From This Time Forth and Forever
Weddings are wonderful events in the life of two families that become conjoined to one another. Weddings are also times of solemn vows before Almighty God. Marriage is a picture of Christ and His church (Eph 5:25), the new Adam and Eve (Rom 5:12–21).
The ruin of the first Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, at the temptation by the serpent, has been the precursor to the ruin of marriages since the Fall (Gen 3). Marriage and family tell God’s story from generation to generation. The message is one of faithfulness because marriage is a picture of holiness. God is holy, and He is faithful to His covenant promises, made to His people.
God’s unconditional covenant is also telling us something of our unfaithfulness and inability to be covenant keepers. Just as Israel of the Old Testament was unfaithful to Yahweh, so the church is unfaithful to Jesus Christ. This should resonate with us as we read the prophet Hosea.
Divorce is the word we use to show the estrangement of a man and a woman wed in marriage. God hates divorce because it highlights covenant unfaithfulness. It makes our marriage union with Him look bad. It shows us that the devil is still at work in his role of destroyer. It cheapens the whole idea of promises, vows, and covenants.
Marriage is doomed if the couple is not drawing near to God in Christ…together. Marriage is made to be meaningless, when it is perverted by the unregenerate ungodly, who mock God with their wickedly contrived unions. This, too, is the devil’s work to malign the image of Christ’s union with the Father and the church’s union with Christ (Jn 17; 1 Jn 4:13).
When Christ and the Father send the Holy Spirit to one of God’s elect, it is as if the sovereign King of a nation were to betroth a virgin daughter to Himself. His will is done. There is no choice by the select maiden. She will soon be living in the royal palace by decree. Her life has truly been blessed, but she now has new responsibilities, as royalty…from this time forth and forever.
The Christian is more than a Jesus follower, for he or she has been brought in, as a beloved member of Christ’s body of people. Irresistible grace has solidified inseparable union. The grafted branch into the True Vine has new life (Jn 15; Rom 6:4), and that is the life of God living in her, “O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever (Ps 131:3).”
Christ’s love for His beloved bride, His church, is unquestioned (Eph 5:25). In giving Himself up to death on the cross, He laid down His life for her (Jn 10:11, 15). He bore her sins in His body on the cursed tree (1 Pet 2:24).
The church is Christ’s one desire in the world. Just as Isaac’s heart skipped a beat, when the veiled Rebekah appeared on the horizon, so is Jesus’ love for those whom God the Father has arranged for Him, from before the foundation of the world. All the people that the Father gives to Jesus will come to Him (Jn 6:37), and He will never cast even one of them out of His eternal loving care (Rom 8:35–39).
This is good news for an army of unfaithful Gomers, who ever prove unfaithful to the One who loved us. Christians are all like our mother, Eve, and the enemy of our souls is tempting us in the same way of sin and disobedience. Our only hope is the blood of Christ shed for us.
We question God’s love (instead of our own!), question God’s faithfulness, and the possibility that God is holding back some good from us (see Gen 3). This is exactly why we need to refocus our attention from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, to the cross where Jesus Christ demonstrated His faithful love for His beloved bride, the church (Eph 5:25).
When the Christian is made to see the love of God in Christ Jesus, she believes the Word of God and His faithful promises, “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever (Ps 125:2).” When trouble and suffering come to the saint (Col 1:24; Jas 1:2–3), he has the promises of God’s love and faithfulness to stand upon.
Only the beloved can say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever (Ps 113:2).” Our affection and respect for the name of Jesus Christ is not hidden, for we are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, as it is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe (Rom 1:16). He made us believe (Phil 1:29), and our faith is strengthened day by day, as He loves and protects His people, “The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever (Ps 121:8).”
The reprobate scoffs and mocks in his scorn for the things of God. He laughs at God’s silly love story. He is a child of the devil (1 Jn 3:10), a fornicator and adulterer in love with the world. He loves the darkness, and his deeds are evil (Jn 3:19). He worships idols, even himself, “But as for us, we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forever. Praise the Lord (Ps 115:18)!”
How can the Christian believe, even utter this marvelous phrase from these psalms in the Bible? The Spirit of truth has brought this Word of truth into our view. He has revealed the deep things of God, including the forever faithful Trinity.
Our God has taken us from the garden of hopeless despair and placed us in the kingdom of His beloved Son (Eph 2:12; Col 1:13), seating us with our King in the heavenlies (Eph 2:6), where we know we have our place secured by His eternal purpose, will, decree, and powerful execution. He who has pledged His eternal love has given us His Word, and He who has spoken this Word is faithful and true (Rev 3:14; 19:11). Here is the preservation and the perseverance of the saints…from this time forth and forever.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
September 3, 2022
