What Did Moses Command Regarding Marriage?

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. In the name of Jesus.

Faith Receives and Unbelief Looks for Loopholes

Alright, so what are we to make of this gospel text? It just seems like on a first reading I should be preaching two sermons from this text. One about the Pharisees and their unbelief and the other about children and their belief.

But you see, that kind of actually makes sense then as to why at the back of this gospel text we have this little brief teaching about letting the little children come to me. Think of it this way. Our gospel text creates a great contrast between faith and unbelief and it's so wonderfully expressed here that it well, bears us to pay attention to it and consider what's happening here.

So think of it this way. Faith which is a gift given by God. Faith receives. Faith believes. But on the other end, unbelief always rejects. Unbelief, fascinatingly so, always self justifies. Unbelief deflects.

Unbelief is always looking for legal loopholes to kind of work into their narrative of self justification. Kind of case in point. Have any of you ever had a conversation with an unbeliever about abortion?

These conversations are often times very predictable. Let me explain. You might as a Christian point out that the scriptures say and God's law says, and you know that they have God's law written on our heart, that thou shalt not murder.

And then when you apply this commandment to the matter of abortion, you might say something like, well abortion is the murder of an unborn human being. But the unbeliever will say, yeah, yeah, yeah, but what about the woman who's raped?

And so they sit there and they think of some like extreme case because after all, of all the abortions that take place only a tiny percentage are about a woman who's been raped. But then think about it this way.

What has that child done to deserve being murdered? Even if it was conceived in rape. So they think of the exception. They think of the loophole. So what about the woman who's been raped? And in their way of thinking, this exception, this loophole then trumps everything else and in their mind, abortion is not only okay, abortion must be defended at all costs.

Otherwise there'll be some weird injustice that is foisted on a small percentage of people. This is how unbelief operates. And it's important for us to look for this type of thinking within ourselves because each of us are capable of this.

So keep these facts in mind. You know, faith and unbelief. These two poles as we work our way through our Gospel text. So going back to the beginning of our Gospel text, it says this, the Pharisees came up in order to test Jesus.

Now, we already know here that the Pharisees are not seeking a real answer to a real question and that they really desire, you know, they don't really desire to have a proper understanding, a better understanding of God's Word and have Jesus teach them.

No, that's not why they're there. This question is a trap. And they intend to take Jesus' answer and then weaponize it against Him. So the idea here is that whatever Jesus says, they're going to go and broadcast it.

Did you hear what Jesus said about marriage? What a radical this person is. And so the idea is to use His answer to drive people away from Christ. So then they ask this question. Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?

Now, the Gospel of Matthew gives us a little bit more information about this question. And Matthew records that the question in its entirety went like this. Is it lawful for to divorce one's wife for any reason?

What kind of question is that, by the way? Who asks questions like this? Now, as a pastor, I've learned that sometimes people come to you with thorny questions. And when they come to you with a thorny question, oftentimes it's best to ask some clarifying questions.

For instance, if somebody comes to me and says, Pastor, can you lose your salvation? I've learned that the answer that I give next goes, why do you want to know? Why do you want to know? Well, because if somebody says, oh, Pastor, I've really blown it and I feel that God is angry at me and that I'm no longer a Christian.

Well, that person gets a different answer than the other fellow who says, well, you know, I was thinking about it, Pastor, and boy, you know, I'm a sinner and Jesus loves to forgive sins. And so I just want to make sure that there's no limit to Jesus's grace because I intend to live like a pagan.

Now, they never say it that way, but that's kind of the heart of the matter. So you'll note then the reason the question is being asked is, you know, you've got to do a little work here. So I ask the question, what kind of question is this?

I want you to consider the implications of what this question is about. I have to ask, does this question reflect how far the state of marriage had fallen in Israel at the time of Christ? I mean, did the Pharisees actually think that it was lawful to divorce their wives for any reason?

I mean, could you imagine how poorly treated the wives in Israel would have been if men could just divorce them for any whim or thought that cropped up within their sinful hearts? And keep this in mind, in Israel at the time, women were not permitted to own property.

So, I mean, consider the implications of this. So the belief that you could divorce your wife for any reason would literally have made women into well, nothing better than animals and turn marriage and divorce into some kind of blasphemous form of horse trading.

Consider the implications of what's the theology behind this. So Jesus, sharply so, wisely so, decides to answer their question with a question. And his question is this, what did Moses command you? This is an open-ended question by the way.

And they could have answered from any of five books. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, or Deuteronomy. And so they decide that they're going to answer from Deuteronomy 24. We're going to take a look at that if you want to open your Bible to Deuteronomy 24.

We're going to look at verses 1 through 4 because it's kind of fascinating when you do the fact checking on this. So they said, well, Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.

Yet, see, that's not exactly what Moses said. Because now the context is the question, can I divorce my wife for any reason? And they said Moses just said you can write her a certificate of divorce and send her away.

Deuteronomy 24, 1 through 4, this is what they're referencing. Here's what it says, and note when I read it out we'll see what the real context is here. Moses writes, when a man takes a wife and marries her, if she then finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some...

And here the Hebrew word's interesting. It's translated in the ESV as indecency, and the word for indecency here is actually related to the Hebrew word for nakedness. And so the idea here, the implication is that if he has found some type of sexual immorality in her, that's the idea, and puts it in...so it finds indecency in her and then writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man's wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies who took her to be his wife, then her former husband who sent her away may not take her again to be his wife after she had been defiled, for that is an abomination before Yahweh, and you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.".

Ah, so now we see what's going on here. This text is really kind of saying that if for whatever reason you find something indecent in your spouse and you divorce her and she goes and marries another fellow, and that fellow divorces her or he dies, you can't remarry her.

That's the purpose of this text. But notice what the Pharisees have done. In their legalistic, self-righteous unbelief, they have found in this text a loophole. Moses said you can write a woman a certificate of divorce, and now they had expanded that out for any reason.

So note that they were twisting God's Word in their theology and their use of the Bible was very much akin to how the devil twists Scripture. I'm quite reminded about how the devil quoted the Scriptures to Jesus when he was being tempted in the wilderness, and Jesus had to correct the devil on that point.

So this is kind of a similar type of twisting. So note then, unbelief, looking for the loophole, has now found the loophole, and now I can divorce my wife for whatever reason I want, and they are challenging Jesus to basically say, we defy you to show us to be wrong.

Because the Pharisees had taken over to such a point that their theology was what was ruling the church at the time. Now, it's a weird way to talk about that, but that's the right way of talking about it.

So if Jesus had said, no, you can't divorce your wife for whatever reason, just directly, they would have weaponized it and used it against him. So now, remember this, that Jesus asked the question, what did Moses command regarding marriage?

What did Moses command you? So he let them go first, and he's about to go second. And since he's the Word made flesh, I think that when Jesus gives us commentary on specific passages, it's important for us to recognize that his interpretation is inspired.

So Jesus says this, well, it's because of your hardness of heart that Moses wrote you this commandment. And so now it's Jesus' turn to answer his own question, what did Moses command you? And note, this is a command.

Jesus says, but from the beginning of creation, and now he's quoting Genesis 2, God made them male and female, therefore man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

And so Jesus quotes the right command of Moses, the command for men to leave their fathers and their mothers and to hold fast to their wives and the two shall become one flesh. And so Jesus then adding commentary and going even farther than Moses says, so they're no longer two, but they're one flesh.

What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. So Jesus takes their little loophole and just closes it up tight. And now they've got nowhere to go. Now, let's take a look at our Old Testament text to see the deep implications of what's going on here.

And we'll look at one other cross-reference so that we can properly understand what this text is referring to. So in Genesis 2 .18, we read the account of how God created a helper for Adam. It says this, then Yahweh Elohim said, it is not good that the man should be alone.

I will make a helper fit for him. And the Hebrew is wonderful here because it's not just a helper fit for him. The idea is I will make for him a physical counterpart. It's actually talking about anatomy in a very real way.

And so a helper fit for him. So now, out of the ground, Yahweh Elohim had formed every beast of the field, every bird of the heavens, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that's what its name was.

The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the heavens, to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper that was his counterpart. That's the idea. Notice it comes up again.

So Yahweh Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed its place with flesh and the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

And then the man said, this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Eshah. That's the Hebrew for woman. Because she was taken out of Esh. Man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife.

They shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and they were not ashamed. Now, it's important to note that Ephesians chapter 5, verses 31 and 32, these exact words are quoted under inspiration by the Apostle Paul.

And he adds a little bit of commentary. Here Ephesians 5, 31 and 32. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. And then listen to these words.

This mystery is profound and I am saying that it, these words, refer to Christ and the church. Hmm. How can that be? Now remember, the question was, what did Moses command you? Now we know that Jesus kept the law perfectly.

And now we're going to get into kind of a strange doctrine here. Work with me for a second. Do y 'all remember the Da Vinci Code and the debacle that ran through the church because of that nonsensical book?

That somehow Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene? There are a bunch of people now to this day that believe that Jesus was married physically while he was on the earth. Some even go so far as to say, you know that wedding feast in Galilee in John chapter 2?

That was actually, wink wink nudge nudge, that was actually Jesus' wedding. Nonsense. Nonsense. And they, one of their arguments is that, well, Jesus was a rabbi and you can't be a rabbi unless you're married.

Okay. Alright. But here's the thing. Moses commanded a man to leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two will become one flesh. This is what Moses commanded. May I put it to you this way?

Jesus perfectly fulfilled this commandment. You see, when Jesus was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin, of the Virgin Mary, he left his father in heaven. And he was obedient to his father in heaven all of his life.

And he, on the cross, left his mother. In fact, it's not a throwaway detail in the Gospel of John that while Jesus is suffering for our sins on the cross, that he puts his mother in the care of the Apostle John.

So he left his father in heaven, he left his earthly mother, and he is held fast to his wife. And his wife is us. We are the bride of Christ. And if you remember in our Old Testament text, when God formed Eve, when God formed the woman from man, he had put Adam into a deep sleep and then took a rib out of his side.

And may I note this, that the second Adam, that's who Jesus is, he was made to go into a deep sleep, the deep sleep of death. And while he hung on the cross, asleep in death-strong bands, the surgeon in the hands of the Roman soldier thrust into the side of Christ his spear.

And out came water and blood, the very means by which the bride of Christ is formed and created. And Jesus is one flesh with us. He is bone of our bones. We are flesh of his flesh. And the two now have become one in Christ.

And you have been united with Jesus in the waters of your baptism. And so I would say that Jesus has obeyed Moses' command perfectly when it comes to leaving his father and his mother and holding fast to you, his bride.

The Law Closes Every Loophole and Condemns Us

Now note, after Jesus gave this explanation and closed the loophole that the Pharisees had made regarding divorce, the disciples were quite perplexed. And our gospel text says, so that in the house, privately, the disciples asked Jesus again about this matter.

And Jesus said to them, whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery. You see, what God has joined together, let no one separate.

In fact, this joining together, this one fleshing that God does, lasts a lifetime until death do you part. And so you'll note then that now Jesus totally clamps down and closes the loophole and puts bricks and steel and other things around it so that nobody can use that loophole again.

And now by closing the loophole, the law's killing work can properly commence unabated in condemning all of us so that we have no loopholes with which to justify ourselves. Now, many of you might be sitting there going, well, I've been happily married for X amount of years or decades.

I remember at Faith's wedding, there was a little dance that went on. I know Norwegians don't dance, so maybe we should have this taken out of the recording when we post this on the website. But, you know, and the people were asked to leave the dance floor based upon how many years they had been married.

And he started with the fewest and worked their way up to the longest. But keep this in mind, that even if you've been married faithfully for 60 or 70 years, you have not kept the law's command perfectly when it comes to not committing adultery.

Let none of us fool ourselves in this matter. Scripture's very clear, and Christ is very clear, that that longing look that you have given to other people who are not your spouse, lustfully, that's adultery.

And James is quite clear, that if you have broken one of the commandments, you're guilty of breaking them all. And see, that's the point. Jesus here, by closing the loophole, is taking away the false narrative of the Pharisees that they are righteous in and of themselves.

That somehow they don't need Christ. The law always, when it does its work, will close all the loopholes and declare you to be guilty. But fear not. Fear not. The law doesn't get the final say before God for those who are in Christ.

Because the law has been silenced and fulfilled by Jesus, your great husband, who has come to rescue you. In the sin and the muck and the mire of who you were prior to your walk with Christ, and your being joined with him, he has taken all of that sin and bled for you and died for you, selflessly, in order to save you from the dominion of darkness and the devil and the fate of those who have sided with him.

So you don't have to worry that all the loopholes are closed. Stop looking for them. You don't need anyone, any of them. And so you'll note, then, that this then makes sense as to why our Gospel text then ends with this brief discourse about Jesus and children.

Children and little ones, you see, are the exact opposite of the self-justifying, unbelieving Pharisees who are looking for legal loopholes and looking for answers that they can weaponize against Jesus, so that they can maintain their self-righteous false narrative and maintain that they have no need of Jesus.

And see, here's what our Gospel text says. They were bringing children to Jesus so that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. How long is it going to take these disciples to get their head on straight?

I love the fact that they are always messing up. It gives me hope. See, but when Jesus saw this, he was indignant, and he said to them, Let the little children come to me. Do not hinder them. And here's the idea.

For to such belongs the kingdom of God. And truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. And how do children receive? Joyfully. Unquestioningly. Happily.

Freely. You see, little children, when you give them gifts, their eyes light up and they think it's the best thing ever, and they can't wait to open the present. The unbelieving look at the present and go, What is this?

Why do I need this? What's this for? And why are you giving it to me? Right? But the children say,.

Ah! This is the best thing ever! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! Right?

Kids, they receive. Unbelievers, Ha! You see the difference? And so the contrast is stark between the Pharisees and the children. Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

And so Jesus took the children in his arms and he blessed them, laying his hands on them. What kind of army is Jesus building? An army of children. It's beautiful if you think about it. So this text once again challenges us regarding our own self-righteousness, our own unbelief.

And one of the things that over and again strikes me in reading out texts like this is how much I, myself, still sound like, look like, act like, and believe like the Pharisees. Looking for those loopholes.

Looking for that way of somehow justifying myself. Trying to get an angle or an edge on the law to get ahead of it. And this text says, knock it off. Jesus closes all the legal loopholes so that you stand condemned so that he can finally say to you, you are forgiven.

You are pardoned. Receive this gift like a child. And see, the contrast is stark. So let us repent of our self-righteous unbelief. Let us repent of our being too much like adults. And let us again embrace with joy the promises of God like little children.

For to such belongs the kingdom of God. And let us be forgiven for our unbeliefs, for our self-righteousness, for our loophole looking, for our accounting messes that we make up in trying to make ourselves look good.

And let us be forgiven and then bear fruit in keeping with that repentance. To the praise and glory of our crucified, risen, and Savior, Husband Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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