Jesus gave Himself up to make us clean and holy but also that we might become “one flesh.” This is where we get the truth that we were saved for intimacy, for such incredible closeness that the Bible compares it with sexual intimacy (Ephesians 5:32).
So, the order of the gospel goes like this:
Jesus gave Himself up for us.
Jesus sanctified and washed us from our sins, making us holy and without blemish.
Jesus presented us to Himself a radiant bride to become one flesh with and to enjoy incredible intimacy. “…we dwell in Him and He in us” (1 John 4:13).
Consider this: Jesus gave Himself for you when you were a sinner, living in rebellion, staining and muddying yourself in filth. He washed you at the cross, forgiving your every sin, cleansing you from all unrighteousness. The purpose was to take you to be part of His bride, to live in intimate union with you for eternity.
Who does this? Who picks the dirty and filthy? Who chooses the stained and blemished? Jesus does! Like Jacob who chose the “speckled and spotted” sheep (Genesis 30:32), Jesus chooses the weak, lowly, miserable and despised (1 Corinthians 1:28). Then He dies to wash and cleanse us, to sanctify and beautify us. Finally, He takes us to Himself in loving union, making us “one flesh” with Him, and loves us eternally. Oh.What.Grace.
There is a beautiful Old Testament story that illustrates this very thing. Gomer was the wife of Hosea, but she defiled herself in impurity, committing adultery and bringing shame to her husband. She was a picture of the nation of Israel at the time, and of all of us who have sinned in impurity. God told Hosea what to do about his wife, and he responded:
Hosea 3:1-3 (NIV) The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”
Question 3. According to Hosea 3:1, what was Hosea to do with his adulterous wife?
This is one of the most shocking statements in all of the Bible: “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress.” Oh, friend, I want you to experience the grace of God in this statement. I want you to know God’s love for you in it, for He is showing you how He responds to your previous impurity: with love! With a purchase!
Do you see the gospel in this statement? In a sense, God said to His own Son, “Go get your bride back by loving her, even though she has been adulterous.” So Jesus went to the cross and bought you back!