Christ and His Bride
“When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: ‘Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry, And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord.’” (Hosea 1:2)
Christians are familiar with the concept of the Church being the Bride of Christ, as, according to Ephesians 5:22-33:
She is subject to Christ (v.24)
Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her (v.25)
He sanctifies and cleanses her with the washing of water by the word (v.26)
So that He might present her to Himself, spotless and without blemish or wrinkle (v.27)
The Lord nourishes and cherishes the church as His own flesh (v.29)
For we are members of His body, of His flesh and bone (v.30)
And then Paul cites Genesis 2:24” “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” (v.31)
To be a member of God's chosen people is akin to being His bride, His flesh, His bone. Paul also expounds on the principle of flesh-oneness within the marriage covenant in 1 Corinthians. He goes even further than flesh-oneness and uses that truth to say that those who are joined to the Lord are of one spirit with Him.
“Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Corinthians 6:16–17).
We also see that those who are in Christ are identified as one flesh and spirit with Christ Himself in Acts 9, when Christ asks of Saul “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” but Saul wasn't physically persecuting Christ, just the Christians. This is how closely husbands are identified with wives, and how closely The Son is identified with His people.
But the Church of the New Testament isn't the first people God names by spousal terms. The prophet Ezekiel goes into detail about where God found His bride, Israel. How He lavished blessings upon her, just for her to abandon Him. Then, at the end of the passage in question, the Lord promises to redeem His bride.
In I and II Kings the Israelites, at the peak of their glory under the reign of the Davidic kingship, had grown haughty with the blessings of the Lord. They had forgotten their humble beginnings. The Lord then saw fit to chastise them and sent them into exile. He struck them and scattered them to the nations.
The Lord, in His graciousness, saw fit to remind the people, through the prophet Ezekiel, from whence they came while they were being struck and exiled. This is where we start with Ezekiel chapter 16.
They came from the land of the Canaanites, yet not even as native inhabitants, but as sojourners. In the form of the seed of their father, Abraham (Gen 23:4.) Ezekiel says they were thrown out onto an open field as a newborn babe and loathed on the day they were born. (v.5)
Then the Lord made Israel prosper like a plant in the field (Ex 1:7) and “you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.” (v.8) (SoS 8:10) This is referring to their fullness of number and virginity as a people after their Exodus from Egypt.
The Lord caused her to become beautiful, who was not born beautiful. The Lord loved one who was unworthy of love. Matthew Henry says: “He looked upon them with kindness and a tender affection, not only pitied them, but set his love upon them, which was unaccountable, for there was nothing lovely in them” -Commentary on Ezekiel 16:6.
With the same love does the Lord redeem us individually. Not for any inherent beauty inherent in us, but out of His pure perfect grace and love. (Rom 5:8)
It was at this time, after the Lord had made the multitude of Israel beautiful that He covered her nakedness, swore an oath to her, entered into covenant with her, and “you became mine” (v.8) This is Exodus 20-24, where God Covenants with the newly freed Israelites, among whom were physical descendants of Abraham, as well as circumcised foreigners (Ex 12:38, 48-49). There we see the terms of the covenant formally established. God lays out the terms of His covenant, of fidelity and consequence. The people of Israel answer Him and swear an oath of fidelity. “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” (Ex 24:7)
So we can see that the virgin of Israel (Jer 31:4) was covered with blessing upon blessing. She was washed, anointed with oil, covered with fine clothes, given fine sandals, given beautiful jewelry, and even given a crown. She ate fine foods, was exceedingly beautiful, and rose to the level of royalty. Her perfect beauty, through the splendor which God bestowed upon her, caused her to become famous to the nations. (v. 9-14)
It was just then, at the peak of her beauty and splendor, that she stopped loving the giver and started loving the gifts. She trusted in her beauty and started playing the harlot (v. 15-22.) It was over this that the prophet Jeremiah wept. The chosen virgin that God had plucked from among the nations, the bride that He consecrated for Himself, the one whom He had made beautiful, rejected Him.
Ezekiel says that she stooped even lower than a prostitute. She didn't charge for her services, but instead gave gifts in exchange for her debauchery (v.31-34). She shed all her precious gifts that God showered on her and gave them all away to the uncovenanted nations. The extent of her whoring was so great that, with an unquenchable lust, she was never satisfied. She even succeeded the sins of Sodom and Samaria in her lewdness. (v.52)
Ezekiel paints a stark and grotesque picture. A picture of a bride who was made princess (Lam 1:1), who was made more beautiful than all others, who then subsequently scorned her first love, and whored herself to all who would have her.
Such a deep betrayal would require retribution, per God's law. She would be stoned (Lev 20:10) and thrusted through with swords. Her houses would be burned (Deut 13:16), and judgment would be executed on her. “It is truly a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb 10:31) A fitting passage, describing the fate of covenant breakers.
Then the Lord mercifully made her cease playing the harlot. The iniquity of the Israelites had finally reached its full measure. God wanted all to know what was at stake for those who break His covenant, and for all to know the extent of His marvelous grace. How many earthly husbands would divorce their whoring wife and move on? Not the Lord. (Is 50:1-2)
Such wretched sins would not only need to be punished, but they would need to be atoned for (Lev 17:11.) They would need the atoning of blood. The sins of not just one woman, but of an entire nation. If the sullied bride of God wants to be made new and spotless again, she needs a perfect sacrifice. The perfect lamb. The Lamb of God (John 1:29.) Thank God for His perfect Son, who He sent to redeem His people through the shedding of blood, to the riches of His glorious grace (Eph 1:7)
As we have seen throughout the Bible, God chose for Himself a people, His bride. She was found filthy, made beautiful, became filthy again, and was promised redemption (Ezk 16:60-63.) Was she redeemed? Did the Lord leave her naked and bruised? Surely not, for “He who promised is faithful” (Heb 10:23.) Is the bride of Christ in Ephesians the very same bride whom Ezekiel speaks of? I can't see how anyone could answer in the negative. How could the Lord do all of these things for His bride, just to then abandon her and wed another? We see clearly through the testimony of sacred scripture that the one same bride whom God first found in her youth, dirty and unswaddled in a field (Ez 16: 2-5) is the very same bride of Christ. The perfect and spotless one is depicted in Ephesians. We can see the perfect redemptive plan of God unfold throughout creation, in the picture of a loving bridegroom who redeems His bride, even after all she has done to Him.
It should be noted that God does not only refer to His people as a bride. It is certainly one of the illustrations He employs, though, and we cannot ignore that. It is one of the most vivid and fleshed-out illustrations of Christ saving His people in all of Scripture.
The bride was, in fact, redeemed and made new (Rev 21:5) for Christ Himself. She was made perfect and blameless, clothed with the righteous acts of the Saints, applied to her by the Holy Spirit. For all eternity, this redeemed bride will sit as the perfect wife of the King of Kings.
6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.” (Revelation 19:6–9).
Blessed indeed are those who are called. When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we are now a member of that beautiful Bride. We are new creations (2 Cor 5:16-17) Praise God!
This article was a guest submission from Stuart Feistner