INTRODUCTION
My granddaughter is getting married later in the week so marriage reflections have been on my mind a lot lately. Marriage was one of the first gifts to mankind when God presented Adam with his wife, Eve. God is the first witness of a sacramental marriage. It is also the first of six covenants God has made with His people.
God made six covenants with his people, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus. When covenants were kept by the people, blessings flowed. When the people did not keep the covenant disaster followed.
“Have you not read that in the beginning God ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:3-12
Jesus went on to teach His disciples, “Not all can accept this, but only those to whom that it is granted.” Not everyone is called to a sacramental marriage but if this is your calling to enter into a covenantal marriage then you must be prepared to keep the promises of the covenant and you will receive the blessings.
In a contract, you exchange something you have – a skill, a piece of property, money. The difference between a contract and a covenant is like hiring a prostitute, contract, and entering into sacramental marriage, covenant. In a covenant, you give your very self to another person. When people enter into a covenant, they say: “I am yours and you are mine.”
The grace of this Sacramental Marriage perfects the love of husband and wife, binds them together in fidelity, and helps them welcome and care for children. Christ is the source of this grace and he dwells with the spouses to strengthen their covenant promises, to bear each other’s burdens with forgiveness and kindness
I began looking into nuptial references in all of Scripture. Scripture, both Old and New, are filled with references how God has compared Himself to a bridegroom and the people of Israel as bride. God our Creator desires an intimate relationship with all of us!
Jesus performed his first miracle at Cana in role of bridegroom. The bridegroom was responsible for providing sufficient wine to his guests. “When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom…John 2:9
When Jesus was asked by religious leaders why his disciples didn’t fast, he replied, “You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you “But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” Luke 5:33-35
I will now include one example from the Old Testament of God demonstrating His nuptial relationship with His people. God desires intimacy with us. He certainly a transcendent God, way separate from us in most respects but He is also an immanent God with us, Emmanuel. He calls all of us to the Wedding Feast, better prepare your wedding garments!
HOSEA THE PROPHET
When the LORD began to speak with Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: Go, get for yourself a woman of prostitution and children of prostitution, for the land prostitutes itself, a turning away from the LORD. So he went and took Gomer, daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived and bore him a son.” HOSEA 1:2-3
The Lord gives Hosea one of the most shocking commands in the Bible: Marry a prostitute! (1:2) Hosea obeys and marries Gomer and they have three children. Then she apparently returns to her immoral lifestyle, but Hosea seeks her out, redeems her and takes her back (3:2). Their relationship is meant to be a metaphor for the Lord’s relationship with his people.
Hosea’s love seems to have transformed Gomer at least for a little while. But soon after the birth of Jezreel she goes back to her old ways. She ends up totally in the gutter, to be sold as a slave. What the Lord tells Hosea then is very revealing: “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress” (3:1).
Despite everything that she had done, Hosea still loves Gomer! Hosea brings her back once more and gives conditions. She must stay many days with him and no more prostitution but work on restoration of a loving marriage. Gomer’s unfaithful character mirrors Israel’s infidelity to the Lord.
The people of Israel are in a covenant relationship with the Lord, but they have all but forgotten their commitment to him. Israel has committed spiritual adultery against the Lord by worshipping other gods.
The people of Israel worshipped the Canaanite deity, Baal, and participated in the sexually immoral rituals which were part of Canaanite religion.
Hosea rejects this idolatry and calls the people to repent (Hos 8:5-6, 10:5). Hosea calls the people to return to the Lord and find restoration (Ch. 6, 14). In his infinite mercy, the Lord promises a future time of healing, salvation and reconciliation for his people. Though his people had been unfaithful and adulterous, he willingly extends his forgiveness and grace to them.
Hosea powerfully presents the image of the nation as the bride of the Lord. Other biblical books, such as Song of Songs, Isaiah, Revelation and the Gospels, use this theme to explain the depth of God’s love for his people and the gravity of breaking our relationship with him through sin.
Hosea shows the mercy of God who welcomes back his bride after her time of unfaithfulness (3:5). The Lord’s willingness to forgive his bride for her betrayal shows his willingness to forgive us for our sins. Not only does the bridal imagery show the intensity of God’s desire for his people, it illustrates the extravagance of his mercy.
CONCLUSION
A voice coming from the throne said: “Praise our God, all you his servants, and you who revere him, small and great. …The Lord has established his reign, Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory. For the wedding day of the Lamb* has come, his bride has made herself ready….Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed* are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These words are true; they come from God. REVELATIONS 19:5-9
JESUS THE BRIDEGROOM WELCOMES HIS BRIDE THE CHURCH