The Gospel as Marital Union

Was reading Matthew 1:18-25 this morning and it struck me for the first time ever to see a little shade of the gospel in Joseph's "acceptance" of Mary. Learning she was with child, he was going to divorce her quietly in order to spare her public disgrace. But the angel told him Mary was pregnant with the Christ-child, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and so Joseph gladly took her to himself. Where he saw reason for divorce, he now saw the presence of Christ and pursued oneness.

It's not a perfect analogy (Mary hadn't sinned in this instance, of course), but it just made me think of all the reasons God has to divorce himself from me, from his people. Yet he is appeased by Christ in us, appealed to by the new life the Spirit has conceived in us. And we are approved by God -- perpetually, finally, eternally -- because of Christ in us, the hope of glory. He render us a spotless Bride.

This, from J.C. Ryle:

“Let us take comfort in the thought that the Lord Jesus does not cast off His believing people because of failures and imperfections.

He knows what they are.

He takes them, as the husband takes the wife, with all their blemishes and defects, and, once joined to Him by faith, will never leave them. He is a merciful and compassionate High priest. It is His glory to pass over the transgressions of His people, and to cover their many sins.”

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