Most of us grew up hearing that God loves us and that Jesus died for our sins. Both of those things are profoundly true. But Dan Murphy would gently suggest that we have been missing the framework that makes those truths even more extraordinary than we realised.
In Episode 4, we explored the concept of the Suzerain Vassal Treaty, an ancient form of covenant between a sovereign ruler and a subordinate party, in which the greater party sets all the terms and the lesser party simply responds. Dan explained that every covenant God has made with humanity operates on this basis. God does not negotiate. He establishes the terms, pays the cost, and then opens the door for anyone who will come.
But here is where it becomes something other than a legal transaction. Because what God is offering in the New Covenant is not merely a set of obligations. It is a marriage proposal.
Jesus came to purchase His bride. He paid the bride price with His own blood. He set the conditions of the covenant Himself and then paid the entire cost of meeting those conditions, so that the door could be opened to anyone who would come. We are not, as Dan puts it, simply signing up to a set of doctrines. We are responding to a proposal. The God of heaven and earth, who humbles Himself even to behold what is in the heavens, has chosen to pursue us.
That idea lands differently when you sit with it. The Creator of galaxies is the one doing the pursuing. We are the ones being asked.
I found myself genuinely moved in this conversation by the image of God as the one initiating. In every human love story worth telling, there is a moment of pursuit. Dan reminded me that the greatest love story ever told begins not with us reaching toward God but with God reaching toward us, at extraordinary cost, and asking: will you be mine?
Have you ever thought of your relationship with God as a response to a proposal rather than a decision you made? What changes when you see it that way?
Watch the full HERE Episode 3 and see the parallels for yourself.
And if you want to go deeper, Dan’s book “God’s 55 Days: The New Blood Covenant Revealed” is available here: God’s 55 Days: The New Blood Covenant Revealed