Because of the Lord’s enlightening through His word, I have the confidence to say that the entire Bible is a book of engagement. In the Scriptures we have a record of how God courts His chosen people and eventually marries them. For eternity, the Triune God as the Husband will enjoy a sweet married life with His wife, His chosen and redeemed people. New Jerusalem will even be called the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21:9). The conclusion of the Bible is the marriage of God and His people. Since the Bible ends in this way, it can truly be called a book of engagement. The main subject of the Scriptures is God’s engagement to His people. If this were not the main subject of the Bible, the Bible would not conclude with a word concerning the universal marriage of God and His redeemed ones.
Recently I have come to see that the old covenant was a covenant in which God espoused His people to Himself. Both Ezekiel 16:8 and Jeremiah 31:32 refer to this. In Ezekiel 16:8 God said to His people, “Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine.” The covenant here is the old covenant based on the law of God. Ezekiel 16:8 indicates that the time God entered into this covenant with His people was “the time of love.” This means that God’s covenant with His people was an engagement covenant, a betrothal. By entering into such a covenant with His people, God betrothed them to Himself, and He betrothed Himself to them. Jeremiah 31:32 confirms this: “Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith Jehovah” (Heb.). Notice that here both the words covenant and husband are used. Once again, we see that in making the old covenant with the children of Israel, God betrothed Himself to the people and became their Husband. This proves that the old covenant was an engagement paper, an engagement contract.
With the new covenant the principle is the same. Jeremiah 31 refers to the old covenant, the covenant of betrothal, and also to the new covenant which the Lord would make with His people (v. 31). Since the old covenant was a covenant of betrothal, the new covenant must be the same in nature. Both the old covenant and the new covenant are covenants of engagement. Applying this fact to the account of the giving of the law in Exodus 20, we see that in giving His law to His people, God wanted them to become one with Him, to become His very spouse. In order for such an engagement to take place, an affectionate love like that between a man and his wife is absolutely necessary.
When we enter into such a love relationship with the Lord, we receive His life, just as Eve received the life of Adam. If Eve had not received Adam’s life, she could not have been one with him. After God created man, he brought to him “every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air...to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof” (Gen. 2:19). In Genesis 2:20 we are clearly told that “for Adam there was not found a help meet for him.” Among the cattle, the fowl, and the beasts of the field, Adam did not find a counterpart; he did not find anything to match him. God then caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, took one of his ribs, and built the rib into a woman (Gen. 2:21-22, Heb.). When the woman was presented to Adam, he declared, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man” (v. 23). At last, Adam had found his counterpart, his match. No doubt, Adam and Eve loved each other, for Eve had received her life from Adam and even was of Adam. She and Adam had one life and one nature. Eve’s every fiber, tissue, and cell had its source in Adam and was part of Adam. According to Ephesians 5, Adam and Eve depict Christ and the church. Just as Eve came out of Adam and possessed his life and nature, so the church comes out of Christ and possesses His life and nature.
Because such a relationship exists between Christ and the church, we receive the Lord’s life whenever we tell Him that we love Him. From our experience we know that when we say, “Lord Jesus, I love you,” we are infused with His life. Many Christians do not realize that if they love the Lord Jesus, He will come into them to be their life and their life supply. Little children often sing, “Oh, how I love Jesus!” and young people may call to the Lord, expressing their love for Him. But such expressions of love for the Lord should not be limited to children and young people. Even those who are older also need to say, “Lord Jesus, I love you.” Our need to express our love for the Lord in this way may even be greater than that of the young people. More and more, we need to tell the Lord how much we love Him.
During the past several months, I have been earnestly seeking the Lord for the proper way to live Him. Day by day, I have been praying, asking Him to show me the secret of living Him. No doubt, part of the secret is telling the Lord again and again that we love Him. Whenever we tell the Lord that we love Him, He supplies us with His life. It is this life which enables us to become one with God and makes Him one with us.