Marriage and Divorce in the New Testament, Part X: Christ and His Bride

One of the many reasons people give when they wish to divorce a spouse is that God divorced His people, so it must be acceptable for us to do it as well. Leaving aside the fact that God also kills His people, starves them, has their children dashed against rocks, etc., and the fact that what God may do both literally and metaphorically has no bearing on what His people are to do, we'll press on to another question, which is, "Does God, in fact, ever divorce His people?"

Some might say, "Yes," to this question, and cite the times that God actually says that He gave a certificate of divorce to Israel (Isa 50:1; Jer 3:6-13). The problem with this understanding is that God's "divorce" of His people actually isn't a permanent divorce. It functions instead more like a rebuke in order to get Israel to return to Him. If you look at each passage, God continually calls Israel back to Him, along with giving numerous promises of restoration when they return. This is more of a temporary separation than a divorce.

For instance, in Isaiah 50, the passage implies that when the transgressions against YHWH cease, the divorce certificate, which apparently is nowhere to be found, will be invalidated. In Jeremiah, God continually states that His people are to return to Him, even after the divorce.

So said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, “Improve your ways and your deeds, I then will allow you to dwell in this place. Do not rely on false words, saying, ‘The Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord are they.’ If you improve your ways and your deeds, if you perform judgment between one man and his fellow man, you do not oppress the stranger, an orphan, or a widow, and you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not follow other gods for your detriment. I will then allow you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave your forefathers from days of yore to eternity. . . So says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings upon your sacrifices and eat flesh; for neither did I speak with your forefathers nor did I command them on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning a burnt offering or a sacrifice. This thing did I command them saying, ‘Listen to Me so that I am your God and you are My people, you walk in all the ways that I command you…'” (Jeremiah 7:3-7, 21-23)

It's clear, however, that this is not to be understood as a blueprint for God's people in their marriages. In Jeremiah 3:1, God states clearly that this analogy is only an analogy, not something comparable to a real divorce.

They say, “If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, may he return to her again?” Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; “Yet return to Me,” says the Lord.

Likewise, one must note that this is covenant language applied to marriage, but upon repentance, there is an acceptance back into the covenant. God waits for His people, calls them to reenter the covenant, and then receives them back into the covenant. If there was any analogy between an individual's divorce, it would be that he or she should wait patiently, call his or her partner back to the covenant of marriage, and receive his or her spouse back again, as God does.

But very few people follow this because they only want the analogy to work superficially, and only one way in favor of divorce. 

Another consideration is that God actually never divorces His people. He divorces the nation, but those who belong to Him always belong to Him. Anyone who is "divorced" ironically was never really "married" to Him in the first place. When individuals worship other gods and shed innocent blood, they break the suzerain agreement made between God and His people, thus declaring by their actions that they do not wish to be in covenant with God, and hence, never really were. Hence, God keeps His remnant, and all Israel, all true Israel, will be saved (Rom 11:1-8).

So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!” But what was the divine response to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand people who have not bent the knee to Baal.” (vv. 1-4)

The so-called "divorce" is always an act of discipline and a weeding out false Israel. True Israel, the remnant, His actual people, are never abandoned.

Hence, God corrects this thinking by stating:

‘The defenders of the city will go out and fight with the Babylonians. But they will only fill those houses and buildings with the dead bodies of the people that I will kill in my anger and my wrath. That will happen because I have decided to turn my back on this city on account of the wicked things they have done. But I will most surely heal the wounds of this city and restore it and its people to health. I will show them abundant peace and security. I will restore Judah and Israel and will rebuild them as they were in days of old. I will purify them from all the sin that they committed against me. I will forgive all their sins which they committed in rebelling against me. All the nations will hear about all the good things which I will do to them. This city will bring me fame, honor, and praise before them for the joy that I bring it. The nations will tremble in awe at all the peace and prosperity that I will provide for it.’ ^{. . . (}“You have surely noticed what these people are saying, haven’t you? They are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two families of Israel and Judah that he chose.’ So they have little regard that my people will ever again be a nation. But I, the Lord, make the following promise: I have made a covenant governing the coming of day and night. I have established the fixed laws governing heaven and earth. Just as surely as I have done this, so surely will I never reject the descendants of Jacob. Nor will I ever refuse to choose one of my servant David’s descendants to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed, I will restore them and show mercy to them.” (33:5-9, 24-26)

Complete restoration is promised. Ergo, this is a temporary disciplinary measure, not a permanent abandonment. It functions more like separation with the full intent and vow to reunite. 

The Gentiles have even been grafted into the tree of Israel, so that they, who are circumcised of heart, make up Israel. Hence, as Paul says, "all Israel will be saved" (Rom 11:26).

This brings us to the analogy that the Church, the Israel of God, is the Bride of Christ in the covenant of an individual believer's marriage. The man is a picture of Christ and the woman is a picture of the church. Should Christ ever abandon His Church? Should the Church of Christ, His own body, abandon its head? What a warped and blasphemous picture divorcing a spouse and marrying another presents. It is a false Christ that abandons His Bride. It is a false bride, a whore, the apostate church, that abandons her husband for another. Divorce and remarriage spits in the face of Christ and His beautiful work. It claims Christ with the lips but with their actions they deny Him.

Hence, the only real analogy that one would have to make with the "God divorces Israel" mantra is that full restoration needs to be sought with the absolute promise that the marriage will be restored upon repentance. Otherwise, one must simply stop using this metaphorically language as though it was God's blueprint for marriage and divorce, which of course, it isn't.

"I will never leave you or forsake you." (Heb 13:5)