Come to me

A few days ago I wrote about the Matchbox Twenty / Goo Goo Dolls concert I attended. While the post was about how much I enjoyed finally seeing Matchbox Twenty, at the end I mentioned how one Goo Goo Dolls song, their latest, lingered with me long after the concert. That song was called Come to Me, and to me it's full of meaning. Here is a video of it, complete with lyrics:



What was it about this song? On the surface, it's a just love song. And I certainly believe that was all the writer intended. But it's a love song with themes that strike to heart of unconditional love. Lines like "Come to me with secrets bared, I'll love you more so don't be scared" and "I don't care about where you've been, Don't be sad and don't explain" are full of the kind of love and acceptance we all crave.

In fact, the whole second verse strikes at the heart of what it makes such an awesome song. The object of the writer's affection has been burning photos, trying to erase the past on her own. The song says, you don't need to do that. All you have to do is come to me. "This is where we start again...start again."

And then, "Today's the day I make you mine, get me to the church on time.' A wedding. Marriage. A fresh start with an eternal commitment to love each other forever.
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Yes, I'm sure it was meant as a simple love song. But it dug deep into my soul as I could hear my Redeemer Jesus calling out, "Come to me." All through the Bible, God uses the picture of marriage to demonstrate the relationship of God and his people. For example, in Isaiah 62:5 we see this:

As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

The Song of Solomon is a pretty frank picture of romantic love between a bridegroom and his bride, and most believe it was intended to be a picture of God's love for his people. The whole book of Hosea is a painful lesson where the prophet marries an unfaithful woman and God uses it as an object lesson of what it's like for God when we abandon him for other "lovers." In John 3:29, John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the bridegroom. Paul exhorts husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church.

And topping it off, in case we didn't get it before -  At the very end of the Bible, in Revelation 21:9, one of the angels who is showing John a vision of the end of all things says, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." Of course, the Lamb is "the Lamb who was slain" - Jesus. So he is the bridegroom and we are the bride.
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And so, through this love song, I could hear God's voice calling out to me: Come to me. You are my sweetest friend. I will take you back to where you belong - where you've always belonged. I'll love you more so don't be scared. And more than anything else, this is where we start again...

Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

He who was seated on the throne said, "I making everything new!" (Revelation 21:5)

....start again.