"While Israel was staying in Shittim the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrifical meal and bowed down before these gods. So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord's anger burned against them...those who died in the plague numbered 24,000." Numbers 25:1-9
"Fear the Lord your God, serve Him only and take your oaths in His name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the people around you; for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and His anger will burn against you, and He will destroy you from the face of the earth." Deuteronomy 6:13-15
"When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations...do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you." Deuteronomy 7:1-4
Does this principle of not intermarrying with an unbeliever still stand today?
Lest you believe that God has changed since then and that this was on Old Testament thing only and not to be observed in the New Covenant, please read Paul's instructions to us:
"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers: for what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreemeent is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.....Therefore come out from them and be separate, touch no unclean thing and I will receive you. And I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Do we believe this scripture? Do we live as though we believe it and do we teach it seriously to our children so that they will believe it and not suffer the consequences of not believing it?
Parents want their children to marry well.
They hope that their daughters will marry a doctor or a lawyer; someone responsible and dependable so that all their needs will be met financially; someone who will love their daughters and be faithful always; never bringing the misery of adultery into the relationship. They hope that their sons marry women who are beautiful and intelligent and can provide a happy, stable homelife for their son and the children of the marriage; someone who will love their son and be faithful to him forever.
Love, faithfulness, responsibility, stability are all important in a marriage.
But it is possible to have at least some of these characteristics in a marriage with neither party worshipping the LORD God Almighty. There are always counterfiets to God's covenant of marriage that give the appearance of being wonderful and happy and well; but they are always lies, meant to bring us to believe it won't be that bad if we compromise in one small area such as this.
And so it is possible, if we do not teach our children well, that they will not understand what will be lost to them if they marry someone who does not worship the LORD God Almighty as they themselves do. Love and lust are powerful persuaders that can deceive us into making the wrong choice.
We are to belong, first and foremost, to GOD, for He dwells in believers through Jesus Christ who abides in us as we abide in Him. That makes us a set apart, holy people. What fellowship does the light in us, Jesus, have with darkness? How can a believer yoke themselves in marriage to an unbeliever?
The circumstances have to be right. They have to willingly choose love or lust over the things of God. Or they have to have been unrepentantly disobedient in some way prior, possibly separated at least temporarily from the exhortation that might come from a church family, and be in a position of vulnerability for Satan to influence them to compromise on this most critical of issues that will affect the rest of their lives and will affect their children as well. Sin destroys us and those we love.
And it helps greatly if the parents do not understand the importance of being equally yoked, and are not fervent and faithful in teaching this principle to their children.
Nothing but misery lies ahead as light tries to walk with darkness and finds nothing but continual conflict; and conflict such as will grieve the Spirit within the believer, and thus greatly grieve the believer as well.
It is a miserable situation that no Godly parent will want to witness their child living in.
And it will not change. UNLESS the believing spouse also turns AWAY from the LORD and begins to follow the unbelieving spouse in his or her ways; in other words, if they begin to serve other gods together. There will be a sense of happiness in the marriage, then, because they are at last "united" in their beliefs...but spiritual death will occur and it will carry on into the next generations. There will be sorrow. And the sorrow will be great.
Equally miserable is when the LORD brings the believer to a place of recognizing what they have entered into, and brings them to repent. I know, I have been there. I have seen all the consequences of disregarding God's principle for our lives regarding the mariage covenant. I have been brought to a place of repentance and still suffered continuing consequences; consequences that, once put in motion, must be fulfilled or make God a liar. (*)
So greatly is this to be avoided...and yet most parents do not value God's principle for their children, because they have missed the importance of it themselves. We are so compromised with the world these days, that we can't see it. And we suffer the consequences, and allow our children to suffer the consequences, and even their children to suffer the consequences.
It will continue to happen if we don't abide in the Word and teach our children to do so as well.
Once God establishes a divine principle, it cannot be any other way than as He says it will be when we go against that principle. That is why it is so vital that we know, understand, live and teach these principles to our children.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6: 5-9
"...so that you your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all His decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you." Deuteronomy 6:2-3
(*) Even as we suffer the consequences of our faithless choices, God is faithful to the repentant heart to not abandon us in the midst of what we have initiated. Abraham and Sarah's decision to utilize Hagar was not God's prinicple being lived out, but He did not abandon them. Still, what consequences came of that decision that are still being played out even today? How might Abraham and Sarah re-think that choice if they had the hindsight to see what it would bring about? The same goes for King David and his sinful choices, yet God did not abandon him, even as he witnessed the deaths of his own children as consequences of his sinful actions.
"Fear the Lord your God, serve Him only and take your oaths in His name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the people around you; for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and His anger will burn against you, and He will destroy you from the face of the earth." Deuteronomy 6:13-15
"When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations...do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you." Deuteronomy 7:1-4
Does this principle of not intermarrying with an unbeliever still stand today?
Lest you believe that God has changed since then and that this was on Old Testament thing only and not to be observed in the New Covenant, please read Paul's instructions to us:
"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers: for what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreemeent is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.....Therefore come out from them and be separate, touch no unclean thing and I will receive you. And I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Do we believe this scripture? Do we live as though we believe it and do we teach it seriously to our children so that they will believe it and not suffer the consequences of not believing it?
Parents want their children to marry well.
They hope that their daughters will marry a doctor or a lawyer; someone responsible and dependable so that all their needs will be met financially; someone who will love their daughters and be faithful always; never bringing the misery of adultery into the relationship. They hope that their sons marry women who are beautiful and intelligent and can provide a happy, stable homelife for their son and the children of the marriage; someone who will love their son and be faithful to him forever.
Love, faithfulness, responsibility, stability are all important in a marriage.
But it is possible to have at least some of these characteristics in a marriage with neither party worshipping the LORD God Almighty. There are always counterfiets to God's covenant of marriage that give the appearance of being wonderful and happy and well; but they are always lies, meant to bring us to believe it won't be that bad if we compromise in one small area such as this.
And so it is possible, if we do not teach our children well, that they will not understand what will be lost to them if they marry someone who does not worship the LORD God Almighty as they themselves do. Love and lust are powerful persuaders that can deceive us into making the wrong choice.
We are to belong, first and foremost, to GOD, for He dwells in believers through Jesus Christ who abides in us as we abide in Him. That makes us a set apart, holy people. What fellowship does the light in us, Jesus, have with darkness? How can a believer yoke themselves in marriage to an unbeliever?
The circumstances have to be right. They have to willingly choose love or lust over the things of God. Or they have to have been unrepentantly disobedient in some way prior, possibly separated at least temporarily from the exhortation that might come from a church family, and be in a position of vulnerability for Satan to influence them to compromise on this most critical of issues that will affect the rest of their lives and will affect their children as well. Sin destroys us and those we love.
And it helps greatly if the parents do not understand the importance of being equally yoked, and are not fervent and faithful in teaching this principle to their children.
Nothing but misery lies ahead as light tries to walk with darkness and finds nothing but continual conflict; and conflict such as will grieve the Spirit within the believer, and thus greatly grieve the believer as well.
It is a miserable situation that no Godly parent will want to witness their child living in.
And it will not change. UNLESS the believing spouse also turns AWAY from the LORD and begins to follow the unbelieving spouse in his or her ways; in other words, if they begin to serve other gods together. There will be a sense of happiness in the marriage, then, because they are at last "united" in their beliefs...but spiritual death will occur and it will carry on into the next generations. There will be sorrow. And the sorrow will be great.
Equally miserable is when the LORD brings the believer to a place of recognizing what they have entered into, and brings them to repent. I know, I have been there. I have seen all the consequences of disregarding God's principle for our lives regarding the mariage covenant. I have been brought to a place of repentance and still suffered continuing consequences; consequences that, once put in motion, must be fulfilled or make God a liar. (*)
So greatly is this to be avoided...and yet most parents do not value God's principle for their children, because they have missed the importance of it themselves. We are so compromised with the world these days, that we can't see it. And we suffer the consequences, and allow our children to suffer the consequences, and even their children to suffer the consequences.
It will continue to happen if we don't abide in the Word and teach our children to do so as well.
Once God establishes a divine principle, it cannot be any other way than as He says it will be when we go against that principle. That is why it is so vital that we know, understand, live and teach these principles to our children.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6: 5-9
"...so that you your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all His decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you." Deuteronomy 6:2-3
(*) Even as we suffer the consequences of our faithless choices, God is faithful to the repentant heart to not abandon us in the midst of what we have initiated. Abraham and Sarah's decision to utilize Hagar was not God's prinicple being lived out, but He did not abandon them. Still, what consequences came of that decision that are still being played out even today? How might Abraham and Sarah re-think that choice if they had the hindsight to see what it would bring about? The same goes for King David and his sinful choices, yet God did not abandon him, even as he witnessed the deaths of his own children as consequences of his sinful actions.
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