The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ezekiel 16:7,8,15,59-60,
"I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels… Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine… But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his… I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you."
In this chapter I see so much of the heart of our Lord. In it he describes how he made Israel the beautiful mate she was to be for him, and made her his. Out of the wonderful things he blessed her with, she turned to prostitution and pursued other lovers with them. The Lord is expressing here his emotional attachment through his covenantal relationship with Israel. She was a bride to him and he was her lover and husband. Now, through the infidelity of a wayward wife, the Lord expresses the pain and jealousy of a wronged husband: Israel will pay for how she has treated the Lord; she will pay as a wayward wife caught in the worst of adultery and prostitution.
And yet, in spite of Israel's adultery, the Lord tells her he will yet establish an everlasting covenant with her… a new covenant! What a big heart this is! The Lord is no detached judge issuing judgments from on high. He had entered into a covenant, a marriage with Israel, and now carries the heavy heart of a husband who has been cheated. He will make Israel pay for her adultery, her prostitution, but in the end he will redeem her from all this and enter into a new relationship with her. And, today, we look forward to that coming wedding banquet as the bride of Jesus Christ.
What a heart our Lord has!
In this chapter I see so much of the heart of our Lord. In it he describes how he made Israel the beautiful mate she was to be for him, and made her his. Out of the wonderful things he blessed her with, she turned to prostitution and pursued other lovers with them. The Lord is expressing here his emotional attachment through his covenantal relationship with Israel. She was a bride to him and he was her lover and husband. Now, through the infidelity of a wayward wife, the Lord expresses the pain and jealousy of a wronged husband: Israel will pay for how she has treated the Lord; she will pay as a wayward wife caught in the worst of adultery and prostitution.
And yet, in spite of Israel's adultery, the Lord tells her he will yet establish an everlasting covenant with her… a new covenant! What a big heart this is! The Lord is no detached judge issuing judgments from on high. He had entered into a covenant, a marriage with Israel, and now carries the heavy heart of a husband who has been cheated. He will make Israel pay for her adultery, her prostitution, but in the end he will redeem her from all this and enter into a new relationship with her. And, today, we look forward to that coming wedding banquet as the bride of Jesus Christ.
What a heart our Lord has!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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