As old as this book is, it remains timeless as it is a pure reflection of the unexplainable love of God for the world.
Originally, a writer of secular books, Rivers wrote this book after a long hiatus following her submission to Christ. She describes this book as her public declaration to the world of her new status as a believer.
Set in the 1850s Gold Rush in America, Rivers skilfully gives a fictitious representation of the Prophet Hosea who was instructed to marry a prostitute, Gomer as a representation of the relationship between the nation of Israel and God.
Angel, a young girl has known only pain all her life as she is born to a father who never wanted her and leaves her mother because of this. Her mother, in a bid to survive after being turned away by her parents because of her single-motherhood status, turns to prostitution. While she has customers, they are not seen as ‘acceptable company’ for the good people of the town and are passed through scorn and mockery.
Her mother dies when she is eight years old leaving her with her drunk boyfriend who, in desperation, takes her to a rich man whom he thinks is looking for a young girl to adopt. He is killed in front of Angel for talking too much. Angel is defiled by Duke, a man who runs a brothel but is only attracted to little girls. After ten years of torture and full prostitution, Angel escapes to San Francisco to build a new life for herself but falls back to prostitution exchanging Duke for Duchess, a brothel madam who takes her in and makes a highly priced prostitute, constantly guarded.
Michael Hosea is a young farmer who loves the Lord and seeks to do His will always. He is in town one day and sees Angel walking by and at the same time God tells him that is his wife. His excitement soon turns to shock when he discovers she is a prostitute who seems to lack human empathy and emotions. He tries to get her attention but she continually rebuffs him, hurting his pride and in anger, he leaves her alone.
He comes back to town after promptings from the Holy Spirit and finds Angel near to death; he marries her and pays for the Duchess to release her and takes her home to nurse her.
When Angel regains consciousness, she is displeased to know that it is Michael who married her. She attacks him at every point and hides behind a mask of emotional coldness. He perseveres and continues to love her, nursing her back to health. He begins to give her hope that there could be more to life and she escapes back to the brothel to get her money from the Duchess with Michael’s brother-in-law, Paul, who believes that she is a demon who has bewitched him and is delighted to return her to wherever.
In his bitterness, he demands she pay him for the ride and she does so with the only currency she has – her body. She discovers that the brothel has been burnt down and the Duchess gone. In despair she goes back to prostitution to survive but is rescued by Michael who fights their way out of the salon. She is shocked to discover that he would not condemn her and still loves her. His actions cause her heart to soften and she finds herself feeling emotions towards him.
They meet a family, the Altmans and despite Angel’s revelation to mother and daughter, Elizabeth and Miriam that she was a former prostitute, they love her and show her compassion. They continue to force Angel to open up and soon she finds herself loving so many people at the same time. Unable to deal with these alien feelings she runs away again to escape these emotions and once again is brought home by Michael. She soon settles down and falls deeply in love with Michael but has to endure the hate and disgust from Paul. Despite her overwhelming love for Michael and the Altmans, she continues to feel unworthy and because of past experiences, she rejects God also. Due to some events in her past, she is unable to have children and fixes it in her head that perhaps Miriam is better suited for Michael. She leaves Michael again in an act of sacrificial love.
After leaving Michael, Angel faces her past and reaches the end of her rope and cries to God. He divinely intervenes and leads her to a godly family who adopts her and there she finally accepts Christ. She opens a reformation centre for reformed prostitutes and settles into her new life. A visit from Paul shakes her up and he informs her that Michael is still waiting for her. She decides to go back but is unsure if Michael’s enduring love has run out. He welcomes her with open arms and finally, the walls between them are torn down and they live in their mutual love with Christ.
The striking thing about this book is not the romantic story but the underlying message that Christ has loved us with an everlasting love. It is worthy to note that if a man could love Angel unconditionally despite her many transgressions, how much more God who is perfect? It is also profound that because of Michael’s love and patience towards Angel she was inadvertently drawn towards the love of God as she had seen Jesus in Michael and so we wonder how many people have seen Jesus in us. Or do we play the role of the accuser who seeks to erode the self-worth of a sinner and speaks condemnation instead of redemption?
It is written in the book of Ephesians that we might understand and grasp the full immensity of the depth, height, width, length and breadth of God’s love. To think that our Saviour loves us so much as to die for us and stays patiently calling us to Himself, offering the precious gift of redemption and freedom. Although, some never heed the call of our Redeemer, sadly, still Jesus has loved us with an everlasting love. This book, Redeeming Love, comes highly recommended to remind us of the never-ending love of the Father.