The Original Cinderella Story
John Pollock
March 5, 2016
We’re going to begin today’s sermon by reading the childhood story of Cinderella. It’s a
familiar story. It was originally published by Charles Perrault in 1697, some 319 years
ago.
Today I’ll be reading from the Walt Disney version from Disney.com/Cinderella story.
Once upon a time, there was a kind girl named Cinderella. All of the animals
loved her, especially two mice named Gus and Jaq. They'd do anything for the
girl they called Cinderelly. Cinderella lived with her stepmother and her two
stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella. They were very mean to Cinderella, making
her work all day cleaning, sewing, and cooking. She tried her best to make them
happy. Cinderella's stepmother, Lady Tremaine, was cold, cruel, and jealous of
Cinderella’s charm and beauty. She enjoyed giving Cinderella extra chores to
do, such as bathing her cat, Lucifer. One day, a messenger arrived with a
special invitation. There was going to be a royal ball at the palace! The King
wanted his son to find a bride. Every young woman in the kingdom was invited—
including Cinderella! Cinderella was very excited about the ball. In the attic, she
found a dress that had belonged to her mother. It was a bit old-fashioned, but
Cinderella could make it beautiful! Lady Tremaine didn't want Cinderella to go to
the ball. She wanted the Prince to meet Anastasia and Drizella. Maybe he would
marry one of them! Lady Tremaine kept Cinderella busy with chores that would
take her all night to finish. While Cinderella was working, the mice and birds
fixed her dress. They added ribbons and beads that the two stepsisters had
thrown away. Working together, the animals turned a simple dress into a
fabulous gown! Cinderella was overjoyed when she saw the dress. Now she
could go to the ball! "Oh, thank you so much!" Cinderella said to Gus, Jaq, and
the birds. When the stepsisters saw their old ribbons and beads on Cinderella's
dress, they flew into a rage. They ripped the dress and pulled off the beads. Lady
Tremaine didn't stop them. Cinderella's dream of going to the ball was through.
Cinderella ran away to the garden to cry. Suddenly, her fairy godmother
appeared. With a wave of her wand, she turned a pumpkin into an elegant coach.
Cinderella could now go to the ball, but her dress was still ruined. "Bibbidibobbidi-boo!" said the Fairy Godmother, waving her wand again. Cinderella was
now wearing a beautiful gown and sparkling glass slippers. But all of this came
with a warning: When the clock struck midnight, the magic spell would wear off!
At the ball, Prince Charming couldn't take his eyes off Cinderella. The orchestra
played, and the Prince began to dance with the wonderful girl whose name he
still didn't know. For Cinderella, the night was a dream come true. Before too
long, the clock began to strike midnight. "Good-bye!" Cinderella said, hurrying
away. "Come back!" called the Prince. "I don't even know your name!" As
Cinderella fled, one of her glass slippers came off. The Prince sent the Grand
Duke to find the girl who fit the glass slipper. Lady Tremaine locked Cinderella in
the attic, but Cinderella's mouse friends freed her. Then Lady Tremaine tripped
the Grand Duke, and the glass slipper shattered . . . but Cinderella had the other
in her pocket. And it fit! Cinderella and the Prince were soon married. Everyone
rejoiced, including Cinderella's mouse friends, who wore special outfits to the
wedding. Filled with joy, Prince Charming and Cinderella lived happily ever after.”
The end.
Yes, Cinderella is a fairytale. It is a childhood story of a prince seeking a bride.
However, do you know there is a Cinderella story in God’s word, the original Cinderella
story? This is not a fairytale. In this story, there’s no need of a fairy with a magic wand.
Yet it is a story of a prince and his quest for a bride.
Let’s begin first by identifying this prince who is seeking His bride. Turn to the New
Testament please, to Acts, chapter 5. Once again, what we’re doing in this sermon is to
identify who this prince is that seeks a bride.
Acts 5:30. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by
hanging on a tree.
31) Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give
repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
I want each of us to note the use of the name Israel here. We will come to understand
the significance as we move through this message. We find here that Jesus Christ is
referred to as a prince. In addition, and mentioned a moment ago, note here that Christ
is the Prince and Savior of Israel. The church, the greater Church of God, made up of
those with God’s spirit, is spiritual Israel and Christ is the Prince of spiritual Israel. That
is very important to understand.
Once again, I want to bring it to your attention as we move through this message. With
that in mind, move back a couple of chapters to Acts, chapter 3.
Acts 3:13. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers,
glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence
of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.
14) But you denied the Holy One and the Just [Christ], and asked for a murderer
[Barabbas] to be granted to you, (NKJV)
Verse 15 is the key verse here,
15) and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are
witnesses. (NKJV)
We find here that Jesus Christ is referred again to as a Prince. In this particular
scripture, He is referred to as the Prince of Life.
An Old Testament reference of Jesus Christ as the Prince can be found in Isaiah,
chapter 9. The following verse is common, at least in North America and Europe during
the month of December. The churches and organizations of this world seem to throw
this verse out during that particular time.
Isaiah 9:6. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the
government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (NKJV)
The word “peace” in verse 6 is Strong’s No. 7965, transliterated as “shalom.” Brown,
Driver, Briggs has the following definition: Completeness, safety, soundness, welfare,
health, prosperity, peace, quiet, tranquility and contentment. These are extremely
important as we go further into this particular message. With this expanded
understanding of the word “peace,” I’m going to read verse 6 once again, this time from
The Message – The Bible in Contemporary Language:
Isaiah 9:6. For a child has been born—for us! He gift of a son—for us! He’ll take
over the running of the world. His names will be: Amazing Counselor, Strong
God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness. (MSG)
Prince of Wholeness as in completeness, as in soundness, as in welfare which are all
Brown, Driver, Briggs definitions that we just reviewed. Our last reference to Christ as
Prince can be found in Revelation 1:5.
Revelation 1:5. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first
begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved
us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, (KJV)
The Darby Bible, the Douay Rheims Bible and Noah Webster’s 1833 Bible all use
“Prince of the kings of the earth.”
So we’ve seen so far that the Prince that we will refer to as we move through this
message is none other than Jesus Christ.
With this established, that Christ is the Prince, let’s reference a couple of scriptures that
gives us an overview on how the Prince goes about selecting His bride, His Cinderella,
if you would.
Please turn to Ezekiel 34. I will read from the NIV. How does the Prince select His
bride, His Cinderella?
Ezekiel 34:15. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the
Sovereign LORD.
16) I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured
and strengthen the weak … (NIV)
The New Living Translation reads as follows:
Ezekiel 34:15. I myself will tend my sheep and give them a place to lie down in
peace, says the Sovereign LORD.
16) I will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely
home again. I will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak…(NLT)
We see in verse 15, the Good Shepherd, Christ Himself, the Prince will give peace to
those He searches for, His sheep, His bride, His Cinderella. This Prince selects His
Cinderella by searching.
With this in mind, please turn to Luke, chapter 19.
Luke 19:10. for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was
lost.” (NKJV)
Regarding this word “lost” in verse 10, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of the New
Testament states: “Lost is specific to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
The church today, the spiritual body of Christ, is spiritual Israel. We find here that the
Son of Man, Jesus Christ, the Prince seeks His bride. He seeks His Cinderella.
We’ve now identified the Prince. We have seen how the Prince searches for His bride,
how He seeks out a wife, His Cinderella.
Now let’s turn to the original story and from God’s perspective, identify just who this
Cinderella is from birthright through adulthood and right on to becoming the bride of the
Prince.
Turn please to Ezekiel, chapter 16. The birth of this Cinderella, this child, this bride to
be, began under some very difficult circumstances, entirely different from the normal
births of her day and time.
Ezekiel 16:4. On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your umbilical
cord was not cut, and you were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in
cloth.
5) No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On
the day you were born, you were unwanted, dumped in a field and left to die.
(NLT)
What we have here, brethren, is a vivid and heart breaking scene. A newborn child is
born in a field, left to suffer from the harsh elements. The child is left in a field to face
hypothermia, to face starvation, left in a field to ultimately face death. This infant is
naked, left with the umbilical cord still intact to the placenta that no longer supports life.
This child has no clothing, only dried blood mixed with dirt covers her skin.
From verse 2, we find that this infant is a baby girl named Jerusalem. From Brown,
Driver, Briggs we find that her name means teacher of peace. Question: Could this
teacher of peace, Jerusalem, be destined to marry the Prince of Peace? We will see
that as we move forward.
In this particular description that we are reading, there is no peace found in this field of
Ezekiel 16, only a battle of survival on the part of a small innocent baby girl. Yet, we
find another character, another individual walking in the field. Let’s pick up the story in
verse 6.
Ezekiel 16:6. “And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own
blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’
(NKJV)
I want us to try to picture and grasp what is transpiring here. This little infant girl is at
the mercy of the elements. She is soon to face death. This scene is hopeless. This
individual passes by, stoops over so close to the child, looks her in the eye and sees
helplessness. In a moment without further hesitation, He lifts her to His arms and
commands her to live. I find the wording here to be so meaningful. This one who
passes by does not just yell out the word “live,” but He commands, “In your blood, live!”
Turn please to Leviticus, chapter 17. Regarding this one who passes by, not just yelling
out the word as He hugs this infant, not just commanding her to live, but the statement
reads, “In your blood, live!”
Leviticus 17:10. ‘And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers
who dwell among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person
who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
11) For the life of the flesh is in the blood …
…
13) “Whatever man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among
you, who hunts and catches any animal or bird that may be eaten, he shall pour
out its blood and cover it with dust;
14) for it [the blood] is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life. Therefore, I
said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life
of all flesh is its blood… (NKJV)
Question: Could there be a tie between these verses here in Leviticus and the
statement in Ezekiel as to why this one who passes by commanded: “In your blood,
live!” It’s just a thought on my part.
Ezekiel 16:6. “And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own
blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’
(NKJV)
This verse has a very personal meaning for me. In May of 1972, my second son, Scott,
was born. It was a home birth with church member midwives present, along with a
practicing physician who, at the time, assisted in home births. My wife’s labor was a
very long process, and as she was birthing, Scott’s head appeared, his shoulders
rotated as they should. But at that moment, no matter how hard she pushed, the
process of birth, the process of life came to a standstill. The doctor and midwives
encouraged my wife to continue to push, but she was totally exhausted. Scott’s color
began to turn from a rosy red to a bluish tint. I began to see anxiety in the eyes of the
doctor as well as those of the midwives. When all of a sudden one of the midwives, in a
last attempt to aid in the birth, pushed down on my wife’s upper abdomen and out
popped Scott.
At that moment, everyone was elated. However, then the doctor could not get Scott to
breathe. He was using some sort of flexible tube to clear his mouth and nose, yet Scott
would not take that first breath. The doctor did everything from slapping his little buns to
slapping his back. Nothing was working. Scott’s bluish tint was turning to a deeper
blue, and it was at that moment, and I believe a direct command from God to me, I
yelled at the top of my voice, “Scott! Breathe!” In a split second, Scott took his first
breath. He started crying at the top of his lungs and was given to my wife to nurse.
Additional tests were run at that time and later. No damage was found. Today Scott is
a healthy, soon to be 44-year old and the father of two of our eight grandchildren.
Due to this experience of Scott’s birth, to a small degree, I think I have a good
understanding of what the following words really mean … “Yes, I said to you in your
blood, live!”
Ezekiel 16:7. I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew and developed
and entered puberty. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, yet you
were stark naked. (NIV)
Brethren, due to the contents here in verse 7, we can make some assumptions on the
events that most likely occurred leading up to what we just read. This person who was
just passing by, by this time, has tied off the umbilical cord. We can assume that the
one who passed by, has removed His own cloak and wrapped the infant girl in it. He
has returned to His own residence. We can assume that the infant has been bathed
and rubbed with salt. We can assume that the infant girl is then nourished and nurtured
by one of the servants of His household.
In this particular environment, the infant girl grows strong and becomes healthy. On
several occasions, as she matures, she is told by the servants that the one who passed
by and found her, took her to His own and made her His own. We can assume that He
visits her frequently and is always in the background, meeting her every need.
We find that due to His involvement in her life, from having found her as a naked infant,
she has now grown to be a beautiful young adult. Moving on to verse 8, we find that
time has passed.
8) “When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the
time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I
swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became
Mine,” says the Lord GOD. (NKJV)
Verse 8 tells us who the passerby is. It’s none other than the Lord God, the God of the
Old Testament, Jesus Christ, the Prince. We also find that, for the second time, He
covers her nakedness, not to warm and comfort her body as when she was an infant,
but this time as a covenant of marriage, for you see the Prince has found His bride.
Please turn to the book of Ruth. We are all familiar with this story.
Ruth 3:1. Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not
seek security for you, that it may be well with you?
2) Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our relative? In fact,
he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.
3) Therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go
down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he
has finished eating and drinking.
4) Then it shall be, when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he
lies; and you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down; and he will tell you what
you should do.”
5) And she said to her, “All that you say to me I will do.”
6) So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her
mother-in-law instructed her.
7) And after Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was cheerful, he went to lie
down at the end of the heap of grain; and she came softly, uncovered his feet,
and lay down.
8) Now it happened at midnight that the man was startled, and turned himself;
and there, a woman was lying at his feet.
9) And he said, “Who are you?” So she answered, “I am Ruth, your maidservant.
Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative.” (NKJV)
The King James version reads:
9) And he said, who are you? And she answered, I am Ruth your handmaid:
spread therefore your skirt over your handmaid; for you are a near kinsman.
(KJV)
In chapter 3 we find verbiage that is very close to what we found in Ezekiel 16:8. Adam
Clarke’s Commentary has this to say about Ruth 3:9:
Spread therefore your skirt over your hand maiden - Hebrew: spread your wing.
The wing is the emblem of protection and is a metaphor taken from the young of
the fowls, which run under the wings of their mother that they may be safe from
birds of prey.
The meaning here: ‘Take me to you for wife’; the Targum has translated it … ‘Let
my name be called on your handmaiden and take me for a wife, for you are a
redeemer, the kinsman, to whom the right of redemption belongs.’
Even to the present day, when a Jew marries a woman, he throws a skirt or the
end of the tail over her to signify that he has taken her under his protection.
In reference to Ruth 3:9, Jamison, Fausset & Brown Commentary states the following:
Spread therefore your skirt over your handmaid, for you are a near kinsman.
She had already drawn part of the mantel over her, and she asks him now to do
it, that the act might become his own. To spread a skirt over one is, in the east, a
symbolic action of denoting protection. To this day in many parts of the east, to
say of anyone that puts his skirt over a woman is synonymous with saying that
he married her. Marriage ceremonies of modern Jews as well as Hindus, one
part of the ceremony is for the bridegroom to put a silken or cotton cloak around
his bride.
Matthew Henry’s Commentary regarding Ruth 3:9 says this:
With Ruth’s good assurance in the management of her affair, she observed her
mother’s orders, went and laid herself down, not by his side, but at his his bed’s
feet in her clothes and kept awake, waiting for an opportunity to tell her errand.
When he awakened in the night and perceived there to be somebody at his feet
and inquired who it was, she told him of her name and then of her errand, that
she came to put herself under his protection as a person appointed by the divine
law to be her protector.
Turn back to Ezekiel 16:8. I will now read it from the NLT.
Ezekiel 16:8. And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for
love. So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared
my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign LORD, and
you became mine. (NLT)
We find here that the infant girl is now an adult woman, and through this Prince’s action
of wrapping His cloak around her, she understands that He is betrothing Himself to her.
9) “Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into
your skin.
10) I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered,
and sandals made of fine goatskin leather. (NLT)
We can assume, since this is a Prince, that the embroidered clothing was the finest to
be found, as fine as Cinderella’s ball gown. The sandals were as fine as the glass
slippers worn by Cinderella.
11) I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on
your neck.
12) And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on
your head. (NKJV)
As beautiful as the tiara of Walt Disney’s Cinderella was, this crown, I’m sure, is much
more magnificent.
13) Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine
linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You
were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty.
14) Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for
it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the
Lord GOD. (NKJV)
This small discarded infant child has now grown to be this beautiful, fully blossomed
woman. Yes, she possessed a beauty of her own, but this wonderful Prince magnified
her beauty by adding what we might refer to as splendor.
Ezekiel 16:1-14 is a Cinderella story, but a Cinderella story with much deeper meaning.
You see, this is a story of Jerusalem as you can read in verse 2. This story is an
allegory. An allegory is a story, a poem or a picture that can be interpreted to reveal a
hidden meaning.
The following is a quote from a book titled Kissed the Girls and Made Them Cry
authored by Lisa Bevery. In chapter 6, page 69, Ms. Bevery writes and I quote:
This is a story of a much deeper magnitude. There are no dead parents (In the
original story of Cinderella it states that her parents are dead) just those who
didn’t care enough to stay. No evil stepmother tolerates this daughter of ashes,
for she was not left by a warm fire. There’s no fairy godmother to give her beauty
enough to attract a prince. She, our Cinderella, this Jerusalem, is discovered
nameless and in a most helpless state, and she is loved before there was ever a
reason. There is no midnight deadline, but a never-ending covenant. Instead of
fragile glass slippers, there is splendor. Garments of white cast aside any
question of who she belongs to.
For the remainder of this sermon, I want to key in on one extremely important sentence
from Lisa Bevery’s quote. The sentence reads, “There is no midnight deadline, but a
never-ending covenant.” Ezekiel 16 is a story about Jerusalem, about Israel of the Old
Testament. It’s a story about spiritual Israel, the church. Brethren, it’s a story about you
and I. It’s the original Cinderella story.
Consider the following. The nation of Israel began as a newly-born infant, cast into a
field and left to die. Israel was a nation of slaves. Pharaoh sent out a decree to have all
the male infants put to death. If this was allowed, then the nation of Israel, this newborn infant would have died. The nation would have died. Without the intervention of
the God of the Old Testament, the Prince who became Jesus Christ, without His direct
involvement, the nation would have died in its own blood, in the very field where it was
born, that field being the slavery of Egypt.
As the infant girl of our Cinderella story grew and matured, so did the nation of Israel. It
grew in numbers. Just as the prince of our story spread a garment over the mature
woman, depicting the desire for a covenant of marriage, Israel too entered into a
marriage covenant with God as they were coming out of slavery, as they were coming
out of Egypt. That covenant, of course, took place at Mount Sinai. God wrapped her in
fine linen, adorned her in jewelry and placed a beautiful crown on her head. The fine
linen can be analogous to God’s righteous law. It was fitting for Israel to be clothed in
this attire, as she was to become a nation of priests.
Please turn to the book of Exodus.
Exodus 19:1. In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the
land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai.
2) For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the Wilderness of Sinai,
and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before the mountain.
3) And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain,
saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:
4) ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’
wings and brought you to Myself.
5) Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then
you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.
6) And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the
words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” (NKJV)
We find here a covenant and a promise as to a kingdom of priests, a special treasure
above all peoples of all nations. The wording, “special treasure” in verse 5, (translated
as “peculiar treasure” in the King James Version). This is Strong’s No. 5459,
transliterated as “cegullah.” Vine’s Expository Dictionary of the Bible of Biblical Words
states: cegullah signifies property in the special sense of a private possession one
personally acquired and carefully preserves. Six times this word is used of Israel as
God’s personal requirement, elected, delivered from Egyptian bondage and formed into
what He wanted them to be, a carefully preserved and privately possessed people.
Let’s turn again to Ezekiel 16 and reread verses 6 through 8 regarding statements made
by the Prince to His Cinderella.
Ezekiel 16:6. “But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your
own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’
7) And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a
beautiful jewel. Your breasts became full, and your body hair grew, but you were
still naked.
8) And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for love. So I
wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared my
marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign LORD, and you
became mine. (NLT)
We might state here that this ends our story of Cinderella and that she lives happily ever
after. Well, in the very end, Israel does, in fact, live happily ever after, but something
drastic happens prior to that event. Something goes terribly wrong.
Please turn to Hosea, chapter 2. I’ll read from the New Living Translation. Our story
could certainly end here, but something goes terribly wrong.
Hosea 2:2. “But now bring charges against Israel—your mother— for she is no
longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband … (NLT)
We need to stop and ask a question. How can this be? Up to this point, we’ve seen so
much care and concern on the part of the Prince toward His future bride, His future wife,
His Cinderella. Now we read of divorce?
2b) …Tell her to remove the prostitute’s makeup from her face
and the clothing that exposes her breasts. (NLT)
We need to stop and ask again, what has happened to Cinderella? Now she’s a
prostitute?
3) Otherwise, I will strip her as naked as she was on the day she was born. I will
leave her to die of thirst, as in a dry and barren wilderness. (NLT)
Brethren, would it have been better for the passerby of Ezekiel 16 to have left this infant
girl to die in the field, for she now is being accused of prostitution?
4) And I will not love her children, for they were conceived in prostitution.
5) Their mother is a shameless prostitute and became pregnant in a shameful
way. She said, ‘I’ll run after other lovers and sell myself to them for food and
water, for clothing of wool and linen, and for olive oil and drinks.’
6) “For this reason I will fence her in with thorn bushes. I will block her path with
a wall to make her lose her way. (NLT)
Is this wife destined to return to the harsh life she once experienced as a slave in
Egypt? Is she to go back to the Cinderella type of life under the harshness and cruelty
of her stepmother, a type of Pharaoh?
7) When she runs after her lovers, she won’t be able to catch them. She will
search for them but not find them. Then she will think, ‘I might as well return to
my husband, for I was better off with him than I am now.’
8) She doesn’t realize it was I who gave her everything she has— the grain, the
new wine, the olive oil … (NLT)
It was the Prince, brethren, that gave her everything she had.
8b) … I even gave her silver and gold. But she gave all my gifts to Baal.
9) “But now I will take back the ripened grain and new wine I generously provided
each harvest season. I will take away the wool and linen clothing I gave her to
cover her nakedness.
10) I will strip her naked in public, while all her lovers look on. No one will be
able to rescue her from my hands.
11) I will put an end to her annual festivals, her new moon celebrations, and her
Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.
12) I will destroy her grapevines and fig trees, things she claims her lovers gave
her. I will let them grow into tangled thickets, where only wild animals will eat the
fruit.
13) I will punish her for all those times when she burned incense to her images of
Baal, when she put on her earrings and jewels and went out to look for her lovers
but forgot all about me,” says the LORD. (NLT)
What we find here, brethren, are charges against an unfaithful wife, that wife being
Israel, Jerusalem, spiritual Israel, our Cinderella. What went so terribly wrong to bring
these charges, charges such as prostitution, of conceiving children from adulteress
acts? What went so wrong that a loving Prince would state that she is no longer His
wife? What went so wrong that the loving Prince states that He would strip her as
naked as the day He found her? What went so wrong that this Prince would now leave
her to die in the desert?
In part 2 of this two-part sermon, we will unveil and expose in detail the charges against
this unfaithful wife, our Cinderella. Hosea only scratches the surface in the preceding
verses that we just read. We will expose a course of unfaithfulness that was not
pleasing to her Prince.
However, in the end, we will find that Cinderella does, in fact, live happily ever after.
But there is a great deal to her story before that glorious wedding occurs with her
Prince.
The next time I have an opportunity to serve you, we will summarize part 1, and then we
will continue this allegory of Jerusalem, this allegory of the church, of you and I. We will
proceed with the story of the Prince and His bride. We will continue in part 2 of this
sermon titled, The Original Cinderella Story.