20150826 Wednesday, August 26 2015
Jeremiah 03: What Did The Messiah's Wife Do?

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding"

"Adult" originated from the Latin word adultus. It meant, just as does its English-language rendering, grown to maturity. The Latin word itself came from an earlier compound Latin word, ad, meaning to, and oleo, meaning grow - the words from which adolescence also originated i.e. the ad-ole in adolescence.

The English-language word "adulterate" originated from a related Latin word, adultero, that meant to improperly mix or debase something that is finished. In chemistry, as in life overall, many things and relationships can be adulterated (i.e. polluted) by toxic ingredients that make them into something else - or something untrue or worthless. From that came the human legal term "adultery," meaning "sexual relations by a married person with someone who is not their lawful spouse." While adultery may begin with sexual behavior, it then becomes a poison that affects everything in one's life. The adultery of David and Bathsheba is a prime Biblical example (see Bathsheba, The Wife Of Uriah and The Parable Of The Stolen Little Ewe Lamb).

"Adultery" is used to translate the Hebrew word, pronounced naw-awf, that means the same ("sexual relations by a married person with someone who is not their lawful spouse"), but the Hebrew word moreover literally also means to not commit apostasy - unfaithfulness to one's spiritual relationship with the LORD. It is that word, with both of those meanings, that was actually stated in the Seventh Commandment i.e. the Commandment is just as much about being faithful to the LORD (as also stated in the First Commandment: "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me") as it is about being faithful to a husband or wife.

"20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery." (Exodus 20:14 KJV)

The LORD's physical laws are moreover spiritual laws. Physical adultery often produces spiritual adultery. The ultimate spiritual adultery has been committed by the "churches" that call themselves Christian - while being unfaithful to the actual teachings and commandments of the Messiah (see Why Call Me, Lord, Lord, and Do Not The Things Which I Say? and What Gospel Did Jesus Preach?). The Word of God calls the Church of Rome "the great harlot" - and her daughter "protestant" churches "harlots" as well (see the Fact Finder question below).

"17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." (Revelation 17:3-6 KJV)

As we have read, the wisdom of not committing adultery applies as much to spiritual matters as physical matters. Someone can be completely faithful and never commit physical adultery - while living in a state of spiritual adultery if they claim to be Christian while ignoring or defying what the Messiah actually taught. That happened to the kingdoms of Israel over and over - just as it has and is happening over and over in the present day by the "churches" that claim to be Christian while being unfaithful to Him in deed.

The terminology is the same in both the Old and New Testaments. The reason is because "the LORD God" of the Old Testament was born as Jesus Christ (see The LORD God Our Saviour). The unfaithfulness was committed in the same way, to the same LORD. As stated by the LORD to be recorded by the prophet Jeremiah:

"3:1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD. 3:2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed. 3:4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth? 3:5 Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.

3:6 The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. 3:7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. 3:9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. 3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.

3:11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. 3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,

Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. 3:13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: 3:15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. 3:16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. 3:18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.

3:19 But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me. 3:20 Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.

3:21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.

3:22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God. 3:23 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. 3:24 For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 3:25 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God." (Jeremiah 3:1-25 KJV)

Fact Finder: Where did the Messiah's "wife" come from? What will she do in the Kingdom of God?
See Brides From Their Sides and Why Is The Church Called The Body Of Christ?; also The Bride Of Christ and The Great Harlots and The Marriage of The Lamb