Honor Marriage • Exodus 20:14; 2 Samuel 11:1-5
By Becky Brown
The Bible begins and ends with a marriage. In Genesis chapter two, God conducted the first private wedding ceremony between Adam and Eve. Through the cross of Christ, God offered an invitation to the whole world to be a part of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Revelation chapter 19. Those who willingly accept the invitation to believe in Jesus, who is the Groom, become part of the Bride of Christ: the church. Since the beginning, God designed His people to dress for a wedding!
There should be NO doubt about how God feels about home and family. The Fourth Commandment adorns the home with honor (Exodus 20). The home is sacred and precious in the sight of its Creator. One man and one woman come together in covenant before God, in commitment to Him and to each other. They are to leave completely the homes of their upbringing in order to cleave devotedly to each other for a lifetime. This God-ordained relationship is to be guarded at all costs. The seventh commandment addresses the insidious enemy of the home: adultery. Many attacks wage war against the home. Adultery is a weapon of mass destruction.
God knows that stable homes yield stable cultures. Family stability produces stable society. The enemy knows this as well. Our homes are under attack as never before. In America, our own U.S. Supreme Court justices have taken it upon themselves to include marriage designs God never intended. Pornography has ensnared the most vulnerable of us, leading users down the path of least resistance to the detriment and downfall of every pure relationship. Petty, emotional mind games and casual, forbidden attachments have blinded us just long enough to entangle us in actual physical affections that destroy us AND others. Casualties of home and family lie at our feet as collateral damage. Future generations suffer. The Holy Spirit pleads. Jesus waits at the altar. God weeps.
In His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters five through seven, Jesus expounded on the ancient teachings based on these Ten Commandments. In Matthew 5:27-28, Jesus said that everyone who simply looks on a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery IN HIS HEART. Jesus left no doubt as to the origin and guilt of sin. Physical deeds aside, sin is a matter of one’s own heart condition.
In Ephesians chapter five, the Apostle Paul declares that Christ loves the church and gave up His own life for the church. Jesus is protective and territorial about His bride. He desires for her to be loved, sanctified, cleansed, glorified, holy, and blameless with no spot or wrinkle. Spiritual adultery sullies the Bride of Christ. The marriage relationship must be cherished and nurtured, not violated.
In this week’s look at the life of King David, we focus on his well-known downfall with “taking a Bath-sheba.” He should have been on the battlefield with his mighty men. Instead, he was at home in Jerusalem, unashamedly stealing another man’s wife and eventually arranging to take her husband’s life when she became pregnant by David. David had lost his focus. He had shirked his kingly responsibility and sent his men to war without him. His biggest war was raging inside his own heart. David’s most formidable giant was himself.
David saw a beautiful woman. Every man notices a beautiful woman. The problem was, he kept on looking. He desired her. He sent for her. He had sexual relations with her. He knew she was the wife of Uriah, one of his most faithful soldiers. He knew that she was the daughter of Eliam, who was the son of Ahithophel, confidant and advisor to King David (2 Samuel 23:34).“Uriah means “flame of Yahweh.” Eliam means “God is my kinsman.” Ahithophel means “my brother of folly and foolishness.” Even through the meanings of these three biblical names, God was begging David (which means “my beloved one”) to put out the fires of lust and remember his Kinsman and Creator.
When confronted by God through the prophet Nathan, David confessed his sins of adultery and murder, repented of his failures, received forgiveness, and returned to God. The consequences of his sin would bear spoiled, rotten fruit in his life for the rest of his days. Choices cannot be undone, but they can be forgiven. David left us Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 when we face temptation. Adultery is murder of home and family.
