Why Are Marriages Failing - Sign of the End Times?

Why are so many marriages failing today? And is that an indication that we are living in the end times? Blessings to Israel presents Discerning the Times, a program committed to encouraging you to view current events through the lens of the Bible. In honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, please join us for today's program. Welcome to Discerning the Times. It is a blessing to be with you once again this week.

My name is Brian Thomas, and today I want to explore a topic that is quite different than what we normally do here on this podcast. We typically look at current events and see what does the Bible have to say, if anything, about it concerning the end times. But today I want to look at the topic of marriage and well, how does it possibly relate to the end times? Because when we look around today, I think all of us out there know multiple people who are divorced. And for those of us who know anyone that that is still married, it seems like everybody is miserable. If you know people who have been married for more than two years and they seem to be happy is very rare.

You're quite shocked when you see that. So marriages are really, really struggling today. And I felt it on my heart to talk about it and to see what does the Bible have to say and what can we do to fix all of these broken marriages that we see all around us?

So we will get into that today. But before I do, I must remind you that your eternal state is far more important than your current state. If you've never received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I encourage you to do so today. Otherwise, if you leave this out of life without having received him, you will spend eternity in the lake of fire separated from God.

So will you please give your heart to Jesus Christ on today? All right, folks, marriages. What is going on with marriages? Why are marriages struggling so much?

They're failing at an alarming rate. And it really, really breaks my heart is really troubling to me. So I want you to first turn your Bibles over to the Book of Revelation. We have to look at these matters through scriptures. And that's one of the major issues is that a lot of people do not want to take a look at what does God's word have to say when it comes to marriage? We just want to do it through man's wisdom. And so the Bible lets us know, though, that man's wisdom is as foolishness to God.

So we have to look at what does the Bible say concerning these matters? So Revelation, chapter number 19, if you look at verse number six. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God, omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready.

And to her he was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, Write, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him.

But he said to me, See that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Now, I want to share that text because this is showing us what is going to take place in the future. In the Book of Revelation, this text comes right after the Bible speaks of Babylon having been defeated and it speaks of the marriage supper. And that is the thing that I want to hone in on, because we have to understand, folks, what marriage represents between a man and a woman.

When we look at the Bible, the Bible is very clear that the union between Jesus Christ and the church, meaning his followers, the born again believers in Jesus Christ. It is a marriage. And on this side of life, when we are married as a man and a woman to one another, we represent that union of the church and Jesus Christ. So marriage carries a lot of significance.

And that is one of the major problems. People do not look at what marriage truly represents. It represents a union with our great Lord. And, well, we know the enemy, Satan, he does not want that. He does not like that. So he's going to do all he can to sever those relationships because he's in contradiction. He's at war with our Lord. And so he doesn't want souls to be saved, to be with Jesus Christ forever.

He instead wants souls and spirits to go into the lake of fire where he is going to dwell for eternity. So we have to look at this, folks, in light of scripture. What does marriage represents? We do not put the type of weight, the kind of significance that we should in our marriages, because, again, it represents a union to Jesus Christ. And that is very important.

That is very significant. Now, I want you to also look over at Matthew, chapter number 24, Matthew 24, beginning with verse nine. Now, let me just say before I read the scripture that the apostles had came to Jesus Christ during his first coming on Earth. And they said, tell us, Lord, what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? Jesus had told them concerning the temple that it would be torn down, not one stone would be left upon another. And they said, tell us, Lord, when shall these things be? What will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age?

And Jesus then gave a very lengthy outline of indicators that would be concerning his return, concerning the end of the age. I want to share with you in Matthew 24, beginning with verse nine. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come. Jesus said here, because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. Now, I think that that love growing cold is not exclusive to marriages.

I think it is talking about what is going to be worldwide. And this is going to culminate in the seven year tribulation. But as we are approaching that time, I do believe that we are seeing it within relationships, within familial relationships, within husbands and wives. The love of many is growing cold.

And Jesus said that would be an indication of his second coming. And again, when we look at marriages today, the love of many are growing cold. I see and hear of people who have been married for decades.

We're talking about 30, 40. I recently even heard of a couple being married 50 years and they decided to call it quits after all that time. And I'm scratching my head saying, how is it that you can go this long married to this person and then just decide you're no longer happy?

You no longer want to be with that person. The Bible says the love of many would grow cold. Again, the marriage supper I shared in the opening text, when we on earth, a man and a woman, when we have a wedding, what do we do afterwards? We go and we have a reception.

We have a great celebration. That is what's going to take place in the future. Now, people debate as far as where it will take place. Some say it will be in heaven. Others say it will be after the seven year tribulation and will be on the earth when Jesus comes back to set up his kingdom.

I won't get into that right now today for this this episode. But what I will say is that it is going to be a great celebration. Just like today, we have wedding receptions. There is going to be a wedding reception that is going to be a celebration of us being joined with Jesus Christ. We, as his believers, are the bride of Jesus Christ.

That's what the Bible tells us. And so we again, we have to look at what does marriage represent? Why is it that so many marriages are struggling? It's because Satan hates that that imagery, he hates that symbolism of us being joined with Jesus Christ for eternity.

So we have to understand how to fight these battles. Now, one thing that I want to to talk about is I think a lot of people go into marriages already with two strikes against them. And what I mean by that is people are not even prepared properly for marriage because of fornication. Most people today are living in fornication. And it's very sad.

It breaks my heart. And the Bible says that fornication actually, when you're talking about symbolically speaking, it represents worship of Satan. That is what it represents. It represents rejection of Jesus Christ. And so when we look at the Bible, there are so many scriptures and I'm not going to read them today, but there are so many scriptures that point to that that tell us that when God referred to Israel, turning away from him and following false gods, he called them playing the harlot, the prostitute. And when we today as human beings, man and woman, when we commit the act of fornication, it is like we are rejecting Jesus Christ. So, folks, it's very serious. It's major. And a lot of people go into marriage already with two strikes against them, because, again, Satan hates marriage and what it represents.

He's going to attack it. And so you're going to have enough challenges as it is. And when you introduce that, you're going to make it even more challenging. And as I look at people today, I don't know of anyone who says I'm so thankful that I had all that sexual experience with other people before I got married. It has made my marriage so great.

I have never heard a single person say that. But on the other hand, I've heard people say, I regret having given myself away before marriage. I wish I had waited, especially women. I hear a lot of women that say they wish so badly that they could go back and do it all over again and have saved themselves for their husbands. Because, again, folks, fornication is not going to help your marriage.

It's only going to do damage. And there are a lot of people that are having struggles, challenges because of that. So that is what we need to do. We have to get that out of our lifestyles and look at what does the Bible say? Follow the Bible, the scripture, because there is a consequence to pay. And I would guarantee you today that if people who are really honest and let's say people who are 40 years and up. And if you ask these people who live the lifestyle of fornication and we're talking about believers or unbelievers and you ask them the question, was it worth it?

If they're honest, they're going to say no. The price, it was not worth it because there is a consequence that comes. There is a consequence that comes from whether you're talking about sexually transmitted diseases to just struggles within your relationship, connecting with one another, whatever it may be. There is a price to pay because when we disobey God, when we do things outside of his order, we are going to have a not a good outcome is there's going to be a price to pay. So and I know a lot of women, too, that, you know, I've heard them say they actually have come to resent their husbands because of the fact that here's the thing.

Let me back up for a moment. God has wired us to be a certain way in the scriptures. The Bible talks about a man seeking out a chase virgin. And God has wired us to be a certain way.

And that is until sin comes in and contaminates things. And I know a lot of women that I think deep down inside, even if they're unbelievers in Jesus Christ, deep down inside, they get to a point in marriage where they wish that they had saved themselves for their husbands. But because they did not, because they gave their bodies away to other men and even to demand that they may have married, they become resentful. And oftentimes it causes them to withdraw physical intimacy because it's not the way God designed it to be. And so people are struggling.

But here's the encouraging thing. And I don't want to share this, folks, to make you feel bad if you are in that situation or maybe if you have that in your history, because the great thing about it is we serve a God who in our Lord Jesus Christ, he came and died for us. He came and he conquered sin.

He came and he conquered death. So if you're guilty of any of that, listen, you have redemption in Jesus Christ. And in Jesus Christ, the Bible says we are a new creature, a new creation in him.

We are born again. And so when you receive him, he can he'll he'll get rid of all that. He washes you clean of that and he will restore you and renew you.

But you have to give it to him. You have to repent of it. And I want to encourage people today to do that very thing so that you can have healthy marriages, because when when we are in a physical, intimate relationship with a person, the Bible says we are joined to that person as one. And so when you go into marriage and you have part of yourself over here with that person and part of yourself is over there with that person in another one, in another one, another, you have all these people that you have been joined with, but then you're trying to to be married to another person. And so you see the problem there. There is a problem because we don't understand fully as humans what takes place when we come together in physical intimacy. But it is a spiritual thing that happens and we have to follow the ways of God if we want to be successful. So I need to lay that out in terms of preparing ourselves and again, not sharing it to make anyone feel bad. What I actually am hoping that for those of you out there who have lived that lifestyle and you know the consequences of it, use it as as a fire within you to share with the young generation to not go down that same road, to not make the same errors so that they can have a healthy, fulfilling marriage.

So I need to share that. But let's look at another passage. I want to go over to the book of Ephesians, chapter number five. If you look at Ephesians, chapter number five, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. And I know a lot of people don't like that word submit.

A lot of women don't like that. But folks, this is the Bible. It is biblical.

Submit is not a bad word. And we're going to talk about that a bit more shortly. Verse twenty three for the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular. So love his own wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Folks, this is a very powerful passage. Notice that it says husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. Jesus Christ sacrifice.

He loved us to the point of death so that we might have eternal life for those who will come to him. That is what husbands are supposed to be willing. Now, I'm not saying that a husband has to die, but you should be willing to die to your own desires, to your own wills for the sake of your wife.

And even if it requires, if it is called for to die physically, you should be willing to do so for your wife. Because again, that is what Jesus Christ did for us. So we are supposed to follow the pattern of Jesus Christ. We are to love our wives. And then notice it says for the wife, though, it says, see that she respects her husband. And folks, when I talk to people today and I hear about marriages, I see all the time husbands are not loving their wives as Christ loved the church. And I see that wives are not respecting their husbands. And let me say this to wives. Respect is a major thing for a man. You could even go as far as to say there are a lot of men that probably would say, I'll put respect before physical intimacy, because you can be getting all the physical intimacy you want. But if you're being disrespected, if you're being emasculated by your wife, you're not going to feel good about that.

And wives, that is so important. The Bible says respect and understand what the scripture says that your husband wife, he represents Jesus Christ. And I know that's hard for a lot of a lot of women to swallow that because you see all of your husband's flaws and you say, well, Jesus is perfect. Jesus is God.

And that is true. But the husband is playing that role. That is the position that he represents. And so you are to respect your husband in the same way that you respect Jesus Christ. And again, husbands, we play the role of Jesus Christ. So we are supposed to love our wives just as he does.

And see, that is why, folks, marriages are struggling because we don't take it seriously like this. Because if you really looked at your wife, husbands, as Christ looked at the church, you would look to love and to honor her. Wives, if you looked at your husband, just as you look at Jesus Christ, you would respect him, honor him. And again, I'm saying in terms of he represents Jesus Christ.

No, he is not Jesus. But that is the position that he's representing in the imagery, in the symbolism of Christ and the church. So we need to to respect wives. Respect your husbands.

Husbands love your wives. Go over to now First Corinthians, chapter number seven, verses three through five says, let the husband render to his wife the affection do her and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again. So that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. This is a very clear passage that says we as married people and I say we because I'm married.

I will be celebrating my 18 year anniversary this year with my my beautiful wife. And the Bible makes it very clear that we are not to deprive one another of physical intimacy. But I see and I hear this all the time.

And typically is not always the case. But typically it is the wife who is withholding from the husband. And let me just say, wife, if you're doing that, you're wrong. You're living in sin and you're going to have to answer for that. You are going to be held accountable because the scripture clearly says do not deprive one another except for with consent for a time for a period of fasting and prayer.

So an agreed upon time. Then you can you can abstain from from physical intimacy. But other than that, you are not to withhold. And I see so many that say, well, I don't feel like it, so I'm not doing it. And that's wrong is seeing you are setting your husband up for wives that are doing it.

And for husbands who may be doing it, you're setting up your wife for a fall. Don't don't put that stumbling block before them. It's like you're starving your spouse. You won't give them anything to eat. You locked and chained the refrigerator and you won't let them eat anything. But then when he goes out and he's driving by McDonald's and he's hungry, his stomach is growling, his mouth is drooling. But you say you better not eat anything. And if he does stop and grab a burger, you find out about it. You think you're mad at him and you say he was wrong for going outside of the house and getting something to eat. But you set him up for that because you're starving him at home.

And we are not to do that. And likewise for husbands. Remember, I said in the scripture, it says, give your wife to do affection, the affection that is due her. So we need to tell them we love them, tell them they're beautiful.

And I know I need work in this area. So, you know, I'm preaching to myself right now. I think we all can work on these things, but we need to do that because the Bible tells us to do so. So don't withhold given that affection, telling her fulfilling the things that that she needs and desires emotionally. And then wives don't withhold from your husband the things that that he needs physically, because I can say as a man that when when we don't have that that physical intimacy, it really, really impacts us significantly.

And a lot of people think that it's just physical, but it's not a physical thing, because when we come together as husband and wife, there's a spiritual connection that takes place. And again, we have to understand what that represents. It represents Jesus Christ. So so you ask yourself the question, are you going to say no to Jesus? Well, every time you say no to your husband, that is what that represents is saying no to Jesus. And, you know, husband, whenever you don't give your wife the affection that that she's due is the same thing as Jesus. Not not sharing and expressing love toward the church. And none of us as believers in Christ want to express that.

Luke Chapter nine, verse 23 says, then he said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up the cross daily and follow me. Here's the problem. People today are so selfish and a selfish person does not need to be married, because what I often hear is people say, well, I'm just not happy. So if I'm not happy, then, well, my spouse, oh, well, whatever his desires are, whatever her desires are, she's on her own or he's just on his own.

That is not the way it's supposed to be, folks, because think about it for a moment. Well, you want to talk about happiness and feeling good, feeling like doing something. Jesus Christ came out of a perfect heaven and he came to this fallen earth to be beaten, to be tortured, to suffer and to die. Do you think he felt like doing that? Do you think he enjoyed doing that? No, he didn't enjoy it. Not not what he physically went through. But where he found joy was because of his love for us, because he was sacrificing himself.

So it would be for our well-being. He could have stayed in heaven. He could have just said, well, you know, those sinful people down there, they're rebellious. They don't want to follow what the father is saying. So let them get what they deserve.

Let them go into eternal damnation. He could have did that. And had he done that, that's where we all would be headed for eternal damnation. But he said no. He said, I'm going to do it.

And even when he was on earth, because of what he had to face was so excruciating. He even asked the father, he said, if in any way this cup could pass from me, please let it be. But if there is no other way, he said, not my will, but your will be done. And so he submitted. Remember I said earlier that word submit?

No, a lot of women don't like it. But Jesus, the son, he submitted to the will of the father because of how much he loved us. As you've heard people say all the time, it wasn't the nails that kept Jesus on the cross because he could have came down whenever he wanted. But it was his love. It was his desire to sacrifice so that we could be saved. And that is where he found joy.

And we should be the same way in our marriages. You know, I remember a time when my daughter, she is now a teenager, when she was probably around 18 months to two years old and she loved Doritos. And I remember one time she called them orange chips back then. And there was one day it was late in the evening on a Sunday and she said she wanted some orange chips. And we went and looked in the pantry and we were out. And I sat there and it was a cold winter day.

The sun had already gone down. It was almost bedtime. And I sat there and I knew my daughter wanted those Doritos.

So I got up and I was almost ready for bed. But I got dressed and I went out to the grocery store, bought us some orange chips and I came back and I gave them to her. And I sat there and I watched her eat those orange chips. And man, it brought so much joy to my heart to see that I could fulfill that for her.

Not a life and death situation, but something that she desired. And so I wanted to fulfill that desire. I got no joy in terms of eating the chips myself.

I didn't need any. But where I found joy was that I was fulfilling her desire. And folks, we should love one another as husbands and wives to fulfill each other's desires. And that's what breaks my heart so much is that I see husbands and wives who they don't love each other enough to want to fulfill their spouse's desire.

You know, you put in the effort to go to the gym. You don't feel like it a lot of times, but you push through it because you know it's going to have a positive outcome. So you may not feel like being intimate with your spouse, but you should do it anyway because you should have joy in knowing you are doing something that your spouse desires. You may not feel like having a long conversation with your wife about something that has happened with her family members or something, but you should love her enough to listen to her and allow her to get that off her chest.

You should love her enough, even when you don't feel like it, to take her out on a dinner and to tell her how much you love her. And again, folks, we are representing Jesus Christ. One last scripture I want to share before we wrap up Revelation 19, verse one through three. It says, After these things, I heard a loud voice of a great multitude of heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor belong to the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his judgments because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication. And he has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her. Again, they said, Alleluia, her smoke rises up forever and ever. Now, I just want to share that passage because I want to share with you this is the way God views false religions.

He calls it the harlot. And so, again, when we are physically intimate with someone that is not our spouse, that is the way God views it. That's what it represents.

It symbolizes false religion. And folks, we don't want to be that. We want to be in standing with God's word and to save ourselves for our spouses. So, folks, there are a lot of things that are happening and we need to honor marriage. Let's stop treating marriage like something that's worthless and jumping in and out of it just because we're not happy, just because we don't feel good. Now, let's strive to fulfill the desires of our spouses. None of us are perfect.

None of us. All of us are fallen sinners who are in need of the savior, Jesus Christ. But he is the one who makes us perfect. And we all will be perfect someday. But until then, we have to deal with each other's flaws. And so let's love one another and be representatives of the God honoring way of marriage.

So that's going to do it for this week. I want to thank you for tuning in. Please come back and join us next time as we continue to discern the times by viewing life through the lens of the Bible. Until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel. And to the only wise God, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.

Thank you for tuning in to Discerning the Times. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to view current events through the lens of the Bible. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel. And seek first the kingdom of God.