Divine Romance

Am I going to post about the Phil Wickham song? Nay! I love that song, but I had another post in mind. We will look stealthily into a book that is mostly forgotten about in the OT where God's passion and love for His people Israel is found in the midst of sin itself. We are constantly wayward 24/7 and so was Israel. When they (Israel) kept setting their mind's eye and affections on other things, God would always allure Israel back to Himself. This is the ultimate setting of "Divine Romance".

Where would we find this book in the OT? If you have not already guessed, we will be looking into Hosea. If you know the story of Hosea, God specifically told Hosea to go and take himself a wife of whoredom, an adulteress wife (Hosea 1:2). This woman, Gomer, would be an example to all of Israel of what it is like to stray away from the Lord. However, God's purpose for Hosea in taking himself a wife of whoredom was to show Israel the wonders of His mercy, grace, and love despite Israel's constant unfaithfulness to Him. Israel clearly deserved to be punished (Hosea 2:1-13). But, beginning in verse 14, the tide completely turns.

Hosea 2:14-23 says, "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me 'My Husband' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal'. For I will remove the names of Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord. And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people'; and he shall say, 'You are my God.'"

The same goes for us as well. We, who are in Christ, are a part of God's chosen elect. We have been unfaithful, we have strayed far away from the truth, we have given in constantly to temptation; but the truth of the matter is, no matter how many times we sin, God will never give up on us. He will consistently, constantly, and convincingly allure us back to Himself when we do stray away from Him. Of course, we deserve the wrath of God because we have sinned against Him, but do not forget this one thought. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old is gone and the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17). He bore our justice that we ultimately deserve, He bore our wrath that we are richly entitled to, and He bore our death, so that He could be in an intimate relationship with us, a Divine Romance. That is what Christianity is all about. He yearns to have a relationship with us, to allure us back to Himself, in order that He might show us how much He loves us through His Son. He loves you... he loves you.... he loves you.... because He sent His Son (John 3:16). He wants to be in a "Divine Romance" with us. :)