The Prophet and The Prostitute (Part 2)

What’s in a name?

Hosea 1:3-11

Scripture

Hosea 1:3-9

3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

Pray

God help us to bring your good news to others

Story

Did you know there is a database from the social security office of U.S. where you can download the names people gave their kids during any specific year?

At the top of those lists are the most popular names of the year. Like in 2013, the most popular boy's name was Noah. In fact, over 18,000 boys in the U.S. were named Noah. Do you know how I know? You can download a list of names that goes back to 1880! It has all the most popular names for each year.

But did you know those lists also have the LEAST popular? For example, in the year I was born, there were only 10,000 of us lucky enough to be named Tyler. And there were actually six girls named Tyler.

Want to know some of the other names used the least? In 2012, there were only five of these guys: Priest, Rambo, Romance, Sir william, Scholar, Trust, and Driver.

For the girls there were only five named Afifa, Bell, Cicilia, Effy, Lucyrose, Pink, and Stonie.

Maybe having a unique name isn't so awesome after all.

Names have meanings behind them. Names like “Trust” and “Pink” don’t really need explanation, but other names like “Kaycee” and “Nathan” need a little defining.

For example my name is Tyler Hayes. Tyler means “worker of tile” and Hayes means “descendant of fire.” So I get to be a pyromaniac laborer. So if you need a house built or burnt down I’m your man!

Application 1

Story of jehu and half obedience - happened in Jezreel

Cue Hosea.

Hosea is saying that God hasn’t forgotten that the nation of Israel only partially returned to Him. He hasn’t forgotten that the nation of Israel still worships false gods. He’s making a promise through the first son of Hosea, Jezreel. He’s saying, “Remember all that happened to Ahab because he didn’t worship me and keep my commands? House of Jehu, your time is coming.”

And then Gomer has another child:

What a rough start to life. It’s bad enough that there are girls out there named “Pink” and “Afifa,” but “No Compassion” is just awful.

“Come here, 'No Compassion!' Daddy loves you … I guess.”

Compassion means to have concern for the suffering of others. God is saying to the nation of Israel, “I am no longer going to take care of you when armies come your way. When your people are enslaved and carried off, I won’t do anything about it. You deserve what you get.”

The weird thing here is God is showing off that He can’t completely lose compassion for all people. He makes it very clear that He will show compassion on the nation of Judah. Now why in the world would God make the distinction?

Judah had nine kings that did what was right in the sight of God. They worshipped Him only and led the country to do the same. Israel had exactly none.

God was sending a very clear message to the Israelites: “Because you never completely worshipped me, but only sometimes would (like with Jehu), I have put up with you until this point. Now you’ve crossed the line. I have been patient, but now it’s run out. You will face the consequences of generations of disobedience.”

Oh, but don’t miss that God was making sure the Israelites would know that they weren’t getting out of this because they had great kings or a superior army. They would be saved by God and God alone.

Does that sound harsh? Well, it apparently wasn’t harsh enough, because the Israelites didn’t get it.

Gomer had another child:

Do you know what the definition of “hard-headed” is? It’s meant to describe someone who can’t take a hint. Or maybe someone who trudges forward without caring about the warnings they’ve seen that spell out danger.

Israel was apparently being hard-headed.

Notice the amount of time between Jezreel, No Compassion, and Not My People. It seems the first two are born one right after the other, but Not My People was born after No Compassion was weaned. That would mean that they were about two or three years between the two kids.

God was still being patient with a people He was frustrated with! He gave them another two years time to think about Hosea’s message. Did they respond? No. Did they possibly miss the message that God was sending? Maybe. So God decided to make sure the message was coming through loud and clear.

You. Are. Not. My. People.

God was telling the nation of Israel that He was done with them. But look at the order of how it’s said: “For you are not My People and I will not be your God.” It’s like God is saying: “Fine! You’ve been acting like I’m not your God for all this time, well have it your way! If that’s what you really want, I won’t be the God you don’t desire to serve.”

Here’s my question to you: Do you ever find yourself in the same boat at the Israelites? Do you ever find out that you’re not just casually fading away from God because you’re missing out on your time alone with Him, but that you actually wish God would leave you alone and let you do your own thing?

What if God did? What if God decided to take away His hand of protection off of your life? What if God let you have your way and do the things you wish you could?

Do you think it’d be a party at first? Finally free of all the rules and regulations and able to “choose your own destiny” and sail wherever the wind takes you?

Let me fast-forward you down that path a ways.

What happens when your best plans turn out to destroy those around you? What happens when you say, “I just want to date whoever I want and not really care about what we do as long as we love each other,” but find out later that getting pregnant is no picnic and that a baby takes a lot of time and money to take care of? What happens when you can’t go hang out with your friends because whoops, you’re a dad?

What happens when you just want to feel good and do whatever it takes to get there? What happens when your kidneys shut down because of years of alcohol abuse or your lungs collapse because you’ve smoked a mountain of tobacco or marijuana?

What happens when you just want to spend your money on whatever you want but keep running out? What happens when you take a shortcut to get some extra cash, but it just leads to more and more debt that you can’t possibly get out of and you see the only two options are jail or robbing a friend of their cash?

Do you cry out to God and say, “Why did you let this happen to me?” Do you whine and complain because of the path you took? Do you say, “If God really loved me, He wouldn’t have let this happen to me!”

What if God was just giving you what you wanted? What if God was letting you run down the road you thought was best, instead of the road He had already paved and planted trees alongside?

Story 2

Me totally screwing up and Josh taking me back as a friend

Supporting Scripture

Hosea 1:10-11

10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Application 2

We don’t serve a God of “You don’t get any more chances.” We serve a God who says “Repent and come back to me. You’ll find that I’m waiting right where you left me.”

God is not finished with the people who say they want nothing to do with them. God isn’t going to leave them to rot and not offer them any hope.

With God, there is always hope.

Look at the language that’s being used here. God is saying that the divided nation will become one. He’s saying that the people will all be gathered together. He’s saying that there will be one person who is over all of them. He’s saying that for the people who were called “Not My People” will be called “Sons of the Living God.”

God, through Hosea, is pointing to the person of Jesus. He’s pointing to the redemptive life, death, and resurrection of His Son, who will make it possible for everyone (Israelite or not) to be made right with God.

Look, I don’t know where you stand today. I’m not sure where you are on your faith journey, but I know this: You haven’t run far enough, sinned bad enough, or rejected God enough to be unable to come back to Him tonight.

God told Hosea that his relationship with Gomer would be a picture of God and the nation of Israel. Look at verses 3, 6, and 8.

In the rest of the Bible whenever it says someone “bore” a child, it includes either the phrase “she bore him a child” in reference to the father or—for example, “she bore Abraham a son”—and calls the father by name. That only happens one time in the three times Gomer has a child. What does that tell us?

That Gomer is having exactly what God told Hosea she would have: “Children of promiscuity.”

Does Hosea kick her to the curb? Does Hosea throw her out? Does he, as Mosaic Law would permit, have her stoned for adultery? No! He shows his sinful, rebellious, and adulterous wife … love.

The same love that God loves us with. A patient, forgiving, and beautiful love.

Hosea says that “the day of Jezreel will be great.” This time God isn’t talking about the day of bloodshed that happened in the past. He’s talking about what the name Jezreel means. It literally means “God plants.”

The valley that Jezreel was so green and beautiful with plants and other crops that people believed that God Himself had blessed the valley so that they land would always be beautiful and produce food for those who lived nearby.

The day of Jezreel means that the day that God puts His great plan into action will be a great day. The day that Jesus comes to save humanity will be great. And I would argue that it was a great day, and that it can be a great day for you, as well.

Stop running from God. Come back to Him. Come back to God through what Jesus has done for you.

God is a God of 2nd chances

Jesus is our second chance

Even when all seems hopeless God offers us a mercy

Conclusion

Have you accepted God’s second chance?

Pray

God help us to accept your second chance