The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Carri C. during the 2007-2008 League.
Biblical Report on "Sanctity of Marriage"
Marriage and Matrimony are defined as: A close union, the legal relationship into which a man and a women enter for the purpose of making a home and usually raising a family. Sanctity is defined as: The quality or state of being holy or sacred. Other words such as these are Wedlock (The state of being married), Purity (Freedom from impurities, freedom from guilt or sin), Holy (Set apart to the service of God), and Piety (State or fact of being pious-having/showing love for God).
In the traditional and Biblical sense, marriage is sacred and held in the highest regard. In modern views, marriage is not respected as it should be, and has been twisted.
As I said, the Bible holds marriage in high honor."Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral." Hebrews 13:4 There was even a law for sending a man to war after marriage, "If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married." Dueteronomy 24:5
Marriage is also binding, "...By law a woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage." Romans 7:2 God also hates divorce and forbids married people to divorce, "I hate divorce, says the Lord God of Isreal..." Malachi 2:16 "Any man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her." Mark 10:11 This verse also alludes to adultery, another sin of marriage that God hates. He says in the 10 Commandments, "You shall not commit adultery." Exodus 20:14
God even uses marriage to explain the second coming of Christ in Revelations 19:6-9, "Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting, 'Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory. For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride had made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.' (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints). Then the angel said to me, 'Write: blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'" The bride is a symbol of the church, of Christians in the world. When Christ returns, He will "marry" the church/Christians.
Today, marriage is not honored. Couples all over divorce more than once in their lifetime, some couples simply don't get married and just live together. Some people have over 10 wives, some people are married to more than 1 woman and none of the women know about the others. Some men are married and commit adultery every day and with many women. And some people are marrying people of the same sex.
We need to honor marriage, just as God did, and we need to portray its beauty to the rest of the world.
