Ep. 192. Ezekiel 13-16 | The Lord's Faithless Bride
EPISODE 192
THE LORD'S FAITHLESS BRIDE: Ezekiel 13-16
We need to grasp the profound nature of God's love and the depth of his emotions in his relationship with his people. In Ezekiel 16, God uses the marriage metaphor to depict his relationship with Israel. He refers to them as a 'faithless bride' who would offer herself to all who passed by. This is not a literal act of infidelity, but a powerful metaphor God uses to emphasize the betrayal. Each idol Israel turned to was like another lover the unfaithful wife gave herself to. Israel was an 'adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband.'
In the New Testament, we see that people of faith, also called "the assembly" (or the church), are given to Christ as a bride. Ephesians 5 discusses how a husband and wife should relate to one another, but then Paul says he is really talking about Christ and the church. In Corinthians, Paul rebukes a father and son for sharing a wife. He reminds them that believers have become one with the Lord, and to engage in such sexual sin was to join Christ to that sin. He even quotes Genesis 2 and adds, "The two will become one flesh."
This all matters because it indicates the seriousness with which we should face our marriages. Earthly marriages all come to an end, either by death or the return of Christ. But then comes the wedding supper of the Lamb, during which the church is finally brought into complete fellowship with Jesus. Finally, the bride and the groom will be joined together. Our earthly marriages serve as nothing more than an example of the gospel of God. The husband is a picture of Christ, and the bride is a picture of the church. As I've said before, we don't get to decide if our marriages represent Jesus; we only get to decide if our marriages represent him correctly.
When we read texts like Ezekiel 16, we should feel not only the sting of Israel's faithlessness but also God's longing for people who love him and him alone.
ADDITIONAL READING: Jeremiah 28:9-17; Isaiah 5:20; Ephesians 5:22-31; 1 Corinthians 6:15-20
