You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; But you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; For the LORD delights in you, And your land shall be married.
Isaiah 62:4
When God changes the name of a person or a place, He always gives a promise to go along with it. When Isaiah was giving this prophecy, Israel had turned away from worshipping Him, to the worship of many false gods. As a consequence, the land had been invaded by the Assyrians and huge numbers of Israelites had been deported. The land was lying desolate and forsaken.
Yet, into this tragic situation, God in His steadfast love and everlasting mercy makes this pronouncement, “you shall be called Hephzibah and Beulah”. Hephzibah means “My delight is in Her” and gives the idea of God’s loving care and protection. Beulah means married.
Israel had forsaken God. Like an adulterous wife she had left the husband of her youth and gone off with a false god who promised much, but gave no lasting hope or joy. Israel believed the false promise of the freedom to do what pleased their own selves, rather than what God had ordained. Instead of freedom, they found bondage and slavery. They lost their homes, their land, some of them lost their lives, but most importantly they had lost their God; the one who had delivered them over and over again, who had blessed them and kept His promises to their forefathers in giving them a land of their own. If they continued in their love and devotion to Him, they would live in the land of abundant blessing. But they didn’t. When the supposed freedom of following other gods tempted them, they turned from God. But the promised freedom led to bondage, depression and despair.
But God’s love and His purposes for His people never changed. He is the Immutable (unchanging) God. He proclaimed through Isaiah that Israel was His delight and that she would be married to Him. The wife who abandoned her husband would be received again with open arms, love and delight when she returned to her beloved.
For Christians, the promise is the same. When we repent and turn to Jesus for salvation, we become the bride of Christ. There are many, many times, that we sin, and there are so many biographies of men and woman who turned away from God and embraced other beliefs and lifestyles that they thought were more appealing. Yet, when they came to their senses and realised what they had lost, they returned to the open arms of their Saviour.
If you have been bewitched by another love, enticed to follow something that seems better or more freeing, return to the true lover of your soul. Jesus offers the only Way, the only Truth and the only Life that leads to an eternity in a new world where there will be no more pain, suffering or death. There will be no confusion. There will be no turmoil. We will see Him clearly and experience a love that we cannot know here on earth. He’s given us a taste, a spoonful of His affection here. We will be fully satisfied when we are with Him forever.
