14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her
and lead her to the wilderness,
and speak to her tenderly.
15 There I will give back her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor
into a gateway of hope.
There she will respond as she did
in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
16 In that day,”
declares the LORD,
“you will call Me ‘my Husband,’
and no longer call Me ‘my Master.’
17 For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals;
no longer will their names be invoked.

18 On that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air
and the creatures that crawl on the ground.
And I will abolish bow and sword
and weapons of war in the land,
and will make them lie down in safety.
19 So I will betroth you to Me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in loving devotion and compassion.
20 And I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will know the LORD.”

21 “On that day I will respond—”
declares the LORD—
“I will respond to the heavens,
and they will respond to the earth.
22 And the earth will respond to the grain,
to the new wine and oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 And I will sow her as My own in the land,
and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’
I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’
‘You are My people,’
and they will say,
‘You are my God.’”

REFLECTIONS

Written by Stephen Shead

We’re back to God’s irrational grace that defies all logic! In chapter 1, God announced that Israel’s shameful unfaithfulness would lead to his absolute rejection of them – then suddenly he reversed it all with a series of astounding promises. In chapter 2:2-13, God “rewound the tape” to describe Israel’s spiritual adultery again, but in greater detail; and now he describes his promises in greater detail.

We can savour these promises all the more, because we know that God has fulfilled them through Jesus and the gift of his Spirit. The passage repeats the same promises we saw before: an intimate relationship with God, this time as “my Husband” (we are the bride of Christ, Eph. 5:25-32), restoring his compassion and his covenant. But it gets even better. God’s love in the new covenant will be so powerful that it won’t just forgive his people’s unfaithfulness, it will transform their hearts to be devoted to him: “For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked” (v 17). And this relationship of love, life and blessing will last forever – God guarantees it! (v 19)

But my favourite word is the very first word: “Therefore.” It’s the most illogical word in the whole Bible! God has just explained how incurably wicked and faithless his people are, and just how thoroughly they deserve to be wiped out. They have abandoned their Husband and committed spiritual prostitution. So how will God respond? “Therefore, behold, I will allure her and lead her to the wilderness, and speak to her tenderly. There I will give back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope” (v 14-15).

“Therefore”? How does that follow? It’s about as logical as the Son of God dying instead of blind, stupid spiritual adulterers. There’s no logic … except the logic of God’s grace in Jesus. Thank God for his illogical love and the relationship you have with him forever through Jesus.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen is our Senior Minister.