Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement;
when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us:
for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD,
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation:
he that believeth shall not make haste. – Isaiah 28:15-16 KJV
Two issues & two cases continually used as precedent by God and Jesus (Advocate for believers):
- Covenant between God and man, broken by man
- Covenant between a man and his wife, broken by a man (who was the only one permitted by the Law to write a bill of divorce to put away his wife).
Malachi addresses the issue of unfaithfulness of God’s chosen people of Judah and the Priests of the Temple in Jerusalem by comparison of Judah as the chosen wife of God. Malachi 2:16 in the Revised Standard Version is translated:
“For I hate divorce, says the LORD the God of Israel, and covering one’s garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless.” – Malachi 2:16
As we will address later, Jesus points out that from the beginning it was not so.
IF God and Christ hate divorce, THEN so should Christians.
IF God and Christ love truth, THEN so ought the vows of a Christian speak truth.
Isaiah takes it a step further and points out that the unfaithfulness of God’s wife is a covenant with death and warns us that such unfaithfulness to God not only breaks His covenant with us, but places us as adulterers against God in a counter-covenant: and with hell are we at agreement.
God instructs the Prophet Hosea to take the illustration of the covenant of marriage and the counter-covenant of the unfaithful woman with hell a step further. Hosea is told to marry a whore!
We will address the witness and truth of Christian marriage once again, later. We will also address the issue of truth verses hypocrisy.
Truth and covenant (solemn promise and vow of permanence) stand as witness before God in the Court of our betrothal to Righteousness.
Again, as books are opened before God our Judge, Isaiah indicts:
“for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves…”
Yet before the all-knowing eyes of the Lord our Creator, we stand naked in our sin. Again, in Hosea, God threatens to uncover our nakedness for all to see! God will show our naked sin to all IF we do not repent and return to Him who has married us, against whom we have committed adultery.
Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?
Shall I redeem them from Death?
O Death, where are your plagues?
O Sheol, where is your sting?
Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
We have broken our covenant with God!
Will the LORD not also punish the one who would stand before Him without truth?
- Consider your covenant with God and with our Lord, Christ Jesus.
Before we reexamine the covenant of our ‘Christian Marriage,’ next we will consider God’s premium He places on truth.
To be continued…
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