We, the Sluts of God

“‘I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine,’ declares the Lord God…‘But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame and your poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing...How languishing is your heart,’ declares the Lord God, ‘while you do all these things, the actions of a bold-faced harlot…You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband! Men give gifts to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers to bribe them to come to you from every direction for your harlotries…Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you…I have forgiven you for all that you have done,’ the Lord God declares.” (Ezekiel 16)
This is one of the most difficult passages of Scripture for me to fathom. Hopefully you will go back and read the full chapter soon. God goes into great detail confessing His salvation of His Bride, Jerusalem (Israel). He had made a covenant with Her with Abram before they were even known as Israel. Note that since He is God, He knew everything she would do before He chose her. That blows me away.
Jerusalem took the very beauty and talents that her Husband gave her and used them to prostitute herself with the surrounding pagan countries. She stopped preserving her love for her Husband, God, only and worshiped the pagan gods. He even points out that she is the worst of prostitutes, not receiving pay for her harlotries, but actually paying to perform harlotries.
A friend of mine had a roommate in college one semester who was sexually promiscuous. Once she asked my friend, “Do you think I’m a slut?” My friend replied, “No, sluts get paid for what they do.” Perhaps it wasn’t the best way to try to win this person to the Lord, but she made a good point: At least prostitutes get some compensation for their deeds. Her roommate was doing it for free. And Israel was at the other end of the pendulum, paying her lovers for her services.
Whenever we crawl back to our sin, it is the same thing. We, the Bride of Christ, the true Israel (Romans 9:6-8), have nothing to use except the talents Christ has given us, whether to serve Him or commit adultery against Him. Every skill, every piece of material, every spiritual gift, every talent, every body part, and even the air we are breathing has been entrusted to us by God to use to His glory. So many times i’ve use them to serve other gods. If you knew the retched perversions i think and do, you would not listen to anything i have to say. Rather, you would run away in disgust. Christ has the characteristic (not the privilege) to be omniscient and see everything we do and think. He sees all that and loves us still. This boggles my mind. I am not worthy of His grace or His love.
Since He refused to divorce us, Israel, in Ezekiel 16, in spite of our harlotries then, He certainly will refuse to divorce us now under our everlasting covenant. Note that something everlasting, by definition, has no end. There is no Christian ever to have lived that has managed to make it through this betrothal/engagement (2 Corinthians 11:1-2) period without committing adultery (sinning) against our Husband. He has yet to divorce one.
The prophet, Hosea, endured this. In order to give Hosea the opportunity to experience how He feels, God instructed him to marry a prostitute (Hosea 1:2). Imagine Hosea prophesying to the people of Israel, imploring them to repent from their sins. Men come up to him, mocking him, “Hey prophet! Isn’t your wife that slut?” Others call out, “Hosea, you’re telling us to repent. Why don’t you go prophesy to your own wife!” Still a few could have jeered, “Hosea, guess what! For a few dollars last night, your wife pleasured me. It was great!” Before i go on let me say that nothing will get a man fired up worse than you talking about his woman. The restraint Hosea must have shown! God experiences this every time His Bride commits adultery against Him. The Devil says, “Hey Jesus, Your Bride just slept with me last night, and the day before, and 7times last week, and…” “Hey God, Your child, corey [feel free to insert your own name], serves me daily with the life You gave him.” Why does God love me, us, His Bride still? It is an incomprehensible passion He has for us. I cannot begin to explain it. Never has such unconditional love been felt by anyone.