May 20, 2007

It's about 750 years before the birth of Christ. Israel was divided. The southern kingdom was Judah , and the northern kingdom retained the name Israel . This account takes place in the northern kingdom, the nation of Israel . God raised up a man there whose name was Hosea to preach His message to a nation that awaited soon judgment.

God pictured Israel 's unfaithfulness to Him as adultery . In Hosea 1:2 the God said Israel is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord. God asked Hosea to find and marry a specific adulterous woman named Gomer and take her and the children of her unfaithfulness into his own home .

The first son born to Hosea and Gomer God named Jezreel , meaning the God will punish and break up Israel . When a daughter came along, God named her Lo- Ruhamah , meaning that God will no longer show love to Israel , nor forgive them (1:6). Their next son God named Lo- Ammi , meaning you are not my people, and I am not your God (9).

In the fourth chapter, God said through Hosea, There is no faithfulness , no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. (1-2, NIV).

God said, A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God (4:12, NIV). In 5:4 Hosea wrote, Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the LORD.

In 9:1 Hosea proclaimed to the people, Rejoice not, O Israel , for you have played the harlot, forsaking your God, being unfaithful.

In 8:3-5, Israel has rejected what is good. With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction. Throw out your calf-idol, O Samaria ! My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of purity? (NIV)

In 8:7: They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. They have sown sin; and they will reap a whirlwind of judgment. In 9:1, For you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute.

Willful sin has consequences . Balanced with the great love of God is His justice that will judge our sin, if we do not repent and turn to him. There is no greater love, but there is no greater justice either.

God said in 5:10, I will pour out My wrath upon them like water...because he was content to walk after idols and man's vanities and filth .

He said in 6:11, O there is a harvest of divine judgment appointed for you unless My people return from their slavery brought on by their own sins. The same is true for us. It is a Bible principle.

God said through Hosea, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, and therefore they sinned against Me . So I will change their glory into shame (4:6).

God said, For the spirit of harlotry has led them astray and they have played the harlot, withdrawing themselves from submission to their God. (4:6, 7, 8, 12). During Hosea's life, the Assyrians will bring God's judgment against the idolatrous House of Israel. Israel will become extinct until 1948.

God then said to Hosea (13:14), I will ransom you from the power of the grave! I will redeem you from the power of death! For, O death, where are your plagues? And, O grave, where is your destruction?

Hosea preached to Israel , O come, let us return to the Lord, so He may heal us!

God said in 14:4, I will heal their faithlessness; I will love them freely, for My anger is turned away from them .

What shall I do? Hosea wrote, Therefore return to your God, and hold fast to His great love ! ( 12:6)

What shall you do? Hosea tells us, Break up your uncultivated soil of your heart, for it is time to seek the Lord, to ask for his favor, till He comes and rains righteousness upon you . (10:12)

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