There's a sacredness about marriage. It's called "holy matrimony" because God is to be the Third Party witness to the marriage union.

I'm sure you have attended marriage ceremonies in which the minister talked about the man and wife being "joined" together. Two people can become one flesh physically, but only God can put them together spiritually.

In the Old Testament, marriage was so holy that when a man and woman came together as husband and wife, if it was discovered that the wife had been unfaithful before marriage, she was publicly stoned to death by the people. Thank God we live in a day of grace!

In the Old Testament, God placed a sacredness over the marriage union, because He wanted it to be holy, honorable, and blessed. God hasn't changed. Marriage is still to be holy, honorable, and blessed.

Scriptural Covenant Agreements
The marriage covenant was the first institution established by God. From the very beginning, God put a man and a woman together. In marriage, the man and woman become a part of each other. They are united as one.

In Hebrew, the word translated covenant means "to cut, to make an incision where blood flows."

Several covenants are mentioned in Scripture. We'll examine a few of them.

• God made a covenant with Abram, promising to bless him and to make him into a great nation (Gen 17:2-9).
• God made a covenant with Noah when He put a rainbow in the sky and said He would not destroy the earth again with a flood. When Noah stepped out of the ark, he offered a sacrifice, which symbolized that he was in covenant relationship with God (Gen 9:8-17).
• There was a covenant of friendship between Jonathan and David. We might call it a blood-brother covenant (1 Sam. 18:1-4).
• A covenant was established between God and the children of Israel on the night of the Passover. God told the Israelites that he would be their God and the Provider of everything they needed. He revealed Himself as a covenant-keeping God (Ex. 12:1-13).
• Jesus brought us into a New Covenant. "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matt. 26:28).

God does things in the earth through human beings. Even the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ, came through the faith of Abraham and the faith of a teenage girl by the name of Mary, who believed God.

The New Covenant is similar to the type of covenant established with the Israelites on the night of the Passover. The covenant was set before them. They ate of the body of the lamb that had been roasted. The blood was sprinkled on the doorposts, so they would be delivered from the angel of death. That night they were delivered as a covenant people.

In the New Covenant spoken of in Matthew 26:28, Jesus was willing, first of all, to give His life for us. The most precious and priceless thing that God had was His Son, but because God is a covenant-keeping God, He was willing to give His Son to save us from our sin.

When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we enter into this covenant. Then, in turn, we commit our entire lives unto God, for we are not our own. Everything that we have, if God calls for it, we give. That's why to be saved, we must confess the lordship of Jesus Christ: Jesus is Lord, He is ruler, He is the King of our lives.

Some people receive forgiveness only so they'll miss hell, but God is calling us into a covenant relationship so we will commit everything that is ours unto Him to be used for His purposes.

The most important thing for you to realize is that marriage is a covenant relationship to which God is a party.  Marriage is not something you can cast away any time you want.  I say that you cannot, in the name of Jesus.  I come against that kind of thinking.  In marriage, you are in covenant agreement, and God doesn't see you and your mate as two.  He sees you as one.

Source: Building Stronger Marriages by Billy Joe Daugherty
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers