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Good Evening Meadowbrooke,

The Church is Christ’s Bride, the one with whom He is both deeply and passionately in love. In the Garden of Gethsemane, shortly before His death, Jesus prayed for His Bride. As we consider the role of elders in Christ’s Church, listen carefully to our Lord’s prayer for you and for me:

“I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom You have given Me, because they are Yours. All things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are.” (John 17:9–11)

The Bible teaches that Jesus’ love for His Bride is so profound that He willingly gave Himself up for her, being nailed to a cross to make her His own (Eph. 5:25). One of the clearest—and most breathtaking—descriptions of this reality is found in 1 Peter 2:9–10: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

 

Wow! Do you see what Peter is saying? These words echo the story of Hosea, the prophet whom God commanded to marry a woman of unfaithfulness. Though she betrayed him and became enslaved by her sin, Hosea was told to redeem her—to buy her back from slavery and clothe her in purity, never again to be a slave or a harlot (see Hosea 1–3).

 

Peter takes that story and shows us that we are Gomer. We were enslaved by our sin, unfaithful and lost—but Jesus, our greater Hosea, purchased us back from the slave block with His own blood. He clothed us in white and made us His spotless Bride, never again to be enslaved, but eternally His.  And this is why all of heaven sings: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals, for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.” (Rev. 5:9–10)

 

I look forward to worshiping with you this Sunday!

 

Grace,

Pastor Keith