Day 30: God’s Standards are Eternal

We have read Paul’s clear statement in 2 Corinthians 6:14‑16 which clearly states that it is wrong for a believer to marry an unbeliever. On the other hand, if you got married as an unbeliever, and later come to believe in the Lord, that's a different situation. Then God will come to your help in various ways. But at the present time, I am dealing with the choice of a life partner for a believer who is not married.

The second general principle from God's Word is that God appoints the right mate for each of His children. It's not haphazard, it's not outside of God's provision. Proverbs 18:22 says this:

"He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favour from the LORD." (NASB)

In other words, finding the right wife is an indication of the Lord's favour. And then in Proverbs 19:14:

"House and wealth are inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD." (NIV)

So, if we are to have a prudent wife, we need to seek the Lord for that prudent wife. It has been my lot in life to be married twice and, on each occasion, it was the Lord who very definitely directed me to the right wife. And in each case, the Lord has provided me with a prudent wife, a blessing for which I cannot possibly ever thank Him too much. So when I speak along this line, I'm speaking from personal experience.

Now we are going to look at that standard of marriage which Jesus acknowledged and which He set for His disciples. This is brought out very clearly in Matthew 19:3-6, which records a conversation between Jesus and some Pharisees about the question of marriage and divorce:

"And some Pharisees came to Him, testing Him, and saying, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause at all?' And He answered and said, 'Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? Consequently, they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.'" (NASB)

When Jesus was questioned about marriage, He did not accept the standards or the rules or the conventions of the time in which He lived, but He immediately went right back to "the beginning", the Hebrew name of the Book of Genesis. In other words, Jesus turned to God's original purpose and standard when He first created man and woman. That is the only standard of marriage and purpose of marriage that Jesus accepted as valid. As His disciples, we too have to go back to God's purpose and standard at creation if we are going to find God's standard for marriage in our lives as Christians today.

In this connection, therefore, I am going to point out to you four facts about Adam and Eve:

• First of all, it was God who decided that Adam needed a wife.
• Secondly, it was God who formed Eve for Adam.
• Thirdly, it was God who presented Eve to Adam.
• Fourthly, it was God who determined the nature of their relationship.

I believe that all these principles still apply equally today for us as Christians, whether we be a man or a woman. In my next message, I will show you how they apply in either case.