Malachi 2:10-17
10 Have we not all one Father?
Has not one God created us?
Why do we deal treacherously with one another
By profaning the covenant of the fathers?
11 Judah has dealt treacherously,
And an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem,
For Judah has profaned
The LORD's holy institution which He loves:
He has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob
The man who does this, being awake and aware,
Yet who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!
13 And this is the second thing you do:
You cover the altar of the LORD with tears,
With weeping and crying;
So He does not regard the offering anymore,
Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands.
14 Yet you say, "For what reason?"
Because the LORD has been witness
Between you and the wife of your youth,
With whom you have dealt treacherously;
Yet she is your companion
And your wife by covenant.
15 But did He not make them one,
Having a remnant of the Spirit?
And why one?
He seeks godly offspring.
Therefore take heed to your spirit,
And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.
16 "For the LORD God of Israel says
That He hates divorce,
For it covers one's garment with violence,"
Says the LORD of hosts.
"Therefore take heed to your spirit,
That you do not deal treacherously."
17 You have wearied the LORD with your words;
Yet you say,
"In what way have we wearied Him?"
In that you say,
"Everyone who does evil
Is good in the sight of the LORD,
And He delights in them,"
Or, "Where is the God of justice?"
Being unequally yoked with unbelievers desecrates the covenant with God as well as that of a spouse through infidelity. The LORD seeks godly offspring from His own children with Him as their only God as reflected in His design of a man and woman covenanted together as a pattern after the relationship between God and man. We who are called in Christ know this better now that the Lord has come and instructed His apostles to teach us what He told them and give the meaning of all He said (Nehemiah 8:8). He is the only God, our Creator, and there is no other; how then can they or we look to another for help or to worship and follow? We should learn from the sin of God’s people in Malachi’s time who ended up waiting for the Messiah another four hundred years. We should learn not to profane the new covenant by profaning our marital covenants with immortality or being unequally yoked (2 Corinthians 6:14-16) with unbelievers who worship another god which is no god at all as a lifeless and nonexistent aim of devotion and worship. That is a dire mistake we should learn from (Romans 15:4, 1 Corinthians 10:11-13) and not repeat. May we not deal treacherously with our spouses either as Israel had done here and then imagine we can go on serving and worshiping our Lord in church as if it means nothing. They had their offerings refused by God for such actions as they broke their marriage covenants because God had brought them together in a lifetime agreement to be fruitful and multiply godly offspring (Genesis 1:28). They were called to not just have children, but bring them up in the teaching and admonition of the Lord (Genesis 18:19, Deuteronomy 6:6-7, Ephesians 6:4). We are to therefore also continue this mandate in faithfulness to God and each other and not deal treacherously through unwarranted divorce and disregard for the vows of the marriage covenant. If we do evil, we weary the Lord when we should be delighting Him and not speak or teach to the contrary as Israel had done. God is just and holds us accountable (1 Corinthians 3:16-17) just as He did them, yet we who are in Christ suffer temporal loss and not eternal (1 Corinthians 3:14-15) in our disobedience. There is forgiveness in grace now given because of His sacrificial death which ever atones for our sin. We are to therefore avoid these sins of spiritual and physical infidelity and seek forgiveness when we fail (1 John 1:9). That is the lesson given by Malachi for us.
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