His Hand is on the Door

The Beauty of God, Pt. 3: the Beauty of the Bridegroom God…

August 20th, 2007

As we took a moment to divert from the Lord to examine His throne, I want to look around for a moment in wonderment and astonishment at the emerald rainbow around His throne. As the sardius-like color and light that blinds and dazzles our hearts gives us a picture of what God looks like and the jasper-like red gives us an idea of what He feels like, the rainbow around Him connects our hearts to what He acts like. He is a God who delights in mercy (Mic. 7:18). There are many ways to illustrate how - but I want to take some time and examine His incredible, tender mercy in the book of Hosea. I just wrote these notes today as I went through the book, so the style will be a bit more “commentary-like” than you are used to.

HOSEA – THE MERCIFUL HEART OF THE BRIDEGROOM GOD

Hosea’s ministry took place over a period of time spanning approx. 45 - 50 years, from about 10 years after Amos until a decade after Israel’s destruction at the hands of Assyria. He would end his days in Judah having survived the great scattering of Israel; his ministry would begin during the height of prosperity and power for Israel – yet he would witness the steady decline through the death of the line of Jehu and the great turmoil of betrayal and assassination of kings that would follow. This volatile political situation led to the final period of great internal instability in Israel, with tragic decisions made at every turn.

Hosea 1-3 provides the overview of Hosea’s prophetic ministry and the lens through which the hearer is meant to interpret all of the prophetic messages that will follow. The promise of God in 2:10 – to “expose her nakedness” is carried out in part by the scathing preaching of Hosea later in the book. They are disconnected to reality and have no comprehension of their sin and distance from God. God’s plan, however, in exposing their delusion and shining a lamp of truth on their true condition, is to do so in a manner that serves their hearts. He wants them to hear his “tone” correctly.

The appeal of the Bridal paradigm to the human heart is that it equips and establishes our hearts in a root system that gives us courage to hear hard corrective words. Higher than the “thankful love” of a servant able to participate in the kingdom and higher than the “familial love” of a son to a good Father is the covenantal love of a passionate Bridegroom that stirs our heart with the assurance of His commitment to us.

Confidence in His unyielding commitment to our salvation and victory exhilarates our hearts, even in the face of the most difficult truths and corrections. Our bridal identity serves to remind us that our weakness does not negate the covenantal commitment God has made to us. Confidence in our identity thus helps the human heart deal with the “sting” of our true condition. When we are far from the “plumb line” and do not know it is the kindness of God to reveal the standard and then gently woo us towards it. The prophet Amos restored to them the standard 10 years earlier - and now God is presenting them with the courage to pursue that standard - through being empowered and motivated by love.

The fiery flame of love that comes alive within us over time will eventually run to the plumb line, rather than have another minute of distance in our relationship with God. The bridal paradigm “buys time” for the heart that we would not quit but fully participate with the leadership of God in our lives to transform our desires and realign our passions and value systems. Change will come by grace as we continue to say “yes” to God and stay in the place of engaged prayer and partnership with God – but many quit because they do not hear the correction of God rightly and misinterpret His zeal and jealousy.

We will look at Hosea 2 a bit tomorrow…

David

Entry Filed under: beauty of god, bible