God's love is imaginable
" It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.(NIV) Jeremiah 31:32
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing, her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (NIV) Ephesians 5:25-27
Once upon a time, in a town with very strict laws, a house help, who used to work in the garden belonging to a wealthy man, was deceived by a young man to steal some money from the rich man's house on his behalf. He professed love to her and promised her the whole world. Sadly, He did not want to have anything to do with her after she was accused of theft, sacked from work and imprisoned. She had also been sentenced to death.
So many years after, the first son of this wealthy man grew up in wisdom and stature and found favour with God and man. When this boy had become a man and was 33 years, His Father asked if He had found a wife yet.
After a long pause, He replied: ‘Daddy, I have found one person I really love. I have loved her with all my heart since the first day I set my eyes on her. I don’t think there is anyone again I am going to love like I love her. She is always on my mind. But . . . I don’t know if you would agree to marrying her. You already know her. Daddy, I am talking about the house help; the one who used to tender our backyard garden until You sacked her because of her betrayal and disobedience. I don’t even know the reason why I love her so much. She is not beautiful. And I know she will be a very unfaithful partner. Matters of the heart are hard to explain. Simply put, I love her’.
Well, His Father, greatly considering the love of His Son, agreed to such a marriage but unfortunately, the authorities would not release her from prison despite the social influence of these elites. After numerous weeks of depression, He admitted that He could not live without her. He thought His life was rather worth ended than to have it incomplete without the one He loved. He chose to die in her stead; He dies and she lives. Because of LOVE, He was beaten up, stripped naked and He finally died a painful death. People taunted, scorned and despised Him.
As odd as this story sounds, so is the story of the cross of Jesus Christ. God is represented by the rich man. Jesus Christ is represented by His son. Humans are represented by the house help. Marriage is a scenario used by God to describe the relationship between Himself and mankind; God and Israel, Christ and the Church. If you have ever fallen in love with someone, then you could understand, but only a fraction of the force that moved Christ to die on our behalf. This LOVE is not abstract. It is comparable to that sweet and unexplicable emotion that you feel in your heart; but even stronger than that.
Dear reader, God loves you. He wants to have some intimacy with you. He is our husband but we break His heart. He, always, would want to spend time with us but we barely make time for Him. He is always thinking about us but He hardly crosses our minds. We cheat on Him and prostitute ourselves with sin but He forgives us every time we return to Him with a repentant heart. (Jeremiah 3:8: I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery).
Christ plans to wed us in future. Let us repent and prepare towards this grand wedding by obeying His will. But if we rather choose to despise such great love, then it is only fair that He gives us up for eternal destruction with the Devil whom we rather choose to be with. God does not impose Himself on anyone. Hosea 2:19-20: I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.