Hosea: God's Unfailing Love
Notes
Transcript
Recap: Divided Monarchy
Recap: Divided Monarchy
Recap: SOLOMON’S SON—REHOBOAM = FOOLISH
KINGDOM SPLIT
**See P.P. Pic**
Focus: DIVIDED KINGDOM = DIFFICULT TIME
**Ref. Handout** — MANY KINGS — 2 KINGDOMS...
-----------------
Focus: BIG PICTURE — WE’LL BE LOOKING @ PROPHETS MOSTLY
**WILL RECAP DESTRUCTIONS WHEN THEY COME…**
-----------------
GOAL: NESTLE PROPHETIC BOOKS INTO THEIR HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Key Idea: PROPHETS HELP SHOWCASE SPIRITUAL CLIMATE in ISRAEL/JUDAH
************
Transition: TONIGHT— HOSEA (ONE of FIRST PROPHETS)
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Background: Prophet Hosea
Background: Prophet Hosea
Background: DIVIDED KINGDOM = INCREASINGLY DEGENERATE TIME
Recap Question: REMEMBER WHAT JEROBOAM DID? 2 GOLDEN CALVES EITHER END of ISRAEL (PARODY of TRUE TEMPLE WORSHIP!)
LOOK @ TIMELINE— NO GOOD KINGS in ISRAEL
Hosea’s Audience: Israel (north)
Message: CALLS ISRAEL to REPENTANCE … for THEIR SPIRITUAL ADULTERY
Timeline: Hosea comes on the scene in the FINAL GENERATION… NORTHERN ISRAEL
ME READ: Hosea 1:1 ESV
“The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.”
SETTING: 2 KINGS 14-20(APPROX)
CH. 17— FALL of ISRAEL
HOSEA MINISTERS UNTIL EXILE…
Contemporaries:
AMOS
MICAH
ISAIAH
************
Transition: HOSEA = UNIQUE…
TASKED W/ BECOMING a LIVING ILLUSTRATION of YAHWEH’S UNFAILING LOVE…
READ: CH. 1… V.2-3
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Text:
Text:
Hosea 1:
Hosea 1:
Hosea’s Wife and Children (1:2-3)
Hosea’s Wife and Children (1:2-3)
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
GOD TOLD HOSEA to MARRY “WIFE of WHOREDOM/PROMISCUOUS WOMAN”
Confusing: DON’T KNOW GOMER’S BACKGROUND 100%
Clear: SHE WOULD BE UNFAITHFUL & HOSEA KNEW IT.
------------------
Focus: HOSEA’S MARRIAGE to FAITHLESS WOMAN = SYMBOL … of ISRAEL’S FAITHLESSNESS to YAHWEH…
------------------
Background: God’s Covenant w/ Israel
Exodus 19:5–6 (ESV)
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
Deut. 28… covenantal blessings & curses
ISRAEL = GOD’S SPECIALLY CHOSEN COVENANT PEOPLE...
**SIMILAR to COVENANT BETWEEN MAN & WIFE**
------------------
ISRAEL FAILED in THEIR COVENANT— IDOLS AGAIN & AGAIN
Wild: GOD ALREADY KNEW—YET HE TOOK THEM!
C.C.: HOW MANY of US .... WOULD MARRY
… IF WE KNEW OUR SPOUSE WOULD BE UNFAITHFUL AHEAD of TIME??
GOD in HIS GRACE— STILL CALLED a MESSED-UP PEOPLE!
------------------
HOSEA MARRIES UNFAITHFUL WOMAN— SHE BEARS HIM a SON
************
Transition: PROPHETIC NAME GIVEN…
READ: v4-5
----------------------------------------
Hosea’s Son, Jezreel (v4-5)
Hosea’s Son, Jezreel (v4-5)
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.”
HEBREW NAMES OFTENTIMES HAD SIGNIFICANCE/MEANING
Example: ISAAC = HE LAUGHS
------------------
Jezreel, Background: BLOODY PLACE
NABOTH’S VINEYARD STOLEN
JEZEBEL KILLED
AHAB’S SONS EXECUTED
------------------
GOD SAYS HE WILL VISIT in JUDGMENT—BREAKING BOW (MILITARY)
BRING an END to ISRAELITE KINGDOM ALTOGETHER
************
Transition: HOSEA WILL HAVE MORE CHILDREN…
READ: V6-9
----------------------------------------
Hosea’s Illegitimate Children (v6-9)
Hosea’s Illegitimate Children (v6-9)
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.”
MORE SYMBOLIC NAMES—HARSHER…
**MIGHT NOT BE HOSEA’S CHILDREN** — GENERIC “BORE a DAUGHTER...”
NO MORE MERCY on ISRAEL
NOT MY PEOPLE...
------------------
THEY FORSOOK GOD—NOW HE’D DELIVER THEM UP to THEIR CAPTORS…
**BUT FOR NOW, JUDAH WOULD BE SPARED.**
************
Transition: IN MIDST of JUDGMENT… THERE’S HOPE…
READ: V10—2.1
----------------------------------------
Future Hope: (v10-2:1)
Future Hope: (v10-2:1)
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. 2:1 Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”
IN MIDST of JUDGMENT—THERE’S MERCY.
ISRAEL WILL BE LIKE SAND of THE SEA…
------------------
D.Q.: WHERE DID THIS LANGUAGE SHOW UP BEFORE? God’s Promise to Abraham
Genesis 22:17–18 (ESV)
17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,
18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
**DO YOU SEE GOD’S UNFAILING PROMISE??**
=> PEOPLE FORSOOK HIM AGAIN & AGAIN,, BUT THEIR DESTRUCTION WASN’T the END of the STORY…
what mercy!!
------------------
HOSEA’S MINISTRY SHOWCASES the WRESTLING of GOD’S LOVE & JUSTICE
HIS PEOPLE DESERVED JUDGMENT...
BUT GOD is a GOD of STEADFAST, ENDURING LOVE…
ONLY PERFECTLY FULFILLED @ CROSS…
------------------
One Day:
NOT MY PEOPLE—GOD’S CHILDREN.
GREAT = DAY of JEZREEL — NO LONGER BROKEN BOW!
************
Transition: CERTAIN FUTURE HOPE…
…BUT IT WOULD ONLY COME AFTER a TIME of JUDGMENT…
READ: V2-5
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Hosea 2: Israel’s Unfaithfulness Punished (v2-5)
Hosea 2: Israel’s Unfaithfulness Punished (v2-5)
2 “Plead with your mother, plead— for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband— that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts;
3 lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst.
4 Upon her children also I will have no mercy, because they are children of whoredom.
5 For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
STRONG, PASSIONATE LANGUAGE,, THERE’S a PLEA W/ ISRAEL to ABANDON THEIR OTHER LOVERS (IDOLS)
MOTHER,, BUT NOT WIFE!
(HOSEA, FAITHFUL ISRAELITES??)
------------------
LANGUAGE LIKE THIS REMINDS US HOW BAD IDOLATRY WAS…
ADULTERY = HORRIBLE
SO is IDOLATRY
Exodus 20:3–4 (ESV)
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
GOD’S JEALOUSY = ROOTED in LOVE
YOU DON’T LOVE SOMEONE IF YOU’RE WILLING to PASS THEM AROUND!
------------------
ISRAEL RAN AFTER OTHER gods… THINKING THEY WERE the SOURCE of BLESSING…
************
Transition: IN RESPONSE,, JUDGMENT WOULD COME…
READ: V6-13
----------------------------------------
Yahweh’s Punishment of His bride (v6-13)
Yahweh’s Punishment of His bride (v6-13)
6 Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’
8 And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.
11 And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts.
12 And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, ‘These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.’ I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them.
13 And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the Lord.
GOD WAS GOING to BRING HARDSHIPS…
… TO PROVE HE = SOURCE of ALL BLESSING.
------------------
GRAIN
WINE
OIL
SILVER
GOLD
WOOL
FLAX
ALL HAD to GO.
------------------
(D.Q.) DO YOU SEE WHY GOD WOULD DO THIS?
IF PEOPLE SERVED BAAL (& OTHERS),, & YAHWEH SHUT OFF the SPIGOT of BLESSING
—THEY’D SEE BLESSINGS CAME NOT FROM BAAL!
(V12) ISRAEL CREDITED BLESSINGS to HER “LOVERS”…
------------------
C.C.: PROSPERITY = GREAT THREAT to SPIRITUALITY…
SOMETIMES,, GOD WILL TAKE THINGS AWAY—
— BRING HARD TIMES— TO WAKE PEOPLE UP.
------------------
(v13) PEOPLE of HOSEA’S DAY FORGOT GOD— HE’D WAKE THEM UP!
**BECAUSE GOD LOVES HIS BRIDE**
************
Transition: HE WOULDN’T GIVE UP ON HER…
READ: v14-15
----------------------------------------
Yahweh’s Return to Israel (v14-15)
Yahweh’s Return to Israel (v14-15)
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
BASICALLY—GOD SAYS HE WILL WIN HIS PEOPLE BACK—
— IT’LL BE LIKE a HONEYMOON AGAIN
VALLEY of ACHOR (TROUBLE) = TURNED to DOOR of HOPE
------------------
LIKE the EXODUS from EGYPT AGAIN!
Recap Question: WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE in EGYPT?? SLAVERY! INITIAL FREEDOM WAS CELEBRATED GREATLY.
************
Transition: HONEYMOON,, ALSO ENTAILS RENEWED VOWS…
READ: v16-23
----------------------------------------
Yahweh & Israel Renew Vows (v16-23)
Yahweh & Israel Renew Vows (v16-23)
16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’
17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more.
18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.
19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.
20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel,
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’ ”
FUTURE DAY of BLESSEDNESS…
**COVENANT RENEWAL HAS CREATION IMPACTS** —
BEASTS of FIELD, BIRDS, CREEPING THINGS…
NO MORE BOW, SWORD, WAR…
FUTURE DAY of BLESSEDNESS—STILL AWAITED!
------------------
GOD WOULD BETROTH THEM in FAITHFULNESS, RIGHTEOUSNESS,, JUSTICE…STEADFAST LOVE…MERCY
FUTURE DAY for JEZREEL
NOT MY MERCY — WILL RECEIVE MERCY
NOT MY PEOPLE — WILL BE CALLED “MY PEOPLE”
------------------
FULFILLED in NEW COVENANT—
— WHERE GENTILES “NOT MY PEOPLE” = CALLED GOD’S PEOPLE— GRAFTED INTO TRUE VINE!!
1 Peter 2:9–10 (ESV)
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
THIS = GOD WE SERVE… A GOD of CONFOUNDING MERCY…
************
Transition: to PROVE THIS REALITY… HOSEA — LIVED it OUT!
READ: CH. 3… V.1-5
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Hosea 3: Hosea Redeems His Wife (v1-5)
Hosea 3: Hosea Redeems His Wife (v1-5)
3 And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” 4 For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.
AGAIN—HOSEA = LIVING ILLUSTRATION — PURCHASES GOMER BACK
**WHY’D HE “BUY” HER— WE DON’T KNOW— DEBT-SLAVERY??
------------------
REGARDLESS,, HE TOOK BACK— EVEN PURCHASED BACK—HIS ADULTEROUS WIFE!
------------------
THIS = SYMBOL of HOPE— FOR ISRAEL…
THEY WOULD ONE DAY SEEK GOD
& DAVID THEIR KING (MESSIAH)
------------------
Summarize:
Summarize:
THAT DAY = FAR OFF…
AT PRESENT,, ISRAEL STOOD UNDER GOD’S JUST JUDGMENT
=>> BULK of HOSEA’S MINISTRY = PLEADING W/ WAYWARD PEOPLE—WHO WOULDN’T RETURN <<
THEY DETERMINED NOT to BE SPARED… HELLBENT on DESTRUCTION
************
Transition:
CLOSE OUT TONIGHT… 2 EXAMPLE of HOSEA’S PLEADING…
#1 CH. 6… V.1-3
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Hosea 6:1–3 (ESV)
Hosea 6:1–3 (ESV)
1 “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.
3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”
CALL: “LET US RETURN” — COMMON PROPHETIC CALL...
MUCH “PROPHECY” = ACTUALLY PREACHING — GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!
------------------
REASON you CAN RETURN: GOD = RELIABLE!
(v3) GOING OUT—SURE AS DAWN & SPRING RAINS!
------------------
IF THE PEOPLE WOULD TURN to YAHWEH—HE’D TURN to THEM…
....BUT THEY REFUSED…
Summary: THIS = TALE of HOSEA’S WRITING…
************
Transition: NEVERTHELESS— HOSEA’S MINISTRY ENDS on HOPEFUL NOTE…
READ: CH. 14… v1-3
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Hosea 14:1–3(ESV)
Hosea 14:1–3(ESV)
1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take with you words and return to the Lord; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips.
3 Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.”
AGAIN—WHAT is the CALL?? RETURN.
O.T. CONCEPT of REPENTANCE = “RETURN/TURN”
------------------
Biblical Theology of Repentance:
O.T. —RETURN
N.T. CHANGE YOUR MIND
------------------
COME to TERMS W/ GOD— SIN is SINFUL
SEEK FORGIVENESS
TURN from IT
Matthew 3:8 (ESV)
8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
------------------
HOSEA PLEADS: TURN…
PLEAD FORGIVENESS
ACKNOWLEDGE ASSYRIA & HORSES CAN’T SAVE—
CONFESS—THEIR IDOLS ARE FAKE…
THEIR ONLY HOPE is GOD!!
************
Transition:TO CLOSE—WE’LL SEE the LORD’S RESPONSE…
READ: 4-9
------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
Yahweh’s Promise (Ch. 14:4-9)
Yahweh’s Promise (Ch. 14:4-9)
READ: V4-9
4 I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
6 his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.
9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.
GOD WILL HEAL THEIR APOSTASY or THEIR TURNING FROM HIM!
WHAT CONFOUNDING MERCY...
… THAT GOD ALWAYS TAKES BACK the SINNER WHO TURNS…
MARRIED to the ADULTERER
WELCOMES HOME the PRODIGAL…
------------------
Future Day of Blessing:
GOD WILL BE LIKE DEW —ISRAEL WILL TAKE ROOT
THEY WILL DWELL in HIS SHADOW & FLOURISH
(v8) THEY MUST SEE THAT HE is the ONE WHO ANSWERS & LOOKS AFTER THEM
************
Transition: BIG PICTURE…
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Summary, Big Picture:
Summary, Big Picture:
FUTURE DAY of SALVATION = VERY DISTANT…
**ISRAEL REFUSED to REPENT— WENT INTO ASSYRIAN EXILE in 722. B.C…
**BEFORE WE READ THAT ACCOUNT—WE’LL LOOK @ OTHER PROPHETS TOO**
ISRAEL DIDN’T FAIL for LACK of TRUTH—PROPHETS CAME AGAIN & AGAIN…
************
Transition: A few takeaways for us to consider tonight…
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Takeaways:
Takeaways:
1. GOD DOESN’T WANT to SHARE HIS PEOPLE… SERVING IDOLS = SPIRITUAL ADULTERY!
BAAL ISN’T AROUND—BUT CERTAINLY HUMAN DEVOTION = DIVIDED…
D.Q.: What are some IDOLS that can SHOW UP in our WORLD TODAY?
Colossians 3:5 (ESV)
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
IDOLATRY = PUTTING CREATION B4 the CREATOR …
------------------------------------
2. GOD is a GOD of CONFOUNDING MERCY…
LOVES HIS PEOPLE
RECEIVES the ADULTERER/PRODIGAL, ETC...
WE MERELY HAVE to RETURN to HIM
IN CHRIST— OUR SINS HAVE BEEN PAID FOR — LOVE & JUSTICE of GOD MET PERFECTLY…
------------------------------------
3. CHRIST is LOOKING for A SPOTLESS BRIDE…
Ephesians 5:25–27 (ESV)
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
------------------------------------
Conclusion:
GOD’S UNCEASING LOVE for US…
… SHOULD BE RETURNED BACK to HIM in DEVOTION & ALLEGIANCE…
Closing Questions/Reflections??
!! Close in Prayer !!
