What does God say about second marriages? Does God bless or frown upon second marriages? Does God bless a second marriage that started in adultery?
There are a number of questions that come up when the topic of second marriages is mentioned. As children of God, we know that our duty is to do what is pleasing to our Father.
But how can we do what is pleasing to our Father if we are not sure what is pleasing to Him?
Today, I want to tackle the questions surrounding God’s will when it comes to second marriages. I pray that by the end of this article you will clearly understand what God’s will is for second marriages.
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By second marriage, I am referring to a marriage that is established after divorce.
Does God Bless Second Marriages?
Why Second Marriages Exist
Before we go any further, let us first establish why second marriages exist in the first place.
Second marriages were never in God’s design for man. God made man and gave him a woman as a helper. That became the first marriage and God blessed it.
But then as the corruption of men increased on earth, marriages too were corrupted. Strange practices came up involving marriages and led many people astray.
Today, so many practices have distorted the pure intention that God had for marriage. Second marriages are a result of some of the strange practices that people do in marriages.
A marriage can only stand if it is established in the pattern of God. Any marriage that is not established in the pattern of God is guaranteed to fail.
Since the pattern of God is barely remembered these days, many marriages are falling apart.
With many marriages falling apart, it is obvious that second marriages will increase.
But what exactly is God’s take on second marriages?
Does God Bless Second Marriages? Conditions
When God created Adam and Eve, He blessed them and asked them to multiply and fill the earth. In other words, God blessed their union.
Why did God bless the marriage of Adam and Eve? The simple answer is because God started it.
From the creation story, we learn that everything that God made was good. And everything that was good, God blessed it.
For God to bless a marriage, it must have been started by Him. Yes! God will not bless anything that was not started by Him.
Why did God promise to bless the children of Abraham? Because Abraham pleased God with his faith.
God will only bless what is pleasing to Him.
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Therefore, if a second marriage was not started by God, forget about God blessing it. If a second marriage is not pleasing in the eyes of God, it will receive no blessing from God.
That is the brutal truth.
Does God start Second Marriages?
Yes! God starts second marriages and He blesses the second marriages He starts. This should tell you that there are second marriages that are blessed by God because they were established by Him.
God knows that humans are prone to error. Many times He comes to redeem us when we go wrong. But the redemption of God has strict rules.
God only redeems those who surrender to Him. Anyone who hardens his heart, God will not redeem.
If you had a first marriage that didn’t work out, it is obvious that you started that marriage with your own understanding. A marriage that God starts can never fail unless the partners choose to make it fail.
If you humble yourself before God and repent for being wise in your own eyes, God will forgive you. If you want to get into marriage a second time, you will need God to establish it for you or else it will follow the pattern of your first marriage.
For God to establish a marriage, He demands that the partners who want to get married keep His strict laws of marriage.
As I said before, God will only bless a marriage that is established according to His law. Whether it is a second, third or fifth marriage doesn’t matter.
Therefore, prepare yourself to follow the demands of God if you want your second marriage to be blessed.
God’s View on Second Marriages Started in Adultery
If a marriage started off as an extra marital affair, it is bound to fail. God can never start a marriage using an extra marital affair. Such a marriage cannot receive any blessing from God.
But there is still hope even in such a marriage. God is the master restorer. No matter how complicated a case may be, if a ‘couple’ genuinely surrenders to Him, God will restore their marriage.
The challenge in such a case is not God’s ability to restore but rather the participants’ willingness to surrender to God.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from God. They were ashamed of what they had done. They didn’t want to face God.
Starting a marriage in adultery comes with shame. Overcoming that shame is a challenge you will need to overcome if you want God to bless your marriage that started in adultery.
God will require you to do a proper exchange of vows on His altar, which means that the servant of God who will lead you must also know that you started your marriage in adultery.
God will also demand that you properly end the previous marriages you had. You will need to forgive the partners you were initially married to and iron out differences you had with them as God will lead you.
These requirements may be tough to meet but if you want God to establish your marriage and bless it, you must follow them.
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And then you must repent to God of the adultery you committed.
King David and Bathsheba’s Adulterous Marriage
The classic story of the second marriage of Bathsheba should be an encouragement to you. The marriage started in adultery. It was then established in murder. But eventually, God blessed it and even allowed Jesus to be born in that lineage.
This should tell you that God is able to bring out good fruit out of a second marriage. King Solomon was the first born in this marriage that began in adultery after God restored it. We all know the exploits that King Solomon did.
But for God to establish King David and Bathsheba’s marriage, the child who was conceived in adultery had to die and David had to beg God to forgive him.
This further emphasizes the point of surrender. God has no trouble restoring a marriage that started in adultery but He will demand genuine repentance from the partners and the proper price of the wrong they did to be paid.
Depending on your case, God will let you know what His demands are. But have in mind the story of King David and Bathsheba.
God does not Break Marriages
Just because God can restore and bless a second marriage does not mean that God can break one marriage to form another. God himself says He hates divorce.
You may go to God to establish your second marriage but God asks you to reconcile your first marriage instead. It is not guaranteed that God will approve your desire to leave your first marriage.
Therefore, as you go to God, surrender to Him and let Him lead you as He sees fit. After all, God knows better than you and in everything He does, He does it so that you may have a fulfilling life. God is never against anyone provided you have surrendered to Him.
God bless you!