"As Your Own Bride Shall We Be Brought"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Will you have this man to be your wedded husband, to live together in the holy estate of matrimony as God ordained it? Will you submit to him as the Church submits to Christ? Will you love, honor, and keep him in sickness and in health and, forsaking all others, remain united to him alone, so long as you both shall live? (LSB 276)

With minor variations, this is what each married woman here was asked on her wedding day. Will you have this man, now and forever? Just as the rite of matrimony notes, this vow is based on our relationship with our Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We hear in the book of Hosea about a very tumultuous relationship between a husband and wife, one marked not by faithfulness, love, and devotion, but by inchastity, harlotry, and longsuffering. And Hosea's marital ills are but a study in miniature of our Lord's relationship to us.

As the story begins, at the dawn of creation, the Lord God seeks after His bride. He pursues her with more zeal than the most ardent lover you could imagine. He speaks tenderly to her. His lips are filled with love songs to her. His words speak of nothing but faithfulness and steadfast love. Her beauty fills His eyes and His mind, and He has eyes for none other. He delights in her as if there were no other good on earth, no star so radiant.

So rich is the love of the Bridegroom that He delights in lavishing His beloved with gifts. He gives her a land flowing with milk and honey. He digs her plenteous vineyards and waters her fields generously. He moves heaven and earth to bestow His greatest blessings and joys upon her. He gives her His name, by which He may be known. He sets her apart from among all the nations under heaven, and He protects her with all His might and power. He promises that all that belongs to Him shall be hers. All she has to do is receive His gifts with joy and delight in using them as He gives them.

It almost sounds too good to be true – such joy and bliss. How could anyone ever give up such happiness? But that is what His bride does. The radiant, spotless bride deserts her bridegroom and goes a-whoring after others. She runs after those who are not hers. Her joy and pleasure are taken by those who care nothing for her. Her radiance is tarnished and disfigured. Her deep, abiding joy is turned to momentary touchy-feely warm-fuzziness.

Instead of remaining faithful to the Bridegroom who has lavished so much upon her and demands so little, she offers herself to whomever appears the most interesting at the moment. This bride, no longer so blushing, turns her back on the One who loves her with an everlasting love, and instead cavorts with anyone who can show her a good time. She gets drunk on her own whimsies and full of her own fleeting pleasures.

What should the Bridegroom do with her? What does a cuckolded lover do with the one who is unfaithful to her vows? He could cut her off. No one would blame Him for simply turning His back on her as she has to Him. The Lord who gave His bride all the wonders of heaven and earth could cut off from her the fruits of the earth. He could cause the rain not to fall and the crops not to grow. The Bridegroom could put the unfaithful bride out of her chamber and force her to leave her house and home. He could take away all that she holds dear and turn to rottenness all she prizes. Furthermore, He could cut her off from before His face. He could put her away from Him and separate Him from the blessings of His house and His love. He could take back the name that He put upon her to mark her as His own.

The Bridegroom could uncover the shame of his harlot bride before the whole world. He could publicly divorce her. The scoffers of the world would be only too happy to see her dragged through the mud in public. He could make known all the shameful things she has done in secret, how she has defiled the marriage bed and forsaken all that she promised to be and do. He could even give her over into the hands of her illicit lovers. Let them do with her as they will. Use her, abuse her, then kick her to the curb. With a simple declaration, she could be turned from riches to rags.

Or the Lord could work out His vengeance like a jilted lover, and lay her waste according to her sins and transgressions. She flaunted her beauty before the men of the world, so rip off the mask. Let her be seen without her makeup and trinkets. See how far she gets without her wealth and her wine. Let her be afflicted and disfigured, and see how many of her lovers are so eager to fawn over her then.

And the ones that still remain had better watch out, because the Bridegroom could come and strike them down, as one defends to the death what is His. Those who led the bride away into sin and dishonor will be struck down, laid waste, and brought to naught. The lovers with whom she played the harlot will be wiped off the face of the earth before the wrath of the Bridegroom.

All this the Lord God, our Bridegroom, could have done. By all means, sin demands punishment, and unfaithfulness demands death. But what did He do for His beloved?

The Bridegroom pursued His beloved all the more fervently. He sought after her with an ever-burning love that spans heaven and earth. He continued to remain faithful to her, even when she was unfaithful to Him. Messenger after messenger He sent, declaring His love for her and offering her His gifts and His love.

Although the bride went a-whoring, the Bridegroom nevertheless betrothed Himself to her. He pledged His great undying love for her. He gave her His name. He took upon Himself the burden of her shame, her grief, her guilt. He gave her His name and His Honor. He even gave her His very life.

At the height of love in the midst of the depth of depravity, the Bridegroom died for the harlot bride. He paid the price of her redemption, not with gold or silver, but with His own precious, innocent blood. The Bridegroom subjected Himself to the mockery and ridicule on account of the sins of His bride, and bore the cost of her harlotry all the way to the cross, where the record of her wrongs was nailed to that accursed tree, and there He spent His last breath accomplishing her salvation, erasing her sin and guilt. He paid the greatest bride-price possible, so that once and for all she might be His. And then He rose again in glory to give her His everlasting life, that she might be His own and live with Him in His Father's house in everlasting righteousness and blessedness.

The Bridegroom died and rose to restore His bride to Himself. Our Lord, the great lover of our souls, died for us that He might restore us to Himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ has gained for us entrance into the house of our God and Father, and there, in garments richly wrought, as His own bride shall we be brought to stand in joy beside Him. Oh, rejoice, ye Christians, loudly!

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.