I’m amazed by Jeremiah 31:4.
Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
I’m shocked by the name the Lord gives to apostate Israel. He calls her virgin. This is the same Israel of whom God said:
For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bounds; but you said, I will not serve.’ Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore.”
I’ve seen my fair share of people who have went from a passion for purity into absolute rebellion and debauchery. To put it bluntly they’ve went from virgin to “under every green tree”. But the order is reversed in Jeremiah. From whore to virgin.
And that’s phenomenal.
It shows the wonderful redemption that God brings about. He truly does give us a new name and a new identity. We’ve stained ourselves. We’ve “played the whore”, but when Jesus shows up everything changes. We are cleaned in such a way that God no longer looks upon our stain. Instead he sees the finished work of Jesus. And he can call us “virgin”.
The spotless Bride of Jesus isn’t a mere fiction.
Let us live in light of our new name.
