It is the effect of that intermarriage, that compromise, that caused the light to diminish, that caused great judgment. So that was then, but does that apply today? Is Ezra 9 just fascinating history, interesting in the Bible that these things were? Or does that apply to today? Is there anything that we find in the New Testament concerning how we are to conduct ourselves in life and particular in marriage? The answer is, yes, there is Scripture. In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul writes concerning marriage. In 1 Corinthians 7:7 and 1 Corinthians 7:39, he writes,
a wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives, but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whomever she wishes, only in the Lord.In 2 Corinthians 6:14–17, he writes,Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?Have you ever thought of yourself as righteousness? Paul says there are two kinds of people, those that are righteousness and those that are lawlessness. Those that are righteous in Christ and those that are outside of Christ, lawless. He goes on to say,
Michael Voytekand what communion has light with darkness, and what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.Stop and think about that. You are the temple of the living God...One of the things that [the rebuilding of the temple] points to is the church as the people of God, as the dwelling place, as the habitation of God.1
1 After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.