The preacher and author from Tennessee began by illustrating God's relationship with His people as a marriage.
"God has always intended for human husbands to actually point us toward our need for our ultimate husband, who is God Himself," she told the crowd who had gathered at the Australian Technology Park, Saturday.
But first, she said, we must see the kind of bride God chooses to love.
Teaching from Hosea, the Old Testament book where prophet Hosea's life was made into a "living drama" of God's "unfailing love for an unfaithful bride", Guthrie revealed that that unfaithful bride was indeed the Israelites.
"When God called them out [of Egypt] and made them His people, He gave them a command...that they would love ONLY Him."
"[But ]when we come to the story.. they are not loving God alone," she said.
Guthrie urged the crowd to examine what the story revealed about their own hearts, explaining that other gods of this era which people deemed relatively insignificant to God, such as financial security or physical appearance, were actually breaking the heart of God.
"In this story it is Gomer the prostitute, not Hosea the prophet, that you and I are meant to identify with."
Ultimately, the purpose is to see God's love in the face of our unfaithfulness, she said.
An unfaithfulness, however, that God would not allow to have the "last word in His marriage."
"Rather than destroy her, He is going to woo her back."
But not without due punishment. "How can He simply overlook what His unfaithful wife has done?" Guthrie asked.
"In His perfect justice punishment will fall...but not on His people."
All the of the judgement described in Hosea is poured out on His own beloved son Jesus, Guthrie lamented.
She concluded by calling on the audience to make, or renew, their vows to God in response to His love.
"It is the Holy Spirit who seals us and bears witness to our spirit that we belong to Christ."
Nancy Guthrie and her husband David, lost two of their three children to Zellweger Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. Together, they co-host the GriefShare video series and host Respite Retreats for couples who have experienced the death of a child. Nancy is also the author of numerous books, including Holding On to Hope: A Pathway of Suffering to the Heart of God and the recently completed five-book Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament Bible study series.
To more about her ministry, visit www.nancyguthrie.com
