Cords - Compare & Contrast

Dear Jesus - Thank You for Your cords of love...

So one day in March, I'm reading Isaiah chapter 5.  And I come upon verse 18 and the word 'cord' strikes a bell in my mind...  Doesn't Jesus say He's drawn us with cords of love somewhere?  So a couple of days later I get a moment and I check it out...

Isaiah 5:18-19 (NASB)

Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood,

And sin as if with cart ropes;

Who say, “Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it; 

And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near 

And come to pass, that we may know it!”

This is not a pretty picture.  In fact, the word 'drag' is full of meaning:  march, trail, drag along, lead off.  And 'cart ropes' - wagon chains - indicate nearly unbreakable bondage...  This set of verses is actually set in the chapters of Isaiah discussing impending fall of Israel and Samaria and the eventual capture and bondage of Jerusalem.  It is all pretty bleak.

However, praise the Lord we can contrast it with a passage in Hosea to get a more well-rounded view of the heart of God...

Hosea 11:3-4 (NASB)

Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, 

I took them in My arms; 

But they did not know that I healed them.

I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, 

And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; 

And I bent down and fed them.

Now - in this section - do a study yourself on the words 'of a man'.  Go ahead - click on the link.  Did it BLOW YOU AWAY?!!!!  Jesus is speaking here and He says - 

I (Jesus) 

led (I was the leader, I led the way)

them with cords - this is TOTALLY DIFFERENT!  Check it out here.

of a man!!!!!

Hallelujah!  Jesus is OURS!!!!!  Thank You Jesus!!!!!