PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

…In this country there are a great number of divorces every year. Some have even been married several times. How deplorable! No child of God should ever have a divorce. This is serious. To divorce and remarry means to commit adultery…. (Life-Study of Matthew, Message 19, pp. 237-238; Witness Lee, published by Living Stream Ministry 1985.)…Christ enacted the new covenant. Before going to the cross, the last thing He did was to establish the new covenant at His table (Matthew 26:26-30).

The Believers, as Sons of God, Being One with God in His Life and Nature

Based upon this new covenant (Hebrews 8:10-12), we are forgiven by God, who even forgets our failures. God is then able to dispense Himself into our intrinsic being to be our life, to be the law of life, and to be everything to us as our inward content that we may live Him. This means that the new covenant is to make us absolutely one with God. He becomes us, and we, being constituted with Him, are one with Him in His life and nature. The New Testament reveals that He and we form a mutual abode (John 14:20, 23). What a miracle this is!

We need to have the proper understanding of what it means to say that God has been constituted into us to become us and that we have become one with God in His life and nature. The New Testament reveals that God is our Father and that we are His sons. We are not sons who have been adopted by God but sons who have been born of God. God is our Father because He has begotten us, and we are His sons because we have been born of Him.

Just as a child shares the life and nature of his father but not the fatherhood, so we as sons born of God share God's life and nature but not His fatherhood nor His Godhead. We are the same as God our Father in life and nature, but we surely are not God in His Godhead or the Father in His fatherhood. This is the intrinsic revelation of the Bible, especially of the New Testament.

In our daily living, we need to remember our status as sons of God possessing the life and nature of God. For example, if a brother and his wife both realize this, knowing that they are not only human but also divine, they will respect each other to the uttermost. Instead of disputing, they will honor each other and be kind to each other. Also, this realization will keep them from losing their temper. When we are tempted to lose our temper, we need to remember that we are sons of God. Even in such a matter as shopping in a department store, we should not forget our status as sons of God.

Jehovah's Hatred of the Treachery of Man toward His Wife

In Malachi 2:13 through 17 we see Jehovah's hatred of the treachery of man (mainly referring to the priests) toward his wife.

1. The Treachery of a Priest toward His Wife Damaging His Priesthood

Verses 13 and 14 indicate that the treachery of a priest toward his wife damages his priesthood. Probably some of the mistreated wives came and wept at the altar (vv. 13a, 14). Because of this, Jehovah no longer regarded the sacrifices or received them with pleasure from the priests' hands (v. 13b). Here we see a very important matter. If a servant of the Lord cannot have a proper life with his wife, his service will be annulled.

Every young person must consider his or her marriage very carefully. All the brothers and sisters are priests. If we cannot live well with our spouse, how can we serve the church? If our married life is improper, our priesthood will be finished; it will be brought to nothing.

2. Jehovah Making the Priest and His Wife One in Order to Produce the Seed of God

In verse 15 Malachi goes on to say that in marriage God has made the husband and wife one in order to produce "the seed of God," that is, godly children.

3. Jehovah Hating Divorce

Jehovah hates divorce; and the one who divorces his wife behaves in violence (v. 16). In the sight of God, divorce is a violent act. (Witness Lee, Life-Study of the Minor Prophets, Message 32 on Malachi, pp. 204-205)

APPLICATION

For our marital health, We need the Lord's mercy to unveil us and grant us a clear understanding and vision of both the depth of our fallen condition in Adam and, at the other extreme, the height of our exalted position in Christ.