We should not let our children marry.

“Now Jehoshaphat had great wealth and honor, and he allied himself with Ahab by marriage.  …  He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD.  …  He too walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him in doing wrong.  He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for after his father's death they became his advisers, to his undoing” (2 Chronicles 18:1, 21:6, 22:3-4).

If your beloved son comes to you a day before he marries and says ‘I don’t want to marry my fiancée’, what would you say as his parent?  Especially if your son says that the reason he doesn’t want to marry his fiancée is because she doesn’t only believe in Jesus but also she hates Him and does evil in the sight of God, what will you say to him as Christian parent?  Will you really tell your son to break up with his fiancée?  Will you tell your son to stop the marriage, even though he as a bridegroom already did the formal bows with his bride and sent out the wedding invitation to everyone around him?

It may not be easy for us to marry our children, but it is never easy to stop their marriage.  But when we think about our children who are about to marry which is truly important, we must commit ourselves not only to marrying them, but also to stop their marriage.  The reason is because if our children have wrong marriage, then not only do our children will suffer but also our children’s children can suffer as well.

When we look at 2 Chronicles 18:1, 21:6 and 22:3-4, three kings from Judah appear.  Their names are “Jehoshaphat”, “Jehoram” and “Ahaziah”.  Jehoshaphat is the grandfather of Ahaziah, and Jehoram is the father of Ahaziah.  The problem began when Jehoshaphat, Ahaziah's grandfather, married his son Jehoram to the daughter of Ahab, king of Israel.  Because Jehoshaphat allied himself with Ahab by marriage (18:1), his son Jehoram did evil in the eyes of the Lord (21:6).  In other words, because Jehoshaphat married his son Jehoram to Athaliah (22:2), Ahab's daughter (21:6), Jehoram did evil in the eyes of the Lord (v. 6).  This was the result of what Jehu the seer said to Jehoshaphat: “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD ? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is upon you” (19:2).  Nevertheless, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, who was guilty of wickedness (20:35).  “Then Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king” (21:1).

“When Jehoram established himself firmly over his father's kingdom, he put all his brothers to the sword along with some of the princes of Israel” (v. 4).  Moreover, he had also built high places on the hills of Judah and had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray (v. 11).  In other words, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and had led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab did (v. 13).  As a result, the Lord aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites (v. 16).  “After all this, the LORD afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels” (v. 18) and he died in great pain at the end of the second year (v. 19).  He passed away, to no one’s regret (v. 20).

After his death, his youngest son, Ahaziah, succeeded his throne (22:1).  He too walked in the ways of the house of Ahab (v. 3).  The reason was because Athaliah his mother was his counselor to do wickedly (v. 3).  “He did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab, for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction” (v.4).  As a result, he went to Ramoth-gilead with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel, to wage war against Hazael king of Aram (v. 5).  But when the Arameans wounded Jehoram (v. 5) Ahaziah went down to see Jehoram (v. 6) he was put to death by Jehu who was executing judgment on the house of Ahab (vv. 8-9). 

                When I think about Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, I think the source of trouble began when Jehoshaphat made his son Jehoram to marry to someone he shouldn’t have married.  I also think that Jehoram shouldn’t marry Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, even though his father Jehoshaphat tried to make him to marry her.  In other words, as a father, Jehoshaphat shouldn’t have allied himself with Ahab, who did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and shouldn’t have married his son Jehoram to the Ahab's daughter Athaliah.  And as a son Jehoram shouldn’t have married Athaliah.  In the end, because of Jehoshaphat's wrong choice of marriage for his son Jehoram, not only Jehoram bur also his grandson Ahaziah had to face the wrong outcomes.  When I think about these facts, I think we as parents should marry our children well.  Indeed, as we pray for our children’s marriage, we should carefully and seriously consider our children's marriage.  And if our children are going to marry wrongly, we should not let them get married.  The reason is that such wrong marriage not only makes our children's life unhappy, but it can also make the life of our grandchildren unhappy.  We must nurture our children to be able to make a right choice for their own marriage before God.  The reason is because even if we love our children, it is because we can make mistake in their marriage choices.  When we think not only of our children but also of our grandchildren, we realize that our responsibilities are very important.  We should learn that our marriage should be an example to our children as well as to our grandchildren.  I hope and pray that as we first married to a person whom the Lord has prepared for us and commit ourselves in building the Lord-centered marriage and family, we must earnestly pray that our children will also marry to the person whom God has prepared for them so that they may be able to build the Lord-centered marriage and family that is like a heavenly households in the sight of God.