the Creator made them male and female and said,
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?
So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.”
We recall what Paul says about this. "This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church." Superficially, we read that divorce was once permitted but now no longer OK. But there is more to what Jesus is saying that that.
God is so faithful to us. If he were going to divorce his people we already gave him plenty of reason to do so. Yet he remains faithful to us. He gives Abraham descendants, delivers Moses from Egypt, guides his people thorough the desert. He leads them across the Jordan and into the promised land. He does this for us in spite of our weakness. He does this for us in spite of our failings.
They fought against you, but I delivered them into your power.
You took possession of their land, and I destroyed them,
Our love is called to be faithful in the same way. Our marriages especially are called to mirror the fidelity of God toward his people. What he joins must not be separated. But his fidelity comes first. His mercy endures forever. It is his own love and mercy which make possible the kind of human relationships to which we are called. Without this, he permits divorce because our hearts are too hard. We can't live out the call to love without grace. But we have found grace. We have experienced the fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel.
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.a You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God (cf. Eze. 36:25-28).
God's mercy frees us from our foes. It can even free us from the foes which set themselves against our relationships day to day. His mercy endures forever. It can even triumph over our own hard hearts and empower us to live the call he places on our lives.
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (cf. Phi. 3:14).
Let us rely on his faithfulness to produce mercy in us which is supernaturally steadfast and utterly unwavering. No foe can oppose him if we only trust him.
Who led his people through the wilderness,
for his mercy endures forever;
Who smote great kings,
for his mercy endures forever;
And slew powerful kings,
for his mercy endures forever.
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