Marriage & Covenant!

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

February 29, 2012


(“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt – Beth Chesed, Tacoma - October 11, 2006)*


 *“MARRIAGE: BOTH A PARABLE & A COVENANT”*


 In our Western Culture, Separation and Divorce in marriage has reached
proportions that often show little difference in statistics either within
or without the church. How could such a state of events come to pass? First
of all because of ignorance of God’s point of view on this. And secondly –
because in America we have lost our understanding of the distinction
between mental belief and discipleship.


 Look for instance at the high calling of a man and woman into marriage as
outlined in Ephesians 5:21-33. When a man and woman take the solemn vows of
living together as husband and wife, they are illustrating as one flesh –
what Christ is to His church as “one spirit”.


 Everything Moses acted out by God’s command as he recorded in Genesis
through Deuteronomy, was a shadow or type of the New Covenant to come – as
Christ would fulfill it. Because Christ would die but once for the
remission of our sins – Moses broke this type by striking the rock a second
time. Because he failed to honor God before Israel in correctly acting out
the type, he and Aaron lost the privilege of entering the Promised Land.
Joshua took Moses’ place for this honor.


 So what does God think when married couples break the type and shadow
pointing to Christ and His church – by so easily settling for divorce? On
this JESUS IS ADAMANT: Saving for the cause of fornication -- illegal sex
outside of the marriage relationship – there can be no divorce in the eyes
of God. Fornication includes adultery, the illegal act of homosexuality,
bestiality, and all other acts of perversion. For such, divorce is
permissible.


 So, marriage as a parable according to the above passage of Scripture,
makes it far more highly important than most of us are aware of.


 But – what of marriage as a Covenant? Some years ago, just preceding his
second marriage, Derek Prince wrote a book entitled, “The Marriage
Covenant.” It is a pity that this book is not more widely known and
practiced. For Covenant is one of the 4 great Words of the Old Testament.
To understand it (B’rith) plus “Chesed” – “Covenant Love” or Grace or Mercy
– would completely transform our thinking on this matter – and enable our
mind to be renewed and come into conformity with the thinking of God.


 “Chesed” – or Covenant Love – is the glue that holds the Marriage
Covenant, and all other Covenants – together.


 In Malachi 2 God talks first about the Covenant that He made with the
Levites and Priests. He carries on in sharing His deep upset with their
lifestyle. He says, You cry out, “Why has the LORD abandoned us?” I’ll tell
you why! Because the LORD witnessed the vows you and your wife made with
each other on your wedding day when you were young. But you have been
disloyal to her, though she remained your faithful companion, the wife of
your marriage vows. 15 Didn’t the LORD make you one with your wife? In *body
* and in *spirit* YOU ARE HIS. And what does he want? Godly children from
your union. So guard yourself; remain loyal to the wife of your youth.
16‘FOR I HATE DIVORCE!” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “It is as
cruel as
putting on a victim’s bloodstained coat,” says the LORD Almighty. “So guard
yourself; always remain loyal to your wife” (Malachi 2:14-16). And of
course in our enlightened culture with equality of the sexes – the same
words today apply to the wife for her loyalty to her husband!


 One might say – “But that is Old Testament, and we are freed from law and
are under grace.” Oh? But the moral law contained in the Old Testament has
been repeated by Jesus and His apostles in the New Testament! And Jeremiah
states that God will make a New Covenant with Israel, and write THE WORDS
OF THE TORAH (the moral law) on our minds and hearts by the Holy Spirit,
and the Spirit within us will live out through us the moral law in the
spirit, which Israel could not keep under the Mosaic Covenant (Jeremiah
31:31-40). And remember – You and I who are non-Jews but Gentiles, have
been grafted into Israel’s roots, and with them are “One New Man” in
Christ. Romans 9-11 clearly states these truths, and show that in God’s
thinking the Church has not replaced Israel. Rather, because of the
benefits the church has received through our Jewish Hebraic Roots – we have
the privilege of praying Israel who has returned in unbelief to their land
– into a nation to be born again in a day, and to receive Jesus as their
Messiah – the One they rejected 2000 years ago.


 Just how does the Marriage as a Covenant impinge upon us? We in the
Western world have much to learn from the Middle East and from the Third
World countries. Stanley found David Livingstone in Africa because of “The
Blood Covenant.” See E. W. Kenyon’s book with this title.


 Watkin Roberts demonstrated the power of this concept. God garnered this
Welshman into His Kingdom during the Welsh Revival of 1904. He went to
India as a missionary in 1910. In response to his gift of the Gospel of
John to every Tribal Chieftain in Assam, Manipur and the other 3 NE
Provinces of India, the Chieftain of the Senvon village of Assam invited
him to come and tell his Hmar people more. A problem: the chieftain had
taken 600 British heads in one day 40 years previously, and that part of
India had been closed to all Europeans since 1870.


 Mr. Roberts however prevailed upon the Maharaja of Manipur in Imphal, to
let him go to Senvon for 10 days. The first 7 days of his preaching was
fruitless. His interpreter told him that if on the way in – he hadn’t
talked so much about Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London – he, the
interpreter, could have told him of the customs of his people, which would
have served as Kingdom principles. As conditions existed, the people of
Senvon hadn’t understood a thing the missionary had said during the first 7
days.


 Roberts humbled himself to his interpreter, and begged for help. “Well”,
said the interpreter, “there’s not much time left, but here is one of the
most significant customs of all the 300 tribes in these 5 Provinces. It is
called ‘The Border Crossing Sacrifice.’ When tribes are not taking heads
from outsiders, they are taking heads from one another. When one Chieftain
tires of this, he goes to the border between the two warring tribes and
signals the other chieftain by blowing a horn, or beating a drum. The
message says, ‘I’m tired of taking and losing heads. Are you too? Come meet
me at the Border, and we’ll settle this thing.’


 “If the other Chieftain agrees and responds, they come and face each other
across the Border. Their elders flank them in a semi-circle, and do the
palavering. Should a solution be agreed upon, they kill a sacrifice on the
Border. The two Chiefs then reach down into the sacrificial blood, and
smear one another with it. They then take a cup of wine, cut themselves in
their wrists – drip a few drops of their own blood into the wine, stir it,
and both then drink of it. They then take a very solemn vow or oath, that
if either breaks this Covenant, their own elders will do to them what
happened to the Border Crossing sacrifice. They also exchange gifts.”


 Watkin Roberts shared the above story with the Village people that
8thnight. They immediately brightened up for the first time in 7 days.
“Oh,
the missionary is getting smart,” they said. “That’s a very good story!
That’s exactly the way we do it!” For the first time they understood him.
He then applied the story as a parable. The great God of Heaven who created
all things: heaven and earth – all living creatures including man – has
great sorrow in His heart, because mankind has moved away from Him. So
without a drum sound or a horn – He came to the border between God and man.
There He sacrificed His only begotten Son. Then He blew the horn and beat
the drum and announced: “All who meet Me and embrace Me over the blood of
My Son – I will forgive him, restore him, and bring Him into my family
again.”


 Five young men responded. Chawnga Pudaite, son of the chieftain, was one.
He memorized much of the New Testament and taught it to his people. Today
over 80% of the Hmar, his former head-hunting tribal people, have embraced
God over Jesus, God’s Border Crossing Sacrifice. Within a few years, 15
other tribes were evangelized.


 Now consider the Marriage Covenant! A solemn vow is given by the groom to
the bride, and then by the bride to the groom. On Saturday, October 7th,
the 1st day of the Feast of Tabernacles, my grandson Seth heard me say,
“Seth, will you have this woman to be your wedded wife, to live together
after God’s holy Ordinance, in the Holy Estate of Matrimony? Will you love
her, comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health; and,
forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her, so long as you both
shall live?” Seth answered, “I will.” Then in turn Jennifer answered
affirmatively to the same question.


 Then they solidified the above Question and Answer, by this exchange of
vows, following the joining of their right hands: “I Seth, take you
Jennifer, to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for
better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, To love
and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God’s holy ordinance;
And to this I give you my pledge.” They then separated hands, and upon
rejoining them, Jennifer repeated this vow to Seth.


 Often in a marriage ceremony Communion (Eucharist or the Lord’s Supper) is
celebrated. This speaks of the Border Crossing Sacrifice.


 Then in a double ring ceremony, an exchange of rings takes place, with a
further vow: “With this ring I thee wed, And with all my worldly goods I
thee endow: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.”


 Next comes the Covenant Prayer of Confirmation: “Lord, SEAL this Covenant
Marriage with its exchange of rings, and with its exchange of vows. Let
Your Blessing be upon this marriage. And may the LORD bless you and keep
you: The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious unto you. The
LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” (Before Stanley
found Livingstone, he went through this with a Chieftain far south of
Livingstone.)


 Then there is the ceremony of lighting the “Unity Candle” from two servant
candles, which are then put out, signifying that two lives have now become
one flesh.


 The cutting of the wedding cake, sometimes done with a sword – could
signify the cutting of the Border Crossing Sacrifice.


 *NOTE: *My oldest grandson Seth and Jennifer his bride, asked if I would
give the above as the Homily at their Wedding. Some would not know of the
Solemnity and Importance of Marriage, and they felt it would be good for
them to know. Others present would know, but perhaps it could deepen their
understanding, or stir up their minds in remembrance.


 Many came up to me following the service to thank me for the enlightenment
they received in seeing so clearly how Marriage is both a Solemn Parable
and an Important Covenant. I had to tell them: “You must thank the Bride
and Groom – It was at their request that I gave this Homily for their
Wedding. They had read together Derek Prince’s “The Marriage Covenant”,
which we had previously given them as a gift. My wife Marie had lent them 8
other books on Marriage, of which they had already read four.


 THIS is the way to enter into the “Halls of Highest Human Happiness” – a
Peter Marshall synonym for “Marriage.”


 King Solomon agrees with Peter Marshall. In Ecclesiastes 9:9 (NLT) he
says: “Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless
days of life that God gives you in this world. The wife God gives you is
your reward for all your earthly toil.”


 Both Marie and I believe that to enter into Marriage like Seth and
Jennifer – based on the above two-fold understanding – is a wonderful
foundation and safeguard.


 In our regular mailings – we seldom mention personal or family matters.
But I was so impressed at the request of Seth and Jennifer for the above
Homily, that I felt it deserved an exception.


 Your friends – Jim & Marie Watt


 P.S. Five of our grandsons were present for the above occasion. One of
them had a question for me after the ceremony. “Grandpa – what has all the
taking of those heads to do with marriage and a wedding ceremony?” I tried
to tell him that the Border Crossing Sacrifice was an illustration of “The
Blood Covenant”. Marriage is a Covenant, and all covenants are based upon
the Great Shedding of Blood by Jesus. Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the
Christ” is apropos in this respect. The background of the Headhunting Hmar
tribe of N.E. India was partly an illustration of Covenant, and the actual
detail leading up to making a Covenant would not in Marriage be fully
Germaine to the subject – yet would be valid as the background of the
illustration.


 His response was: “I still don’t get the connection.” But at least it
shows that this pre-teenager is a serious thinker! He will eventually take
it in his stride. But just think how THIS will prepare him for his own
marriage one day! Marie felt this P.S. would be an important addendum. J &
M.



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