Participants:
Series Code: LGS
Program Code: LGS019412A
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00:01 Hello, I'm Ettienne McClintock.
00:02 Welcome to Let God Speak. 00:04 Every one of us has made some wrong decisions, 00:07 and there's always consequences as a result. 00:10 Now, when Ezra and Nehemiah returned to Israel 00:12 from Babylon, 00:14 they found that many of the people 00:15 had made some very poor decisions. 00:18 Something had to be done. 00:19 And we will see from scriptures 00:21 what Ezra and Nehemiah did to solve a very big problem. 00:50 On our panel today, 00:52 we have Morgan Vincent and Andrew Russell. 00:54 Welcome, gentlemen. Thank you. 00:55 I look forward to your input as we solve this problem, 00:58 but just as we start, we just invite you to bow your heads 01:01 for a word of prayer. 01:02 Gracious Father in heaven, we're so grateful 01:04 that we have time with Your Word again 01:06 that we can open it 01:07 and also for the promise of the Holy Spirit 01:09 to guide and lead our thoughts and understanding. 01:11 Father, we want to be found faithful 01:13 in all that You instruct us to do. 01:14 We know it's for your own good. 01:16 And as we open Your scriptures, Father, bless us, 01:19 bless those who are watching as well and listening 01:21 and may we believe 01:22 that we had audience with you today 01:24 as we spend time together is our prayer in Jesus' name. 01:28 Amen. Amen. 01:30 Well, I invite you to grab your Bibles 01:31 and we'll go to the Book of Nehemiah. 01:33 We're looking at Nehemiah Chapter 13. 01:36 And we want to look at what confronted Nehemiah 01:40 as he's there in Jerusalem at the time. 01:43 So Nehemiah Chapter 13 and we'll read from verse 23. 01:48 It says, "In those days, 01:49 I also saw Jews 01:51 who had married women of Ashdod." 01:53 Now Ashdod is one of the Philistinian cities. 01:56 And then it also Ammon, and Moab. 01:58 Now Ammon and Moab are actually descendants 02:01 of Lots through his daughters actually 02:03 so they're sort of distant descendants of Israel, 02:05 but they weren't really faithful to the Lord. 02:07 And it says in verse 24, 02:09 "Then half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, 02:12 and could not speak the language of Judah, 02:14 but spoke according to the language 02:16 of one or of the other people. 02:19 So I contended with them and cursed them 02:21 and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, 02:24 and made them swear by God saying, 02:26 'You shall not give you daughters 02:27 as wives to their sons, 02:29 nor take their daughters for your sons, 02:32 or for yourselves." 02:34 There's quite a bit of activity taking place here. 02:38 Can you summarize it for us? 02:39 Well, sad to say this is not a new problem 02:43 for the children of Israel. 02:44 But what's taking place, Ettienne, 02:46 is that the Israelites are marrying... 02:49 The men of Israel marrying women 02:50 from pagan idol backgrounds. 02:53 And so what happens is it lessens 02:55 the impact of the gospel 02:56 that God desires to have for these people here. 03:01 You know, it's an important issue actually 03:02 and we'll see as we unpack it a little bit further 03:04 as we go through it, 03:05 but did this create other problems for them? 03:08 Yeah, look, like we just read there, 03:10 the children of Israel, 03:12 you know, we saw the children of those marriages 03:16 often would speak the language of the mother, 03:18 spending more time with the mother. 03:19 So they didn't understand 03:21 the language of the Hebrew people. 03:24 And, of course, this caused issues 03:25 in terms of their learning. 03:27 And not only that, 03:29 they would sometimes pick up 03:31 the beliefs of the pagan mother as well. 03:33 Okay. Yeah. 03:34 And so then why would Nehemiah be 03:36 so concerned about this, Morgan? 03:39 You know, you've got to take into consideration 03:42 we've looked at it, 03:44 you know, their whole civilization, 03:45 their whole way of living was tied up 03:47 with their faith in God, their communities, 03:50 their cities, and, you know, 03:52 to have a marriage with another tribe 03:55 or another way of thinking, 03:57 you know, it would have meant that 03:59 they wouldn't have had a regard 04:01 for the God of Israel like they should have. 04:04 And so there's a great sense of concern here with that, 04:07 as well. 04:08 Yeah. Yeah, definitely. 04:10 And if they were getting religious instruction, 04:11 you would have imagined that they would have spoken 04:12 the language that Bible, 04:14 the Old Testament scriptures were written 04:16 and it's very clear that that wasn't the case. 04:18 So there was no real religious instruction, 04:20 so a big problem for them. 04:22 So what do you think of the way 04:25 that Nehemiah dealt with these men? 04:29 It's interesting, you know, you could read it and think, 04:31 Well, you know, he's just being harsh, unfair, 04:34 but if we turn in our Bibles to Deuteronomy Chapter 28. 04:39 We find a really interesting passage of how he's rebuking, 04:44 yes, he's cursing them, yes. 04:46 But here we find the natural results, 04:49 the consequences as it were of disobedience. 04:53 And so we find in Genesis, sorry not Genesis, 04:56 Deuteronomy 28, 04:58 from verse 14, it reads, 05:00 "So you shall not turn aside from any of the words 05:03 which I command you this day, 05:05 to the right or to the left, 05:07 to go after other gods to serve them." 05:09 And that's key. 05:11 You know, you're not just wanting yourself 05:13 to be going after the God of Israel, 05:15 but your wife as well. 05:17 Verse 15, "But it shall come to pass, 05:20 if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, 05:23 to observe carefully all His commandments 05:25 and His statutes, which I command you today, 05:28 that all these curses will come upon you 05:31 and overtake you." 05:32 And so, here, you know, 05:35 we think of the commandments has been, 05:37 you know, the Ten Commandments, you know, which, 05:40 you know, one involves, you know, really, I guess, 05:43 the faithfulness of marriage, 05:45 and you know, God wanting us to follow Him. 05:48 And so, you got to keep in mind too, 05:50 that these curses which came upon the people 05:54 with a natural result of disobedience as well. 05:58 You know, I think of those curses and, 06:01 you know, sometimes they are interpreted as threats, 06:03 but they're really a warning, aren't they? 06:06 I had an incident just this last week actually. 06:09 I was talking to my oldest daughter 06:12 and letting her know of some consequences 06:14 that might come as a result of certain behavior 06:16 and she said to me, "Dad, you're threatening me." 06:20 And I said, "That's not a threat." 06:22 I said, "It's a warning, sweetheart," 06:23 I say, "There's a difference you know." 06:25 Sometimes the threat would come from a position of hate, 06:28 you know, but the warning comes from the position of love. 06:32 What position do we think God's taking? 06:35 And when you wanting to, 06:36 you know, the people to see the gravity of the decision 06:39 in choosing to go after, 06:41 you know, a woman of another, 06:43 you know, religion, another way of thinking and so, 06:46 it serves as a bit of a public example 06:48 as well for that. 06:49 Definitely, yeah. 06:51 But look at the reaction from Nehemiah, 06:52 it's pretty strong. 06:54 He's grabbing them by the shirt, 06:55 you know, and sorting the math little bit. 06:56 But, if we look at the context of it all, 06:59 Israel had already brought some reforms in prior to that, 07:02 and there seemed to be 07:03 these reforms were only short lived. 07:05 So it probably needed some short, 07:06 stronger action and a stronger response 07:08 just to get them back on track again. 07:10 But what was behind Nehemiah's strong reaction? 07:13 Well, he understood 07:14 that compromise leads to disobedience. 07:17 And if you look at Nehemiah, again, Nehemiah Chapter 13 07:20 if we go back there, verse 26, and verse 27, 07:24 it says, "Did not Solomon 07:26 king of Israel sin by these things? 07:30 Yet among many nations was there no king like him, 07:33 who was beloved of his God, 07:36 and God made him king over all Israel: 07:39 nevertheless even him did outlandish women 07:42 cause to sin. 07:44 Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, 07:49 to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?" 07:55 And so clearly here remind us to do the intimation that, 07:59 you know, the Solomon engaging led to problem, 08:02 led a nation down the terrible path, 08:05 ultimately led them into sin. 08:06 That's what compromise brings. 08:08 And they ended up in captivity to Babylon, 08:11 as a result of this as well. 08:13 So God foresees the danger 08:15 and He warns, He warns His people, 08:17 even the kings. 08:19 That's right, but, and Solomon was greatly favored by God, 08:21 I mean he was also a prophet, although he was a king. 08:24 And if you think that you're wiser than Solomon, 08:26 he's basically saying, watch Solomon, 08:27 he got corrupted by this whole process 08:29 of intermarrying with the heathen. 08:32 Look throughout stated history, 08:33 this is a very important principle 08:34 like it's repeated in the Bible again and again, 08:37 and we were talking about the commandments before. 08:39 But it's very clear to me 08:40 that thou shalt have no other gods before you, 08:42 also means to obey God. 08:44 And, of course, if you now intermarry with the heathen, 08:47 our human nature being what it is, 08:48 it seems to be quite easily led astray and corrupted. 08:51 And God's trying to avoid this 08:52 because He wants to maintain that love connection, 08:55 that love relationship with us. 08:57 But in Genesis 24, for example, 08:58 we read there about Abraham wanting a bride for Isaac 09:02 and he gets one of his senior servants, 09:04 the most faithful servant to go find him a wife 09:06 and he's very clear there in Genesis, 09:09 should I say Genesis 24:3 and 4 09:12 that he shouldn't take a wife 09:14 from the daughters of the Canaanites. 09:16 And then he has a discussion with him, 09:18 and if you go further on you read this, 09:19 it says, be very aware not to take my son down, 09:21 even if no one wants to come up this way, 09:23 don't take him down there. 09:24 It's almost like if he goes window shopping, 09:26 he might be tempted. 09:28 And we want him to look at the good 09:30 and the pure and the noble girls 09:31 rather than some of the girls 09:32 who are a little bit more pagan minded, right? 09:35 This thing continues, doesn't it? 09:37 It does continue. 09:38 Continue through the scriptures and that's the amazing thing. 09:40 We see the consistency of God here. 09:42 Can I add another verse? Sure by all means. 09:44 Deuteronomy 7:3-4. 09:49 It says here, "Neither shall you make marriages with them." 09:52 Now this is talking about, 09:54 you just pointed that the Amorites, 09:56 and the Hivites, the Jebusites, the surrounding nations, 09:59 the pagan nations. 10:00 And it says here, 10:01 "Neither shall you make marriages with them," 10:03 God speaking to His people, of course, 10:05 "your daughter you shall not give unto his son 10:08 nor his daughter, 10:09 shall you take unto your son, 10:11 for they will turn away your son from following me 10:14 that they may serve other gods. 10:16 So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you 10:18 and destroy you suddenly." 10:20 Says the turning away 10:22 by these non believers to other gods 10:24 that was the real big issue here. 10:26 Yes. Yeah. 10:27 And the New Testament, 10:28 does it say anything about this? 10:30 Yeah, it does, it does. 10:31 There's a third, there's a third passage 10:32 we'll look at. 10:34 In 2 Corinthians Chapter 6, we read from verse 14 down, 10:38 peoples asking, 10:40 I guess some questions for introspect. 10:43 He says in verse 14, 10:44 "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, 10:47 for what fellowship has righteousness 10:50 with lawlessness? 10:51 And what communion has light with darkness?" 10:54 And we would say, well, none like simple, 10:58 the logical answer would be none. 11:00 He goes on and says, in verse 15, 11:03 "And what accord has Christ with Belial? 11:05 Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 11:09 And what agreement 11:10 has the temple of God with idols?" 11:12 And so you can really see 11:14 that Paul's getting to the heart of the issue, 11:17 which of course, is the human heart. 11:20 And he goes on and says, 11:21 "For You are the temple of the living God. 11:24 As God has said, 11:26 "I will dwell in them, and walk among them, 11:28 I will be their God, and they shall be My people." 11:31 And this is covenant language, 11:34 covenant not just between God and His people, 11:36 but covenant language between a man and a woman. 11:39 And so it's of paramount importance. 11:42 You know, if God mentioned something once in the Bible, 11:45 you'd say, well, that's important. 11:48 But the fact that we've seen just three examples of many, 11:52 he's highlighting the importance 11:54 of how critical this is. 11:56 And if God doesn't want us to go after other gods, right? 12:00 Then, of course, when it comes to marriage, 12:02 He doesn't desire His people to go after someone 12:05 that even is a worshiper of another God. 12:08 It's the same thing, isn't it? So... 12:10 You know, we find too it in the words of Jesus, 12:12 He says, "If a house is divided, 12:15 then it cannot stand." 12:17 You know, divided not just in, 12:18 you know, what kind of food they eat, 12:21 Jesus isn't talking about that so much, 12:23 but He's saying, you know, if there's division, 12:25 if there's contention over, 12:27 you know, faith of who's the head of this home? 12:30 Is it God or is it, you know, whatever we choose? 12:32 Yeah. 12:34 It's not going to stand. 12:36 So is this just being exclusive? 12:38 I mean, I think it's just being 12:40 a little bit exclusive here, Andrew? 12:41 When you think of marriages 12:42 as a matter of being exclusive within Israel, 12:44 that's not really a matter of nationalism, 12:46 that's not the major emphasis. 12:48 It's really a matter of what is true, 12:52 and what constitutes true worship 12:54 and what constitutes false worship. 12:57 So if it's not a nationalism issue, 13:00 are there any examples of intermarriage 13:02 that actually did work in the Bible? 13:04 Yeah, there is. 13:05 There's not too many, but there is. 13:07 We turn in our Bibles to Ruth Chapter 1, 13:10 and we're reading verse 16. 13:12 Ruth is speaking, because after all, 13:15 Boaz married Ruth and Ruth was a Moabite, 13:19 yes, and here Ruth says, 13:21 "Entreat me not to leave you 13:24 or to turn back from following after you, 13:26 for wherever you go, 13:28 I will go and wherever you lodge, I will lodge. 13:32 Your people shall be my people, and your God my God." 13:36 So Ruth is saying, 13:40 "I'm following the God of Israel." 13:43 And so, you know, here 13:44 it's really amazing to think that, 13:47 you know, Boaz and Ruth, this is intermarriage, 13:50 but there's a sense of unity of who their God's going to be. 13:54 Absolutely, yeah. Which is... 13:56 Well, you are not at all faith. 13:57 Yeah, I'm following the true God. 13:59 Okay, great. 14:00 But that wasn't exactly the case of Nehemiah's time, 14:02 was it? 14:04 Morgan? 14:05 Well, it's not, you know, there, it's there. 14:08 There are in, you know, there's a sense of idolatry, 14:10 there's paganism, 14:12 there's a lot going on 14:13 but much hinged on this decision. 14:18 And so God's making sure, Nehemiah is making sure 14:22 that they are following after the truth. 14:26 And so, you know, we could say, 14:28 oh, well, God will just let it slip this time 14:31 but you know, the future of the nation 14:34 was depending upon these strong words 14:37 given to them as well. 14:38 And as you said before this, you know, 14:40 in terms of when that did happen, very isolated. 14:43 Obviously, in Nehemiah's time, it was of great concern. 14:46 But the exclusivity always had to do with favor 14:50 between God and us and our relationship with Him. 14:53 Now years earlier, 14:55 Israel actually had to deal with the same problem, 14:56 where we can read that in Ezra 9:1-2, 14:59 so Nehemiah is now actually dealing with the issue again, 15:02 that's why his response is a little bit firmer, 15:04 but Ezra's response is a little bit different, 15:06 but also quite firm, if we read it, 15:08 Ezra Chapter 9, 15:10 and we'll look at verse 1 and verse 2. 15:12 It says, "When these things were done, 15:14 the leaders came to me, saying, 15:16 'The people of Israel and the priests 15:18 and the Levites have not separated themselves 15:21 from the peoples of the lands, 15:23 with respect to the abominations 15:25 of the Canaanites, the Hittites, 15:27 the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, 15:30 and the Moabites, the Egyptians, 15:31 and the Amorites." 15:33 And it says, "For they have taken some of their daughters 15:36 as wives for themselves and their sons, 15:39 so that the holy seed is mixed with the peoples of the lands. 15:43 Indeed, the hand of the leaders 15:46 and the rulers have been foremost in this trespass." 15:50 So what's happening here? 15:53 Well, it says here, the princes came to me Ezra writes and so, 15:57 there's real concern amongst the leadership here 16:01 of the children of Israel. 16:02 So leaders are coming 16:03 and they're discussing this issue of the people 16:07 and not only the people 16:09 but other leaders are also following this practice. 16:12 And they've taken on, you know, 16:14 the abominations of the heathen now essentially. 16:17 And, of course, when it talks about the other leaders 16:19 are involved here, 16:20 well, they're some of the most influential people 16:23 amongst the children of Israel. 16:24 So imagine you know, 16:26 it's kind of like monkey see monkey do, 16:28 isn't it at the times, you know. 16:29 So how important is our example in 16:32 and the influence that we have 16:34 on those around us or those that are watching us. 16:38 So how did Israel respond to this news? 16:44 Well, let's read it. 16:45 Let's read in verse 3-5, Ezra 9:3-5. 16:50 We read it here, "And when I heard this thing, 16:52 I rent my garment and my mantle, 16:55 and plucked off the hair of my head 16:57 and of my beard, and sat down astonished. 17:01 Then were assembled unto me 17:02 every one that trembled 17:04 at the words of the God of Israel, 17:06 because of the transgression 17:08 of those that had been carried away, 17:10 and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice." 17:16 And so we see here that Ezra was absolutely devastated. 17:20 I mean, that'd be the only way we could explain it, right? 17:22 Absolutely devastated. 17:24 Tears his clothing, 17:26 plucks the hair out of his head. 17:27 In other words, he tugged at his hair and his beard 17:30 is basically what its saying. 17:33 And he stayed there and sat there, 17:35 just in astonishment, what was taking place. 17:38 He was very zealous for the cause of God, 17:40 very zealous for the salvation of God. 17:43 He prized duty and truth above all things. 17:47 And so he goes to God and in prayer, 17:49 it says at the end of verse 5 17:50 and spread out my hands unto the Lord, my God, 17:53 and he takes it to the Lord in prayer. 17:56 I guess, you know, when I read this, 17:57 I think that Ezra's response 18:01 may just be in a small way indicative 18:05 of perhaps what Christ may feel 18:06 when He sees this kind of thing happening, 18:09 realizing the impact that it's going to have. 18:12 That's a good point. Yeah. 18:14 We'll continue on there in verse 6 of Ezra 9, 18:17 "And I said, Oh my God, 18:19 I am too ashamed and humiliated 18:21 to lift up my face to you, my God, for our iniquities 18:25 have risen higher than our heads 18:27 and our guilt has grown up to the heaven." 18:29 So he's actually, 18:31 he may not have participated in the sin, 18:33 but he's likening himself with the people, 18:34 it's not us and them, it's a we kind of response. 18:36 And in verse 7, 18:38 "Since the days of our fathers 18:39 to this day we have been very guilty. 18:41 And for our iniquities we, 18:44 our kings and our priests have been delivered 18:46 into the hands of the kings of the land 18:48 and to the sword to captivity to plunder, to humiliation, 18:51 as it is this day." 18:54 So what does this tell us about Ezra's thinking? 18:56 Yeah, he's very much concerned, and we've seen that so far. 19:01 But it goes to show 19:04 the natural result of what happens 19:06 when you mingle with heathen nations, 19:10 you know, it's not going to end well. 19:12 And we continue on in Chapter 9 of Ezra, 19:16 verse 13 and 14. 19:18 And the Bible says, 19:19 "And after all that has come upon us 19:22 for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, 19:25 since You our God have punished us 19:27 less than our iniquities deserve, 19:30 and have given us such deliverance as this, 19:33 should we again break your commands, 19:35 and join in marriage with the people 19:37 committing these abominations?" 19:39 It just, you know, herein Ezra is saying, 19:43 we don't even want it to enter our mind again, 19:45 you know, such is the gravity of the situation. 19:48 They've just been brought back from Babylon basically 19:51 and they're in Babylon because of those problems 19:53 and now they stand to repeat it again, 19:55 it's like they haven't learned the history. 19:56 Yeah, and Ezra's really, really driving the point home to say, 20:00 "Look, guys, let's not repeat this again." 20:02 And I'll just read the end of 14. 20:05 It says, "Would you not be angry with us 20:07 until you had consumed us 20:09 so that there would be no remnant or savior." 20:12 And so, you know, the question of, 20:14 you know, who we marry 20:16 and whether we interact with pagan nations. 20:19 It doesn't just impact us or our future, 20:23 you know, our eternal future, 20:24 but it has impact upon the current 20:26 and future generations as well. 20:29 We're just going into the next chapter now 20:31 we're in Ezra Chapter 10 and just looking at verse 1, 20:33 there's still, Ezra is still praying, 20:35 and he's confessing and weeping. 20:37 But there's quite an interesting 20:39 response there from the people. 20:40 Can you tell us a little bit more 20:41 about that what happens next? 20:43 Yeah, so we see, you know, Ezra's praying in 10:1, 20:47 and by every indication from the chapter, 20:50 his prayers are answered, 20:52 and the people are coming to him, 20:55 from their sense of, 20:58 you know, we're moved by this, 20:59 we're sorry for this, we're penancing for this, 21:02 and they're wanting to sort things out 21:05 to get things right. 21:06 It says at the end of verse 1 there, 21:09 out of Israel a very great congregation 21:11 of men and women and children, 21:13 for the people wept very so, 21:16 they wept bitterly, they were upset by... 21:20 And as we continue on there, you know, 21:22 and verse 2 sort of talks about 21:24 that they admit this and it says, 21:26 "We have trespassed against our God, 21:27 and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land, 21:31 yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of this." 21:34 And in verse 3, it says, "Now therefore, 21:35 let us make a covenant with our God 21:37 to put away all these wives 21:39 and those who have been born to them." 21:42 What do you think of this suggestion? 21:45 I think by today's standards, 21:46 this would be quite confronting, 21:47 wouldn't you agree? 21:49 Okay, because they're talking about putting away 21:51 those wives now. 21:54 And so, yeah. 21:57 There's a little bit of opposition 21:58 only from a handful about four people or so I think. 22:00 Yeah, about four people, yeah, we read in verse 15. 22:02 But it's a drastic step, 22:04 sorry of sending the heathen partners now home 22:08 and, of course, their children with them. 22:10 And the men are choosing to separate now, aren't they? 22:12 That's right. 22:13 I think we need to remember 22:15 there was no neglect intended here. 22:18 You know, drastic circumstances 22:20 require sometimes drastic measures, isn't it right? 22:22 It's true. 22:24 And I think of Jesus, He said, 22:25 "If any man love mother or father or more than Me, 22:28 he's not worthy of Me." 22:30 And so this, this must have been a terrible situation 22:34 that required them to do this. 22:36 The impact of those heathenism and the heathen practices 22:40 must have been to such a degree 22:42 that it was very needful for them 22:45 to make this decision. 22:47 Look, they obviously go through a bit of a process, 22:50 but can you just elaborate 22:52 on what they exactly did to deal with this issue? 22:54 Okay, if we read in Ezra 10:7 and 8, it says, 22:58 "And they made proclamation throughout Judah 23:00 and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, 23:03 that they should gather themselves together 23:06 unto Jerusalem. 23:07 And that whosoever would not come within three days, 23:11 according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, 23:14 all his substances should be forfeited, 23:17 and himself separated from the congregation of those 23:22 that had been carried away." 23:24 And so, look, what I see here is that they were, 23:27 they were offered a choice. 23:29 They were offered a choice, they could choose now 23:31 whether to go with this judgment 23:34 in the best interest of the children of Israel, 23:37 or to be separate from the children of Israel. 23:41 And at the end of the day, they had to make that choice. 23:45 Verse 9 says, "Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin 23:47 gathered themselves together 23:48 unto Jerusalem within three days. 23:50 It was the ninth month on the 20th day of the month, 23:53 and all the people sat in the street, 23:55 of the house of God, trembling 23:57 because of this matter, and for the great rain. 24:00 Boys, by no means an easy thing to face. 24:04 You know did they act independently here, Morgan, 24:07 or how did you follow this process? 24:09 We read on because, you know, they're agreeing to cooperate 24:13 and we read on in Ezra 10, we're still there. 24:17 We read in verse 10. 24:18 It says, "Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, 24:21 'You have transgressed and have taken pagan wives, 24:24 adding to the guilt of Israel.'" 24:27 So we see here, you know, a decision of one 24:29 or decision of some impacts the majority, 24:32 impacts the multitude. 24:34 Verse 11, "Now therefore, make confession 24:36 to the Lord God of your fathers, 24:38 do His will, 24:40 separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, 24:43 and from the pagan wives." 24:44 So there was some action 24:46 that they decided they're going to take. 24:48 Right. Verse 12. 24:50 "Then all the assembly answered, 24:53 and said with a loud voice, 24:54 'Yes, as you have said, so we must do.'" 24:59 They're agreeing, they're coming together 25:01 and saying, "This is the way we want to go forward." 25:04 Now, do you think Israel considered these marriages 25:09 as invalid? 25:11 Absolutely not. 25:12 I don't think so, 25:15 because they're in violation of God's command. 25:18 So they're really unlawful relationships. 25:20 They were unlawful. 25:21 I mean, we read clearly, we read in Deuteronomy, 25:24 we read in Genesis, we read in Corinthians 25:27 that this was not something that God accepted. 25:32 Now, this was not something that He wanted. 25:36 This was not a matter of ignorance. 25:37 I think it's important to remember. 25:39 It wasn't a matter of ignorance. 25:41 As we sometimes find in the life of a church, 25:43 sometimes you find young people 25:44 who sometimes just limited knowledge 25:46 go ahead and they pursue these relationships. 25:49 But this was a matter of disobedience. 25:51 Yeah. Well, okay. 25:53 Now we have some counsel also in the New Testament. 25:55 If we go to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians Chapter 7, 25:58 probably slightly different scenario here 26:00 because we probably talking about people 26:02 who had been married 26:04 and then one of them are converted. 26:06 And Paul says there in 1 Corinthians Chapter 7, 26:08 we're going to read from verse 12. 26:10 It says, "But to the rest I, 26:12 not the Lord say, if any brother has a wife 26:15 who does not believe, 26:16 and she's willing to live with him, 26:18 let him not divorce her. 26:20 And if a woman has a husband who does not believe 26:22 and he is willing to live with her, 26:25 let her not divorce him, for the unbelieving husband 26:27 is sanctified by the wife, 26:29 and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband, 26:32 otherwise your children would be unclean, 26:35 but now they are holy." 26:37 And then in verse 15, 26:38 "But if the unbelievers depart, let him depart, 26:42 a brother or a sister is not under bondage 26:44 in such cases, 26:45 but God has called us to peace." 26:48 So just very briefly, what is your comment on that? 26:51 How do we read that? 26:53 Yeah, it's, as we said you know, the gospel, 26:56 it could change, you know, one spouse 26:58 and perhaps not the other from their decision 27:01 but you know, God calls us to be peace, 27:04 peaceful peacemakers. 27:05 And to me that's the key of what Paul's saying here. 27:10 Okay. Thank you, gentlemen. 27:11 That's unfortunately we have time for, 27:12 but thank you for joining us today. 27:14 There is a true saying that if we marry in haste, 27:17 we will regret at leisure, 27:19 and marriage is a solemn and lifelong commitment. 27:22 Therefore we do need to know 27:23 God's will for our relationships, 27:26 and to pray and fast like Ezra did 27:28 is a model excellent for us to follow. 27:31 Thank you for joining us today on Let God Speak. 27:33 You can watch our past programs 27:35 on our website at 3abnaustralia.org.au. 27:39 Teachers notes can be downloaded there as well 27:41 and you can email us at lgs@3abnaustralia.org, 27:44 until next time. |
Revised 2020-03-16