Betrothed to Christ

I was reading in Exodus and was reminded of the beautiful picture of Christ and His bride. In Exodus 21:7-11, you find a peculiar law about maidservants:

1) She does not bide by the same laws as the menservants, which can leave their master after six years.
2) If her master who has betrothed her to himself is not pleased  with her, he cannot sell her to the gentiles, but must let her be redeemed; because he has dealt unfaithfully and deceitfully with her.
3) If her master has betrothed her to his son, he must treat her like his daughter.
4) His son must provide for her food, clothes, and duty of marriage and cannot diminish them if he takes another wife. If he does, the maidservant can leave for free.

Weird? Kind 'a, but it makes sense. Then God popped a thought into my head about Hosea.

Hosea was a prophet who was told by God to marry a harlot to illustrate God's love for Israel. Now at one point Gomer, Hosea's wife, left him for another man and ended up getting herself on the slave market. God told Hosea to buy her back - to betroth her to himself , "according to the love of the LORD  toward the children of Israel, who took to other gods, and love flagons of wine."(Hosea 3:1b)

This was what God said to Israel, " And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgement, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD."(Hosea 2:19-20)

God uses the law he made to show his perfect love towards His chosen people Israel and now the Church.

1) We are betrothed to God forever! We won't leave after six years, our union with Christ is everlasting.
2) Even though we do not please God and create idols for ourselves and love other things more than God, God says He betrothed us in faithfulness. He will never be unfaithful, though we are. He will never sell us back into the world of sin.
3) God has betrothed us to His Son, Jesus Christ (John 17:9). We are sons and daughters of God (1John 3:1).
4) Jesus will provide for all our needs. He has given us righteousness, judgement, loving kindness, and mercies. We can know the LORD!

The wonder of this only sunk in later when I had been caught up in idolatry. The Holy Spirit convicted me after school that I was loving attention and popularity more than God. Not that I am very popular at school, but when you have a group of friends and are getting noticed, it is easy to get elated.

I feel like I write about this same problem every time I make a blog post - getting caught up in the world and loving the things of the world. But it is a daily struggle. I think I have it down one day and the next day I'm slipping back into it. I was crushed by my weakness and grieved that I would slander my God in such a way. I was afraid God would give me over to myself and I would loose the greatest gift that was ever given to me.

Then I remembered what He had showed me in His word that morning. I am betrothed to Christ forever. Because God is faithful, he will never sell me to the world. God will always provide my needs and cause me to know Him. I am the daughter of God the Father and He will always treat me with love. I broke down in tears! O what love God has shown us! Cry out for God to open your eyes to see what love has been given to us. Flee from the lusts of the world, it is not worth it! Dear brothers and sisters, Christ is faithful!

"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." Revelation 19:7

Sincerely, Brooke