Spiritual Divorce

I have a question that is probably going to show my ignorance, but I desire wisdom and I have been promised that if I choose to walk with wise I will grow wise as well. There is a lot of wisdom on these forums and much more so in the sermons. My question.The book of Malachi , I understand this book to be a rebuke to a corrupt priesthood, there are precious promises within some of the verse but for the most part it is a stern rebuke. I also understand that God truly does hate divorce. In chapter 2 Malachi is adament with his zeal for the Lord and rebukes the priests that have left their wives, I favor for brides that worship idols.I suppose my question is this, could the statements that are made in chapter 2 verses 11-16, also apply to our spiritual lives? Paul said that he was jealous over the people of Corinith and wanted to present them to Jesus as a “chaste virgin.” In another place, (I think) he makes the statement that he has “aspoused you to one husband” (forgive me if that is not right). So could it be said in the natural sense that we are not blessed and that God is preparing judgment and has even began judging, because we have treated our natural wives with contempt but also much more so because there are those that have treated their “spiritual spouse” or their first love as John calls Jesus in the Revelation? Can we divorce ourselves completely from God? Or am I reaching too far to try and make an analogy? I’m open to any opinions and humbled by any rebukes.

No, not at all. what i am asking is these priests where still praticing thier worship and 'serving God' yet they were wicked and corrupt and taught others to be--my question is do you think that the warning against mistreating our spouses (e.g. you will have my wrath to content with) is applicable in this situation spiritually speaking. I guess the jest of it is i see alot of the same stuff Malaci did and it worries me. . .

Inotof wrote:Or am I reaching too far to try and make an analogy? I’m open to any opinions and humbled by any rebukes. No you are not reaching, God is speaking to you through Scripture. Throughtout the OT God speaks of spiritual adultery. Hos. 2:1 Say to your brethren, “My people,’\tAnd to your sisters, ‘Mercy is shown.’ 2 \t“Bring charges against your mother, bring charges;\tFor she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband!\tLet her put away her harlotries from her sight,\tAnd her adulteries from between her breasts; 3 \tLest I strip her naked\tAnd expose her, as in the day she was born,\tAnd make her like a wilderness,\tAnd set her like a dry land,\tAnd slay her with thirst. 4 \t“I will not have mercy on her children,\tFor they are the children of harlotry. 5 \tFor their mother has played the harlot;\tShe who conceived them has behaved shamefully.\tFor she said, “I will go after my lovers,\tWho give me my bread and my water,\tMy wool and my linen,\tMy oil and my drink.’ 6 \t“Therefore, behold,\tI will hedge up your way with thorns,\tAnd wall her in,\tSo that she cannot find her paths. And then: Hosea 2:14 \t“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,\tWill bring her into the wilderness,\tAnd speak comfort to her. 15 \tI will give her her vineyards from there,\tAnd the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;\tShe shall sing there,\tAs in the days of her youth,\tAs in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. 16 \t“And it shall be, in that day,”\tSays the LORD,\t“That you will call Me “My Husband,’\tAnd no longer call Me ‘My Master,’ 17 \tFor I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,\tAnd they shall be remembered by their name no more. 18 \tIn that day I will make a covenant for them\tWith the beasts of the field,\tWith the birds of the air,\tAnd with the creeping things of the ground.\tBow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth,\tTo make them lie down safely. 19 \t“I will betroth you to Me forever;\tYes, I will betroth you to Me\tIn righteousness and justice,\tIn lovingkindness and mercy; 20 \tI will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,\tAnd you shall know the LORD. Throughout Scripture God speaks of the curses that come upon those who commit Spiritual Adultery and then it is followed by the blessings that come with Spiritual Faithfulness. Press on and listen to His voice, for He is near.In ChristJeff

No, not at all. what i am asking is these priests where still praticing thier worship and 'serving God' yet they were wicked and corrupt and taught others to be--my question is do you think that the warning against mistreating our spouses (e.g. you will have my wrath to content with) is applicable in this situation spiritually speaking.I guess the jest of it is i see alot of the same stuff Malaci did and it worries me. . .There are many ways that God can speak through the scriptures. One is to transpose the OT scripture into a NT context. In a sense this is contemporary exposition, opening and applying biblical truth to our present experience. Another way if for God sometimes to lift out a verse which He applies to your heart. It is His word,He can do with it as He will.Malachi is a very significant book, coming as it does before 400 years of divine silence. It is a suspended death sentence on the Levitical priesthood, and the promise of 'refined' priesthood that would be made possible by the Messenger of the Covenant; Christ.If God showing you how Malachi fits the present day, He is almost certainly calling you to prayer.

philologos wrote:Malachi is a very significant book, coming as it does before 400 years of divine silence. It is a suspended death sentence on the Levitical priesthood, and the promise of 'refined' priesthood that would be made possible by the Messenger of the Covenant; Christ.If God showing you how Malachi fits the present day, He is almost certainly calling you to prayer."Suspended death sentence on the Levitical priesthood", Yikes!I truly do feel as if there are some that operate in the same manner as those priests of old.So then, it would not be much of a stretch to consider marrying ourselves to worldly intecllect and reasoning of the world at large,making ourselves to some degree (i hope you do not hear what ia m not saying) divorced from the simple faith of our youht (e.g. the wife of our youth). hence we adopot an attitude of "What is the point of serving God, what can he do for me?" thereby bringing his rightesous judgment upon oursleves?

inotof wrote:So then, it would not be much of a stretch to consider marrying ourselves to worldly intecllect and reasoning of the world at large,making ourselves to some degree (i hope you do not hear what ia m not saying) divorced from the simple faith of our youht (e.g. the wife of our youth).That is a spiritual conclusion based on what God is speaking to you. Meditate on these verses: Rom. 7:1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. What do you hear?In ChristJeff

I truly do feel as if there are some that operate in the same manner as those priests of old.and perhaps if they had the ears to hear they would hear the same word..."Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you," says the LORD of hosts, "nor will I accept an offering from you. (Mal 1:10 NASB)In the main they ignored this word from God, and God had nothing more to say to them for over 400 years. But even in these dark days, and in our own...Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. (Mal 3:16-17 KJV)

Thank you all.