The Extent of God's Commitment
(F. T. Wright)
The main point established in the previous chapter was that when Jehovah enters into a working or marriage relationship with one of His creatures, He will honor the arrangement with total faithfulness until either the partner removes himself through apostasy, or is taken in death. No matter how grievously the human agent may sin, the Lord neither discards nor replaces him. This shining example teaches that no matter how much our marriage partners sin against us, we never withdraw from them, nor withhold our support. Marriage is forever.
There will be those who can accept this when they know that the original appointment was of God as in the cases of Lucifer, Adam and Eve, Moses, David, Paul, and others, but what should be done when it is evident that God never intended that we form a working relationship with the person to whom we are united? Should steps be taken to undo the mistakes of the past by breaking up the marriage and then seeking God's guidance into a relationship with the person of His appointment?
This might seem to be quite a logical argument, but the Lord Himself, by His own sterling example, demonstrates that that is not His way. By witness after witness, He has declared that, even when He finds Himself involved in a relationship contrary to His will and against His perfect judgment, and which should never have been formed, He will honor the union as if it had been blessed with His approval from the beginning. Splendid examples of this are provided in the cases of Aaron, the seventy elders, King Saul, and Judas, to indicate only some of those in this category. The positions in the Lord's work in which each of these were established were due to serious unbelief. If the people involved in the appointment of each of these had exercised strong, intelligent faith, none of these would ever have been given the places they occupied for the remainder of their lives. But, once the Lord gave them their places, even though it was the fruit of unbelief, He never took it away from them, but worked with them to whatever extent they let Him until death terminated the marriage. Let each of these tragic stories be studied one by one so that this point can be clearly seen, and so that we shall become extremely careful about promoting anyone to any position in our lives or in the church, and so that, once we have, we will know that we have to honor the step taken until apostasy or death terminates the arrangement.
We will begin with Aaron.
The crisis which developed in the Israelite encampment when Moses was called to the top of Mt. Sinai, "... demanded a man of firmness, decision, and unflinching courage; one who held the honor of God above popular favor, personal safety, or life itself. But the present leader of Israel was not of this character. Aaron feebly remonstrated with the people, but his wavering and timidity at the critical moment only rendered them the more determined." Patriarchs and Prophets, 316.
When the Lord tells us in His word that Aaron did not have the character required to cope with that situation, we are led to question why Aaron was chosen of God to fill this responsibility during Moses' absence. God seems to have left Himself open to the charge of injustice by expecting more from this man than he was capable of giving. But, no charge can be laid against the Lord for Aaron's appointment and failure. This becomes very clear when consideration is given to the circumstances which led to Aaron's elevation to the position of Moses' assistant, a position he was given because of Moses' unbelief.
When, at the burning bush, the Lord directed Moses to return to Egypt to lead the Israelites from Egyptian bondage to occupation of the promised land, Moses staggered before the sheer immensity of the task before him. He had no illusions about the awesome power of Egypt, for, as the general of her armies, he had once wielded that mighty power. He understood how helpless his people were by comparison. Furthermore, he, the once proud crown prince of what was then the world's mightiest nation, had fled in disgrace after having murdered a slave master whom he caught flogging an Israelite. Even the Lord's people would have regarded him as a failure despite the fact that it had been prophesied by the angels that Moses was the divinely-appointed instrument of their deliverance. Even if his own people still had confidence in him, he had none in himself and could only believe that they saw him as he saw himself. Add to all this the fact that he had become a very humble man indeed and had lost all aspirations toward leadership, and one can understand from the human point of view with what dismay he must have viewed the commission to return to Egypt.
So, Moses began to raise strenuous objections to the Lord's directives. "But Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?'" Exodus 3:11.
In response, the Lord assured him that he would not go in his own strength but that Jehovah, the almighty One, would assuredly go with him and give him complete success.
"So He said, 'I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.' " Exodus 3:12.
This should have been enough, but Moses persisted with his objections.
"Then Moses said to God, 'Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, "The God of your fathers has sent me to you," and they say to me, "What is His name?" what shall I say to them?'" Exodus 3:13.
Patiently, the Lord responded to this question which was in reality an objection. "And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And He said, 'Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you."'
"Moreover God said to Moses, 'Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: "The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent Me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations."'" Exodus 3:14, 15.
God then proceeded to give Moses some specific instructions in regard to what he was to do on arrival in Egypt together with the positive assurance that the Israelites would not doubt his mission. He also warned him that Pharaoh would not immediately obey, but would resist the divine injunction. Still Moses raised objections as he sought a way of escape from his responsibilities. "Then Moses answered and said, 'But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, "The Lord has not appeared to you."'" Exodus 4:1.
There was in fact no such supposition, for the Lord had plainly said: "Then they will heed your voice...." Exodus 3:18. To suppose that the Israelites might not believe him in the face of such a plain assurance from the Omniscient, was blatant unbelief, yet Moses did it.
With infinite patience, the Lord continued to labor with His reluctant servant. To really convince him that he was divinely called and that his mission could not fail, He worked two miracles in his presence--the changing of Moses' rod into a serpent and back to a rod again; and the infecting of his hand with leprosy, followed by its cleansing. In addition, he was promised that, when he came to Egypt, he would repeat these signs both in the presence of the elders and the king. If these did not sweep away any unbelief on the part of the Jewish leaders and Pharaoh, he was to take water from the Nile and pour it on the dry land where it would be changed into blood. Still, Moses drew back.
"Then Moses said to the Lord, 'O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.'" Exodus 4:10.
Now, notice carefully what the Lord's solution to this problem was. It was to endow Moses with the power of utterance so he would have no problem in this regard. It definitely was not at this stage to offer him a spokesman in the person of Aaron. "So the Lord said to him, 'Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?
"'Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.'" Exodus 4:11, 12.
Thus God answered every objection raised against His instructions and Moses should have surrendered his unbelief and trustingly obeyed the divine commission and stepped out in the Lord's strength. Instead, he, after all that, virtually refused to go at all by telling the Lord to send someone else. "But he said, 'O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.'" Exodus 4:13.
This was a most serious manifestation of unbelief, the implications of which are expressed in these words: "But when we give ourselves wholly to God and in our work follow His directions, He makes Himself responsible for its accomplishment. He would not have us conjecture as to the success of our honest endeavors. Not once should we even think of failure. We are to cooperate with One who knows no failure.
Picture: God will yet call men from different occupations even as He called Moses from minding sheep, and it is false humility and unbelief for the one called of God to argue back, as Moses did, that he is unqualified to fill the position to which the Lord has appointed him. We are to believe that all His biddings are His enablings.
"We should not talk of our own weakness and inability. This is a manifest distrust of God, a denial of His word. When we murmur because of our burdens, or refuse the responsibilities He calls upon us to bear, we are virtually saying that He is a hard master, that He requires what He has not given us power to do.
"The spirit of the slothful servant we are often fain to call humility. But true humility is widely different. To be clothed with humility does not mean that we are to be dwarfs in intellect, deficient in aspiration, and cowardly in our lives, shunning burdens lest we fail to carry them successfully. Real humility fulfills God's purposes by depending upon His strength.
"God works by whom He will. He sometimes selects the humblest instrument to do the greatest work, for His power is revealed through the weakness of men. We have our standard, and by it we pronounce one thing great and another small; but God does not estimate according to our rule. We are not to suppose that what is great to us must be great to God, or that what is small to us must be small to Him. It does not rest with us to pass judgment on our talents or to choose our work. We are to take up the burdens that God appoints, bearing them for His sake, and ever going to Him for rest. Whatever our work, God is honored by wholehearted, cheerful service. He is pleased when we take up our duties with gratitude, rejoicing that we are accounted worthy to be co-laborers with Him." Christ's Object Lessons, 363, 364.
It is unbelief to do otherwise, and Moses' continued opposition to God's direction was not the manifestation of true humility, which "... fulfills God's purposes by depending upon His strength", but of unbelief. Moses was charging God in effect with not knowing what He was doing, and that He could make a far wiser choice for the position. This was to infer that God was unable to decide what was best for the work, and that Moses was better able to make these evaluations than was the Almighty. It was a very serious stand for Moses to make, and it was fortunate that He was dealing with a loving God and not with an earthly potentate.
Now, notice carefully that it was when Moses rejected God's way, which was to give him fluent utterance, that the Lord gave him his way by appointing Aaron to be the spokesman in place of Moses. This course would never have been adopted if Moses had reacted in true humility and, in simple, living faith had believed in and laid hold of the promise of God: "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?
"Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say." Exodus 4:11, 12.
In response, Moses should have thanked the Lord for this assurance and promptly made arrangements for his departure for Egypt, but, instead, he said: "O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send."
Then it was, and only then, when Moses had rejected God's way, that Aaron was chosen. "So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: 'Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
"'Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.
"'So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God.
"'And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.'" Exodus 4:14-17.
Thus it was through unbelief that Aaron was elevated to stand next to Moses in the administration of God's will in Israel. Even though such an appointment should never have been made; even though it was the fruit of unbelief; even though Aaron did not possess the strength of character needed to fill his position satisfactorily to the honor of God, and the blessing of Israel; once his appointment had been made, God honored it to the end. 
Picture: While Moses was away on the mountain, Aaron was left in charge of the camp by God's appointment. It was a task he so mishandled as to cause tragic consequences.
Therefore, when Moses left the encampment and climbed Mt. Sinai, the Lord was left with no other choice than to place the entire encampment under his jurisdiction, even though there must have been more competent men in Israel, with the capacity to maintain law and order. Once Aaron had been selected as Moses' assistant, Moses' assistant he was, and it was for this reason that he was appointed to the high priesthood. It certainly was not due to his competence nor to any recommendations from his past performances. It was all the sad outworking of Moses' unbelief.
A distinction should be made between the goodness of Aaron on one hand and his capacities on the other. Without a doubt, he was a good man thanks to the righteousness established in him by the Lord, and by parental training. He loved the Lord and His cause, and was glad to forsake Egypt for the journey through the desert to the promised land.
But, to serve the Lord successfully, one must have more than righteousness; he must also be blessed with a range of qualifications adequate for the faithful fulfillment of the task before him.
Let us now proceed to the story of the appointment of the seventy elders.
Many people confuse this with the assignment of magistrates and judges to handle the courts of petty sessions which were making too great a demand on Moses' time. This was done through the counsel given by Jethro when, on delivering his daughter, Zipporah, Moses' wife, to her husband, he observed the unnecessary burden placed on Moses. This organizational step was taken before they even reached Mt. Sinai.
The elevation of the seventy elders took place after they left Mt. Sinai where they had spent nearly a year receiving the law, building the sanctuary, and having the sacrificial system more comprehensively established among them. (See Patriarchs and Prophets, 374.)
"A distance of only eleven days' journey lay between Sinai and Kadesh, on the borders of Canaan...." Patriarchs and Prophets, 376, but what eventful days they proved to be. Their pathway lay through a very terrible area where no one dwelt or even traveled and, after three days, the mixed multitude began their miserable murmuring once more. It soon spread to the entire encampment, and "Again they began to clamor for flesh to eat." Patriarchs and Prophets, 377.
Things moved from bad to worse until they were in a state of serious rebellion made worse by the wonderful revelations of truth given them at Sinai, and because of the solemn covenant they had formed with God there. They were far more responsible than they had been before the illumination received at Sinai, and their evil course brought swifter retribution. "Their murmuring was now rebellion, and as such it must receive prompt and signal punishment, if Israel was to be preserved from anarchy and ruin. 'The fire of Jehovah burned among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.' The most guilty of the complainers were slain by the lightning from the cloud." Patriarchs and Prophets, 379.
In terror and desperation, the people pleaded with Moses to entreat the Lord to stay the destruction, which he did, and the fire was quenched.
One would expect that the people would have been deeply repentant and very much afraid to repeat their sin, "But the evil was soon worse than before. Instead of leading the survivors to humiliation and repentance, this fearful judgment seemed only to increase their murmurings. In all directions the people were gathered at the door of their tents, weeping and lamenting." Patriarchs and Prophets, 379.
This was a tremendous trial for Moses which he seemed to feel was too much for him to bear though in fact it was not.
"The heart of Moses sank. He had pleaded that Israel should not be destroyed, even though his own posterity might then become a great nation. In his love for them he had prayed that his name might be blotted from the book of life rather than that they should be left to perish. He had imperiled all for them, and this was their response. All their hardships, even their imaginary sufferings, they charged upon him; and their wicked murmurings made doubly heavy the burden of care and responsibility under which he staggered. In his distress he was tempted even to distrust God. His prayer was almost a complaint. 'Wherefore hast Thou afflicted Thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favor in Thy sight, that Thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? ... Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.'" Patriarchs and Prophets, 379, 380.
It is evident that this mighty man of God had taken his eyes from his Source and focused them on himself. He had no thought for the way in which God was being rewarded for His mercy and goodness to the people, but only for the way in which he was being treated. "He had imperiled all for them, and this was their response." These words sum up the way that he felt and, in his prayer, he talked only of the fearful burdens which had been laid upon him, and which he declared were too much for him to bear.
It is surprising that Moses reacted the way he did when he was one of the greatest men in all human history and carries the distinction of being the meekest person ever to live on this earth apart from Christ Himself, as it is written: "Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth." Numbers 12:3.
"Moses was the greatest man who ever stood as leader of the people of God. He was greatly honored by God, not for the experience which he had gained in the Egyptian court, but because he was the meekest of men. God talked with him face to face, as a man talks with a friend. If men desire to be honored by God, let them be humble. Those who carry forward God's work should be distinguished from all others by their humility. Of the man who is noted for his meekness, Christ says, He can be trusted. Through him I can reveal Myself to the world. He will not weave into the web any threads of selfishness. I will manifest Myself to him as I do not to the world." The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 1:1113.
Furthermore, this wonderful man had just spent forty days and nights alone with God on the mountain. During that time, he had received marvelous revelations of the power, perfection, goodness, righteousness, and holiness of God. When he emerged from the divine presence, his face shone with so bright a light that the people could not even look at him. He had to cover his face with a veil.
One would expect that, after all this, he would have been sealed against the temptation to indulge in self-pity and in murmuring against God. But he was not, as the record demonstrates. He seemed to have lost sight of the wonderful revelations of God's righteousness and power. It was as if he had never spent those forty days with God on the mountain.
What a solemn warning is contained in this story! If Moses could fail as he did, then where stand we who have received far less by way of spiritual advantages than he had. We are now led to realize that we can never for a moment relax with the thought that we are immune to temptation. Constant guard must be maintained against the devices of the enemy.
Whenever we take our eyes off our Source and fix them on ourselves and our troubles, we can be sure that our burdens will rapidly increase in magnitude. They will appear to grow larger and larger until they so fill our entire consciousness, that there will be space for no other consideration. The inevitable and inescapable consequence of this is that unbelief will displace faith, and moves will be made which shall seriously harm the Lord's work. So it was in the case of Moses!
When he had uttered his prayer of unbelief and selfish murmuring, God, even though He knew that the solution, though at first beneficial to Moses and Israel, would soon bring serious evils into the camp, accepted Moses' plea and commissioned the appointment of the seventy elders.
Picture: After spending forty days and nights in continual face to face communion with God in the Person of Jesus Christ, Moses was able to let go the arm of faith, indulge in self-pity and evil murmuring, and manifest unbelief. It was because of this that the seventy elders were chosen and appointed. How guarded then each one of us needs to be, against the ever-present danger of falling.
"The Lord hearkened to his prayer, and directed him to summon seventy men of the elders of Israel--men not only advanced in years, but possessing dignity, sound judgment, and experience. 'And bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation,' He said, 'that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.'" Patriarchs and Prophets, 380.
This was God's solution to the problem, but, let it be emphasized that not one of the seventy would have been given that position but for Moses' unbelief. It was his breakdown of faith that resulted in the seventy elders being appointed. That is made clear in the next paragraph after the one just quoted above.
"The Lord permitted Moses to choose for himself the most faithful and efficient men to share the responsibility with him. Their influence would assist in holding in check the violence of the people, and quelling insurrection; yet serious evils would eventually result from their promotion. They would never have been chosen had Moses manifested faith corresponding to the evidences he had witnessed of God's power and goodness. But he had magnified his own burdens and services, almost losing sight of the fact that he was only the instrument by which God had wrought. He was not excusable in indulging, in the slightest degree, the spirit of murmuring that was the curse of Israel. Had he relied fully upon God, the Lord would have guided him continually and would have given him strength for every emergency."
Thus, the word of God makes it abundantly clear that the seventy, like Aaron, would never have been appointed to their special position if Moses had not been unbelieving. But, once they were, even though the appointments should never have been, and even though they were to bring great damage to the Lord's work, He honored them just the same. The seventy went on to eventually become the Sanhedrin, the most powerful body of men in the Jewish organization, and the group who condemned Christ to death and induced the Romans to crucify Him. What worse outworking than that could be imagined.
The next witness to which consideration will be given is the replacement of the theocracy in Israel with a monarchy, a kingdom like the kings around about them. The movement began with the people, who, making the corrupt behavior of Samuel's sons the pretext, asked for a king to match those found in the neighboring nations. Samuel was saddened by this development and with a burdened heart took the matter to the Lord.
No one knew better than Jehovah just what the people were really bringing on themselves, and, in His limitless love and mercy, He commissioned Samuel to clearly set before them what the king would impose on them. It was a truthful description designed to deliver them from making so terrible a mistake. Firstly, they were informed that the monarch would take their sons and daughters to cultivate his fields, lead his armies, and, in general, take care of the king's interests no matter what the needs of the populace might be. Next, they were warned that he would take the best of their lands, orchards, and vineyards for himself, thus making himself rich at the expense of his subjects.
Then the Lord solemnly warned them: "And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day." 1 Samuel 8:18.
When the Lord spoke those words, He was advising them that it was much easier to enter into a marriage than it was to dissolve it. In other words, once they had instituted a kingship, then the Lord would honor and recognize the new order of things until the death of the kingdom, an event which took place when the Jews rejected their Messiah and crucified Him. The new movement that was put together by Christ and His ministry through the apostles, left behind the idea of an earthly kingdom forever.
Despite these solemn warnings, the people were insistent on the Lord's giving them a king as it is written: "Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, 'No, but we will have a king over us.
"'that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.'" 1 Samuel 8:19, 20.
It was then and only then on the insistence of the people, that the Lord chose a king for them. As a demonstration of His not being in accord with what they had done, He selected a man from the tribe of Benjamin, and not from Judah, the tribe to which the kingly promises appertained. While initially the plan seemed to work very well, it was not long before the noble King Saul became a harsh despot, proving the truth of the Lord's words.
Picture: God never intended that a monarchy should be established in Israel, but, when the people insisted on it, the Lord gave them their king. Thereafter, the Lord worked with each king as far as possible until the monarchy finally came to its own end.
Why, against the best advice that could be given them from the highest and most reliable possible source, were the people so determined to have their king?
It was because they were cursed with a wicked heart of unbelief. Even though it was without any justification whatsoever, they had lost confidence in God as their leader, and desired a visible authority in place of the invisible. Unbelief in Moses case led to the appointment of Aaron firstly, and later of the seventy elders. So it was unbelief which caused the Lord to appoint the first king of Israel. But for this sad spiritual decay in Israel which dated back to their acquiring swords and other weapons, there never would have been a call for a king, and none would ever have been given them.
But even though the matter sprang from unbelief, and was contrary to the divine principles, as ever, God went the second mile and gave them what they demanded. Furthermore, it was not on a trial basis, for the Lord does not believe in trial marriages. With Him, marriage is forever. Therefore, once He had given them their king, He would respect the new order of things as long as it lasted.
As mentioned in the last chapter, "Marriage is Forever", David showed that he understood these principles by refusing to take the king's life when he was presented with the opportunity to do so on two occasions.
The last example that we will consider in this chapter is that of Judas, already examined to some extent in the previous chapter. The point to be stressed here is that, if the eleven disciples had been blessed with simple, trusting faith in Jesus, Judas would never have been chosen. Those men felt that Judas was just the right man to have a good influence on the leading classes, and they as positively urged his presence among them as did the Jews in Samuel's time ask for a king. For the same reasons and on the operation of the same principles that God gave them an earthly monarchy, Christ accepted Judas as a disciple. Once that was done, even though this man was forever manipulating things to his own advantage and according to his narrow ideas, Jesus withheld nothing from him that He gave to the other disciples. When the disciples were sent out on their missionary tour, Judas was sent with them endowed with the same power to cast out devils, heal the sick, and preach the gospel. Of course, Jesus knew that Judas would preach his version of the gospel emphasizing the kingdom of earthly grandeur and glory rather than the spiritual kingdom of grace.
Yet, knowing all this, once that union with Judas as a fellow worker had been established, Christ acknowledged it, respected it, and, without violating his own principles, related to Judas as if he were doing everything correctly. In other words, Jesus never let the failure of Judas to fulfill his responsibilities affect Him in any way in His relation to Judas. This is doubtless the finest example of this principle of operation to be found anywhere in history.
There is one seeming contradiction to this principle to which we shall now turn our attention.
Of necessity, there must be twelve numbered apostles even as there were twelve numbered tribes of Israel. So, when Judas took his life, there was a vacancy to be filled, a task undertaken by Christ's disciples after the ascension of Jesus, but before Pentecost. The record of it is found in Acts 1:15-26. Peter led out. Quoting Scripture to support his position, he advised the church that the place left vacant by Judas had to be filled and two names were proposed--Justus and Matthias. After praying that the Lord would guide them in the selection of the right man, they cast lots, and Matthias was selected. Henceforth, he was supposed to be the replacement for Judas.
It is quite amazing that they could have taken such a work upon themselves when they ought to have left it entirely in Christ's hands. They needed only to remember that those disciples whom Christ had chosen were all true and faithful, whereas the one whom they had urged on Christ had proved unfaithful. They should have recalled that they had never received any commission to call anyone to the work of God, but had plainly been instructed to "... ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into the harvest", when it was found that the reaping time had come and the laborers were few. Matthew 9:37, 38.
Despite these clear instructions, no sooner was Jesus no longer with them than they took His work upon themselves and were confident that they had God's guidance and approval to the point where they believed that Matthias was indeed the replacement for Judas.
But the Lord manifestly did not share this conviction. There is not even a hint of His recognizing Matthias. Instead, a short time after Pentecost, the Lord chose someone else, Paul, to be the twelfth apostle. Matthias is never heard of again.
There are several factors present in the appointment of Matthias which also marked the call of Aaron, the seventy elders, King Saul, and Judas, yet we do not find the Lord giving Matthias the same recognition He gave the others. There must be a very valid and important reason for this and there is.
In the cases listed above apart from Matthias, the Lord personally chose someone to fill a position made necessary because of unbelief. It was God who selected Aaron; directed Moses to appoint seventy elders; chose Saul by name; and accepted Judas among the twelve. But, in the case of Matthias, God had nothing to do with it. He did not appear in answer to their prayers to name Matthias as the chosen one. No working relationship was formed between God and Matthias as there was between God and Aaron, the seventy, and so on. Therefore, the Lord was quite free from any obligations toward Matthias, and could select anyone whom He wished for the position, for, so far as He was concerned, Matthias was not installed in the office of the twelfth apostle. (See Entering into God's Sabbath Rest, 360-368)
By these and other examples the Lord has confirmed in the mouth of two or three and more witnesses just how He relates to anyone with whom He has formed a working relationship. By so doing, He has shown precisely how we are to relate to a partner with whom we should never have been joined in the first case. He has assured us that, once the marriage has been formed, the Lord's way is for us to honor the bond until death dissolves the union. Only if the other person refuses God's way and initiates a divorce can we be free from any further responsibility to that relationship.
When one is suffering within a partnership which should never have been formed in the first instance, it is very tempting for that one to see in the dissolution of that partnership, the solution to the problem. For such a one, it would be an immense relief to be liberated from the unrewarding, unsatisfying marriage, and be free to start again on a correct basis. Therefore, it comes as a very great test to realize that the Lord has not provided this way of escape. Instead, He has called on us to dismiss from our minds all thoughts of separation and fresh beginnings. We are to realize that marriage is for life, and that, by the grace of God, we can give the same high and noble demonstration of love that Jesus gave. To love when that love is unrequited, is the greatest demonstration of divine love. Others may have easier access to legitimate, earthly happiness, but you will have nobility which brings greater happiness and satisfaction.