"And they lived happily ever after..." (some thoughts after completing a study of Hosea)

Since Christmas I have been musing on the story of Hosea: the son of a priest called upon to marry a whore (Hosea 1:2, The Message). If Cinderella is a story of beauty's redemption, Hosea's tale is a love story on the effects of adultery on a marriage. These are some thoughts that came to mind after completing my study.

All good stories begin with "Once Upon a Time" and end with "And they lived happily ever after..." It's pretty much a Disney formula be it Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty or Beauty and the Beast. There's an abused beauty (be she Snow White, Belle or Rapunzel) oppressed by (often!) a wicked stepmother who metes out great trouble upon her step-daughter only for her to be finally rescued by a fine, young prince (be he Prince Charming, Aladdin or Flynn Rider). The foe is vanquished, the beauty is fully revealed and both beauty and prince ride off into the sunset to begin their happily ever after.

We call them "Fairy Tales" because they're mythical, something that in reality does not happen in "real" life. Or is there something true in them? The Bible speaks of a "damsel in distress" who is longing for her prince to one day return and take her off to her "happily ever after". However, unlike Aurora, Ariel or Jasmine, she's in trouble not on account of the wiles of an enemy alone; rather, it's because she's a rebel at heart. It isn't because she made a mistake and got herself entrapped. No, she chose disobedience in spite of being warned to the contrary.

Of course, I'm talking about us - the Church. Like Snow White, we're humming a tune that sounds similar to her song:

Some day, my prince will come

Some day, we'll meet again
And away to his castle we'll go
To be happy forever, I know

We, too, are awaiting the Return of our bridegroom, Jesus the Christ, Messiah and Lord. He will rescue us from the body of this death and ultimately overthrow Satan and renew the world entire. That's future. In the meantime we wait for his return and like a bride on her wedding day making herself beautiful for that long stroll down the aisle, we prepare ourselves too. How? 

"...his bride has prepared herself.
She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.”
    For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people. (Revelation 19:7-8, NLT)

We make ourselves ready by "practicing" holiness now - in our deeds of kindness done for our neighbor, or for visiting those in prison, or feeding someone who is hungry, or helping another in distress. With each act it's like another weave has been wove into the wedding garment we'll one day be adorned with. 

At the end of all things then the Marriage Supper of the Lamb will begin and to be invited to that gathering is a blessing (Rev 19:9). WE ARE BOTH INVITEE AND MAIN ATTRACTION (i.e., the Bride). And as the credits roll on this first heavens and earth, instead of some far-off castle in the sky that we'll ride off to the Bible tells us that the Kingdom will finally come here in fullness. 

Michael Wilcock writes poetically about that moment when the Bride at long last is wed to her Bridegroom:

We have passed beyond the bounds of space and time into regions of eternal light, unshadowed by the slightest imperfection, not to say evil; where the eyes of every created thing are fixed in adoration upon the Lamb alone. Yet he is not alone. For sharing the Scene with him – indeed, taking its very title role – is a radiant stranger whose features, as we consider them, are nonetheless familiar. Can it be...?

It is 'the Bride, the wife of the Lamb'. It is the church of Christ. It is you: it is I. Whatever metaphors we may use to describe our relationship with Christ, the last Scene of the Bible shows us ourselves married to him, 'cleansed...by the washing of water with the word', presented before him 'in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing' (Eph 5:26, 27).

Sounds like a fairy tale to me. And yet, just as we know that Snow White will ultimately be redeemed despite the evil queen's machinations to the contrary, we know that we, too, will one day be rescued from the body of this death and this present age of trouble. So we must persist waiting a little longer until He comes - or risk judgment on account of perfidy.