Introduction: Do you love to spend time with those who are
loving and warm to you? I do! We would rather not spend
time with those who are cold and distant. Of all the things
you might expect from a pagan god, being loving and warm is
not one of them. I am no expert on the pagan gods, but as I
understand it love or warmth is an attribute of the pagan
god, and not the emotion it showed to humans. For example,
Eros, the god of love, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love,
are figures of passion. They might inspire love, but they
are not showing love to humans. That is what makes our God
so remarkable. The true God of the Universe presents
Himself as having the most loving interaction with humans.
He is our Father. This week He is our Spouse. How grateful
we should be! Let’s dive into our study of the Bible and
learn more about God as our Spouse!
I. Marriage to God
A. Read Revelation 19:6-7. Who is the Lamb? And what
is He about to do? (Read Revelation 5:12. Jesus is
the Lamb. He is about to become married.)
B. Read Revelation 19:8. Who is the Lamb marrying?
(Read Revelation 21:9-10. This says the Lamb is
marrying a city.)
1. What? How can Jesus marry a city? (It is not
just any city, it is the holy city, the New
Jerusalem.)
C. Let’s go back and re-read Revelation 19:8. What is
the New Jerusalem wearing? (“Fine linen,” which is
defined to be “the righteous deeds of the saints.”
How can a building be wearing someone’s deeds?
D. Read Revelation 21:27. Who lives in this city?
(Those whose names are written in the Book of
Life.)
E. Read Ephesians 5:28-32. What is the “profound
mystery?” (That Jesus is the Husband of the
church. Note that verse 30 states that Christians
are “members of His body.”)
1. While this may seem odd to someone who is not
familiar with the Bible, Christians are
identified with the Church which is Jesus’
bride. Thus, we are married to Jesus. This
explains why the city is wearing the deeds of
the righteous and the redeemed live in the
city – the New Jerusalem.)
2. Ask yourself why God would choose to have us
view Him as our Father and our Spouse?
II. Our Unworthiness
A. Read Ezekiel 16:4-5. What does the public think of
this child? (They were willing to have it die. No
one helped it.)
B. Read Ezekiel 16:6-9. What has God done for this
unwanted child?
C. Read Ezekiel 16:10-13. Does God do only the basics
for this unwanted child? (No. He gives her every
advantage. He treats her like royalty.)
D. Read Ezekiel 16:14-15. Is this grown woman still
unwanted? (No. She is now beautiful and
desirable.)
E. Skip down and read Ezekiel 16:32-35. What kind of
a wife is this? (An unfaithful, and frankly stupid
wife. She is beautiful, but she pays others for
sex. Even prostitutes know enough to demand
payment!)
F. Step back a minute and tell me about this woman.
Has God saved her?
1. Has God made her desirable?
2. Has God made her rich?
3. Has God married her?
4. What, reasonably, are her obligations to God?
5. Tell me what God is teaching us a through this
terrible and ridiculous story about marriage?
(First, God is talking about Israel, but I
think it relates to God’s people of all times.
Second, the point for our purposes is that by
having a “marriage” relationship with us, God
has opened Himself up to all sorts of grief
when we are unfaithful.)
III. A Practical Example
A. Read Genesis 24:1-4. Why do you think it was
important to Abraham to have his son married to
someone from his “kindred?”
B. Read Genesis 24:5-6. What is the second obligation
of the servant, Eliezer? (Not to leave Isaac with
the girl’s family.)
C. Read Genesis 24:7-8. Does this give us a hint as
to why Abraham did not want his son to marry a
Canaanite or have his son stay with his new wife?
(The plan was that Abraham’s descendants would
throw the Canaanites off the land. The potential
problem with marrying a Canaanite was obvious.
Isaac could not stay with his “kindred” because he
was a key part of the family movement to live in
Canaan.)
1. Is there a lesson today for the marriage of
our children? (We don’t want our children to
marry pagans because the goal is to avoid them
and our grandchildren becoming pagans.)
D. Read Genesis 24:10-14. What is key to Eliezer’s
success? (Prayer! We must pray for the future
spouses of our children. We must teach them to
pray for guidance to the right spouse.)
E. Read Genesis 24:15-19. Why do you think Eliezer
proposed as the test whether the potential wife
was hard-working? (It would tend to show that she
was considerate, not selfish, and not lazy.)
1. Should a person marry a lazy spouse? (In my
observation marriages are in deep trouble when
one spouse complains that he or she does all
the work.)
F. Rebekah invites Eliezer to her home, Eliezer
recites the entire story to Rebekah’s father and
brother, and they agree to have Rebekah leave to
marry the son of Abraham. Read Genesis 24:57-58.
Why would Eliezer agree that Rebekah should make
the decision? (This shows that in the little time
Eliezer had spent with Rebekah he had gained
confidence in her.)
G. Consider the background. Read Genesis 24:54 57. Is
Rebekah given the final word on the marriage? (No.
Just the issue of whether she will have ten days
to say goodbye to her family.)
1. Notice that it is the mother and brother who
seem to be negotiating the marriage contract.
Any idea why? (The Bible Knowledge Commentary
reports that in that society a woman’s brother
gave his sister in marriage.)
H. Read Genesis 24:59-61. What kind of blessing is
this? Do you think this was the typical send-off
for a bride? (John MacArthur calls this a
“conventional prayer,” but it sounds to me like
Eliezer explained the promises made to Abraham
about his descendants.)
IV. Choose Wisely
A. Read Revelation 17:4-5. What we have studied so
far is the ideal “marriage” between humans and
God. And we have studied the opposite, that humans
who had a relationship with God became
prostitutes, rather than faithful spouses. What
does this “mother of prostitutes” seem to be?
(This is the ultimate religious authority that is
opposed to God.)
1. When we read about Israel acting as a
prostitute, rather than a wife, God was
looking for Israel to return to Him. How does
the prostitute of Revelation 17:5-6 differ?
(This is not a power that desires to have a
relationship with God. This is the organized
opposition.)
B. Read Revelation 14:8. This is part of the Three
Angels’ Messages (Revelation 14:6-11). What does
this Babylon religious power do? (It forces sexual
immorality.)
1. Notice that Babylon is referred to as “she”
and verse 8 uses the phrase “made all
nations.” Is this actual force? (Read Jeremiah
51:7. By calling her a woman, referring to
wine, and calling her a prostitute, the
picture is one of allure, rather than absolute
force.)
C. Step back a moment. We cheered God by saying that
He wants to have the most intimate relationship
with us because He compares it to marriage (and to
being our Father). Is Satan looking for an equal
and opposite relationship with us? (No. God sets
the tone by calling us His bride. Turning to Satan
simply means “not God’s bride.”)
D. Read Revelation 21:1-3. We previously discussed
calling a city a bride. We see here that the true
reference is to the people who live in the city.
Does this give us the ultimate picture of our
marriage with Jesus?
E. Read Revelation 21:4-7. What kind of relationship
will this turn out to be? Some marriages are great
and some are terrible. What kind is this?
1. Notice also the reference to God being our
father and we His children.
F. Friend, God desires to have the closest
relationship with you. Will you accept? Will you
remain faithful to the One who saved you and wants
to take you to heaven to be with Him? Why not
accept right now?
V. Next week: The Nations: Part 1.
Copr. 2025, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are
from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing
ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All
rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within
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but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this
link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the
Holy Spirit as you study.
