Rebellious Children, Faithful Father

Text: Hosea 11:1-11

Children’s Bible Page: 966

Introduction: The Pain Of A Rebellious Child

While I have not experienced it myself, I can imagine that as a parent, one of the toughest experiences to go through is having a wayward rebellious child.

A child who grows up to reject the life and faith of their parents.

Maybe in so doing, they are estranged from relationship altogether.

In that kind of relationship, there are so many difficult decisions about how to respond, when to reach out, when to leave them be, when to help when they get in a bind, and when to allow them to suffer the consequences of their poor decisions.

I can imagine the precious memories of the little years seem sweet and haunting.

I can imagine struggling with questions like: where did we go wrong? Is any of this my fault?

My heart goes out to any of you who have experienced such relationships.

As we come to Hosea 11 today, we see that this is exactly the kind of relationship God ended up having with His beloved people, Israel.

But not only that, it is the kind of relationship He naturally has with all of us.

For we are all sinners who have rebelled against God.

To remind us of how the prophecy of Hosea works, chapters 1-3 paint the family portrait of Hosea and His marriage to an unfaithful wife.

And we see Hosea faithfully love an unfaithful wife even to the point of going to buy her back off the auction block of slavery.

Hosea’s story pictures God’s story with His people.

And then chapters 4-14 read like a court room scene where God has taken His people to court in order to make his case against them.

And we have seen chapter after chapter of how people rebel against God by entrusting themselves to all these other things instead of being faithful to him.

Yet, while this reads like a courtroom scene, in no way is God bringing charges against sinful humanity as a vindictive prosecutor or a casual observer.

No, God is heartbroken, and He is willing to speak the truth from His heart in hopes that His rebellious people would listen and would turn to Him.

Today’s passage spells out God’s loving and fatherly heart toward His people as He agonized over sentencing His own children.

Hosea 11:1–11 (ESV)

1 When Israel was a child, I loved him,

and out of Egypt I called my son.

2 The more they were called,

the more they went away;

they kept sacrificing to the Baals

and burning offerings to idols.

3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;

I took them up by their arms,

but they did not know that I healed them.

4 I led them with cords of kindness,

with the bands of love,

and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,

and I bent down to them and fed them.

5 They shall not return to the land of Egypt,

but Assyria shall be their king,

because they have refused to return to me.

6 The sword shall rage against their cities,

consume the bars of their gates,

and devour them because of their own counsels.

7 My people are bent on turning away from me,

and though they call out to the Most High,

he shall not raise them up at all.

8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, O Israel?

How can I make you like Admah?

How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

My heart recoils within me;

my compassion grows warm and tender.

9 I will not execute my burning anger;

I will not again destroy Ephraim;

for I am God and not a man,

the Holy One in your midst,

and I will not come in wrath.

10 They shall go after the Lord;

he will roar like a lion;

when he roars,

his children shall come trembling from the west;

11 they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,

and like doves from the land of Assyria,

and I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord.

1. Hear Of God’s Fatherly Love

As God has done many times in Hosea, He begins by recounting the redemption story of the people of Israel.

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

When the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt, God came and redeemed them by His mighty hand.

It was the final act of judgment against the pagan Egypt where God called His people to smear the blood of lambs on the doorposts of their homes, in order to save all the firstborn sons from death, and in one night, all the firstborn sons of the Egyptians died,

And the great Pharoah of Egypt finally let the Israelite people go.

And God did not just do this to show off His power, He did it because He loved the people of Israel.

He loved them like a father loves His children.

Deuteronomy 7:7–8 (ESV)

7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

And as God lovingly led His people out of slavery and began to relate with them, provide for them, lead them, and teach them, the people began to rebel against him like verse 2 says.

They kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols when the very heart of covenant relationship with God was to begin with:

Exodus 20:3 (ESV)

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

Listen to God’s Fatherly loving reflections in verses 3-4:

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;

I took them up by their arms,

But they did not know that I healed them.

I led them with cords of kindness, with bands of love,

and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bend down and fed them.

I think about the kind of love that has been fostered in my heart for my kiddos since the time they were little.

I think about the tender ways we cared for them, teaching them to walk, speaking words of kindness and love, feeding them from my own hand.

This is how God fostered a love relationship with His people.

He saved them out of slavery.

He led them.

He fed them.

He taught them.

Listen, I understand why it is difficult for some of you to perceive of God as a perfectly loving Father because of the difficult relationship you have had with your earthly father.

But if that’s you, I want to tell you that you feel that difficult way not because God is not a perfectly loving Father,

But, you feel that way because you instinctively know that your father should have been more like God as a Father when he wasn’t.

God is your perfectly good and loving Father no matter how much your earthly father reflected His character or how much he failed to do so.

And if you are in Christ today, your story is that God has always loved you from all eternity.

And no matter what your life has been like to this point, God has always been with you, loving you, helping you, providing for you, feeding you, bending down to you, and giving you your next breath.

And maybe you are here today, and you don’t personally know Jesus, and I want to tell you that God is a good Father, and He has you here for a reason this morning,

And no matter what you have been through, and no matter how crazy it sounds that God has created you for a purpose and has a plan for you even after all you’ve experienced, I pray you will see and know His heart for you this morning.

Notice, it was while God was loving His children - caring for them, leading them, feeding them - that they rebelled against Him.

Remember we saw last week, it was when the people had experienced the blessings, the prosperity, and the security God had given them in love that they forgot about Him and rebelled against Him the most!

Many scholars have called Hosea 11 the Prodigal Son passage of the Old Testament.

One of the most famous stories that Jesus ever told was of a father who had two sons.

And one day, the younger son came to his father and said, “Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.”

Now, wait a minute, the sons were not supposed to receive their inheritance until after their father died.

They were supposed to live under the loving protection and provision of their father until then.

So, essentially, the younger son was telling His father, “You are dead to me. I don’t want you, I just want your stuff.”

And Jesus says the father went ahead and distributed the boys’ inheritance.

And as soon as that younger son got his hands on his inheritance, he left his father behind and went to live a reckless life on his own.

It is sometimes tempting to imagine God as a stoic unmoved observer, which is actually so far from who our loving God is.

One thing we have said throughout the book of Hosea is how we see the personal nature of God,

And when we truly know God, we come to understand that our sin and rebellion is not just a breaking of God’s law, but it is first and foremost a breaking of His heart.

If you think your desire for autonomy, rebellion, and selfishness doesn’t affect anyone else, I want to tell you that you were created by a loving God who is heartbroken over your sin.

Hear of God’s fatherly love.

2. Hear Where Your Rebellion Leads

In the covenant relationship that God established with His people, he warned them that if they rebelled against Him, they would lose their land and their homes and go back into slavery.

And this time, it will be at the hands of Assyria, verse 5 says because they have refused to return to me.

Verse 6 - The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them because of their own counsels.

This is the discipline they will receive for going their own way, following the counsels of the world, and rejecting the word of God.

Notice in verse 7 - My people are bent on turning away from me.

It reminds me of the hymn lyrics: “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.”

The second half of the verse says: though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all.

You know, the book of Hosea is one of the most difficult in terms of getting the original Hebrew correct, and the construction of verse 7 is debated.

While the ESV translation says: My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all,

Some scholars argue that the text should read: Then my people will tire of turning away from me; and on the Most High they will call; all together they will surely exalt him.

It’s one of those rare cases where the decisions made in translation actually flips the meaning of the passage.

Of course, I am not here to adjudicate which is correct.

Instead, I would point out that both end up being true to the message of the book of Hosea, and true to the nature and character of God.

We as sinners are naturally bent on turning away from God, and crying out to Him alone does not necessitate God getting us out of the mess we have put ourselves in.

That is especially true when their view of God was now a mixture of the true God with a god of this world.

Yet, it is also true that for those who tire of turning away from God, and cry out to him with a heart of repentance, God will redeem them and give them a life of purpose in worship to Him.

But we know, the people are not in a place of repentance at this time, they are in a place of apostasy and syncretism.

And the nation of Assyria will soon come and defeat them, take them from their homes and drive them back into slavery as God’s law promised would happen if the people turned away from Him.

Their rebellion was leading to devastation.

Back to Jesus’ parable: After the younger son left his father to go live his reckless life, he finally ran out of money.

And there was a severe famine in the land.

So, he ended up hiring himself out to feed pigs.

He even got to the point where he wished he could eat the pig food, because he had nothing left.

His rebellion had led to devastation.

But, according to God’s law, there one more layer we must think on.

Consider:

Deuteronomy 21:18–21 (ESV)

18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, 20 and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Think about it: in verse one of today’s passage, God calls Israel His child and His son.

And for six chapters now, God has brought His case against his stubborn and rebellious son.

And remember, this stubborn rebellion didn’t happen in a day.

No, they had already experienced the discipline of their folly with one evil king after the next.

And now here is God the Father who has told the truth and leveled all the charges against His beloved son Israel, and it is now time for sentencing.

He has already said that they will be driven back into slavery, but His law would demand him to take discipline a step further.

His law would demand him to take His son out to the city gate and have him stoned to death for His stubborn rebellion.

Would God utterly destroy His people in exile and snuff them out as a nation altogether? It is what His law required!

Make no mistake: our sin and rebellion against God deserves and demands not only our discipline but our death.

God’s law is perfect and upholds the standard of perfect righteousness, and one who fails at one point fails at all points, and the wages of sin is death.

And God has brought charge after charge, and as we come to verse 8, it is time for sentencing, and there should be no question what God’s verdict and sentencing will be.

Yet, we are shocked to

3. Hear God’s Heart Of Compassion And Mercy

At the moment it is time for the Heavenly Father to render His judgment based on his holy law, God cries out:

Verse 8 - How can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, O Israel?

How can I make you like Admah?

How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

You see, Admah and Zeboiim were two little cities that were completely obliterated and destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah way back in the book of Genesis.

No one survived. All died. God had been faithful to His perfect judgment in the past, so we know He is willing and able to follow through.

But now, as he comes to sentence His beloved son Israel, He cries out in the second half of verse 8 -

My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.

Verse 9 - I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.

Why does God say He will not execute his burning anger and destroy Ephraim as His law requires?

Because He is God and not man, the Holy One in your midst.

Now, that’s surprising.

When I consider God’s holiness and God being the Holy One, I see that as the very reason He will rightly punish sinners leading to death.

But you see, God is not only perfectly, wonderfully, and completely holy in His judgments, His condemnations, and His wrath,

He is also perfectly, wonderfully, and completely holy in His love, His mercy, and His grace.

Here, God will not execute the final punishment of death because He is not like man.

Meaning, if we saw the situation in its entirety like God sees it, we would declare the death penalty right then and there.

If you think God is always more harsh and extreme in His judgments than you would be, you have him all wrong.

I have struggled to love and forgive a person after they have simply slighted me one time or disagreed with me on one single issue,

And here is God holding Israel’s seven chapter long rap sheet from the book of Hosea spanning about 500 years of stubborn, disobedient rebellion.

Yet, His heart is sick, grieved, tender, and unwilling to execute the righteous punishment His beloved people rightly deserve.

Just as God’s judgments and moral perfections are infinitely greater than man, God’s love, mercy, and grace is infinitely greater as well.

Remember, back in chapter 3 at the end of Hosea’s family story.

Gomer, Hosea’s unfaithful wife had left.

She was loved by another man.

She was being sold on the slave block.

And what did God say to Hosea? “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man.”

Why should he do this? How could he do this?

God had just said in 2:23: I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, “You are my people.”

See, I don’t think the hardest part of being a genuine Christian and follower of Christ is trying to follow all the rules, we know we don’t do that perfectly.

And I don’t even think the hardest part is fighting our flesh and the devil, God’s grace is sufficient.

I don’t even think the hardest part of being a Christian is when you experience opposition from the world, Jesus said that would come.

I believe the hardest but also the most necessary thing about being a Christian is truly believing in your heart that God loves you like He says He does.

That God loves me like He says He does.

Not after a few small sins or after a few small missteps does He still love us,

but while He holds the rap sheet of sin after sin,

slight after slight,

useless dead work after useless dead work,

Years of belittling His glory while over stating ours,

An ineptitude in being rid of partiality and selfishness,

Not doing near what I should want to do as a believer, and so oftentimes doing the very thing that I hate.

And God stands there with our rap sheet to declare our final judgment,

And as we hold our breath and steel ourselves to here His rightful judgment of condemnation,

Your heavenly Father cries out, “How can I give you up, Jason (of course you insert your name).”

“How can I hand you over, son/daughter?”

I will not execute my burning anger.

I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.

It is as if God himself has torn himself apart in order to lay down such a judgment.

It is as shocking as when in Jesus’ story, the younger son is so desperate, he finally decides to go back home to His father, hoping maybe he could be his father’s slave and at least have something to eat,

But as soon as the Father sees the son coming from a long way off, He runs to his son, embraces Him, throws a robe around him, and puts a ring on His finger in celebration.

But how is that possible for the one who upholds all things and is always true to himself?

Pastor Tim Chester writes, “God’s determination to judge and His determination to save sit uncomfortably beside one another in Hosea, almost as if God cannot make up His mind. But they are resolved at the cross.”

“At the cross, God’s determination to judge and His determination to save are both realized. His judgement does not compromise his mercy and His mercy does not compromise his judgment.”

You see, when Jesus came, Matthew wrote that Jesus and his parents had to flee to Egypt in order to save him from the wrath of Herod.

But after Herod died, Jesus and his parents returned just like the prophet Hosea had spoken, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Those are the words taken directly from verse 1 of our Hosea passage today,

But it seems strange.

It is obvious in Hosea that God is calling the Israelite people his son and talking about when he saved them out of Egyptian slavery, not Jesus, the coming Messiah.

How can he make that connection?

The connection comes in understanding that Jesus came as the son of God to come and succeed in every way that, Israel, the son of God failed.

For when Jesus came back from Egypt, he fully identified with His people at his baptism, then he was called away to the wilderness and was tempted, but the more he was tempted, the more he clung to God and obeyed His word.

And whereas God had brought His son Israel to the courtroom and spoken the truth of their unfaithfulness and rebellion, but then refused to execute the death penalty,

When Jesus was brought before a fools court where he was accused with lies, God did nothing to step in and defend his son,

Jesus did nothing to defend himself but instead willingly gave himself over when He was sentenced to execution on a Roman cross.

You see, Jesus was taken outside of the city and was executed as if he were the rebellious and unfaithful son in our place, so that we, the rebellious and unfaithful could go free and be saved from punishment.

God’s perfect holy judgment, condemnation, and wrath was upheld through Jesus,

As His perfect love, mercy, and grace was poured out on us whom He loves.

Hear God’s heart of compassion and mercy.

4. Hear The Lion Roar and Come Trembling

Notice, in the final two verses, when the Lord roars like a lion, his children will return.

They will come trembling from Egypt and from Assyria.

It gives the picture of a humbled people flying straight back to God.

And God promises that on that day, He will return them to their homes.

It’s interesting that it was the southern people of Judah that returned to the promised land after the Babylonian exile, yet the northern kingdom never truly came home.

So, how is this prophecy fulfilled?

Well for one, Paul writes the Gentiles in Romans 9 by saying:

Romans 9:25–26 (ESV)

25 As indeed he says in Hosea,

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’

and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ”

26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”

You see, after Jesus died on the cross and was buried, Jesus, the Lion of Judah, rose defeating sin and death on that Sunday morning!

And His followers saw the risen Jesus and were filled with the Spirit of God to go to all the nations proclaiming this gospel of Jesus risen and sins forgiven.

And to all who would hear the gospel, the roar of the lion, and humble themselves by confessing their sin and believing that God loves them in this way, God gave the right to become children of God.

And the lion continues to roar today as God’s people continue to proclaim the gospel of God to every nation,

And for all who hear the lion roar, and humble themselves and return to God are forgiven of sin, adopted into His family, and will finally find their eternal home with God forever.

Do you need to come home to God today?

Listen, maybe the reason you have never really come to God is you believe if you did, you would receive nothing but judgment and condemnation from Him because of something you’ve done or something that’s been done to you,

Or maybe you feel like you are judged by Christian people, so you feel like that’s how God feels about you too,

But you need to hear God say today: I am God and not a man, and I am in your midst, and if you would just humbly turn around you would find that I am right here with my hands open wide to you.

Jesus hands were spread wide on the cross in judgment, so that may hands can always be spread wide to you in love and mercy.

And listen, for all of us who have been Christians for a while,

May we remember that there was an older brother in Jesus’ story, and when the older brother learned how much His father celebrated at his younger brother’s return,

He was angry.

Because He had forgotten that all that He had from His father was still a blessing of His grace that he didn’t deserve even though He had lived a life that looked cleaner on the outside, though His heart was still far away from His father.

May we never look down on someone as undeserving or less than because of their background, or how they look, or however they are different than us, for the lion’s roar is for all who tremble at their own sin, and entrust themselves to a Savior who loves them unconditionally.

May we be a people who speak the truth about sin and never waver on the perfections of God’s standard, and also the people who shockingly love those who are lost and far off and rebellious, and always share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them, for we were all slaves when Jesus stepped in a set us free.

So church, may we continue to open our mouthes, proclaim Jesus, let the Lion roar, that all his children may come home.

Let’s pray.