June 8, 2012 by Erin

Author

The best part of the story I’m living is that I am not writing it. Author posts will be about the One who is. For this first one, I decided to write about a theme in Scripture that’s been wrecking me lately.

For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. (Isaiah 54:5 ESV)

This is one of those verses that I find just too good to be true. My whole life I’ve been hearing that Jesus wants a personal relationship with me, but sometimes, I confess, I forget just what that means. My head has a much easier time getting around a distant God — I’ve sinned, Jesus died to forgive me, and now I stand before him innocent. Amazing. That’s enough, right? I mean, I’d be embarrassed to ask for anything more.

As it turns out, God has something infinitely more intimate in mind. In fact, he always has. We normally read Exodus 19 and 20 through the lens of the law. But take a look at the language here: “You yourselves have seen … how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself … you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine” (Exodus 19:4-5 ESV). Obviously, this is more intimate than legal. But what’s even more astonishing is that these are actually phrases from ancient marriage rituals. Sinai is the site of a wedding. Yahweh is taking Israel as His bride.

If you read through the prophets (especially Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah), you see that God uses the most intimate terms to talk about His relationship with Israel. When His chosen people turn their backs on Him, He calls it adultery. Passages like Ezekiel 16 are heart-wrenching. But, even when He is rejected, God’s love never fails. Hosea says that Yahweh will allure His wayward bride and speak tenderly to her. Isaiah says that God delights and rejoices over her. It doesn’t stop in the Old Testament, either. Paul calls the Church the Bride of Christ. Perhaps most breath-taking is Revelation, where we see that the culmination of all history is a wedding. Jesus doesn’t just want to save us from sin — He wants to marry us.

Can you believe it? I’m learning to. It’s just too wonderful that Jesus loves me that much, in that way. But it’s all over the pages of Scripture. He designed us for total, self-giving unity with Him. It’s like my wildest dream and my greatest fear at the same time — that kind of intimacy means I have to let Him into every single part of me, even the parts I’d rather not talk about. It means I have to let Him purify and change my heart. But, it also means that the Creator of the universe pursues me and wants to be around me. It means I belong to Him, and He belongs to me. Crazy, but true.