Teaching on marriage in the Bible often centres around the model we have in Jesus Christ taking the Church as his bride. And this is so helpful, however, the wedding bells haven’t rung just yet. 

When they do, God says in Hosea 2:16, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master.’” When this day comes, we - being glorified - will see the Lord in an even more marvelous light. The context in this prophet’s time is an Israelite nation that continues to stray from God. 

In marriage terms, Israel commits infidelity - it finds another lover. Yet, for God’s elect, this dire state that the people are in will not last. God describes how His bride will go from rejecting Him to being irresistibly fixed to Him. The Valley of Achor, a place scoffed at for how idolatry was exposed at it, will become a door of hope. 

Our response won’t be one of uncertainty or miscommunication, characteristics that still persist among the most goldy of marriages on earth. Instead, we will have complete obedience as once found in the Garden of Eden.