While marriage was given to a
man and a woman for their mutual benefit, the primary purpose
of the institution of marriage was to illustrate the relationship
which the Lord Jesus Christ has to His Church, and vice versa.
Though the marriages of men and women are quite imperfect, as
we can readily observe, the marriage of Christ to His Church has no
such imperfections. The hardness of man's heart is
demonstrated in many ways as men continually seek to pervert
the way of God. It is according to that hardness
that we see an institution which was limited, according to God's
purpose for it, to men and women, now diverted from its proper
use to include unions between men and men and women with women. This is a stark reminder of the
wickedness which dwells in men by nature and is a manifestation
of the judgment of God upon mankind. The greatest of the imperfections
of human marriage, however, is seen in the acceptability and
seeming inevitability of divorce in our society as a means of
overturning a proper marriage. Divorce was not meant to be a
convenient and satisfactory option for those who enter into a state
of marriage and then grow weary of one another. Rather, it was
because of the hardness of men's hearts that the Lord permitted
divorce in the first place. Men and women alike will make
all sorts of excuses in order to justify divorcing their spouses. Practically any excuse will do
when a person is bent upon that outcome, and hardly any counsel
otherwise will prevent it. There is no doubt that some of
those excuses have a ring of validity to them. Yet the children
of God are called upon to shun the example of the world and
to follow the steps of Christ in all things. If there has ever
been a person who had a valid reason to divorce his spouse,
it would be the Lord Jesus Christ. His bride has disrespected him,
disregarded his teaching, committed adultery with many lovers, and
been generally unthankful. Yet he has remained faithful
to her and has never cast her off, even laying down his own
life for her while she was determined to be his enemy, and even despised
his many overtures of kindness. The Lord raised up the prophet
Hosea to illustrate his own love and utter devotion to his elect
bride in all circumstances. He commanded Hosea to take unto
himself a wife who was a harlot and the daughter of a harlot.
Hosea knew exactly what she was when he married her, and she
bore him children which may or may not have been his own since
she ceased not from her whoredom even though he was faithful unto
her. Even while she engaged in her
harlotry and doted upon her many lovers, Hosea never ceased to
secretly provide for her benefit, supplying her with corn and wine,
oil and money. He did this even though he knew
she attributed this supply to those who lay with her. Not only
did she credit those illicit lovers with supplying her needs,
but she also used these gifts from Hosea, a prophet of the
true God, for the worship of pagan deities. Yet in all of
this, Hosea never ceased to cherish his bride, nor in any wise to
diminish his faithfulness and provision for her. Even in such
time as he was directed to remove his provision from her, so that
her nakedness might be uncovered and her whoredoms be revealed,
it was done by him because the Lord would manifest that his
love for his bride is especially revealed as he is pleased to
convince her of her barrenness apart from him. The Lord would
have his bride to find all of her delight in him, yet she cannot
until she is made fully aware of her innate corruption and
wickedness. Thus even as he uncovers her
nakedness, his general mercies are extended to her, and he means
it for her good. The tender mercies of the Lord
are revealed unto those whom He has loved with an everlasting
love, as He brings them to the very end of themselves, causing
them to recognize their depravity, and revealing to them in no uncertain
terms their own bondage and slavery to sin. Thus the Lord has bought
His bride out of slavery with a price above what any of her
lovers would be willing to pay. She is richly beloved by him
whose love cannot be measured, and who sees her not as a worthless
harlot, but as a beautiful bride clothed in his own rich garments.
She is that one whom he has loved from before the foundation of
the world, that one for whom he has provided all things needful,
paying the price of her redemption with his own blood. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at 4the4 at windstream.net.