In Genesis 1:26, The Bible states that God created man in His image and likeness. His desire is to have a covenant relationship with humanity, allowing us to know and fellowship with Him. God’s loyalty and love for us are often portrayed in Scripture as a betrothal. The relationship between God and mankind is likened to that of a husband and wife. As believers, we are considered His sons and daughters, while the church as a whole is seen as a bride prepared for the great marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-9). This pattern of Christ looking upon us as a bride is throughout scripture. This pattern tells us that God’s desire and delight is to have an intimate relationship between Himself and us. This declaration of intimacy also declares that this relationship can be violated.
We’ll look at two areas of offense to God: idolatry and adultery. These two go hand in hand, both naturally and spiritually. Genesis shows us that we were created to have perfect fellowship with God. This fellowship was of intimacy and trust with God. We were asked to be loyal to Him only. The Tree of Life was our gift to maintain that fellowship. But the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was the test of our commitment.
Satan is the adversary of God. In the garden, he pursued man and seduced him using the lie that he could be like God if he followed Satan. Man fell into the lie and turned his heart away from his love and trust in God to himself. Thus, committing both adultery against the heart and love of God to love of self-gratification led to his demise and idolatry by choosing Satan and his lie. Satan now became his lord, and man’s relationship with God was now broken.
Throughout scripture, we see God now confronting the issues of both adultery and idolatry. In Deuteronomy 5:18, God’s 6th command is, “You shall not commit adultery.” God has called us not only into a covenant relationship with Himself but also, as children, to walk in obedience to our parents. The fourth commandment, the first personal commandment of obedience, and a commandment with promise (which we failed in the garden) is “Children obey your parents so that your days may be long in the land.” Obedience is where we failed in the garden.
Our choosing another god is where we lost everything in the fall. To restore man to Himself, God must confront man’s rebellion. This rebellion is revealed in both the idolatries and the adulteries, which break both natural as well as spiritual laws and relationships.
In Leviticus 20:10, God declares His disdain for adultery by commanding that the persons who commit it were to be put to death. This declaration was to declare His demand on honorable and loyal relationships as husbands and wives and as God to His children. To break this relationship was to open the door for the destruction of everything good. Pain and misery are in the path of the adulterer. If you go back up four verses, God addresses the cause of the spirit of adultery, and that is the spirit of idolatry. Their rebellion occurred as they turned to mediums and spiritists.
Idolatry is the parent of adultery. God looked at Israel as a type of bride to Himself. Idolatry was the committing of spiritual adultery to lead the people away from Him as His love, covering, and blessings to idols that have no power but only promise bondage, brokenness, and ultimately rejection. In Deuteronomy 13:1-18, God warns that the prophet who tries to turn Israel away to other Gods was to be put to death. If they turned away, God would no longer be their covering, and judgment would ultimately result. But what we see with God is His unfailing love for us.
In Jeremiah Chapter 3, God is patient and long-suffering with His people. Although they play the harlot with other gods, He reaches out to restore them as His own. In verse 14, the Bible states, “Return, O backsliding children, “says the Lord; for I am married to you, I will take you, one from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.” The Old Testament shows us the patience of God. It is an example of God’s continual reaching out to lost mankind.
In Genesis 3:15, God promised that he would one day redeem mankind. Two thousand years ago, God held true to His promise. Eternity stepped into time, God became man, and His name is Jesus. On a cross called cavalry, with Jesus’ bloodshed, the full price to restore Israel to God and the price for all mankind was paid.
John 3:16-17 states, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. God did not send His son into the world to condemn it, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
Jesus came as the bridegroom for His bride. In John 3:29, John the Baptist states about his ministry and the person of Jesus; “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bride (John the Baptist) who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled.”
Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Jesus will build His church from the nations of the world.
In 2 Corinthians 11:2, the Apostle Paul states concerning the church: “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
Ephesians 5:25-27 states, “Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loves the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify her with the washing of the water of the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”
God has fulfilled His promise to come for us. He delights in restoring us as His sons and daughters, together known as “The Bride of Christ.” As His bride, we will one day arrive in heaven clean and pure. Together, we will sit with Him in the heavens at a table prepared by heaven itself.
Revelation 19:7-9 says, “Let us be glad and rejoice and give glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her, it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
Believer, God loves us with an EVERLASTING LOVE! He desires for us to be restored to Him in a divine relationship. All we need to do is respond with a “yes” to the One who brought us back to Himself. Through the power of His blood, the idolatries and adulteries of our past are forgiven and washed away. Now, together as the bride, we will reign with Him in glory for all eternity. The depth of God’s grace is unsearchable, and His love for us is unfathomable! He is a long-suffering God filled with marvelous mercy, and we are able to receive all that He has prepared for us. We are truly blessed.
You can also watch my 28:30-minute teaching on this subject on our YouTube channel.
Blessings,
