Marital Union in Heaven, and in Creation, Part 4

Second Stage of Holy Marital Union: Israel – A Covenant of Soul

Every one of the stages in the marital Chain of Events is essential to the whole Creation, forever. Adam and Eve became “one flesh.” Gen. 2:24 “Wherefore they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” Matt. 19:6 God’s purpose in joining man and woman in marital relationship will not be undone by the ascension of His elect into heaven.

The next fundamental marital union in Creation was that entered into between YHWH and the nation of Israel. Like with the earlier marital union of the flesh, this one too began with a face-to-face relationship between God and His people, when the LORD “came down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.” Ex. 19:11

“The soul of the flesh is in the blood.” Lev. 17:11; Gen. 9:4 Nations are primarily made up of people having bloodlines = soul-lines derived from a common ancestor. In the case of Israel, that ancestor was Jacob, whom God later renamed Israel. Now, following the archetypal Chain of Events pattern, God first had to create the nation of Israel, and then separate it out:

Genesis 46:2 Then God spoke to [the man] Israel…and said… 3 “…do not fear to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation.”

Deuteronomy 26:5 … “My father [Israel] was an Aramean about to perish, and he went down to Egypt…and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and prosperous. … 8 Then the LORD brought us [Israel] out of Egypt…”

Unlike the physical/fleshly relationship between a man and a woman, the marital covenant between the nation of Israel and YHWH was on the level of soul. [Hebrew, nephesh; Greek, psuchē.] This marriage covenant was sealed with blood early in the Exodus era, when all Israel stood before God at Mount Sinai:

Exodus 24:3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD… 7 Then he [Moses] took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has said will we do, and be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.”

Despite all of the people of Israel’s later sins, God still confirmed the existence of this marriage covenant over 900 years later, saying through His prophet Jeremiah,

Jeremiah 3:1 … “You have played the harlot with many lovers; and would you return to me?” says the LORD. … 14 “Return, O backsliding children,” says the LORD; “for I have been married [Perfect (past) tense] with you…”

The LORD confirmed this, even though

Jeremiah 2:27 “…they have turned their back unto me, and not their face…”

Yet despite the adultery of the people of Israel, who whored after other gods, the LORD has promised that He will reconfirm this marriage covenant, and restore His face-to-face relationship with the nation:

Ezekiel 20:34 “I will bring you out from the peoples, and I will gather you out from the countries wherein you have been scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. 35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I have judgment with you face to face. … 37 And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.”

Therefore, despite Israel’s adulterous rebellion against the LORD and their marital covenant with Him, He has committed Himself to restore and perfect that covenant in the future. This is the pattern followed for every marital covenant that God has established, and will establish, in His Creation.