesus responds. It says,

Here, God takes them back to the beginning. Jesus takes them back to the beginning. God created marriage. Genesis chapter 2, he takes them back to that passage we just reviewed a few moments ago and said, look, this was God's design. This is God's original intent. God didn't design marriage to be something that was temporary. And until, you know, we say in our marriage vows till death do us part, that is God's design, right?

God's design is not, you know, till burnt eggs do us part or bad relatives do us part or bad arguments or irreconcilable differences or, you know, difficulties or health issues or, you know, all of these things that we might use today as valid reasons to end a marriage. Jesus says that's not God's design. The two shall become one flesh.

God has joined them together, and so he says, don't let man separate them. God has designed marriage to be a permanent status, a permanent situation in this life. So the religious leaders come back in verse 7 and 8 with a question about Deuteronomy chapter 24. It says, they said to him, why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and to put her away?

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. Here Jesus reiterates this. It's God's design. Moses permitted divorce. There is this part of the law here in Deuteronomy chapter 24 that gives an allowance for divorce because, Jesus says, of the hardness of your hearts.

It's not God's design. It's not the best. But because of the reality of sin, because of the reality of the issues of hard hearts, there was an allowance. There was a permitting of this course, of this decision to divorce. Now from their view in verse 7, you could see them clearly, right? Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce? And there were those in Jesus' day who would teach, it's your duty to

to divorce if there is, you know, uncleanness found. Like, it's your responsibility if you really honor God and love God. It's, you know, an important thing for you to do to end that relationship and give a certificate of divorce and put the spouse away. That was their perspective, but that was not God's perspective. It's, like I mentioned, God's

a tradition that had developed, and we can develop similar traditions in our own minds, where we kind of come to a conclusion, we have this thing in our mind, but it's not actually what God says. They thought of it as a command, and Jesus says, no, this is dealing with a permission. God allowed it, but he's not saying it's the best thing. He's not saying it is the right course. He's not advising this course. He just gave some parameters to allow for this to unfold.

It's permitted, but it's not God's design. A dumb analogy, silly illustration. I'm allowed, it's not illegal for me to use a screwdriver as a hammer, but it's never going to work as well as a hammer would, right? It's always going to fall short. It's never, I'm going to hurt myself. I'm going to cause problems. It's going to be way more work. It's going to be much more difficult.

When we try to deviate from God's design, it's not to our advantage. We see it at the moment. It's like, oh, this would be so much easier. And there's a lot of times where people have thought, if I could just get out of this marriage, my life would be so much better. And so they're trying to come up with some uncleanness, trying to come up with something that will allow them to have that reason, have that excuse. But it's not God's design. Right?

And maybe that is a course that needs to be taken. Maybe that is a course that God would suggest or allow or lead. But it's a permissions thing. It's not a command thing. And it's not the design that God had in mind when he created marriage. He goes on in verse 9 to say, 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.

Jesus says, look, this is meant to be so permanent that any relationships after the marriage involves adultery. Now, the disciples were so shocked by this. In the next few verses, they go on to say, if that's the case, then we should never get married. I mean, if it's that permanent, then we should never get married. And so young people here, some things for you to consider.

Jesus doesn't rebuke the disciples and say, oh, don't be silly. He says, no, you're right. Yeah, it is a permanent thing. It is a big decision. This is something to take to heart because God's design, God's intention when marriage takes place is for that to be the permanent, continual, ongoing relationship between them. But because of the hardness of hearts, sometimes there will be a divorce.

Now the next question to ask in this is, whose heart is hard? The hardness of heart, who is that referring to? Jesus says sexual immorality is the reason for divorce. It's a valid reason for divorce. And so you could think about the sinner's heart in that situation. Their hardness of heart causing them to be unfaithful in the marriage, perhaps is the hardness of heart itself.

that Jesus refers to that says, okay, divorce is appropriate. It's allowed. It's permitted in this situation. It's also perhaps referring to the hardness of heart of the victim, the one who was cheated on. And it's a little bit tough for us to wrestle with these things. But the idea is, hey, your spouse cheated on you. That doesn't mean that you must divorce.

Perhaps there's the opportunity to reconcile. Perhaps there's the opportunity to resolve the issue and to move forward stronger in your marriage. But not everybody can do that. And forgiving that kind of unfaithfulness and betrayal can be really challenging. And so perhaps Jesus is talking about the hardness of heart and

the one who is cheated on. That it's so hard to work through that and to have a godly perspective and to have God's heart on that situation that divorce is allowed. And there's room for discussion about these things that neither, you know, one of them is for sure the exact same

way that God intended it, the Lord intended it in this. So there's room for us. Again, this is the nuance that I'm talking about now, the room for us to discuss and work through and deal with things that are happening in real life situations. I think there's another hard heart that could be considered, and it's important to factor into this discussion, and that is an unbeliever's hard heart.

This jumps us down to 1 Corinthians 7, where Paul addresses a situation of a believer married to an unbeliever. In verse 15 of 1 Corinthians 7, Paul says, In this situation, a believer married to an unbeliever, if the unbeliever departs, let him depart. A brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? How do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

Here the instruction is, hey, you're involved in a marriage now that you are a believer, your husband, your wife is not a believer. The verses leading up to this, Paul says, do your best endeavor to stay in that marriage, to stay in that relationship. But at the same time, if the unbeliever, their heart is hard, they don't want to be with a Christian, then you can let them go. And it's permissible to

God allows for divorce in that situation. When he's talking about departing here, he's referencing divorce. And you're probably going to challenge me on that. And that's okay. Go back to 1 Corinthians 7, read the context. And I would encourage you to understand there, when Paul's talking about letting them depart, it's go ahead, grant them the divorce, let them separate. You're called to peace. You don't have to fight against that. Try to stay in the marriage if you can. But if they want to depart,

Let them depart. So God permits divorce because of hard hearts. Hard heart of the sinning party, which usually there's at least two in a marriage relationship, sinning parties, right? Hard heart of the victim, perhaps, and the inability to overcome and forgive. That's not necessarily a deficiency on the victim's part, but just an inability to forgive.

go forward and handle that situation in a way that the Lord would or honors the Lord. It's just too difficult, too challenging, and we are frail and human. These things are difficult things, but again, God permits divorce because of hard hearts. There are situations, there are scenarios where

God says, okay. And sometimes people make a big deal of whether or not a believer initiates the divorce or not. I would say, you know, kind of throw out those wrestling so much. Not that we should be, you know, free and loose with the idea of marriage and divorce, but whether a person initiates it or not is not really the issue. If divorce is valid and allowed, then the initiation of it is not really the core issue to be hung up on.

Joseph was wrestling with these kinds of things when he found out that Mary was pregnant. In Matthew chapter 1, remember? It's uncovered that she's pregnant. Now, they were betrothed. They weren't actually married yet. But for their culture...

The engagement, the betrothal period, required a divorce to get out of it. So it was like marriage phase one kind of thing. They were married in a legal sense, even if it wasn't fully ratified yet. And the marriage ceremony would happen later. But it was during that time, that betrothal period, and he was thinking, oh, maybe I need to put Mary away quietly and divorce her.

so that she's not publicly shamed or dealt with in that way, but

But yeah, maybe I need to end this relationship. Maybe I need to. There's a hard heart and it's probably mine or maybe it's hers because she cheated on me, Joseph is thinking. And of course, the Lord showed up and explained the situation and said, no, no, no. This is the work of God. She didn't cheat on you and you should continue on your plans to marry her. But he had to wrestle through these things is the point. And there are going to be situations perhaps in our life

perhaps in the lives of people around us, and we need to understand there are occasions, there are situations where God permits it, where God allows it, where it is acceptable, and sometimes even the right thing to do. Not that we would necessarily advise it or encourage it or lead in that direction, but at the same time, as much as God hates divorce, sometimes it's the right thing to do. You could even think about it, you know, sometimes battle is...

damaging and destructive, but sometimes it's the right thing to do. Sometimes the hard thing, the thing that is going to be very challenging is the right thing to do. Well, continuing on now in the passage, verse 2, back in Deuteronomy chapter 24, here's point number 3. God allows a divorced person to remarry.

Again, this is one of those things that throughout the history of the church has been a lot of discussion and contention and debate over this, whether or not someone who's been divorced can be remarried. But here, verse 2 is what it says. When she has departed from his house and goes and becomes another man's wife. So the situation in verse 1, man and wife get married. Man finds something unpleasing in the wife, writes her a certificate of divorce, sends her out. She leaves his house unmarried.

and goes and becomes another man's wife. She goes and gets married again. Now, God does not put in a bunch of qualifiers here. He doesn't say when she has departed from his house and goes and supposedly becomes another man's wife. No, he recognizes she gets married again. It's a real marriage.

Now, if the situation was that it was her sin that caused for this divorce, this separation, there are some who would say she's not allowed to get married. Even if she does get married, again, she's not married in God's eyes because, you know, she violated the previous marriage. And so she's not allowed to get married. And so there are some who kind of take that position. But God says, okay, look, she departs. Whatever the situation was, whatever the issue was, that's not really being dealt with here.

But she gets married again. She's that man's wife. She is married again. It is a real marriage. It's not a fake marriage. And so even if she was the guilty party, even if it was her issue or her fault that caused this separation...

God addresses that second marriage as a real marriage. It's not a fake marriage. It's not a lesser marriage, a marriage of a lesser degree or some lower categorization of marriage. It's just a marriage. He allows for that. He permits that. Now, at this point, God could have said...

Verse 2 could have read differently, right? When she departs from his house and another man proposes to her, she must say no, she is not allowed to get married ever again. God could have now given some instruction like that, but God doesn't. He just, again, acknowledges this is the reality that she leaves that marriage. Now they are unmarried. Their legal status has changed from married to unmarried. And now...

She is married again. Her legal status has changed from unmarried to married. And that's okay. Again, that's permitted. God allows a divorced person to remarry. Whether or not the reason for the divorce was legitimate, whether or not God would have said, yes, that's allowed, that's the right thing to do, that's not really brought into the equation here. It's just that she is now married once again. And so Bob and Jill get married. Bob breaks up with Jill, sends her out, writes her a divorce.

Jill finds Jack, gets married to Jack. I'm trying to make up names, not naming anybody in here. If I did accidentally, I apologize. That's a real marriage between Jack and Jill. And they can go up the hill and fetch a pail of water, whatever they want to do, right? God allows a divorced person to remarry. All right, I'm going to stop being silly. Okay, move on to verse three and four for point number four.

God declares that some marriages are sin. Let's read verse 3 and 4. It says,

God describes here a crazy scenario, but maybe not so crazy. We live in a society that would easily see this happen. So Bob and Jill get married. Bob and Jill divorce. Jack and Jill get married. Jack and Jill divorce. Now, God says, Bob can't marry Jill again now. You could think, well, wouldn't it be a good thing for them to be reconciled?

Like how neat, you know, that they would come back together after, you know, all those mistakes and having learned all those lessons. And maybe it's a good thing for Bob and Jill to get back together. That seems like a good thing. But here, essentially, here's what God's saying. You're treating marriage too casually for there to be the divorce and then a different marriage and then coming back and trying to re-put back together that first marriage again.

It's off and on, off and on, off and on. You know, like high school relationships break up. You know, this week we're dating and this week we're not. And we're changing our relationship status on Facebook every other day. Like God's saying, no, no. Marriage is a serious endeavor meant to be a permanent status. And yes, there are situations, there are circumstances that allow for and that perhaps make divorce the course of

that a person chooses to take. But it's not to be back and forth, back and forth, on again, off again. That is not the right approach to marriage and divorce. Let me put it this way. This will seem to be a little bit contrary to the previous point, but it's not. You just have to think it through. Remarriage is adultery if there has not been adultery. Remarriage is adultery if there has not been adultery.

So God permits divorce and divorced people, God allows them to remarry, right? That's okay. We understand that. But that doesn't mean that we can just do whatever we want. Because if there's not legitimate reason, if there's not valid reasons for us to take that course, then what we are doing is furthering our sin with more sin and

And so in some cases, remarriage can be adultery. Jesus puts it this way in Mark chapter 10, verse 11. He says, whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery. I think it's important to point out here, divorce is not adultery. So the divorce might take place

It might be the course that happened because of the hardness of hearts. God might permit it. It might be, you know, where a person finds themselves. But the remarriage is adultery if there hasn't been adultery already committed. In other words, if the spouse hasn't cheated on you and that wasn't the reason for the divorce, if it wasn't for some kind of immorality, then now to remarry, well, that is itself a form of immorality, right?

And what does that mean then for someone who has been divorced? Well, there's a few things to consider. Another passage, 1 Corinthians 7. I mentioned it earlier, but this is a couple other verses. Chapter 7 of 1 Corinthians 10 and 11. Paul says, "...to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord, a wife is not to depart from her husband." No divorce. They're to stay together. That's God's design. "...but even if she does depart," verse 11, "...let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband."

And a husband is not to divorce his wife. So God's design is for there to not be divorce. But he says, even if she does depart, and I would suggest you can read that, even if she does divorce, because it goes on to say, let her remain unmarried. And so we're not just talking about, you know, what we might refer to as a separation, right? Husband and wife, like we're just separated right now. Like it's not talking about spouse going to live with his parents for a couple of years or a few months or whatever. Like this is talking about changing the status from married to unmarried.

Even if she does depart, even if she does divorce, Paul says, stay in that status. A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, even if she does divorce, let her stay unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. Now understand here, so the idea is, if the husband hasn't committed adultery,

then there is not the immorality that would give occasion for a divorce to then grant the opportunity for God to say, you can be remarried, and that's the right thing to do, the okay thing to do. If there hasn't been that adultery, then God's saying, hold that unmarried status and wait for the opportunity to be reconciled to your husband. Now, if your husband moves on and gets married, I would suggest he's committed adultery. And so now the wife...

Previous wife, right? Now this woman is in a new status because her previous husband has moved on to another relationship. The reconciliation is not possible. Now she's in a new situation where she would be able to be married again because adultery has been committed.

So summarizing that, there's again problems with summaries sometimes, so don't take this as a law in all situations, but remarriage is adultery if there has not been adultery already committed. Now an interesting implication of this passage here in Deuteronomy chapter 24 is that a third marriage to someone would potentially be okay.

right here's this woman she's divorced from this first guy she marries the second guy he divorces her perhaps through no fault of her own or he dies he says here in verse uh three either way she now is an innocent person having been divorced or having been widowed and the prohibition there is that she can never get married again no the prohibition there is she can't go and try to reconcile with the first guy

But she can get married to somebody else. And so in that case, remarriage would be okay again. So God can declare, God can say, he gets to say, because it's his institution, some marriages are sin. And you could say, hey, it's so great that these two are reconciling. And God says, you know, that's not actually a good thing. That's sinful. He has the final say. And so that is what finally it comes to is that we need to

Allow the Lord to speak into our lives and allow His Word to prevail. Even if society allows for that reconciliation or that marriage or that situation, so Bob and Bob get married and society says that's a valid marriage, God still says that's sin. Are they married in God's eyes? Yeah, but it's sin. I know you're going to wrestle with that, right? But again, it's the combination of God created marriage as a social institution. It's an issue.

God says, it's not my design. It's not what's right. It's not good. It's going to cause more harm and destruction for that kind of relationship to be pursued. God declares some marriages are sin. So that's a quick look. Just kind of scratch the surface. There's so much more that we could wrestle with. Some of it is detailed. Individual situations are complex. But God's view of marriage, divorce, and remarriage is

Marriage is a social institution created by God. God permits divorce, the ending of the marriage because of hard hearts. God allows a divorced person to remarry. God declares that some marriages are sin. And so we need to come back to God's instruction, God's definitions. And I want to just finish by reminding us that marriage is God's picture to us of his love for us and approach towards us. And this is one of the reasons why

he has these instructions about marriage because his intention, his design is to demonstrate to us the kind of relationship that he wants with us. The faithfulness of a husband and wife for their lifetime demonstrates the faithfulness of God to us for his lifetime, which is eternal. The love expressed between a husband and a wife demonstrates the love that is to be shared between a husband and wife. Ephesians chapter five talks about this.

And so this picture, this idea of marriage is not just a bunch of random rules or, you know, things that God set in place just for fun, but for our good. All of these things are for our good, but also to demonstrate, to picture what he designed for us, what he has towards us. Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 3, the Lord has appeared of old to me saying, yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you. Let's pray.

Lord, we wrestle with these things. Lord, and society around us has a great deal of different opinions and different views that are radically different than what you say, Lord, about these subjects. And so, Lord, we wrestle with them too. Having grown up in our society, having grown up and been influenced and heard from and talked about and

From Christian perspectives, from worldly perspectives, from friends and family perspectives, Lord, there's all these different ideas. But I pray that you would help solidify in our hearts your perspective, your view of these things. And Lord, first and foremost, that we might understand your approach to us, your love for us, your faithfulness to us, your patience, Lord, and forgiveness. Lord, that even when we fall short, you don't divorce us. You don't abandon us.

But you, in your loving kindness, draw us near and continue on faithfully. When we are faithless, you are faithful. And we thank you for that. And so, Lord, help us to enjoy your faithfulness to us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.