The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 78

men to this looking upon their sin as God looks upon it, as the Lord Jesus luoks uporr it, is the object of God's disciplines, of the pain and smart which so often accompany sin, and of so much of the teaching of the Bible and of God's providential government. And those who have tru8ted in Christ nre continually to be" looking unto Jesus," for in that trustful look is the sure guarantee of the preservation of the "mind of Christ" in them in reg11rd to sin, and so of their for ever abiding in the favour and love of God. 'l'his mind of holy hatred and sorrow on account of sin it is the especial work of God's Holy Spirit to produce in men; that Spirit who is given to them that ask his aid, more readily than even parents give to their children what those children they so much love need and ask for.-C. Ver. 14.-Married to God. "Turn, 0 backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I nm married unto you." I. 'l'ms SEEMS AN INCREDIBLE STATEMENT. Had it been spoken of angeis, or of unfallen man, or of eminent saints, it would have been more easy of belief. But it i~ of men desperately wicked, and to such, that God says, "I am married unto you." What infinite condescension and love! II. BUT NEVERTHELESS IT IS TRUE, For: 1. We have the marriage lines, the record of the transaction, the very words of the covenant deed (cf. Ps. lxxxix. 3, 28; Ileb. viii.; eh. xxxii. 38-40). In all these Gcd declares that he has taken us to be bis for ever: "They shall be my people, and I will be their God." 2. Our children are his, :He bids them all call him by the blessed name of Father. 3. He repeatedly declares that we \Vere the objects of his choice. Cf. Epb. i., "He took not on him the nature of angels, but be took on him the seed of Abraham." And this because we "were partakers of flesh and blood, he himself alsv took part in the same; " " God so loved the world;" "He came to seek and to save that which was lost " (cf. also Epb. v. 25-27). 4. He has given us the sign and token of our being his in the sacrament of our baptism. '!'hat which the wedding ring is to the wife, baptism is to us : it declares the blessed fact that we are God's, and separates us for his Name, the Name of the Father, the Son, and "the Holy Ghost. 6. He has endowed us with his goods:" All things are yours, . . . the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours" (1 Cor. iii. 22). 6. He. is always with us: "In him we live and move," etc. He is not far from any one of us: "I will never leave thee nor forsaks thee." 7. He is jealous of our love: 11 I the Lonl thy God am a jealous God." What is the Bible but one long record of the disquiet of the heart of God when the love of those to whom he is "married" is turned from him? Hence the eternal law, "Thou shalt have no other gods before mo;" "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." A man has a right to claim that she whom he hns married should love him. He has no such claim on any other. And so because the Lord God condescends to bold this relationship towards us, he too claims our love: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." 8. We are on the way to dwoll with him in his etr.rnal home. \Ve aro not there yet, but we are on the way. "\Ve are coming up from the wilderness," and if we faithl"ully recognize our relationRhip to God, we shall bo II leaning upon our beloved" (Cant. viii. 6). 9. Ile has done for us, and does for us still, what only such a near and dear relationship can account for. Even the compassionate friend will not feel himself bound, though he will minister relief, to go and share the very same lot as that of thostl whom he comvassionates. And the father of the prodigal did not make himself poor oa.s that prodigal was. He lifted him up, but he did not himself stoop down. No; tbnt which the Loni G0d has done is more than the love of friend, brother, father; it is the love of the husband alone. For the husband, if he be worthy of the name, will sl:are the lot of the wife. And if she must suffer hardship, he will sharo it with her. lf sho dwell in mean abode, ho will not be happy to dwell elsewhere. But does not all this describe what the Lord God bath done? " He, though ho was rich, yet for our sakes became poor." The word "married" is not a mere metaphor, it is the alone explanation of the Incarnation and of the Atonement. The general benevolence of God, not even the fatherhood of God, will adequately tell wherefore he so humbled himself and lived here "as a poor meek man upon earth," and then died for us; but the liusbandhood of God, the fact that he declares when he says," I am married unto ynn," will account for it and explain nil. We have to live here in this wilclrrnc,~  'l'IIE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAII. [err. ur. 1~2s