The Bible is a book of romance, and both the Old Testament and the New Testament are written as espousal covenants. God loves man and courts man, and He desires to have man espoused to Him to be His counterpart.
We can see this in every book of the Bible, especially in the prophets and in Song of Songs. In Song of Songs we see that we need to have a romantic relationship with the Lord. Here, in a marvelous and vivid portrait in a poetic form, we see the bridal love between Christ as the Bridegroom and His lovers as His bride (see Song of Songs 1:2-4, 15-16; 4:7, 10-15; 5:1-2; 6:4, 10).
The divine romance portrayed in Song of Songs
In Song of Songs – a book located in the middle of the Bible – we see a love story between a king and a country girl. This story typifies the bridal love between Christ and His lovers, the Bridegroom and His bride.
The beloved goes through a process from being the horses pulling the chariots of Pharaoh (ch. 1) to becoming the Shulammite (in ch. 7), the duplication of Solomon.
In our romantic and intimate personal relationship with the Lord, we are being transformed from stage to stage until we become Christ’s duplication. We become the same as God in life and nature but not in the Godhead by loving Him and by advancing in the divine romance.
We need to have a change in our concept and in our view of the Bible and of our relationship with the Lord. Our relationship with the Lord should be very romantic – if we are not romantic with the Lord, we will be religious and pious Christians but not romantic Christians.
The Bible is a book of romance, a romantic book, unveiling the divine romance between God and man. How can we be romantic with the Lord? Don’t ask people and don’t wonder about it too much; be honest with the Lord and tell Him,
Lord, I don’t know how to be romantic with You. Lord, I just open to You. I want to let You court me, cherish me, shepherd me, and cause me to open to You and respond to You in love. Lord, I love You!
The entire Bible is a courting word, an espousal covenant
When we talk about love, many times we think of “a feeling” and “something so sweet”, so cute, so romantic, etc… But the Bible as a divine romance speaks again and again, in book after book, of the romance between God and man.
The Old Testament was written in a way of a covenant of engagement, and the New Testament was written in the way of romance and courtship. There are so many verses in both the Old and the New Testament showing us God’s fervent love toward us and His desire to betrothe us to Him. Here are some of these verses:
- Gen. 2:21-24, And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. And Jehovah God built the rib, which He had taken from the man, into a woman and brought her to the man. And the man said, This time this is bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called Woman Because out of Man this one was taken. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
- Song of Songs 1:2-4, Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine. Your anointing oils have a pleasant fragrance; Your name is like ointment poured forth; Therefore the virgins love you. Draw me; we will run after you – The king has brought me into his chambers – We will be glad and rejoice in you; We will extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you.
- Isa. 54:5, For your Maker is your Husband; Jehovah of hosts is His name. And the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.
- Isa. 62:5, For as a young man marries a virgin, Your sons will marry you; And with the joy of the bridegroom over the bride Your God will rejoice over you.
- Jer. 2:2, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Jehovah: I remember concerning you the kindness of your youth, The love of your bridal days, When you followed after Me in the wilderness, In a land that was not sown.
- Jer. 3:1, 14, It is said, If a man divorces his wife And she goes from him And becomes another man’s wife, Will he return to her again? Will not that land be Utterly polluted? But you have committed fornication with many lovers. et return to Me, declares Jehovah. Return, O apostate children, declares Jehovah, for I am a Husband to you; and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and will bring you to Zion.
- Jer. 31:32, Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, declares Jehovah.
- Ezek. 16:8, Then I passed by you and saw you; and then was your time a time of love. And I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness; indeed I swore unto you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord Jehovah, and you became Mine.
- Ezek. 23:5, And Oholah committed fornication instead of remaining with Me, and she lusted after her lovers, after the Assyrians, who were close to her,
- Hosea 2:7, 19, And she will pursue her lovers But will not overtake them; And she will seek them but not find them; And she will say, I will go And return to my first husband, For it was better for me then than now. And I will betroth you to Myself forever; Indeed I will betroth you to Myself In righteousness and justice And in lovingkindness and compassions;
- Matt. 9:15, And Jesus said to them, The sons of the bridechamber cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
- John 3:29, He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine therefore is made full.
- John 14:21, 23, He who has My commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him. Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.
- 2 Cor. 11:2, For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
- 2 Cor. 5:14-15, For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died; And He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised.
- Eph. 5:25-32, Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her … This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.
- Rev. 19:7, Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.
- Rev. 21:2, 9-10, And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. …. And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
- Rev. 22:17, And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who is thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely.
Being personal and affectionate with the Lord
These verses and many more others show us God courting us, wooing us, and God desiring to marry us. God is seeking not that we would obey Him and listen to His word but that we love Him. In the divine romance we become organically one with the Lord and we have Christ as our centrality and universality.
We just need to have a responsive love, and affectionate love for the Lord. We need to be personal and affectionate with the Lord. Daily, learn to be personal with the Lord by opening to Him and coming to Him as we are, that we may share with Him what’s on our heart…
As we open to Him and lovingly read His Word, we will enjoy His loving us and courting us, and we will respond to Him affectionately…
God desires not many servants in His house and not only merely many believers – He wants to get married! God desires that all the believers, His people, would love Him! God is a lover, and He created us in His image to love Him!
God loves man and He is showing us through many outward and inward things that He loves us; how can we respond to this but to love Him back?!?
Lord Jesus, we love You! We really love You. Without You life is really nothing. Lord, You are so attractive and You are so charming. Oh, Lord, Your riches are unsearchable! Draw us more, Lord, that we may love You more. We want to cultivate a personal and affectionate relationship with You. Lord, make us romantic Christians!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from, Life-study of Exodus (pp. 648, 650-652), and, Life-study of Song of Songs (msg. 9), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of the Minor Prophets, week 1 (entitled, The Centrality and Universality of Christ and the Union of God and His People to Be a Universal Couple).
- Further reading: the Bible is a Romance;
- Hymns on this topic:
# Lovers of Christ in His ascension — / Enjoy the riches of His life.
# The Bible is a romance / In the most holy sense.
# O there’s One in me who / Is the most lovely One / In the whole universe — / I just love Him. - Picture source: loving the Lord.
About aGodMan
amen!