The State of Modern Marriage: An Opportunity for Purity

When Jesus said people would be "marrying and giving in marriage" up until His sudden return, as they were in the days before the Flood of Noah, I believe he had more than simply usual marriages in view.

In our day, marriage is being twisted and turned in all directions—temporary marriages, trial marriages, pre-nuptial agreement marriages, group marriages, same—sex marriages, polygamy, open marriages (both partners have other partners, as well as each other), serial marriages, and even people marrying objects and animals—these and more are a boiling like a overheated pot in human societies worldwide. Television shows devoted to these things, glossy magazines reporting the latest scandals of celebrities, and entire networks serve these things up continually.

This in addition to the removal of marriage entirely by those busy cheating on their future marriages by fornication and living together. Moral wrongs are championed as "Civil Rights," and what is declared abominable is championed by the leaders of nations.

These things are affecting Christians as much as the world at large. In America, a nation claiming to be over 70% Christian, eighty percent of young, unmarried people between the ages of 18-24 are involved in pre-marital sex, compared with 89% of the population at large. Even pastors’ families are affected, with half of all specifically pastoral marriages ending in divorce.

The tattered state of Modern Marriage is surely a sign that the second flood, the coming Flood of Fire, is soon to come to again sweep the earth clean of sin and sinners. (See I Peter 3:7-13 for details.) It also means that we live in an age that is rather like the reputation of Jesus' own home town of Nazareth, which was so proverbial for its wickedness that Nathaniel questioned, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"

With such challenges to Christian purity all around us, however, God is raising up people who in their own lives will demonstrate the value of observing the 7th commandment, and Jesus' own words about purity even in our looking and in our thought life.

Those who have not engaged in sexual sin need strong encouragement from Scripture and the testimony of those who have made good moral choices to support them in doing God's will. Those who have not followed God's guidelines in these things in the past need the promises of God for forgiveness for what is past. The strong strictures of the Bible that protect human sexuality show how precious this aspect of human life is. It is only a great treasure that is stored in a strong safe. But for some, the safe has been broken into already, and hope for a better future is needed. The Bible balances its prohibitions and regulations concerning moral conduct with stories of people like Rahab the Canaanite harlot, Samson the womanizing Judge, Judah the moral crusader tricked by his own daughter-in-law Tamar, King David and Uriah the Hittite's wife Bathsheba in her bath, the wise King Solomon's foolishness of a far overstocked harem, and the Samaritan woman at the well with her five exes and the new guy she was shacking up with.

As for adultery in all its pre-marital, extra-marital, and non-marital forms: The Bible says, "Don't do it, but if you have, God isn't done with you quite yet. There is still hope to ‘go and sin no more.’"

The fact is, the current state of marriage is not only the fulfillment of prophecy pointing to Jesus' soon return, it also provides an excellent conditions for forming a strong moral character. It is the oysters that grow channels where the waters rush most violently that grow the thickest shells. It is the tree still standing on a mountain top after the storm has broken down the forest around it that knows the full strength of the wind. The finest sailors learn their skills only by braving the roughest seas.