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God’s Runaway Bride
Kevin D. Paulson
Originally published on GreatControversy.org on May 3, 2005
Document URL: http://www.greatcontroversy.org/gco/rar/pau-runaway.php
Relief, amusement, and a measure of disgust have greeted the recent tale of a Georgia woman about to be married who fled to New Mexico and feigned abduction as an excuse for her actions. Following Jennifer Wilbanks’ disappearance, many naturally feared for her life. Obviously all are relieved at her safe return.
However, having lied to Georgia authorities and the FBI regarding the circumstances of her departure, Wilbanks—a medical assistant residing in Duluth, Georgia—may face criminal prosecution. Whether this will occur is yet to be determined by federal and state officials.
In the meantime, her fiancé, John Mason, still wants to marry her.
God’s Runaway Bride
This strange, still-unfolding personal saga has made me think of another runaway bride—the one described in Revelation 19:7, 8.
Throughout the Scriptures, God’s covenant community is compared to a woman espoused to her Lord. Through Jeremiah God declared, “I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman” (Jeremiah 6:2). In the New Testament God speaks of His church, “I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband; that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2). Isaiah assured the repentant ones in ancient Israel, “As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee” (Isaiah 62:5).
Sadly, through much of the sacred record, the Lord’s bride has proved unfaithful to Him. Through Isaiah God declared of Jerusalem, “How has the faithful city become an harlot!” (Isaiah 1:21). Through Jeremiah the same indictment was pronounced: “Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers” (Jeremiah 3:1). And perhaps most graphically of all, the enacted parable seen in the life of the prophet Hosea and his prostitute-wife Gomer demonstrated the serial perfidy of the chosen nation.
Indeed, throughout the sacred story the tale of the runaway bride has been repeated, over and over again.
Ellen White has written, regarding the modern church:
For forty years did unbelief, murmuring, and rebellion shut out ancient Israel from the land of Canaan. The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into the heavenly Canaan. In neither case were the promises of God at fault. It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration, and strife among the Lord’s professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow so many years.1
But both Scripture and Ellen White are clear that the coming of our Lord can and will be hastened by a rebirth of consecration and the perfecting of Christian character:
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons out ye to be in all holy conservation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? … Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless (2 Peter 3:11, 12, 14).
Ellen White echoes this Biblical promise in the following statements:
Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.2
It is the privilege of every Christian, not only to look for, but to hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly the last harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come to gather the precious grain.3
One is amazed that John Mason still wants to marry his runaway bride! Many men would be far less forgiving. But what about God? How forgiving and longsuffering has He been with His own runaway bride—the remnant church—who has been blessed with such abundant light, truth, and power?
How we can praise God for His patience, His tender mercies, His persistent wooing of His straying sheep! While His church has often failed in her word, forfeited her courage, and reneged on her promises, God’s Word remains sure. He will continue to woo, to seek, and to offer power to His church, so that at last a remnant will prove faithful and submit to His cleansing grace.
Scripture looks forward to such a time in the following passage:
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it. That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:25-27).
Whether Jennifer Wilbanks will ever stand at the altar beside John Mason, is yet to be decided. But God is clear that one day His church will stand at His side for the marriage of the Lamb—a church perfected and purified from every defilement, fit for the fellowship of angels for all eternity:
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 her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints (Revelation 19:7, 8, RSV). GCO
Endnotes
- Ellen G. White, Evangelism, p. 696.
- ________, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 69.
- ________, Testimonies, vol. 8, pp. 22, 23.
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