Hosea 2:18-19 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven… That is a tenderly beautiful figure; surely one of the sweetest and most exquisite in God's Word! "I will betroth thee unto Me for ever!" The communion of ideal wedlock is used to express the ideal relationship between the soul and the Lord. We are to be married unto the Lord! Look into the heart of it, and see how much the gracious figure reveals. What do we find in consecrated wedlock even along the planes of common life? Let me lift out some of its contents. There is an affection which is creative of sweet and fruitful repose. There is a perfect trust which is the minister of mutual revelation. There is a sensitive sympathy in which all secrecy is destroyed. There is an intercourse which is like a "sea of glass mingled with fire," so crystalline is its purity, so warm and genial is its tone. There is a large companionship, whose commerce consists of the deepest and wealthiest treasures of the life. In ideal wedlock deep calleth unto deep, and the primary springs of the beings are in confluence. All this I find in sanctified marriage: and now the figure is lifted up and sublimed and used to interpret my possible relationship to God: "Thy Maker is thine husband." "I will betroth thee unto Me for ever." Then there is to be a wedding! There is to be a wedding of the soul and its Saviour, of the nation and its King. That wedding constitutes the summum bonum both of personal and of corporate life. That wedding is the crown and consummation of human blessedness. That wedding enshrines the secret of moral and spiritual growth. To bring that wedding about is the aim and purpose of every kind and type of Christian ministry. What is the kind of wooing that will lead to a wedding? Let me begin here. I. HE IS NOT A FAR-AWAY SAVIOUR; HIS HOME IS ON EARTH. I do not think we greatly help the cause of the Lover by proclaiming the remoteness of the Lover's home. "There's a Friend for little children Above the bright blue sky."That is the only line I don't like in that greatly beloved and very beautiful hymn. In my childhood it helped to make my Saviour an absentee, and He was "above the bright blue sky" when I wanted Him on the near and common earth. Destroying all sense of remoteness, we must labour to bring the children into the immediate presence of the Lover Himself. All the three attributes must be regarded in indissoluble union. The quality of each depends upon the presence of all. Strike out one, and you maim and impoverish the rest. There is an imperfect love in which there is no admiration. There is an imperfect admiration in which there is no love. Perfect love admires; perfect admiration loves; and love and admiration are ever associated with the gracious spirit of hopeful aspiration. These three, I say, constitute the very marrow of life, the deep secret springs of character and conduct. "We live by admiration, hope, and love." If the great Lover can win these, the wooing will be followed by the wedding! How can we so represent Him that this triumph shall be won? 1. Present the approachable Jesus. But not only His simplicity must we reveal, but His sympathy too! 2. Present Jesus the Hero. "We live by love." By "admiration," too! "Thou art worthy, O Christ, to receive all honour and glory." 3. Loving! Admiring! These fair dispositions will be assuredly associated with the beautiful genius of hope. II. WOOING AND LIVING MUST GO TOGETHER. What more shall we say about ourselves? Let this be said: While we are employed in wooing do not let us be heedless as to the manner of our living. Those who woo for the Master must be careful how they live. Let us distinguish between a wedding and a funeral, and in our wooing let it be tire wedding-bells which lend their music to our speech. III. When shall we begin the wooing? John Ruskin said: "When do you suppose the education of a child begins? At six months old it can answer smile with smile, and impatience with impatience." Perhaps we have to begin the wooing even in the speechless years. In the life of the spirit I believe in early wooings because I believe in early weddings! As for the wedding itself, the betrothal to the Lord, I would have it a very decisive act. It must be a conscious, intelligent consecration. The vow must not be made in thoughtlessness; not in any bewildering and sensational transports. In the rapture there must be the moderating presence of serious and illumined thought. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. |
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