The Lover, The Werewolf, and the Flying Throne
I-I-I cry at your feet
Wounded for me
And all of the monsters of men
But here in your light, we can begin again-Josh Garrels, Born Again
This is a story of a faithful Lover, of a Beloved that becomes a beast, and a throne of honor that flies away when the relationship crumbles. Where does that Lover and His throne go, and why? That is the Good News, and it is astonishing!
In an Honor-Shame culture, when a covenant relationship is mired by shame and betrayal, what happens to the relationship? Is there a way to restore honor or does the relationship end? We begin in Ezra-Nehemiah with three phases of Israel’s efforts to return to their former glory and remove their shame. Some Judeans are returning to Jerusalem around 520 BC, about seventy years after being conquered by Babylon. In 586 BC, the leaders, the educated, and the wealthy citizens were carted off, leaving the poor behind to care for the land in their absence. Zerubbabel, governor of Judea, and Joshua, the high priest, set out to rebuild the dilapidated temple in Jerusalem. In 539 BC, Babylon was conquered by Persia. Haggai and Zechariah are prophets at this time, using the story of the Torah to speak God’s words into the present moment. Daniel is in Persia and we see God’s activity at work through him and others, moving the blessing of Genesis 12 forward as they navigate the tension of assimilation and subversion. In 458 BC, Ezra leads another group of people out of Persia to Jerusalem and initiates religious reforms. Nehemiah arrives a little later to rebuild the wall around the city. While Ezra and Nehemiah are at work in Jerusalem, God is at work behind the scenes in Persia in the story of Esther. As the story of the Lover, the Werewolf, and the Flying Throne unfolds, Esther will emerge as the story arc of God’s activity in His world while Ezra-Nehemiah will crumble into a beautiful, but sad commentary on non-efficacious initiatives to recycle the past. The entirety of the Good News is this surprising story of a relentless Lover, a Beloved that transforms into a beast, and a throne of Honor on the move to bring them back together.
The Lover
The Song of Songs tells the story of a Lover and the Beloved. This couple exists in the tension of having and pursuing, in the rhythm of restful embrace and longing. Each listens for the other in order to draw near. This poetic tale is the story of all scripture, but there is painful second act in which the Lover is rejected and humiliated by the Beloved. Initially, the Lover finds the Beloved, alone and unwanted, howling in the desert. He gathers her, cares for her, adorns her and she grows radiant. The Lover takes the Beloved as his bride. It is not long before others notice her glory. They call to her and she begins to listen to them. She becomes lifted up in pride and goes after those who would seduce her. The Lover sees this and knows. Those all around see this and know.
This is an Honor -Shame culture. Violating the customs and traditions in this world results in non-belonging. Acceptance by the group is the primary thing. When someone acts shamefully, the whole group becomes a pariah. Revenge dynamics form to remove the shame. The individual must be excommunicated permanently, or in some cases, murdered (honor-killings). Preserving pride and reverence (being “hallowed”) drives action in this culture. Shame results in a loss of position, privilege, possessions, power, and even pleasure (the characteristics of ‘Mammon”). Honor bestows all of these on those who conform to expectations. Honor is a blessing to the group, shame a curse.
The story of the Lover and the Beloved is at a critical point. The expectations of society are perfectly clear. The Beloved has dishonored the Lover and their family. Her shame is now his shame as well. She has given herself to another and must be killed or permanently cast out. Her heart morphed into something unrecognizable to the Lover. The Beloved has changed into a creature animated by appetites, unable and unwilling to hear her Lover. She has become as a beast and no longer a queen. What has happened and what will become of this couple?
Haggai speaks to the Beloved of God in the return from their exile. The exile was the product of a prolonged unfaithfulness. Moses saw this coming. In Deut 28-32 he told the people what would happen once they settled into the land the Lover intended for them. They would become prideful and elevate themselves. 1 Hosea tells of the pitiful Bride growing into beauty and attracting the attention of other lovers. 2 This is the heart of the covenant unfaithfulness. Israel heard the voice of another, listened to them, and yielded to it. Is exile a punishment for this unfaithfulness? This is fitting for an Honor-Shame culture. The relationship brought shame upon the Lover. His name was no longer hallowed. The consequence of shame is not temporary exile, it is permanent, it is destruction, it is death. There is no other way.
The shame of exile would give rise to hope that honor would return to the Beloved. How will honor come? Ezra-Nehemiah describes the earnest, but feckless effort. But, what is it they truly desire?
Jerusalem is in ruins. Zerubbabel and Joshua look to the past in hopes of recreating the days of glory, the good times. However, this cannot happen. Not in the way they think. Zerubbabel was right about the people though. They were still acting as the enslaved, beastly people they were before the exile. Had they learned anything; have their hearts been cured? Like Leviticus and Numbers, the physical center of the community of the Beloved is to be the Lover. Lovers long for the full attention of their Beloved. Relating to the Presence of the Lover in their midst governs their heart and animates the body. Desire drives the engine. Suddenly, as in deep love, the primary relationship affects all other relationships. The people were focused on themselves, they worked for food but were still hungry, they were still thirsty, and they stored their wealth in bags with holes in them (Haggai 1:6). The Lover calls to them, “come to me; hunger and thirst after right relations and I will satisfy you.” Take care of each other and I will be in your midst. For God, His desire was to be in their midst as a Lover desires to be with the Beloved. Israel’s desire was to be directed toward His Presence.
Zerubbabel seeks to restore glory by restoring the Temple. Yet, Zerubbabel rejected those who remained in the land, the lowly of Judah and, now, the Samaritans, from joining them. The last books in the Tanakh, Chronicles 1 and 2, include the building of the temple by Solomon in its summary of Israel’s history leading into exile. It mentions Zerubbabel as the descendant of David. David and Solomon used 153,000 “aliens” in Israel, likely the Moabite, Edomite, and Ammonite captives, as forced labor to build the Temple, the Temple that was to be filled with the honor and Presence of God. Solomon called on the king of Tyre and he sent Huram, a craftsman of Phoenician and Israeli descent, to orchestrate the build. Evidently, Solomon had no issue with multi-ethic involvement. Also, Ezekiel had a vision of a fulfilled New Jerusalem in line with the blessing of Genesis 12- all nations gathered together to worship God as one multi-ethnic family. Zerubbabel resisted this, even though his intent was to emulate the efforts of his forefather, Solomon, and bring glory to Israel. Zerubbabel’s attempt to recapture the glory of his ancestors failed to accomplish what he hoped. The Temple was built, but no fire and glory. Not like the offerings from David and Solomon at this very site when fire from God received the offering at Ornan’s threshing floor which became the site of the Temple and the resting place of God’s Presence and honor. The glory left and has not returned. Their shame remains.
Ezra tries to apply the teachings of the Torah as statutory law. Will this bring back the glory of God? Later, Jesus will interpret these teachings in very different ways altogether. The contemporary prophet Malachi condemned the practice of mandatory divorce and family separations. This is not what God wants. This was not even an unanimous decision among the other religious leaders. Ethnic lines of division will not provide the purity God desires in the Beloved. The genealogy in Chronicles traces the origins of many of these nations back to Noah. In Matthew, the genealogy includes the multi-ethic heritage of Jesus. The human family has a common source. God repeatedly demonstrates His heart to gather and bless all nations. Ezekiel spoke of God’s desire for Tyre and Assyria. God gave Pharaoh opportunity to cooperate with Him to free the people. Israel was chosen as the one from whom the blessing would come, but Israel was not the only people God loved. This becomes a major theme of Paul’s epistles- God removing all false walls of worth criteria and building a unified multi-ethnic family of King Jesus. Jeremiah and Ezekiel both spoke of God’s intention to accomplish all of this by overthrowing their corrupted heart and spirit, and replacing it with His very own. He will cure their beastly heart. He will purify His people Himself by His Spirit and His heart and His life. Ezra did not get the memo. He was looking back on former glory, and not to the vision of what God was forming now by His Spirit-breath from the dust of the earth.
The hostility of the ethnic and socio-economic divisions started with Zerubbabel and deepened with Ezra. For all their good intentions, their hearts were still infected. This is one of the amazing things that Paul, apostle of the crucified Lord, writes in one of his earliest letters, Galatians:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
The community was growing hostile over these lines of division. The Jewish followers of Messiah were at odds with these Gentiles of the Greco-Roman culture. Like Ezra, they sought to purify the community to honor God. The heart of the Lover is to bless the Beloved as Genesis 12 promised- as all nations unified. Thus, the book of Jonah, coupled with the book of Nahum, is fitting. Jonah was sent by God to draw Assyria to God. These were enemies, agitators, adversaries of Israel. Yet, God loved them and they listened (shema). Nahum prophesied about a hundred years later to Assyria. They became prideful and oppressive. Like Israel, the time of blessing gave way to the infection of a beastly heart. He pursues to gather His Beloved from all nations (even Assyria), and just like Israel, when they become like beasts, they must be be “overthrown (Jonah 3).”
Nehemiah spends considerable effort building a wall, despite Ezekiel’s vision that New Jerusalem would be as city without walls. Will building a fortified city bring back the glory of God? All nations will be invited to come to the Lord is a promise throughout scripture. The pitiful statement, “at least I tried...” at the end of Nehemiah sums up the problem of their solution. It was still their effort. Zechariah would speak to this as well,
Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord.
God is doing something new as His Kingdom matures. However, the shame of the Beloved is not removed. The relationship is still tainted. They still do not fully understand the significance of what happened or what is happening. As Ezra- Nehemiah points out, their hearts are not much different than the beastly heart that led them into shame. But, to give them some credit, their infected hearts are changing. The Beloved is starting to search, but still cannot hear the Lover, nor appreciate that the Lover is, astonishingly, still there. No other Lover would still be in relationship with such a one as Israel.
What kind of Lover is this? David asks this question of God when God covenants with him to build a family though him when David asks to build a house for God in Chronicles 1. Exodus 34 tells of the character of the Lover. While the Lover is merciful, He is just, and He is good. But misphat, (justice), has one purpose- restore right relationship (tzedeqah), restore what was broken (correct what was “bent”- iniquity or ‘avon), and reinstate a trust (transgression or pesha). The Lover is bound to the Beloved and will not let her go. The covenant started with Abraham. God initiated it. A cow was split in half and a hovering oven passed through the midst (Genesis 15). “May it be done to me as unto this animal if I break or dishonor our relationship” is the message of such ceremonies. This was the betrothal to the Beloved. On their wedding day at Mt Sinai, even as the ceremony was commencing, the Beloved is with another (Exodus 32). The Lover reveals himself to Moses here. God passes by him, passing through where the rock was split, and of all the things this wounded and humiliated Lover shows, it is not His power, vengeance, or anger. It is His kindness, mercy, goodness, and steadfast love. The Lover demonstrates the very things He desires from the Beloved,
…do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8).
This is the Lover. This is the story Jesus tells of the Prodigal Son/ the Prodigal Father. The father was insulted and rejected by the son, yet the father ached for him. The culture demanded that the son be excommunicated, but the father endured the shame and instead threw a celebration upon his return. His heart’s desire has returned. Nothing else mattered. On Sinai, God threatens to just give them the land and leave, but Moses asks Him, “what are we without you? We want you, not just your benefits”. Who is this Beloved that this King, this Lover would endure shame and humiliation just to remain with them? But it gets worse, and the Lover sees it coming. His Beloved will be “overthrown” (in Hebrew, this word used in Jonah 3, can mean “destroyed” or “transformed” It appears again here in Haggai). Her infected heart will overthrow her and she will fully transform into a beast, no longer the truly human one He desired to share in His glory. As far gone as she is, as chastened as she has become, as shamed as He has become, the Lover longs to be with the Beloved.
The Werewolf
since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you-ee cummings, since feeling is first
A werewolf is a human that changes into a mythical beast, yet can change back again. However, they are unable to escape the cycle or its consequences. No longer fully human, no longer with dominion, the power of the moon in its fullness dominates them. They hear and slavishly obey. This is the fate of the Beloved. Her heart became infected and slowly transformed her into beast. She responds to the power that calls to these cravings. How did this happen?
The story of the Beloved in scripture warns of this infection. It happens in the Garden. It happens outside of the Garden. It happens before Egypt. It happens after Egypt. It happens on their Wedding day. And she is told that it would happen again in their home. The Lover knows that she is beautiful and others would seek to possess her. The only way this can happen is for the Beloved to stop listening to the Lover, start listening to the whispers of others, and allow them to enter her heart. After all, it is the heart, it is what we love, that animates us to do what we do.
The transformation is subtle. The heart slowly morphs from its source, the Living Spirit of God, into stone, like the idols it looks to for satisfaction. First, the Beloved’s eyes are “lifted up” or drawn away. The interplay of Song of Songs is lost. The rhythm of searching and longing is in discord. The Beloved is no longer enraptured by the Lover; she is filled with another desire. No longer motivated by desire for the Lover, though she may still do some of the same things as before (religion- see Amos), her engine is now her cravings. Her image is no longer that of the Lover, her image is that of an animal. The Beloved begins to lift herself up (magnify her name) in pride and arrogance. No longer howling and alone, she knows her grandeur. Her pursuers tell her she is beautiful and wise. The heart that pulsed with affection for the Lover now grows hard and ambitious. Slowly, the appetites begin to dominate what she does with her body. Her relationships change because of how she sees herself and how she now sees others. She is no longer a Beloved content with her Lover. Instead, she devours to satiate the demands of her appetites. Separated from her Lover, she is now enslaved to a power she cannot resist. Her true nature is overthrown; she has become a beast. This is the story of the human condition as told in scripture.
The Babylonian king, Nebechadnezzar, had a dream that he could not interpret. He asked Daniel to help him out. Daniel knew the meaning of the dream and it was not good news. The king, because of his pride and arrogance, will become as a wild beast. So, Daniel tells him, “O King, may this happen to your enemies and not to you.” Your evil ways are these: arrogance has turned you into a beastly ruler; the cries of the oppressed have reached God’s ears and He will bring justice to set things right. Daniel advices him (4:27),
Therefore, O king, let my advice be acceptable to you; break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a a lengthening of your prosperity.
Ezekiel 16 says something very similar about Sodom, whose chief sins was greediness and oppression of the poor. 3 Jerusalem is nearly destroyed by the Angel when David lifts himself and numbers the vast army, pridefully garnering strength form these forces and not the trust he once had in God. Yet, this prideful act was considered an abomination and nearly destroyed all of Jerusalem. David humbles himself before God, offers himself up to spare the people as he stood before the Angel of the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan, future site of the Temple, and where God provided a sacrifice to spare Isaac (1 Chronicles 21). 4 David offered to bear the full penalty of the shame rather than seeing the people suffer. Setting is such a beautiful device in scripture! Back to Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar does not heed the advice and becomes a wild beast, grazing in the field. This is the theme of Daniel-
all such rulers become violent, wild beasts. It happened to in Egypt, in Canaan, in Israel, in Assyria, in Babylon, in Persia, in Greece, in Rome, and it still happens today.
The prophets to Israel said the same things to their kings. You slander, you deal falsely, you use dishonest scales, you oppress the poor, widows, orphans, and the foreigners, you are greedy for gain, you enslave your own people. 5 The Beloved has become like Pharaoh that dominated her in Egypt. They rule by violence and not by voice (consider Moses striking the rock). Pharaoh hardened his own heart the first five times. The rest of the times, God gave him over to his choice and hardened his heart. Israel hardened her heart as she desired to be like the powers all around her. She violated basic human-relatedness (tzedeqah), denied justice (misphat) to restore what was “bent”, and acted with arrogance, all explicitly contrary to Micah 6 and God’s character. Their corrupted hearts destroyed people, relationships, and communities. They devoured one another. They even resorted to eating one another. 6 They were like a werewolf at this point. Eventually, God gave her over what she wanted.
The further the Beloved got away from shema ( Deuteronomy 6) the more beast like her heart became.
Jeremiah and Ezekiel knew what was needed. Moses even spoke of it in Deuteronomy when he said they would need a circumcised heart. A new heart and new spirit would be necessary. The breath of God wold have to enter dust (adamah) once again to form a new human (adam). The old one is too infected; it is too beastly.
Once the Beloved is inextricably a beast, the shame is overwhelming. Hosea tells this same story of the Beloved and the Lover. The Beloved has blatantly embraced other lovers. The shame she brought upon the Lover was massive. The syntax of law is clear. She is to be stoned. She is to be killed. Only this will remove the shame on the Lover and his family. Her shame has no resolution; it is terminal. What does the Lover do? Hosea puts it this way in reference to Israel:
How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I treat you like Admah?
How can I make you like Zeboyim?
My heart is changed within me;
all my compassion is aroused.Hosea 11:8
This is not what the law of shame and honor demands. This, however, is this way of the Lover. This is not the law as Ezra would read it. The Torah was written to preserve right-relatedness within a community. But the law starts with right relation to God. A desire for God is the engine- not the laws. The Lover of Song of Songs pursues his Beloved still. He searches for her. If he is to be shamed, ostracized, ridiculed, cast-out in order to remain with his Beloved, then so be it. He will endure it to be with her. All his attention is on her, all his longing is for her.
The Lover sends her away. He has to. Her actions have been destructive and the cries of the oppressed will be honored. The whole scenario is terribly sad. Reflecting upon the exile, the psalmist writes “you did this (Psalm 39:9).” But the psalmists also know, their beastly heart gave God no other option. 7 Is this the end of the relationship? If God is to be hallowed as King over all nations, then the shameful Bride must be banished. Otherwise, the nations will despise Him because of her shame. The only way for justice, for humility and righteousness, is for the heart of the Beloved to be awakened to what it has become. The infected heart must be voluntarily offered, it cannot be forcibly taken. The Lover still honors the Beloved and gives her the dignity of choice. As painful as this is, the Lover hopes that when the Beloved is “overthrown,” she is “transformed” and not “destroyed.” But there will pain- for both of them.
This God is not like what the nations expect to see though, and that is the good news for the whole world. Justice will be done, but shame will be conquered by mercy. Only in this way can righteousness and honor be restored.
Ezekiel is sitting on the banks of the river, like the homesick psalmist (Psalm 137) who wrote of sitting on the banks of the river and looking toward Jerusalem, toward the Temple, the symbol of the union between the Lover and the Beloved. He is looking to the place where mercy triumphed over judgement. Ezekiel has a vision and sees the throne of God lift up out of the Temple and fly away. The glory and honor of God, the very center of the community, departs when calamity strikes. This was the dwelling place of the Spirit of God. In the desert, it was the tabernacle. In both cases, the Spirit of God entered in a dramatic way so that all knew His Presence was among them. Fire from heaven came down and everyone fell to the ground and worshipped God. Chronicles 1 and 2 recount the tabernacle transitioning to the Temple. Why did the Lover leave and where did He go when the Beloved was caged like the animal she had become?
The rebuild of Zerubbabel fizzled in comparison. There was no fire or dramatic event signifying the return of God’s Presence. In Acts, though, this fiery Presence returns as people from all over are gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate Shavu’ot, the marriage ceremony of the Lover and the Beloved at Sinai. The fire rests on the people and they speak in the tongues of the nations so that all languages and people can know God. The Temple is no longer the dwelling place of God, it is His people- His multi-ethnic body that fulfills the blessing to Abraham in Genesis 12. The vision of Ezekiel is materializing, the Kingdom of the Messiah has come. The Lover does return to the Beloved! But where did He go during her worst times, when she was a slave?
According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear! Haggai 2:5
As Ezekiel watches the honor of God leave the Temple, where does he see it go? Has the Lover given up and flown away on His throne? As He packed up and gone to find someone more suitable? Is He looking for someone who is ethnically pure, adherent to written laws, and barricaded in a fortified city? No. As Haggai says, the Lover flew away into the shame of banishment with the Beloved! This is what Ezekiel suggests when he said he saw the throne flying in the direction of their exile. This is why Haggai said, “My spirit remains with you.” The Lover did not abandon His Beloved. The Lover cannot bear to see her go. Luke 13, Matthew 23- “
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how long I longed to gather (hold, embrace) you.” The Beloved is carried away and her shame with her, like the scapegoat that carried away the shame of the Beloved in Leviticus.
So, where does the Lover go? The Lover chose to go into exile with the Beloved. Though she is a beast, He loves her anyway. Remarkable! The Lover chose to bear the shame of the Beloved in order to preserve the relationship. The Lover chose to become a debt-slave, a servant, to leave His throne and become nothing because this was the only way to be with the Beloved. So, how will the shame be removed now that both are captives to it? This is the amazing thing. Zerubbbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah tried to remove it by following the pattern of temple, religious law, and a walled city. These had no efficacy to restore the heart of the Beloved to a truly human one. Now this couple are outcasts and without might or power to reclaim their position as the Lover King and His Beloved.
One is enslaved as a beast, the other enslaved by devotion.
The Flying Throne
I would dial the numbers
Just to listen to your breath
I would stand inside my hell
And hold the hand of death
You don't know how far I'd go
To ease this precious ache
You don't know how much I'd giveOr how much I can take
Just to reach you
Just to reach you
Oh to reach you-Melissa Etheridge, Come to My Window
The Lover is now a slave and the Beloved a werewolf. Her dishonor transformed her into a debt-slave to the powers to whom she sold her heart. But the Lover has a plan. He will suffer the fullness of the shame on behalf of His Beloved. He will allow the powers that took her to take Him, but He intends to conquer them and strip them of their claim. He will overthrow (destroy) their power over her and He will overthrow her heart (transform).
The Lover was with the Beloved in the Garden and joined her in the first exile, the first betrayal. The Lover was with her in the desert, the most egregious betrayal to that point. The Lover was with her in the land He gave her, even as she welcomed other lovers into their home. And He is with her as she fell from her place of honor, her throne and His. Little betrayal by little betrayal, the Beloved’s heart became as a beast creature. She sold herself to another. He went with her, as Hosea so tragically illustrates. Even in the return home, honor and position did not return. The kingdom was still broken, but the Lover endured. How can things be made right again?
About 400 years later, the longing of the Beloved for the Lover to return grows. Matthew tells us the Lover has returned, Immanuel, “God with us.” Did He abandon the Beloved then? Esther would say no. Although God is never mentioned overtly in this beautifully symmetrical book, God is at work, as He was in Genesis 12-50, to humble the proud and exalt the humble. Unlike the efforts of Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther ends in honor. The Beloved is in captivity, but her heart is in a chrysalis, becoming something new. The same cannot be said for King Xeres I or Haman who behave as wild beasts. Esther humbles herself, offers her life up to save the Beloved, and God elevates her and Mordecai. She, like David, becomes an image of the promised Messiah. The Beloved becomes like the truly human ones the Lover hoped she would be. The silent presence of the Lover in this story is the engine. The Lover still provides and cares for His Beloved because He stayed by her side in her shame and dishonor. He continues to lean in to her. And He has every intention of reclaiming His kingdom and His Beloved.
Paul writes of this in Philippians as he describes the image and nature of the Messiah. The story of the Lover, the Werewolf, and the Flying Throne is the story of the Good News and our call to bear Messiah’s image. What is this image like? Jesus tells us something interesting in John. He said He only did what He saw the Father doing. Could it be, that the Imago Dei we see in Jesus has been in the story of God all along? Philippians 2 describes Immanuel’s return to the Beloved this way:
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
Although this is in Greek, in Hebrew there is no word for “obey.” A derivation of shema, “listen” or “hear” is often translated that way because implicit in hearing is doing something. A relationship between a Lover and a Beloved is governed by a heart’s longing to connect and know the other. Listening is an act of tremendous generosity. It confers value upon the one sharing- “you are worth my time and attention.” Relationally, it is responsiveness to the other. When one stops hearing the other, they stop responding to the other. Desire shuts down. Obligations may be upheld, but it simply becomes as a religion- the things I must do if I want to sustain any benefit in this arrangement. Inevitably, hostility grows. Acts of contempt emerge. Israel did this with God. She stopped listening and responding to God. Her heart went after another. It was not an “obedient” bride that the Lover longed for, it was a responsive one.
As I wake up this morning, eager for my coffee and morning time in scripture, I simultaneously yearn for intimacy- deep prayer, meditation on the person of Jesus, silently enjoying His company, praising His incomparable love and character, responding to Him in love when I encounter His image in all those around me, longing for His Kingdom to have full dominion in this place. It is such a treasure to know and be known, yet fully loved. I consider Jesus saying to those who appeal to all of their religious accolades and merits- “I never knew you.” 8 I read the Story and am surprised about how many times the Torah was violated, yet God was still honored, and how many times the Torah was wielded staunchly and it perpetuated shame. Religion did not bring God’s glory (se Amos 5). Nationalism and ethnic purity did not do it. The Lover alone restores honor and relationship because the Lover alone bore the shame and had the power to overthrow the powers that held claim to His Beloved.
Malachi 3:5 describes the Beloved:
“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.
Paul describes the Beloved in Corinth with the similar words. All of us are infected. Yet God loved you anyways, so love others this way. This is the beautiful cross we have to bear. The Lover was ridiculously faithful to a Beloved that had become a werewolf and, because He was faithful, He allowed Himself to be enslaved as a beast in order to be with her when He conquered the powers that would keep His Beloved from Him. The Lover’s flying throne went with her, just as the Beloved was to go with Him when He moved as the fire and cloud in the desert.
This is the Good News, our shame became His shame so that His honor may become our honor!
The way of Jesus is not afraid to bear the infected hearts of those we love, just to reach them. Religion does not do this. The law does not do this. Could it be, that when Paul writes in Ephesians of the law bringing hostility (referring to the rift between Messianic Jews and Gentile followers), it is because Jesus longs to embrace us and we embrace the law? Perhaps the plea of God through Amos 5, Hosea 6, Psalm 40, and others, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice” better reflects the heart of this Lover and what He most desires from the Beloved. He longs to know her and be known by her. The truly human one, entered the realm of beasts, to rescue the Beloved and restore her alongside His throne as the truly human one. This is the house God is building and this is the way He is building it.
Consider Chronicles 1. The prayer of Davids is to build a house for God but God will build a house of David, “a special treasure.” The Lover goes into the shame with His special treasure, gathers her up, makes a house - a family- from her and His glory He now gives to her. His truly human heart He gives her. No longer a slave to the virus that makes humans into beasts. 1 Chronicles 28 says God will not leave or forsake them until “it is finished,” regarding the completion of the Temple and His Presence dwelling in it. When the temple is dedicated in 2 Chronicles, fire, glory/ honor fills the temple. When Jesus said “it is finished,” His death was the final act in fulfilling the promise. His victory was certain. But the Temple in Jerusalem would survive only a few more decades until Rome destroyed it in 70 AD. How will honor be restored without a Temple, amidst changing traditions and cultures, and a fortified city occupied by foreign rulers? The doxa, translated in Greek as “glory,” but better understood as “honor,” returns to the Beloved. The King overthrew the powers. He killed the infection that possessed the Beloved and gave her new life. The fire and glory of the Lover rested upon all peoples, of all languages, fulfilling the promise - a forever kingdom is now established. 9 His Beloved is made whole and complete by the prince of shalom, the Lover and Beloved are together in honor, and His glorious throne is on the move to search and gather all who are still infected, shamed, and longing for shalom. 10
(1) 15 “But Jeshurun (Israel) grew fat and kicked;
You grew fat, you grew thick,
You are obese!
Then he forsook God who made him,
And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods;
With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God,
To gods they did not know,
To new gods, new arrivals
That your fathers did not fear.
18 Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful,
And have forgotten the God who fathered you.
Deuteronomy 32
In a desert land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye
Deuteronomy 32:10
(2) 1 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
And out of Egypt I called My son.
2 As they called them,
So they went [c]from them;
They sacrificed to the Baals,
And burned incense to carved images.
3 “I taught Ephraim to walk,
Taking them by their arms;
But they did not know that I healed them.
4 I drew them with gentle cords,
With bands of love,
And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their [f]neck.
I stooped and fed them.
Hosea 11
(3) 48 “As I live,” says the Lord God, “neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. 49 Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit….
Ezekiel 16
(4) 17 David said to God, “Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I, the shepherd, have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Lord my God, let your hand fall on me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people.”
1 Chronicles 21
(5) 8 And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: 9 “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigneror the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’
11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears.”
Zechariah 7
16 These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; 17 do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord.
Zechariah 8
(6) 11 There is a generation that curses its father,
And does not bless its mother.
12 There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes,
Yet is not washed from its filthiness.
13 There is a generation—oh, how lofty are their eyes!
And their eyelids are [b]lifted up.
14 There is a generation whose teeth are like swords,
And whose fangs are like knives,
To devour the poor from off the earth,
And the needy from among men.
Proverbs 30
27 And he said, “If the Lord does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?” 28 Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you?”
And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”
2 Kings 6
(7) 6 Therefore pride serves as their necklace; Violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance; They have more than heart could wish. 8 They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; They speak loftily. 9 They set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue walks through the earth. 10 Therefore his people return here, And waters of a full cup are drained by them. 11 And they say, "How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?" 12 Behold, these are the ungodly, Who are always at ease; They increase in riches. 13 Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, And washed my hands in innocence. 14 For all day long I have been plagued, And chastened every morning.
15 If I had said, "I will speak thus," Behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children. 16 When I thought how to understand this, It was too painful for me-- 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end. 18 Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. 19 Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors 20 As a dream when one awakes, So, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image.
21 Thus my heart was grieved, And I was vexed in my mind 22 I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. 23 Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. 24 You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory.
Psalm 73
(8) 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Matthew 7
(9) 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. 9 For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me.
10 “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” says the Lord. 11 “Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. 12 And the Lord will take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem. 13 Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is aroused from His holy habitation!”
Zechariah 2
(10) Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21
Read Isaiah 25
