In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely. I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.(vs18-20)
We'll know the Lord, when He saves us, intervening on our behalf and recovering us from sin (vs16-20). He says, “ In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD”. We'll know Him in grace, in His love, and we'll know His mercy, because we have sinned and sinned, and only He came to intervene.
We'll know Him because we didn't straighten out or save ourselves. We were astray, wondering, lost, and never returning, but He CARED enough to humble us, to destroy our vain ambitions, and He MADE us trust Christ, taking everything else away, revealing we're sinners, and then having mercy on us EXACTLY as we are. We know the Lord, because we know the blood of Christ, the justness of sins atoned, and the purpose of chastening love, which is to bring us to God. We know the Lord as everything, because we see that rebellion lacks lasting pleasure and won't work.
Secondly, assurance is the result of blessing (vs21-23). We read, “Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth [will bless the soul to win her heart], And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!" Thus, when God blesses us with grace, we know that we're His. He blesses us with faith alone, allows us to receive the testimony apart from feelings and merit, and then He blesses us with the joy of holiness as justified children. We're blessed without works, and then we're blessed in them. We're blessed because God makes us to rejoice in the Lord, receive salvation freely, and then He blesses us by the Spirit with comfort, power, and satisfaction. Joel 2:26-27 says, “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the Lord your God and there is no other”. Yes, we're blessed in obedience, so that knowing we're His, we get hot for Christ and receive more assurance from His throne.
Thirdly, God makes us faithful (Hos 3:1-5). We read, “So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. And I said to her, You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man – so, too, will I be toward you”, which is faithful. Thus, salvation - the return of God to the soul by Christ - is always a double bond. He doesn’t love us, merely, but He causes us to love Him back in return. We read again, “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:18-19). He puts joy in our heart, the fear of departure, and He gives the Spirit of obedience, so that we call on the Lord to do His will. When God saves, He saves the character, the whole man, and not merely his mouth will confess. He gives heart love, obedience, and desire for Christ. He gives the fear of the Lord to keep us near, and then He REWARDS our nearness. He never forgives, without giving strength to sin no more. We look to Him, we live, and we walk uprightly in godly fear.
Before salvation... or the restoration of the believer... we pursue other interests, other gods, and our vain ambitions. We seek salvation by the devil's hand, pleasure from sin, and security by compromise. We forget God and think our bread is buttered by the world. But, He painfully proves this is vain, hurts us lovingly, forgives us freely, graces us graciously, and then we are His. We read, “Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days”. He catches our heart, draws us in by a mixture of truth, godly fear, love for holiness, and single minded hope. He makes us know that Christ alone can satisfy, and that Christ alone is real.
Blessed be God. Forgiveness makes Christ mine, and it makes me His!
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