OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH

As the Lord Jesus continued to teach His followers, the subject of divorce and remarriage came to the forefront and Jesus, referencing the protocols written of in Deutronomy chapter 24 verses 1 - 4, tightens down what the allowances for divorce are.

31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

In Deutronomy chapter 24, if a husband did not like somethimg about his wife, he could write out a certificate of divorce and she was free to remarry. The only restriction was that if she married another man and that man divorced her or left her widowed, her first husband was not permitted to marry her.

The Lord Jesus barred divorce for His followers except in the cases of sexual immorality and barred remarriage if divorced.

This escalation of the standards takes into consideration that those who followed the Lord Jesus would be living spiritually and because marriage is a joining of two people into one flesh, unentanglement cannot occur on the basis of a certificate written by a person whose life is in the spirit as Mark 10 verses 7 - 9 says, 7 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 

In a believer's marriage, the two persons involved retain separate born-again spirits but their flesh (which is not a reference to their physical bodies but rather to their earth-bound human nature that was corrupted by the fall), is joined and that is why non-believers can be married in exactly the same way believers can be married.

However, whereas a non-regenerated person can (in the flesh) write a certificate of divorce and it would apply to the matters of the flesh, among believers, any proceedings, such as the writing of of a certificate of divorce, would be occuring by the hand of their spirits and so would not be applicable to the matters flesh and thus they would remain joined in the flesh and not free to remarry.

This implies that divorces that occur among non-believers do in fact result in the separation of the flesh while those that occur among believers do not.

As Jesus said in John chapter 3 verse 6; That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO SAVE US

Continuing with Mathew chapter 5, let's look at verses 27 - 30 which escalates the sin of adultery from a physical infraction to a spiritual infraction. The Lord Jesus instructs us that the precursors to adultery that begin with the lust of the eye and then forments in the heart, are themselves adultery.

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

The counsel of the Lord is to be ruthless in putting to death the works of the flesh that can dissuade us from taking the path of the spirit.

If the desires of the flesh cause us to reject the offer of salvation and the pathway to righteousness, we should discard the inclinations of the flesh so that our whole body does not get discarded for its corruptive influence.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH

In Mathew chapter 5 verses 25 - 26, the Lord Jesus introduces a new concept into the code of expected behaviour among His people.

When one has an outstanding debt, obligation or liability, the Lord tells us to expedite the resolution of the matter with a view to settling it out of court before it is turned over into the hands of the court. 

25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

What the Lord is describing here applies to both the corporeal and spiritual realms.

In court systems of men and in the court systems of the spirit world, the legalistic mechanisms process cases through like machines and once we get fed into one end as a defendant, we are subject to the nature of the judge's view of our case and we may be found guilty or liable and we may then be handed over to the enforcers who may use imprisonment to extricate from use what is due.

The councel of the Lord is do everything in our power to bring swift resolution to any issue that is being held against us.

In spiritual matters, this means that we must offer resolutions for offences that we have caused as soon as we can and to transact in spiritual terms to atone for or restitute what is required.

If we let cases linger, they can be brought forward for litigation at the most importune times. An example of where the adversary pressed a case at a time that caused maximal damage is when a devastating drought descended on the land Israel while David was king.

Decades before, David's predecessor, king Saul, broke a vow that Israel had with the Gibeonites. 

Even though the vow was centuries old and the infraction the Saul commited against the terms of the vow was decades old, the adversary of Israel pressed the case against Israel by the imposition of a severe drought.

To bring a resolution to the matter during David's time, it cost the lives of seven people from the family of Saul because the Gibeonites demanded the killing of Saul's descedants in order to release Israel from their infraction.

The drought was the prison that Israel was put into and they were not released from the prison until they had paid the last penny.

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OUR FATHER SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH

In Mathew chapter verses 21 - 24, the Lord Jesus escalates the subject of righteouness to illustrate that sin and evil stems from inside us and the attitudes we foster.

21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

Jesus, in this passage, speaking of the law against murder and the judgement of death that comes from it, tells us that harbouring anger against a brother or sister is subject to judgement. 

Whereas the traditional law held that actual murder was subject to penalty and did not hold anyone to account for their thoughts and words against those around them, the higher standards of Jesus's kingdom holds that cultivating angry thoughts and speaking derogatory words towards one's brothers and sisters can make one subject to judgement in the court of heaven and could, if left to fester indefinitely, potentially lead to  hell.

The life of the kingdom of heaven, which is a spiritual kingdom, enforces a high standard of righteous behaviour that includes the behaviour of the soul and spirit and not just the acts done physically in the body.

Amen.

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