“We sin because in that moment we desire, treasure, delight in, long for, worship, glorify or want something more than we desire God.” –Anonymous
In the beginning, when God created the Heavens and the earth, He created all things into perfection, without blemish. God meticulously crafted each being and object into His glory, to live in Eden (perfection) without evil or sin. He provided Adam and Eve with every necessity they could have imagined, and gave them reign over everything on earth. Unfortunately, as we know, Adam and Eve, for whatever reason, grew out of contentment, and became curious as to what was beyond Eden (beyond perfection). Stemming from this curiosity, and trickery by the Serpent, they ate of the forbidden fruit, thus causing the revelation of good and evil in their eyes. Coinciding with the knowledge of good and evil came sin, and likewise with sin came death. Before this, sin and death were of no issue to Adam and Eve; it was only when they knew the difference between good and evil that their eyes were open to a limitless array of disobedience to choose from. Post-banishment from Eden, sin grew ever present in human society apart from perfection in God, and mankind began to stray further and further away from God. As the nations began to grow, God’s people began to be referred to as the Lord’s Bride. With the expansion of nations, however, came the expansion of evil, and the growth of uninhibited sin. Mankind began to stray further from the will of God, and became the faithless Bride referred to in Ezekiel sixteen.
“And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head…And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God. Buy you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his.” –Ezekiel 16: 12, 14-15
This stanza parodies the Eden story almost to perfection in the sense that God ordained and exalted man with everything he could have ever needed. He clothed us in His majesty, and we were made glorious because of Him. After this, mankind came along while recognizing our own free will, and rebelled against God, using his provisions to our own selfish advantage. We, the Lord’s Bride, exalted in perfection among all of the nations, realized our glory, mistook it somehow for glory of our own finding (ignoring God), and began to whore ourselves to all the nations. The Bride became a prostitute among nations, used for their selfish desires, and the entire time we, God’s people, believe we are gaining some sense of satisfaction from things outside of God, which ultimately leave us hollow and empty. As a community in God, we completely ignored everything He had provided us, and turned away from Him without a second thought. This sin nature was instilled in us during the Fall of Man, which prevents man from recognizing God’s providence in their lives, and turn to other humans for satisfaction and self-worth in our lives.
“How sick is your heart, declares the Lord God, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute…yet you were not like a prostitute, because you scorned payment…No one solicited you to play the whore, and you gave payment while no payment was given to you.”- Ezekiel 16: 30-31, 34
The prostitution of the Lord’s bride, declares the Lord himself, goes even further than the sadistic acts of a standard prostitute because we do it so willingly and without purpose. A normal prostitute exchanges her body in return for some monetary or material gain, yet the Bride of the Lord whores itself out due to desire to sin. That’s how wicked of hearts mankind possesses, that we would deliberately turn away from the fold of God because we so selfishly desire the things of this world, which leave us empty, and ignore the adornments of God which are eternally satisfying. Our hearts are so incredibly broken that our instincts are opposite of God, and when he comes calling for our return we still resist everything He has to offer because we do not believe He ultimately provides everything necessary for our happiness. The Bride of the Lord has become the prostitute of mankind; tarnished with a loss of innocence and beauty by turning towards sin, thankfully for us the story does not end there. There is hope yet, and our hope is Jesus Christ.
“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His Bride has made herself ready; it was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure…Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True…He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God…On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”- Revelation 19: 7-8, 11, 13, 16
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is where the story of the Bride of the Lord ultimately finds its summation. Throughout the history of His people, God has watched as we foolishly prostitute ourselves to evil and sin, completely ignoring Him and His will. God faithfully stood by His people, in the midst of our whorring, he sends his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, the Rider on a White Horse, whose robe was dipped in blood, the blood of the Lamb atoning for ALL sins, that the Prostitute, His people, may once again clothe herself in fine linen and reestablish herself as the Bride of the Lord. Without Christ, we would still be wandering in sin and prostituting ourselves to fleshly desires, but in Him, the desire to sin is banished completely, restoring us to perfection as His Bride. Christ is Faithful and True, the King of Kings, nothing can stand in His way. We must die to ourselves, such as Christ died FOR us, and we must give everything we have to follow Him in every aspect of our lives. Christ alone is the only way to avoid the prostitution of ourselves, without Him, we will wander aimlessly in our whorrings.
These passages of scripture remind me of lyrics from my favorite hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” which states:
“Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood…
O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace.”
Allow this message to stick with you: that Christ sought you when you were straying, when you were prostituting yourself, and He interposed His blood so that you could have everlasting life. One day, when we’re in the Kingdom, at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, we will see His glory shining on us because His blood was able to cleanse us of our sins. With everything I have, I pray that we turn away from our debauchery and sin, and recognize all that God has done for and provided to us. I pray that we see His glory and sing His praises for all He’s done. God is faithful; he never strays, and always protects us as long as we trust in Him.
He died for you, that you may have everlasting life. See his faithfulness and love, and embrace Him.
God Bless,
Trip Starkey
