Psalm 106:1-18; Joel 3:1-2,9-17; 1 Pet. 1:1-12; Matt. 19:1-12
Joel’s vision of the end is of warfare where all are involved, where all are called to battle, where even the weak say, “I am a warrior.” All are called to the valley where the battle will rage and we get the sense in the prophecy that the prophet is standing above it all looking down on that valley and sees that in the end it is not the battle that matters but the Lord who uses it to judge the nations who have rebelled against Him and who have oppressed His people. They have been lured there for a battle but they have come for their own destruction as the Lord appears to save His people. Joel says that the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel. It will be a terrible time in the world, certainly it will look as though this will be the end of Israel, but in fact it will be the day of her deliverance.
Divorce is not the Lord’s will for our lives. Jesus is here speaking to religious people, not the world, and they want to know where He stands on the issue of divorce. Whenever they come to ask Jesus particular questions about issues, it is always because the rabbis were divided on that issue. There are some things about which Jesus never speaks and is never asked questions, those things that were so clear in the law that there was no division. They ask here because there was division between rabbinic schools concerning divorce. As always, Jesus does not appeal to rabbinic interpretations of Moses, He goes back to the clear word of the Lord from Genesis 2.24, before sin entered the world. We know what the will of God is in this matter, everything else is accommodation to sin. Jesus makes no accommodation at all. Divorce is something contrary to the will of God like every other sin in our lives and we are to work for righteousness. Can we receive that truth?
Our hope is the resurrection of the dead. We know that hope is secure in Jesus. Our lives should reflect the truth that we are not longing for things of this earth but we are longing for a heavenly reward, one that is undefiled and secure. If we are pursuing such a reward then it should be easy for others to identify us because our priorities and values will be different, out of sync with the world. We will see things differently and will live differently. The prophets only saw this salvation at a distance and through a glass darkly, we who live on the other side of Easter see things more clearly in that regard. We see that in the end all things will indeed be made new, a new creation, undefiled by human sin, will be our home, not simply a cleaned up old creation. We will go back to a Genesis 2 environment, the one to which Jesus always points.
Let us love the Lord Who bought us,
Pitied us when enemies,
Called us by His grace, and taught us,
Gave us ears and gave us eyes:
He has washed us with His blood,
He presents our souls to God.
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