Throughout the Bible, there are many stories that depict the character of God. At its core, the Bible is the story of a Husband who pursues His Bride which started with the people of Israel. This love story is what we would call “complicated” as the love is often one-sided and filled with disappointments for the one who actually loves (God). Yes, in this love story, we are the bride who does not love her husband and often flees to other “lovers” in search of something “new”, “spontaneous”, “exciting” and you name it. However, in all this prostitution, in all this gallivanting, the husband continues to woo us in, he continues to call us back, he continues to plead with us to return to him. This type of husband is quite rare and, in our world, simply does not exist. Indeed, our kind of husbands, put in a similar situation would not pursue back, they would abandon, look for someone else, carry on with their lives and most likely live to make their ex-wife regret all the pain she has caused them. A stark difference from how God acts towards us, His Bride. This character of God did not start with us, He always had this from the beginning. From the moment Adam sinned, God’s plan has always been to bring us back to fellowship with Him, to union with Him, just as it was in the beginning. This is God’s heart, and it has not changed.
Knowing that the heart of God towards us, His Bride has not changed should motivate us to abide in Him as Jesus commands us to do. Indeed, God’s heart is still filled with love for us, that is why He wants everyone to come to repentance. He is always willing to accept the sinner who comes to Him in repentance, with a “broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17). This theme was evident in the book of Jeremiah. As I began reading it this week, I could not help but notice that amidst the prophecies of judgement, the heart of God is really for repentance as He keeps calling Judah to repentance, to turn away from her idolatry, her prostitution and to return to her one true love which is Him. God goes into great lengths to describe the depth of Judah’s sin and how it affected Him; how her sin is not even one that would be tolerated among the nations yet Judah tolerates that for God; how Judah forsakes the husband of her youth to flee after lovers that did not even regard her, she practically sold herself to them, entering into alliances with nations that could not save her. This utter disregard for the covenant that Judah had with God is what enflamed the LORD and brought about judgement to Judah.
Despite the pain and insult that this prostitution and idolatry brought to the LORD, He nevertheless sought to bring Judah back to Him, sought to win her back by sending calamities her way. He basically left Judah unattended for a while just so she would realize that something was “off” and call on the name of the LORD. Sadly, this is not what she did. Despite the showers that were withheld and the spring rains that did not fall, Judah refused to blush with shame (Jeremiah 3:3). She persisted in her sin, stating proudly that the LORD’s wrath would not continue forever, acting as one who is humbly coming back to the LORD yet doing the very evil the LORD abhors (Jeremiah 3:4-5). As God gets treated in this despicable manner, He still loves and still pursues, waiting for His Bride, the one He covenanted with to come back to her senses. This is why He sent many prophets to warn His people, He did not hold back on sending His prophets, as many as were necessary, He kept on sending them. This is how much God loves.
I am reminded of a parable Jesus told his disciples concerning a landowner who planted his vineyard and then rented it out to some farmers and went away. At harvest time, the landowner sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. However, the tenants seized the servants beat one, killed another and stoned a third. Despite this, the landowner sent another set of servants, and the same treatment was done to them. Lastly, the landowner sent his son, thinking to himself that the tenants would respect him. However, when the tenants saw the son, they saw a golden opportunity and said to themselves “This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance”. In concluding this parable, Jesus asks what his audience thinks the landowner will do to those tenants and the response is that “he will bring those wretched to a wretched end” (Matthew 21:33-41). There are many applications to this parable but my point in relaying this parable is to show you the heart of the landowner who represents God the Father, who is willing to give second chances to anyone, and willing to sacrifice His son for wretches tenants like the ones in the story. His desire is that no man should perish but that all come to a saving faith in Christ, through repentance (2 Peter 3:9). That is why Jesus came into this earth. He came to rebels like you and I, who were pretty much in the same predicament Judah was in Jeremiah 5, where no one righteous can be found, no one “who deals honestly and seeks the truth” (Jeremiah 5:1).
From our youngest age, in fact, from our conception we were sinful as David says, “Surely I was sinful at birth” (Psalm 51:5). This sinful nature kept displaying itself in our actions which were tainted with evil and sadly this condition separated us from God. However, in His infinite mercy and love, God knew that we could not afford to pay the punishment that our sin deserved and so He sent His one and only sinless son Jesus to take the punishment that we deserved, mainly death and eternal separation and gave us his righteousness when he died on the cross. There was a great exchange that happened there, Jesus became an enemy of God, went to hell where we should have been, defeated hell and gave us his righteousness so that the Father could now accept us into His presence and welcome us into His family. We who were once enemies of God became friends of God just because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
This is good news because it means you and I no longer have to strive to be perfect, to obey all the rules without fail to be saved, we now know that our righteousness is only based on the finish work of Jesus Christ on the cross and not on what we do. We now know that it is our Lord and saviour who deserves all the glory and honour. The best part is that this righteousness is still available today to anyone who would believe in Jesus Christ, lay down their burdens at his feet and follow him. God’s heart is still burning with desire for you lost one. He still desires you to come back to Him, He is still calling you out today just as He did with Judah and Israel back in the day. He wants your very best, which is communion with Him. His plans for us are good, there is good work He has prepared for us, He wants the best for us, He wants to give us an inheritance which can never perish.
Therefore, if you do not know Him, run to Him. A time will come when this invitation will be closed. Jesus is coming back as he has promised to get his Bride, the church composed of men and women who have believed on him and surrendered to him. He has gone to prepare rooms for us all and will return when everything is ready. He said “Behold, I am coming soon!” (Revelation 22:12). If you hear his voice today, do not delay any longer. Let us take Jesus at his words for he is coming soon, indeed. Maranatha!
A Word Aptly Spoken 