Is This Our Bride Song or Shriek?

“As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.” Rom. 9:25

O, to be called by Christ His beloved! Is there any greater delight and satisfaction? Do we find ourselves made complete? Does the level of His sweetness raise our affections and anticipation of His return to higher and yet more glorious heights each and every day? “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.” (Song 6:3) Is this your bride song? If not, you have a poor view of God’s hatred of sin and the price that Jesus, our bridegroom, paid for our forgiveness and to dress us in a pure white gown. If you think that He died for any reason (your beauty, talents, abilities, goodness, comparative righteousness to others, personal works) other than our to redeem us from our sin, you are sadly and may be eternally mistaken. What evidences do you bear to prove who you are? Do you, as Tamar, bear His signet, bracelets, and staff? (Gen. 38:25,26) Even if you cast out demons in His name and prophesied, you might hear, ‘Depart from Me.’  (Mat. 7:27). Therefore, let us make certain that our calling and election is sure. What evidence is there in our lives that God arranged this glorious engagement and wedding.

Yes, the Son would die to wed, but it was the Father Who chose before the foundation of the world Whom the Holy Spirit, as attendant and God Himself, approached with the good news and call. “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (Rom. 8:30) If He called, I am named first His; as my beloved’s; and only after that, can I call him mine. It is not vice versa. And as the Song of Solomon tells us, we must watch for His approach; while preparing daily for His arrival. Those who are truly His are said to be as the five virgins that had oil in their lamps (Mat. 25); that is, the Holy Spirit, but here too, we must be cautious and discerning.

When I was a child, my mother would sometimes ask, ‘If the Lord came today, what would He find you doing?’ Yes, it was a good question; not that my salvation came by works; but that if I am my beloved’s, my life would be marked by growth and the death of sin in my flesh. Accordingly, would we be caught with our dresses off, lying in bed with the world? Have we not read the Old Testament and learned of the harlotry of Israel and what happened? Do we expect our end to be anything different? Yes, we must examine ourselves and our evidences; confessing our sins one to another, while walking humbly with our Lord and awaiting His return. Is this our bride song or will it be a shriek of final horror? I pray it will be for us the former; for there is no latter, only descent.