God Being Our Husband
The Bible says that God is a Husband to us. As created and redeemed ones, we are a wife to God. There are many husbands and wives among us. The young people among us who are not yet married can see the relationship between a husband and wife from their parents. If we read through the entire Bible, we will see that the Bible begins and ends with life. The second thing spoken of after life is marriage; Adam married Eve. There is also a marriage at the end of the Bible. The Lamb of God marries a wife; that is, Christ marries His redeemed people. There are many places in the Bible that present God as our life. There are also many places that show God as our Husband, and we, the believers, as His wife (Isa. 54:5; 62:5; John 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:2). God’s relationship with us is not only that of being life to man but also that of being a husband to a wife.
Let us consider this matter. A wife depends on her husband for everything. Her supply is from her husband. Her protection is in her husband. Her joy, comfort, and satisfaction are in her husband. We know what a husband is to a wife. There is no language to describe the intimacy, union, and oneness between the two.
When the Lord Jesus came to the earth, His forerunner, John the Baptist, declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). He also introduced Him as the Bridegroom, the One who is coming to take the bride (3:29). Christ is God incarnated in the flesh. He is the Lamb who bears the sin of the world. He is also the Bridegroom who is making us His bride and who is making the two one. According to the Bible, our being joined to the Lord is the same as a wife being joined to her husband. God is our Husband, and we are His wife. He is our satisfaction, and we are His satisfaction. A marriage relationship speaks of enjoyment.
God Being Our Food and Drink
The Bible uses food and drink to speak of the relationship between God and man. Man needs food and drink in order to exist. He needs to eat, and he needs to drink. Every day we depend on these two things. If we do not eat or drink, we will die. The Bible shows that God is our food, and He is our living water. He comes to us to be our bread.
In the Old Testament we see these types. When the children of Israel began their journey through the wilderness, they had no food or drink. Then God performed a miracle and supplied them with food and drink. Their food did not grow out of the ground but came down from heaven. Their drink did not come from wells, which they dug, but from a smitten rock. Those in the Old Testament did not know the significance of this. One day, however, the Lord Jesus came. He was God come in the flesh, God among men. His goal was to be received by man and to become man’s enjoyment. He said that the manna in the Old Testament was only a type and that He was the bread that comes down out of heaven (John 6:48-51). He is the true manna. He can satisfy man’s hunger and fill man from within. The Lord also said that He would be lifted up and that His body would be broken and out of it would flow living water. The living water is the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit enters man, He satisfies man’s thirst and flows out of man as a river of living water to quench the thirst of others (7:37-38). These verses show that as God, Christ becomes man’s enjoyment. He wants to enter into us to be our food and our living water. He wants us to eat Him and drink Him every day.
At the bread-breaking meeting everyone takes a piece of the bread on the table and eats it. Similarly, we take the cup and drink from it. We should have a strong realization of the significance of what we are doing. The Lord said, “Take, eat; this is My body” (Matt. 26:26). Then concerning the cup, He also said, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins” (vv. 27-28). He seemingly was saying, “You must take Me into you as your enjoyment. The real remembrance of Me is the enjoyment of Me. When you allow Me to be your food and your drink, you are remembering Me. I long to enter into you to be everything to you.” The Lord wants to enter into us to be our life. He also wants to be our Husband, our food, and even our drink.