SERIES
Sojourn: Toward an Enduring City
2017-03-05T11:00:00-06:00
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also.24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
16:1 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.
“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright (c)2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. http://www.esv.org
On Sunday, Mark read a quote from a book on marriage by Dan Allender called, Intimate Allies. Allender not only acknowledges the comparison between human marriage and God’s love for the Church, but he broadens the scope to make marriage a way of understanding the message of the Bible as a whole. He writes,
“The Bible is neither a marriage manual, nor a systematic statement of how to live. It is a love story, revealing the intimate relationship between God and His people. This divine-human marriage begins with fresh romance, devolves into a divorce, and then ends with a wedding. The Bible’s love story illumines the heart of our divine Lover, exposes our spiritual adultery, and woos us with the wonder of our Bridegroom’s persistent, unending love.”
To view the Bible as a story of love and marriage between God and His people is one that is certainly legitimate. The analogy of human marriage and Christ’s relationship to the Church is seen especially in books like Genesis, Hosea, Ephesians, and Revelation. But viewing the Bible as a story of love and marriage is also powerful. To use phrases like, “love story,” “fresh romance,” and “divine Lover,” gives a startling reminder of the relational and emotional dynamics between God and His people portrayed from Genesis to Revelation.
But what is perhaps most startling is how Allender describes our sin: he calls it, “spiritual adultery” which results in “a divorce.” As common as adultery and divorce are in our culture, the words themselves still evoke a sense of scandal and pain in us. To be accused of physical adultery and threatened with divorce is serious, and is no less serious if the adultery and divorce are spiritual. The prophet Hosea levels this exact accusation against Israel, and against us in Hosea 2:1-13. Our sinfulness is adultery (v. 2), and our sins the pursuit of other lovers (v. 7). To those of us quick to minimize our sinfulness and sins (which is all of us), those charges deserve our genuine consideration. And finding them to ring true, they deserve our earnest tears and pleas for mercy.
In Hosea 2:14, Hosea announces God's response to our spiritual adultery, and the first word, “therefore,” appears to be an ominous introduction to judgment. But listen to God’s response, “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.” God does not respond with rigid and angry condemnation, but with tender and loving compassion. For while God’s character is one of justice, His mission is one of redemption. So after exposing the scandal of our scandalous sin, God comforts us with the soaring wonder of His grace to us in Jesus Christ. As Allender says, “The Bible’s love story…woos us with the wonder of our Bridegroom’s persistent, unending love.”
Brother and sister, linger long in the wonder of our Bridegroom’s persistent, unending love as told in His Word. Pray for God to reflect your marriage to Him onto your marriage to your earthly spouse. And may the marriages of our church give glory where it is due: to God alone.