The Bride turns her back on her Beloved:
All while the Bride is waiting on her special day....
The Bride begins to get ready with this great anticipation; her picture perfect of meeting her beloved as she sits and waits and imagines looking into His eyes, forever at last, together with nothing separating them. Her heart skips a beat every time she thinks of Him. The days pass, some with chaos, some with joy. She seems to face many trials and tribulations, yet His soft voice reminds her of their special day that is yet to come. The bride is determined, and just the thought of Him helps her stay focused.
All while she waits, she suddenly notices this thing she can barley stand - her loneliness, she wonders if it will ever happen, time is ticking. The Bride rises with frustration; she starts to notice a little girl in the mirror and sees pain, betrayal, loneliness, and sadness staring at her. She glares to wait on some sort of comfort but nothing fills her. She no longer can envision her future with her beloved, she no longer has excitement, and she no longer cares or sees a purpose on her special day.
All while her Beloved waits on His Bride…..
All while He waits and watches His Bride take her attention off Him. She now has found something pleasing to her eye. Alluring new lovers into her life; she is suddenly distracted by what seems to be beauty and fiery. Her eyes are no longer on her beloved, but on her new comforters. Her heart has been flooded with a false love, a quick fix, a temporary type of satisfaction to void out the little girl inside of her. All while He waits, He sees her breaking into pieces inside as she goes after empty promises. Yet she continues to run away from Him knowingly He is nothing but the truth. She sees Him looking for her, waiting for her; as she feels like a wine glass shattered into a million pieces, she keeps running away from her Beloved. BUT He won’t stop chasing her, His relentless pursuit after His bride slowly pulls her back; she finally stops and turns back to look at Him…. The moment she looks into her beloved eyes, His deep love, His fiery gaze at her, His forgiveness, calls to the depths of her being and explodes her with completeness!
All while she waits on her special day....
He breaths His promise into her once again, He gets on His knees once again, "Will you be my bride, will you be mine, will give me your heart, will you trust me, will you let me fill your emptiness, will you leave all your other temporary lovers and be mine forever, will you wait for me?”
She waits again, flabbergasted by His indescribable Love that He has for her.
I write this in reference to the church aka “The Bride” and her beloved Jesus. We know that in Revelation 19 there is a Bride (Saints / Christians / The CHURCH) that will make herself ready for the coming marriage of the Lamb. In the book of Hosea (Chapters 1 and 2), is another example of the Bride – the bride that actually prostitutes herself. Hosea’s wife turns her back on Hosea to go to other lovers, and she prostitutes herself to fulfill the very desire of her flesh. She was symbolic to God’s chosen people. Many times as individuals and “The Church” we don’t really realize the many compromises we make to satisfy our flesh, the cravings of this world. We may still be in the waiting room preparing ourselves for Jesus, but yet our focuses are on the quick fix, on the things that are flattering to the eye. When we allow this to happen, we are simply having an affair on our beloved. We cheat on God when we put other things above Him, it could be people, money, and other satisfactions. But His unfailing love calls us every day to turn back to Him and just simply live for Him. He knows the desperation those other things can bring us if we make them our primary love. “Seek The Kingdom of God first and ALL things will be given to you.”
Hosea 2 - Israel Punished and Restored
2 “Rebuke your mother, rebuke her,
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous look from her face
and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise I will strip her naked
and make her as bare as on the day she was born;
I will make her like a desert,
turn her into a parched land,
and slay her with thirst.
4 I will not show my love to her children,
because they are the children of adultery.
5 Their mother has been unfaithful
and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my food and my water,
my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say,
‘I will go back to my husband as at first,
for then I was better off than now.’
8 She has not acknowledged that I was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,
who lavished on her the silver and gold—
which they used for Baal.
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous look from her face
and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise I will strip her naked
and make her as bare as on the day she was born;
I will make her like a desert,
turn her into a parched land,
and slay her with thirst.
4 I will not show my love to her children,
because they are the children of adultery.
5 Their mother has been unfaithful
and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my food and my water,
my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say,
‘I will go back to my husband as at first,
for then I was better off than now.’
8 She has not acknowledged that I was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,
who lavished on her the silver and gold—
which they used for Baal.
9 “Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens,
and my new wine when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
intended to cover her naked body.
10 So now I will expose her lewdness
before the eyes of her lovers;
no one will take her out of my hands.
11 I will stop all her celebrations:
her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.
12 I will ruin her vines and her fig trees,
which she said were her pay from her lovers;
I will make them a thicket,
and wild animals will devour them.
13 I will punish her for the days
she burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but me she forgot,”
declares the Lord.
and my new wine when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
intended to cover her naked body.
10 So now I will expose her lewdness
before the eyes of her lovers;
no one will take her out of my hands.
11 I will stop all her celebrations:
her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.
12 I will ruin her vines and her fig trees,
which she said were her pay from her lovers;
I will make them a thicket,
and wild animals will devour them.
13 I will punish her for the days
she burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but me she forgot,”
declares the Lord.
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will respond as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
I will lead her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will respond as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
16 “In that day,” declares the Lord,
“you will call me ‘my husband’;
you will no longer call me ‘my master.’
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the Lord.
“you will call me ‘my husband’;
you will no longer call me ‘my master.’
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the Lord.
21 “In that day I will respond,”
declares the Lord—
“I will respond to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and the olive oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’
declares the Lord—
“I will respond to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and the olive oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’
