Synopsis of and Thoughts on Chapter One
Hosea was a servant of the Lord. God did something with him that might seem a bit strange and unusual in our world today, yet something that was not all that unusual for God with his prophets of old. He often had his prophets act out prophecies, or for the prophets themselves, and their family members, to represent or to symbolize the messages God wanted to give to his people. For instance, Isaiah said that he and his children were “signs and symbols” in Israel from the LORD Almighty (see Is. 8). And, here, in Hosea, we have a picture of God even asking Hosea to marry an adulterous woman and to bear children of unfaithfulness, because they, as well, were to be signs and symbols in Israel concerning Israel’s spiritual condition, and with regard to Israel’s relationship with God.
I believe, as well, that what God asked Hosea to do allowed Hosea to feel some of what God felt concerning the children of Israel and their relationship with him, which helped Hosea to write in such a way to where he could actually feel, from personal experience, what he was writing about. The Lord has often done this with me through dreams and visions, which serve as allegories - illustrative and symbolic works in which the characters and events are to be understood as representing other things, and expressing deeper spiritual truths. When the Lord does that, he gives me insight, from his perspective, into situations that I might not, in the natural, have any indication about or might not understand, from the natural, the deep spiritual truths the Lord has for me to see in the circumstances of my life and/or in my world. So, sometimes God allows us to walk in his shoes a little so we know what he sees, thinks and feels, as though we are experiencing it ourselves. It helps us then to know God’s heart, and to be more passionate and compassionate in ministry, I believe.
The land of Israel was guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord. So, God planned to judge the house of Jehu for the massacre of Jezreel, and said he was going to put an end to the kingdom of Israel. He said he would no longer show love to the house of Israel, nor would he offer them forgiveness. Yet, he would show love to the house of Judah and he would save them by the Lord their God, not by weapons of warfare. He said that Israel was no longer his people, and that he was not their God. Yet, there was hope. One day the Israelites would be like the sand on the seashore. In place of where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” they would be called “sons of the living God.”
What this reminds me of is how the physical nation of Israel rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah, so they, as a nation, ceased to be the children of God. Scripture teaches us that unbelieving Jews are now the same as Gentiles, i.e. they are considered to be descended from Ishmael, not from Isaac, whereas those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are those who are the children of promise, and thus are true Israel. The physical city of Jerusalem is now synonymous with Hagar, whereas the spiritual city of Jerusalem, from above, is the mother of true followers of Jesus Christ. Unbelieving Jews and Gentiles are children of the slave woman, whereas believers in Jesus Christ are the children of the free woman (see Galatians 4:21-31).
So, this promise that the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore was both for the Jewish nation of Israel prior to Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins, through which he brought salvation to all those who believe, and is now for all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior (both Jew and Gentile), i.e. for true Israel. I believe a remnant of Jews will be saved, and that they will once again be called ‘sons of the living God,’ yet through faith in Christ Jesus alone.
Hosea Chapter Two:
“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’
Israel Punished and Restored
“Rebuke your mother, rebuke her,
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous look from her face
and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
Otherwise I will strip her naked
and make her as bare as on the day she was born;
I will make her like a desert,
turn her into a parched land,
and slay her with thirst.
I will not show my love to her children,
because they are the children of adultery.
Their mother has been unfaithful
and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my food and my water,
my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.’
Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say,
‘I will go back to my husband as at first,
for then I was better off than now.’
She has not acknowledged that I was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,
who lavished on her the silver and gold—
which they used for Baal.
…So now I will expose her lewdness
before the eyes of her lovers;
no one will take her out of my hands.
I will stop all her celebrations:
her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
her Sabbath days—all her appointed feasts.
I will ruin her vines and her fig trees,
which she said were her pay from her lovers;
I will make them a thicket,
and wild animals will devour them.
I will punish her for the days
she burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but me she forgot,”
declares the LORD… Continued at link:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hosea%202&version=NIV1984
Practical Application to Israel Today
As discussed earlier in this writing, Israel today is comprised of true believers in Jesus Christ, whether Jew or Gentile. God has made us one in Christ. We are the body of Christ, the true church (not the institutional church). Yet, many followers of Christ today have drifted away from pure devotion to God. They have gotten caught up in the trappings of the world and are following and “worshiping” idols of men, i.e. idols of money, entertainment, sports, fame, lust, sexual addiction, substance abuse, gossip, etc. and/or even religious beliefs and practices instituted by men. They have become self-absorbed. And, many are following a watered-down gospel, which is no gospel at all, because it soothes their consciences of any guilt over their sinful lifestyles. It promises them a false hope of eternity with God, while it leaves them in bondage to their sins. So, they are “adulterous,” just as was unfaithful Israel, because other gods have become their gods, and the one true, and only God, has been forgotten or minimized, and taken for granted.
God loves his church very much. It hurts him to see her living in spiritual adultery, because he knows how much her sin hurts her in all her relationships, but in particular her relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins so that we could be free from bondage to sin, not so that we could continue to live under the control of sin’s deceitfulness. He has provided a way out for us so that we don’t have to give into sin, if we will just take the way out he provided for us. The way in which we come to know Christ is through turning from our sinful lifestyles, by being transformed in our minds and hearts by the working of the Holy Spirit within us, and by us putting on Christ, becoming like him in his purity and righteousness. Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and self). We don’t just “get saved,” continue to live like we want on this earth, and then one day go to heaven. Salvation is a lifelong process of turning from sin and turning to walk daily in faithful obedience to Jesus Christ. So, when we drift away, our Lord will gently speak to our hearts to lead us back into a right relationship with him.
Nonetheless, he is a loving and a righteous God, and so he rebukes, disciplines and punishes those he loves, and he sends out his messengers to call his children to repentance, so that he does not have to inflict punishment upon his children. No loving parent enjoys disciplining (punishing) his or her child. He or she will often give warnings to the child prior to punishment, in hopes that the warnings alone will deter the child, and that stronger discipline will not be necessary. God is the same way. And, he is presently sending out many messages warning and encouraging his children to turn back to him, to repent of their sins, and to obey God. If they do not repent, a day will come when God will exercise divine discipline against them, yet it is always with a goal of restoration. When she is disciplined, and she repents, God will restore her to a right relationship with him; with Jesus Christ, God the Son. And, she will once again (or for the first time ever) be in sweet fellowship with her Lord, having the love and affection she would have for a “first love” for her Lord, which is what Jesus should be to us now.
This song, “The Motions,” was playing on the radio the other day when I had my three oldest granddaughters with me in the car. So, I took the time to explain to them what this means, and how important this message is to us today. We don’t want to be a people who just play church and Christianity, and not have vital, passionate and obedient relationships with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through repentance and obedience. We want to have lives that are fully devoted to and committed to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in full obedience and surrender of our wills to the will of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Israel was going through the motions of faith in God, but their hearts were far from him. And, many professing Christians today go through the motions of Christianity and church, but Jesus is not their first love, and they have not given him everything. I pray today that we will all take this to heart, and that we will be people passionate for Jesus Christ, fully surrendered to his will, and ready and willing to obey him at all cost, instead of just going through the motions. God will discipline those he loves. Don’t wait for him to hit you over the head with a 2X4 before you wake up and smell the roses.
The Motions / Matthew West
I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
Instead of going through the motions?"
Take me all the way…
No comments:
Post a Comment