2010 – Day 16. Jan. 16 – When Marriage Is Dangerous

Study from Genesis 36; Passage for Reflection: Genesis 36: 2 … NIV Esau took his wives from the women of Canaan.

My Journal for Today: Today’s reading is one of those chapters in the Bible where a lineage or line of descendents is documented and listed. And in reading this, one might ask why God’s word would carefully document the names of the descendants who would become known as the Edomites, or the progeny of Esau.
Well, how God’s Name and faith in Him, or lack thereof, is perpetuated is important to God; and out of today’s simple highlight verse in Gen. 37a we read of the lineage of one of the sons of Abraham, the one who got away. And Esau’s (or “Edom’s” as his name became) descendants had a great deal to do with the wives he chose, all of whom were pagan women from Canaan, … women who came from a culture who worshipped idols and even sacrificed their children to idols. And God’s word wants believers, reading Chapter 37, to realize that a whole generation of pagans, an entire nation, resulted from Esau’s mixed marriages, a nation of descendants who came to hate God’s chosen people, the Israelites, and a nation who developed an entire religion, Islam, which set itself up against the descendants of Abraham who did all they could to marry other believers in the one, true God. And now, even today, we have the second largest religion on the planet which has devolved into worshipping a moon God, Allah, and is at constant war with the descendants of Jacob (i.e., Israel).

My friend, one cannot minimize the importance of Christians marrying other devoted Christians. In the New Testament we read the command of 2nd Corinthians 6: 14-16 (linked), which specifically directs believers away from marrying or being in a covenant with any other unbeliever. All Christians should know that marriage is the most sacred institution created and honored by God. In fact His word even uses the marriage covenant in His word of truth to depict the relationship which God, the Son, has with “His Bride,” the Church. Therefore, we, as His children, are to honor and revere marriage; and when we dishonor it by marrying non-believers or ignoring God’s instructions with regard to marriage, the results can be disastrous, spiritually and socially. I firmly believe that if our country allows for or adopts a national policy, allowing for homosexual marriage, we will see God’s wrath of abandonment settle on our Nation, which had been founded as a nation to honor Christ; and we’ll see God turn us over to Satan’s world (see the teaching of Romans 1: 18-32 - linked here). Esau abandoned the ways of God in marrying into a pagan culture of unbelievers; and we see what has resulted; and we will also see the schism between Christians and non-Christians widen if we tamper in our culture, either individually or collectively, with the institution of marriage.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, help this nation and Your world, because it is YOUR world, to realize how much You revere Your institution of marriage; and, dear Lord, have mercy on those of us who do honor Your Bride and our marriages to You in the face of our spouses here on earth. Amen