Spiritual Infidelity

When reading the Bible, one can quickly notice that the Lord calls His people His beloved and bride, but also accuses her of marital infidelity.

We read in Jeremiah 3:1: "If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers—would you now return to me?" declares the Lord.

God's patience and love for the one who, having so many advantages and being chosen by the Creator Himself to be His beloved, chooses this world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and steadfastly clings to it, is astonishing.

In the Song of Songs, the Lord describes the kind of relationship He desires to have with His people. What hasn't He done so that His children could have the fullness of knowledge of the truth for their time? And at a certain period in history, He gave Himself to this world in the person of His beloved Son. He asks through Isaiah 5:4: "What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?"

Addressing His people of the last time through the message to Laodicea, the Lord decided to personally point out to each of us how He sees us. And what has changed over many centuries? We are just as wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked as our predecessors who were His people before us. And from this lame and miserable society, the Lord is gathering an army of overcomers, and moreover, such as have never been in all the days of human history!

But the problem with Laodicea is that it thinks highly of itself, but represents little good. Considering itself a bride, it has something in common with this world, which cools its love and makes its condition abhorrent in the eyes of Jesus. And He again assures her of His love and offers such close relationships that no one could even dream of.

Imagine such a picture. A promiscuous woman comes to her fiancé for advice and says to him: "Beloved, I'm going to flirt a little with my lovers here, let them court me, but don't worry. It's not serious. I'm yours in soul and belong to You and will never leave you. I know that You won't leave me either, so I feel free. And if I do something wrong, then You find a way to bring me back, and I will definitely return, because I'm Yours forever. Come, knock, follow me, wait for me, and someday I will be completely Yours and appreciate everything you have done for me, and I will be the most faithful." Doesn't such hypocrisy outrage you? Would a sane man tolerate such sincere confessions from his bride? But the Lord endures and believes in each of us, that we will someday turn and fully belong to Him. And He teaches how and through what.

But the next problem arises. It turns out that the bride is deaf. She has no ears with which she could hear her Chosen One. He seems to be saying something to her, but she looks at Him, smiles, assures Him of her faithfulness, and immediately forgets about what she didn't hear. He repeats His proposals to her again and again, and she looks at Him, admires him, and asks what hair color He likes, or which movie is better to watch.

What do you think, if some multi-billionaire decides to make you a rich person and makes every effort to teach you how to acquire wealth, and invests all the necessary resources and himself in this education, will he succeed? Yes, but on one condition. If you are interested and want to become a rich person. But if you are deaf and blind to all his instructions, then eventually he will wave his hand at you and leave you forever, regretting the wasted time. Will he be to blame for the fact that I didn't hear all his advice and didn't accept what he offered me? Will this billionaire regret that he didn't tell me information that could really convince me?

What else do we need to be given, explained, and shown so that our ears open, and we, seeing our true position, turn to the way out that the Lord offers us?

A sparrow accidentally flew into a house. Looking for a way out, it began to dart from wall to wall, hitting its beak against the glass. The people who were in the room wanted to drive it out through the open door or window, but the sparrow skillfully dodged and tirelessly flew back and forth, breaking its small body to blood. Then one person suggested creating darkness, turning off the light, drawing all the curtains, and leaving only the door to the street open. So they did. The sparrow immediately understood where the exit was and successfully flew out into freedom unhindered.

It happens that we have stopped hearing and seeing God's blessings so much that He has to surround us with impenetrable darkness and leave a small exit through which light will penetrate, indicating deliverance. But is it worth bringing ourselves to such a state?

It is also comforting that God is not human. He sees and thinks quite differently than we imagine. What I consider the norm of life, and what seems to me not so terrible in flirting with the world, the Lord sees differently.

To hear God's answer to my "What, Lord, is wrong in my life?", it's worth seriously asking Him this question and waiting for an answer, staying in fasting and prayer. It's difficult to stop quickly when you're rushing through life at full speed, but it's better to do it yourself and now than to have a wall do it for you.

Trading relationships with Christ imply such a stop in time and all your affairs so that I can sit at His feet and listen to what He will offer and what He will reveal. This is a whole School of knowing God and learning how He can manifest Himself through you in this world so that I can stand and win.

God wants to be first in my life and from this position to have communion with me and build relationships. After all, I'm not just one of many, but the one who is so interesting to Him that He sees me as His bride, dreams of having me next to Him for all Eternity and never parting.

In Revelation 3:18, Jesus offers all of Heaven, all of Himself, but this exit is so small and imperceptible to blind eyes that in the end He will have to envelop the whole earth in darkness and plunge us into such great tribulation so that we finally see this shining light, gain sight and go to the exit.

Sooner or later, we will all stop, come to our senses, start to hear, but the Heavenly store may be closed forever.

Regarding the 144,000, it is written that they did not defile themselves with women. These are those who, having accepted the counsel of the Faithful Witness, fully immersed themselves in this message and did everything in their power to be faithful to God and have nothing to do with the fallen world, false teachings, and spirits of darkness.

If you want to become a doctor, how much time do you need to achieve this goal? Many years. The same principle applies to the message to Laodicea. Prepare yourself to learn, accept, and change a lot. And no one will be able to become a bride quickly. In the Heavenly School, such haste is not needed, the price of education is too high and the requirements for the desired chosen one are high.

Questions for reflection on this chapter:

1. Please read James 4:4; Jeremiah 3:6-14; 13:23-27; Isaiah 54:5-15; 57:3-12; Ezekiel 16:8-42; Revelation 2:14-22; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 in light of this chapter.

2. What other verses from the Bible came to your mind?

3. What did you understand from this chapter?

4. Do you think God experiences our infidelity as painfully as people experience it in relation to each other?

5. Why does the Lord call the relationship with His people marital?

6. How to understand if I'm on a dangerous path?

7. Why doesn't God reject His chosen one for her unfaithfulness, but seeks her, calls her, forgives her?

8. Are you glad that you are the bride whom the Lord loves so much and wants to save?

9. Will the Lord forever endure infidelity from His beloved?

10. Who or what is the Bride of Christ?

11. Why can't one be with the world and with God at the same time?

12. Is it worth returning to God if I have gone too far in my lawlessness?

13. How will the Lord deal with those Christians who do not respond to His calls and continue to flirt with the world?

14. Do you think the Lord will willingly reject an unfaithful bride?