Here is a promise given to the children of Israel that notwithstanding that they had forsaken the Lord who had brought them into a covenant relation with Himself. He will bring them into a covenant relation which cannot be broken — I will betroth thee forever.
In speaking from the text we shall notice —
(I) The betrothal.
(II) The manner in which it is made.
The Betrothal: Although to betroth means to enter into a contract with a view to marriage, here it signifies to marry. So it is rendered in the Gaelic translation. It is in this sense we are to use it. We shall notice:
- The parties to be betrothed. Among the human race parties marry who are of equal rank in society, but it is not so in this case. There is an infinite difference in rank between husband and the spouse. The former is infinite in His being and attributes, while the latter is a creature whose creator is God. “Thy Maker is thine Husband; the Lord of Hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called” (Isaiah 54:5). What a glorious husband the church has; there is none like Him, none so good, so powerful, and so wealthy. “The earth belongs unto the Lord and all that it contains” — for supplying all the temporal needs of His church, and He has unsearchable riches of grace for supplying her spiritual needs. The party to be betrothed is not only a creature but a sinful creature. This is true of all the human race by nature. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” They were shining in the beauty of holiness as they came forth from the hand of the Creator, but are now by sin uglier than any creature on the earth. As it was to the Jews the promise was primarily made, it is a wonder that God would betroth them to Himself, for they were guilty of spiritual adultery. The Lord was their first husband, but they forsook Him, broke the marriage covenant and married another husband — a false God. “If a man put away his wife, and she go from him and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? Shall not that land be greatly polluted: but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord” (Jer. 3:1). This is a wonder indeed, but the God of all grace deals thus with sinners. What a wonder that the Lord God would look upon such sinful creatures and bring them into union with Himself. The church, in her natural condition, was not only sinful but miserable, liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever. If the husband was rich, she was poor. She lost all the riches given her in her first creation. Nothing belonged to her in her fallen condition but sin and death, yet this is the very person to whom God says, “I will betroth thee.” Like the Jews, we as a nation were brought into a covenant relation with God, but we broke the covenant, forsook our good husband who did great things for us, and married a cruel husband who cannot do us any good but much evil. We joined ourselves to idols, yet He calls us back by the Word of the Gospel to betroth us to Himself, if we return to Him with faith and repentance. We ought to wonder at this, but all His works are works of wonder.
The consent of the woman is necessary to marriage. What way or ways did God take to gain the consent of his intended spouse? He hedged up her way with thorns and built a strong and high wall which made it impossible for her to take any further steps after her lovers. When the Lord begins to bring sinners to Himself He makes this world a wilderness to them, so that they find by sad experience that it will not yield to them the happiness they expected to find in it. He convinces them by His Spirit of their sin and misery. He uses His Word and providence in dealing with them, and reminds them that it was He Himself and not their idols that gave them the temporal mercies they enjoyed. “For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hands. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts, and I will destroy her vines, and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, these are my rewards that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burnt her incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord” (vv. 8-13). This way of dealing with her had the effect of making her see the vanity of idols, and the bitterness of the sin of idolatry, and of commending God to her as the giver of all good. Like the prodigal, she finding herself in the miserable position into which she had brought herself by forsaking God, and remembering that even the servants in the heavenly Father’s house were better off than she — she by the teaching of God’s Spirit resolved to return to her first husband; whom she had foolishly deserted. “I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now” (v. 7). Her consent was gained at last, she was “made willing in the day of God’s power.”
Who performs the work of betrothal? Ministers join parties in marriage, but it is God only that does this work; for He says, “I will betroth thee.” If you are united to God in spiritual marriage it is He that did it.”
The manner of the betrothal. There are seven things in the manner:
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It is forever. In marriage the covenant relation lasts till the death of either party or both. It is of the law of marriage that the Apostle Paul speaks when he says, “The law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth” (Rom. 7:1). But, in the case of the spiritual marriage, neither party ever dies. This is true not only of God, but it is also true of the church. “He that believeth in Me hath everlasting life” (John 6:47). If you come to Him today to receive Him, and be brought into covenant relation with Him, that relation shall be everlasting. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (Rom. 8:35-37).
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In righteousness. It is a righteous or just thing of God to save sinners and bring them nigh to Himself. “He is a just God and a Saviour.” He is as just in saving as He is in punishing. He does it in righteousness also inasmuch as the bride is not only accepted on the ground of Christ’s righteousness, but because it is with the white robe of Christ’s righteousness she is clothed.”
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In judgment. The betrothal takes not place rashly, without previous consideration; everything in it was well considered and arranged in the court of God’s will; and in the covenant of grace, which is well ordered in all things and sure.
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In lovingkindness. In the Gaelic translation the word lovingkindness is rendered into two words, caoimhneas agus caomhgradh — that is kindness and tender love. Kindness is a disposition to be good to another person or persons, and is the effect of love. The love of God is the great source of salvation and the cause of all the kindness that He shows to His people. David loved Jonathan so much that he showed much kindness to his son Mephibosheth on Jonathan’s account. In every right marriage there is love, mutual love in both parties. Here there is love on the part of God, and there is love on the part of the church. It is the love of God that is meant here which is the cause of her love to Him.
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And in mercies. Mercy has respect to misery. The church before her betrothal was in misery, but the Lord had mercy on her. “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:4-5). Mercy in God flows forth to sinners through the atonement of Christ.
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In faithfulness. In keeping the marriage covenant fidelity or faithfulness is required. Faithfulness here signifies (i) truth. The betrothal was to be accomplished not in a mere outward profession but in reality and truth. (ii) Faithfulness in fulfilling all that He promised to do to His church. “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it” (1 Thes. 5:24).
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Knowledge of the Lord is necessary in order to the betrothal. “Thou shalt know the Lord”. No sensible woman marries a man of whom she is ignorant as to what kind of man he is. Although the church was in the state of nature ignorant of God, she is taught by the Spirit and Word to know Him; her mind is enlightened in His knowledge as He revealed Himself in the Old and New Testaments. “For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). In her time of ignorance, she could make no distinction between the true God and Baal. But now she knows the Lord. And, not only so, but she is able to realise her relation to Him, and to call Him “Ishi,” or “my Husband.” Although she may not be able at all times in the full assurance of faith to say this, yet there are times in which she has no difficulty in saying it, and when she cannot say it in words her conduct speaks for her. After her betrothal she renounces forever Baal, who was formerly her lord and husband. His names are taken out of her mouth by her new husband. “For I will take the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name” (v. 17). Those who keep up the memory of false gods or goddesses prove by their conduct that the living and true God is not their husband. There are many in our day who celebrate the memory of Easter, a heathen idol that was worshipped by those who were ignorant of the true God. It is lamentable that in this 20th century this false goddess is still worshipped in the land of the Gospel, and is worshipped even in Dingwall at a time which they call Easter, but which they cannot find in the Word of God. The term Easter is indeed found in Acts 12:4, but it is indeed a mis-translation of the original. The word in the original is pascha, which means passover and not Easter.
Concluding remarks: The promise of betrothal includes Gentiles as well as Jews. “I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy” (v. 23). The Apostle Peter applies this to the Gentiles. “Which in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God; which had not obtained mercy” (1st Peter 2:10). The Apostle Paul speaks of this as a mystery. “Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men.” That the Gentiles should be made fellow heirs and of the same body, and partakers of His promise by Christ in the Gospel (Eph. 3:5-6). How thankful we ought to be that the Gospel came to us who are of the Gentiles. And it has been blessed to us in bringing us into the covenant relation with God of which we have spoken, we have still more reason to thank the Lord and praise Him for His goodness to us. In our state of nature we were not His people, and, in that state, we had no right to call Him our God and our Husband, but if we obtained mercy we are His people and He is our God. Before parties marry they have thoughts about it, and this is true of the spiritual marriage. God had thoughts about it from all eternity, and the sinner who is betrothed had thoughts about it pervious to the day of his espousals. He began to think about it when he was awakened to a sense of his need of Christ revealed in the Gospel. He was by nature married to the law as an husband; but when he broke the law it began to curse him, and he found out that he could not by anything he might do or suffer come to peaceable terms with that husband; but having been informed by the Gospel that Christ the Son of God died that sinners might be saved, his thoughts were directed towards Him, in the hope that He might bring him into saving union with Himself.
Parties intending to marry not only think about the matter, but they speak of it. God spoke of it and still speaks of it in the Scriptures, and the sinner spoke of it also, especially in prayer, saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Or, “Oh, that I might be found in Christ, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but the righteousness of Christ; the righteousness which is of God by faith.” Many were speaking and thinking of marrying that never married, but that is not the case of those that are saved. They in God’s good time believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and were saved. Their new husband broke down the tie between them and their old husband, the law, so that they are no longer under it as a covenant of works. Every time the Gospel is preached sinners are invited to come to God that He might betroth them to Himself. We now invite you to come as you are, sinful, miserable, and lost. What response are you prepared to give to His gracious call? If you refuse to comply with the invitation, and continue to refuse to the end of your life, your punishment shall be greater than that of the heathen who never heard the Gospel. “Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear, forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house” (Psalm 45:10).
Christ gives last knocks. When your heart becomes hard and careless, then fear lest Christ may have given a last knock.
R. M. McCheyne