“For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “He who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of Hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith.One who hates and divorces”, says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “covers his garment with violence!” says Yahweh of Armies. “Therefore pay attention to your spirit, that you don’t be unfaithful.For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.For I hate putting away, saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, and him that covereth his garment with violence, saith Jehovah of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
4 sermons cite this verse
… Now I'm using language here That we read in Malachi 2.16 a couple of weeks ago Where we see that God hates divorce And it makes sense, right? If God created marriage to be the union of a man and a woman For our good, for the display of the gospel Then divorce is fundamentally at odds With God's good definition and design Which leads to the questions that these Pharisees are asking Jesus about Moses and the law in the Old Testament. This whole conversation starts when these teachers of the law ask, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? So Jesus answers by pointing to God's definition designed for marriage. And then in response in verse 7, the Pharisees point to allowances for divorce with Moses way back in the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy chapter 24, when Moses gave instructions for certificates of divorce. But that's when Jesus says, verse 8, because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning, it was not so. In other words, divorce was definitively not God's original design. …
… I love this scripture, and I'll tell you why. Malachi 2.16, for the Lord God of Israel says that he hates divorce. And I'll just ask you today, why do you think our God hates divorce? God hates divorce because he loves covenant. By the way, notice that it doesn't say God hates divorced people. Because God is clear in the scriptures the times that he allows for divorce. To give a certificate to permit divorce. Adultery, abandonment, death. God is clear when divorce is permissible. But at this core, God hates divorce. Why? Because he loves covenant. he's a covenant creating covenant keeping God and he made you and I come on clap if you believe it he made you and I to be in covenant And if God is going to work hard to keep his covenant, we've got to work hard to keep our covenant. This is my vow. I didn't make it in haste. I didn't make it under compulsion. I didn't make it with a gun to my head. …
… God hates divorce. The Bible says in Malachi chapter two, verse 16, the man who hates and divorces his wife, says the Lord, the God of Israel, does violence to the one he should protect, says the Lord Almighty. Obviously, God's a God of grace. We have scores here who have gone through divorce. God has forgiven you. He's cleansed you. We stand on that. But I know you would say, I know you would say, divorce is like a death, Ed. Now, there are biblical grounds for divorce, and I'm not going to get into those today, but what I'm saying to you by and large is it's best to stay in the marriage. It's best to understand the power of covenant. it's best to do it God's way. And if you're both willing to do it God's way, it's gonna work. It's not gonna be easy, but it's gonna work. If you don't, it's not gonna work. But even the marriage ceremony itself, as I talked about in our conference, it symbolizes a covenant, the covenant that God made with us. …
… Mark chapter 10 verses 11 and 12 and Malachi chapter 2 verses 15 and 16. Let me read these two verses to you. Mark 10, 11 and 12. So he said to them, verse 11, whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery. Y'all see that? That's Jesus talking. That's in red. That's a red letter version. Jesus talking. Malachi 2 verses 15 and 16. But he did not make them one. But did he not make them one? Having a remnant of the spirit and why one? He seeks godly offsprings. Therefore, take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. For the Lord God of Israel says, this is verse 16. For the Lord God of Israel says, who said this? the Lord God of Israel says that he hates divorce for it covers one's garment with violence says the Lord therefore take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treacherously I need to take a moment and talk about this because this is the thing of our day is divorce people are getting divorced they're walking away from their marriages they get unhappy they get sad they get frustrated they just walk away your spouse is not a used car Thank you. …