1. Ezra 10:1–44 (ESV)
  2. Application

Church and marriage with an unbeliever

Ezra 10:1–44 (ESV)

1 While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly.

When you begin to intermarry [with unbelievers], the very existence of the people of God is called into question. This has always been the case from Genesis to Revelation. If you begin to intermarry with unbelievers, you are eroding the foundation of the very people of God, and the next generation will be lost. It is threatened. You are on the verge of extinction when your children marry unbelievers. That is why we will not do these weddings. If one of the young people come and say that they want to marry a person that is an unbeliever, we will not conduct that wedding. We will not allow that to take place because that is prohibited. That would be a sin on our part. That would be disobedience to the Lord's commands. We cannot condone that; we cannot participate in that. We cannot be a part of such a thing. Why? Because that is a threat to the continuing existence of the people of God. As a result, quick and decisive action is necessary. Once this has been uncovered, decisive action is necessary in order to preserve the ongoing life of the people of God, lest they lose the next generation and the following generations.1

Terry L. Johnson