There is a difference. Only God can sanctify a marriage. Of course He also has the power, in spirit and in truth, to sanction a marriage. The political government of any worldly nation does not have this power. Rather they license marriage and thereby cause the sanctity of marriage to become a licentious act in a false sanctification by and through the sanctioning of things that are not marriage in SPIRIT or in TRUTH.
Hard to swallow? Hard to follow? A piece of paper does not a marriage make and just saying it does not make it so either. (So much for vows.) The question we ought to be asking here is not whether there is a difference between government sanctioning and holy sanctification, but WHO says there is a difference.
Well, it is my belief that Jesus has the last word on marriage. Perhaps there are some here who believe otherwise but they do err, not knowing the scripture. Jesus said that whatsoever God hath put together... << please notice the words "GOD PUT TOGETHER" >> let not man put asunder! Now the scripture plainly states that two can become "one flesh" without a marriage license. This is marriage. I did not say that it was GODLY MARRIAGE but it is the act of becoming ONE FLESH that constitutes marriage - sanctified or otherwise. From whence cometh the sanctification? It comes from on high. If you and your loved one(s) are without sanctification you surely need to get saved. No piece of paper can save you, much less save a marriage. You need the Holy Ghost. You verily need Jesus in your marriage. You need God to put you together. Without Jesus in your marriage, your marriage is doomed. Now it might look alright in your eyes at the moment, but you are being SET UP to believe a lie. Please understand that the devil uses one flesh to keep a multitude in bondage UNDER THE LAW of sin and death. This is one reason why it is imperative to get saved BEFORE you marry (become one flesh) with anyone. Please do not think that your flesh will save you. Only Jesus saves. Two virgins who become one flesh without salvation in Jesus name do NOT have a sanctified, godly, marriage. In effect they are saying, "God, we don't need your sanctification - our union is sufficient without you." These are no better than the harlot and the male prostitute who becomes one flesh with his or her customer. They are without sanctification. They need Jesus.
The links below illustrate how worldly government makes merchandise of people through the licensing of marriage.
To quote StRadical:
No longer do we find the courts which defended the home and marriage by defending the father as we saw in Chapter two under the case Fanning v. Fanning. No longer do we have courts that provide simple justice “as though the heavens would fall.�?If we did, the American judicial system as we know it, as well as Welfare as we know it—would completely collapse...for they all know where their “daily bread�?comes from. They fully know and understand that they are harvesting the American male: for profit.
"The public welfare demands that constitutional cases must be decided according to the terms of the Constitution itself, and not according to judges' views of fairness, reasonableness, or justice. I have no fear of constitutional amendments properly adopted, but I do fear the rewriting of the Constitution by judges under the guise of interpretation."
Columbia University's Charpentier Lectures 1968
Hugo Black - U.S. Supreme Court Justice
It is what I have been saying all along: they have made merchandise of the people.
Both "civil marriage" and "civil divorcement" are purposely designed for the lechery of those leeches that would appeal to the lawyers and to the god of this world to soothe their own lust ridden consciences and to falsely justify the image of the Great Harlot whom they do worship in their hearts. This is the spirit that they carry upon their backs in the darkness of their vanity. They are steeped in the ideology of idolatry that was spoon fed to them from the cradle. Without question, the Matriarchy prevails as it did in our father's, father's, father's time.
With each passing generation we find ourselves further and further away from the Ancient Land Marks that were established in the Old Covenant and in New Testament Holiness. Pastors who would dare to uphold such truths are mocked, rejected, despised, and counted as "old-fashioned" and even as legalistic control freaks while the cry of Feminism has deafened the ears of Liberty and Justice for all. They desire that the hearts of the sons are hindered, never to return to the hearts of the fathers. Righteous judgement no longer prevails in our courts of law and truth is not tolerated before the judgement seat.
No, it is a business operation funded by capitalist merchants who continue to indulge in the worship of mammon: Justice for sale. An honest man (or woman) will discover that a mountain of evidence supports this truth if they would consider the exploits of the princes of the world; who uphold New Age doctrines and those various religions of scientology and harlotry in that mockery of Holiness that they dare to call Hollywood. Their mammon will justify their harlotries and civil divorcements in the eyes and ears of their deaf, dumb, and blind idol that they call Liberty and Justice. Indeed, for them, all roads certainly lead to Rome.
The only reason the Holy Bible sits in a court of law today is to cause the ignorant to fall in the blasphemy of a foresworn testimony. All else is symbolism designed to exploit the preconditioned fears of the unlearned. It is become another Chinese torture device used for the purpose of entrapment. In other words: Today, the Bible is only in the courtrooms to enable the court to make a mockery of God's Word and God's people. Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's, for the twain shall never be one. The founding fathers of your country were well aware of this truth and Jesus certainly warned us that this day was to come.
Once upon a time, in a country totally foreign to the one in which U.S. citizens currently reside, the founding fathers gave the People of the United States of America a mandate: Separation of Church and State. Through the licensing of churches for taxation purposes and by officiating those ordinations that only God could ordain, the marriage license was produced. Soon after, it was the ruling elite that determined, ordained, and sanctioned marriages -- not the church, that was sold into the service of the state to do the grunt work. It is through the sanctioning of those government approved marriage certificates that the true sanctification of the Holy Spirit was subsequently spurned and disregarded. Marriage became the business of the State. Consequently a mass market in marriage and divorce swept the nation and the Neo-Pharisees of America have never gone hungry since.
Many people have asked me why I am so "obsessed" with the subject of marriage and divorcement. My reason is quite sobering to those who would love Jesus but have not yet learned God's purpose for the Patriarchy. All of this concerns Christ and the Church. There is no escape from that union that He created in the beginning. Without marriage there is no church. The man is not without the woman and the woman is not without the man in Christ Jesus. It is time for the Patriarchs to arise from their slumber. As prophecied, the time is come for the restoration of the children to the fathers, even that they should look upon those princes of the world from afar; to witness the certain destruction and consumption of the Great Whore. This is also why Sodomy and Lesbianism reign in my country and why there is so much trouble and strife in the middle-east today. The fathers must come forth and embrace their children in the name of the only wise God.
Malachi 4
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.