Proving sincerity toward God

 Read Hosea 6.

God's discipline is not designed merely to make us feel bad but to help us turn back to Him.  There we find healing, wholeness, and blessing.

In verses 1 through 3 are words of repentance.
1. "Let us return to the LORD."
The definition of the word repent is to turn.  This is a humble admission that one has been going in the wrong direction.  Notice what God does when a person comes to Him in such a way:
-He may heal us.
-He will bind us up.
-He will revive us.
-He will raise us up.
Why?  So "that we may live before him."

2. "Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD."
The sincerity of true repentance is seen in what happens next.  A heart that desires a relationship with God wants to know Him more.  This is not a class or a church meeting.  Knowing God and the Scriptures become a way of life.  Such a person experiences the trustworthiness of the LORD ("as sure as the dawn") and seeks His blessings on their lives like the "spring rains."

A part of God's indictment against Israel and Judah was that their love for Him proved to be like the morning dew.  It disappeared during the day.  Oh, they went through the motions of required rituals of worship, but as long as they harbored unconfessed sin their sacrifices had no value.  What He desired from them was a consistent, committed, faithful love from them (vv.4-6).  Then, their offerings would demonstrate true worship.

This is not an either or proposition.  The LORD wants both our love and our giving.  Jesus said, "But woe to you, Pharisees!  For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God.  These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others." (Luke 11:42)

 

 

Pain with a Purpose

 Read Hosea 5.

The LORD continued to pre-announce His punishment of the northern kingdom of Israel.  In addition, Judah is mentioned here.  Though all the people stood guilty before Him, God again singled out the priests for their failure to spiritual teach and provide godly leadership for the nation.  Instead, the "revolters" (v.2), led the people deeper and deeper into sin.

Though the people went through the rituals of worshiping the LORD, their lives and practices proved otherwise.  Claiming to know God, they practiced sexual immorality for the fertility deities.  They looked for guidance and celebration in things such as the New Moon.  They were raising a generation of children in spiritual and physical adultery.  God would no longer tolerate such sinful disobedience.

At the initial pain, Israel turned to Assyria for help (v.13).  This wicked and brutal empire was the very instrument God prepared to punish them!  Don't miss the multiple "I will" statements from God in verses 14 and 15.  Though the Assyrians would invade, it was God Himself delivering the judgment blows upon Israel.

What was God's purpose and His desire?
According to verse 15, His discipline of them would one day come to an end.  He removed His presence and His blessings "until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face."  

 

The Apostle Paul wrote, "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret..." (2 Corinthians 7:10a)  Sometimes pain is the only teacher that causes some people to stop what they are doing and listen to the Lord. 

"For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11)

 

What happens when God's word is Ignored?

 Read Hosea 4.

God indicted Israel.  The "controversy" refers to a legal case against them.  The charges included unfaithfulness, lack of love, and "no knowledge of God in the land."  And, that is just the first verse.  In the second verse, He named five of the Ten Commandments that they were violating. 

What was the source of the problem?
The spiritual leaders of the nation were not godly men.  The northern kingdom separated from the south, where Jerusalem and the Temple were located.  As a result, they made up their own religious practices in an effort to mimic what God had ordered.

Priestly responsibilities included leading the people in worship and teaching them God's word.  Instead, the priests of the north had moral problems of their own, "you stumble by day" (v.5a).  The priests shared in the meat, grain, and financial offerings.  Their greed became their shame.  Their reasoning was the more people sinned, the more they personally benefited.  This prompted God's announced punishment (vv.7-9).

Prophets were specially called to deliver targeted messages from God to the people.  But, they too were corrupt, having been bought and paid for by the king and not called by God at all.

Meanwhile, the people suffered.  "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge..." (v.6a)  The nation even began praying to pieces of wood they had carved into idols (v.12).  Without knowing the truth, false religions, drunkenness, and sexual immorality were rampant.

People do not naturally know the truth and how to put it into practice.  They must be taught and learn what God expects of them.  Today, Christians have no excuse.  We have our own copies of the Bible in order to know the truth and to discern if others are speaking the truth about God.  While it is the primary job of the pulpit to communicate the word of God, the responsibility does not end there.  Every believer in Jesus has a personal responsibility to study the Scriptures for themselves daily and live accordingly.  Failure to do so will inevitably lead to sin.

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)

 

Restoring the broken Relationship

 Read Hosea 3.

God's great power is seen in what many would think to be impossible.  

"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh.  Is anything too hard for me?" (Jeremiah 32:27)

Not only was Gomer unfaithful to Hosea, it appears that she sold herself into a kind of sexual slavery.  Her worship of false gods, including a fertility cult, drove her deeper and deeper to the point of being trapped and unable to help herself.  God ordered Hosea to go and buy his wife out of that predicament and bring her home.  The total price of money and grain would have been equal to thirty shekels of silver; the price of a slave according to Exodus 21:32. This required an act of supreme love and commitment to his wife.

What took place in Hosea's home became the basis of the prophet's message.  Verse one states: "...even as the LORD loves the children of Israel."

After all the LORD had done for Israel, they rejected Him and chased after the false gods of the surrounding cultures until they reached a point of enslavement to sin.  The northern tribes, under the leadership of Jeroboam, had rejected the house of David as their king to form their own kingdom.  Not one of the nineteen kings in the north was a godly man.

God's covenant with Abraham and his descendants was and is unconditional.  Though the Jews rejected Him and His leadership over them, God continues to be committed to them.  The prophecy here is that there is coming a time, "in the latter days", when the children of Israel will return, seek God, and positively respond to a Davidic rule again.  There has not been such a person over the nation since it divided around 931 B.C.

Here are four required elements Hosea used with Gomer.  God will use these four with Israel.  Jesus has used them with us.  And we can use them to heal our broken relationships.
1. Return. (v.1)
"Go again..."  This requires a willingness on the part of the offended to take action to heal the broken relationship.

2. Redeem. (v.2)
"I bought..."  This requires a willingness and ability to pay the necessary price.

3. Recommit. (vv.3-4)
"You must dwell as mine for many days."  This requires a willingness to stay for the long haul.

4. Restore. (v.5)
"...they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness..."  This requires a plan to fulfill all promises.

 

6 steps for healing a broken Relationship

 Read Hosea 2.

The LORD used the heartbreak of Hosea's marriage to illustrate His relationship with Israel.  A decisive separation was about to take place.  However, it was not to end the marriage but to bring healing to it.

Like Gomer, the nation of Israel left their exclusive love of God and turned to other spiritual relationships.  The motive was for what they could get.  Gomer chased other lovers for support, clothes, and luxuries her husband did not give her.  Israel took part in the worship of false gods and practices for their own pleasure and personal gain.

It came time to put an end to this shameful behavior.  Hosea (and God) would put a stop to it (v.6-7).  The wife (Israel) would lose everything (vv.9-12).  For Israel this meant that the brutal empire of the Assyrians would invade the northern kingdom, kill and destroy any opposition, and scatter the people throughout their realm.  The intent of this punishment would be for her to come to her senses and repent of her sin.  "I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now." (v.7b).

What is God's plan for renewing this broken relationship with Israel as a nation?
Yes, about 200 years later there was a return of the Jews to the land under the Persian Empire.  But, that generation and subsequent generations did not fulfill the prophecy here.  "In that day" (vv.16, 21) is a reference to the Millennial Kingdom when the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31) will be in full effect.  As the Apostle Paul declared concerning that time, "all Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:26). 
-The Jews will occupy all of the land God promised to Abraham. (v.23)
-"No Mercy" will be changed to God having mercy upon His chosen people.
-"Not My People" will become God's people again.
-The wayward nation will return and say, "You are my God."

What principles apply to healing a broken relationship?
1. "I will allure her."  The separation and the losses will be replaced with steps to "entice" and "persuade" her to come back.
2. "I will bring her into the wilderness."  In other words, they will get away together.  The LORD did this before when the nation in the 40 years of wilderness wanderings.  There the nation had to learn to be fully dependent upon God.   
3. "I will speak tenderly to her."  These are words of encouragement and gentleness.
4. "I will give her vineyards."  What was taken from her in brokenness will be restored.
5. "I will make...a door of hope."  There must be a path to restoring the marriage.  Achor means "trouble."  But the LORD will lead Israel through the troubled times (the Great Tribulation) back to the Promised Land. 
6. "There she shall answer as in the days of her youth."  This takes the relationship back to when they first met and the love first blossomed.  The outcome is that the wayward comes home and falls in love again.

 

Disobedience carries Consequences

 Read Hosea 1.

The LORD chose to use Hosea and his family to picture His relationship with the northern kingdom of Israel.  Due to consistent disobedience, God would intervene with judgment against Israel.

1. His wife-Gomer (vv.2-3)
She proved to be an adulterous woman.  The prophet's message from God was his wife's behavior is how Israel treated Him.  The nation was guilty of spiritual adultery, seeking relationships outside the covenant and commit they had with the living God.

2. His first son-Jezreel (vv.4-5)
It was in the Valley of Jezreel where King Jehu slaughtered Israel's King Ahab (2 Kings 9-10).  While it was God's will to rid the nation of Ahab and Jezebel, Jehu also killed several leaders of Judah from the lineage of David.  That seems to be the cause of this pronouncement of judgment here.  The LORD stated that it would be the place of Israel's defeat at the hands of the Assyrians.

3. His daughter-No Mercy (vv.6-7)
Her name, Lo-Ruhamah, means "she is not loved."  Part of the judgment to come against Israel would be that the love of the LORD and His mercy toward them will be withheld for a time.  While the Assyrians conquered Israel and scattered the people in 722 B.C., God continued to show mercy to the southern kingdom of Judah.

4. His second son-Not My People (vv.8-9)
The relationship had been broken.  This judgment from God is based upon the covenant of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience found in Deuteronomy 28.  "And the LORD will scatter you among all the peoples..." (Deuteronomy 28:64) which is exactly what Assyria did to Israel.

"Yet" (v.10) their future hope remains!  God's covenant promises to Abraham (Genesis 12, 15, 17) are unconditional.  His discipline will last for a time, but restoration of the relationship and the LORD's blessings in the future are assured.  One day, the scattered will be "gathered" and they will be called "Children of the living God."  At that time, there will be "one head" (v.11) of God's people in the land. As the prophets predicted, Messiah will reign from David's throne over Israel.

The principle for us is unmistakable.  Obedience is a choice we make.  God's blessings come as we maintain a personal, loving relationship with Him.

 

Prophecy and personal Purity

 Read Daniel 12.

Is our future uncertain?  The answer is yes and no.  Yes, we do not know what a day may bring our way (James 5:13-14).  But our ultimate future is as sure as the promises of God.

In this chapter, the angel revealed even more of things that are yet to come.

The prophecy foretells of a double dose of suffering for Israel.  As presented in the previous chapter, Antiochus Epiphanes did desecrate the Temple and thousands of Jews died.  However, Jesus quoted from this section in Daniel to say that this prophecy has not been fulfilled.  The Antichrist will do even more evil in the future (Matthew 24:15).  In the New Testament, this time of unparalleled trouble (12:1) is called the Great Tribulation.  With all the terrible suffering in Jewish history, unfortunately, the worst is yet to come.  The good news is that Michael, the archangel, is assigned to watch over God's chosen people (v.1).  And, there is a comforting hope for Israel.

1. God has promised a national restoration for Israel.
Jeremiah 31:31: "Behold the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah."  Hebrews 8 quotes Jeremiah and describes this even further.  The Apostle Paul explained in Romans 11 that currently we are in a time of the Gentiles with the birth and development of the Church.  A day is coming, however, when "all Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:26).

2. God has promised a personal resurrection for everyone.
Everyone will be present in eternity but with two very different destinies.  Verse 2:"...some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."  This chapter in Daniel mentions that God has books with individual names written down.  He knows who is His and who is not.  The Apostle John saw this same vision with even more clarity.  "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened.  Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.  And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according what they had done....And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:12-15)  Eternal life or eternal punishment awaits.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6).  Oh, that everyone would choose life through faith in Jesus!

There are two questions posed in Daniel 12.
Question: Another angel asked, "How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?" (v.6)  In other words, how long will the tribulation suffering last?
Answer: "...a time, times, and a half a time." (v.7)  The Tribulation will be a period of seven years.  It is the second half, three and a half years or 1260 days, when the suffering will take place.  Revelation 11:2-3 confirms this.  We are not told why there is an additional 30 days, then a total of 75 days added in verses 11 and 12.  Obviously, there is more detail that is not explained.

Question: Daniel asked, "What shall be the outcome of these things?" (v.8)
Answer: "Many will purify themselves...but the wicked shall act wickedly...those who are wise shall understand." (v.10)  "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he (Jesus) appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.  And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure." (1 John 3:2-3)