The Tender Mercies of God
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will sing as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
16 “In that day,” declares the Lord,
“you will call me ‘my husband’;
you will no longer call me ‘my master.’
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air
and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the Lord.
21 “In that day I will respond,”
declares the Lord—
“I will respond to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ”
Introduction
Introduction
The book of Hosea is about the magnification of the God of grace. What makes grace so profound, is the God who bestows that grace upon a rebellious people.
As we turn our attention to this book, and in particular this passage, we must recognise that Israel had been unfaithful. She had broken covenant with God, and had chased after false gods and claimed that these false gods were providing her with food and daily requirements.
As a result of this, you will recall that God had essentially said in the previous passage that he is going to effect a divorce with his bride, Israel, as a result of their unfaithfulness. Their abandonment of God and uniting with false gods would lead the true and living God to bring judgment upon them.
But this new section in Hosea begins with the word “therefore.” This is a word that tells us that what follows is a consequence of that which has preceded. In other words, as a result of all that has taken place with regards to Israel’s unfaithfulness and waywardness, and the resulting judgment that will flow, God is now going to do something. He is going to act.
What I want us to keep in mind at this point, as we merely scratch the surface of these verses, is that the promises that God will proceed to make in these passages point to the church era. This is important for us to realise. Many commentators and pastors would attribute the fulfillment of these verses to some future glorious era.
My understanding and view is, you’re living in that glorious era!!
All through this passage, be attentive to the great love of God that He has for us. What a profoundly loving and merciful God we serve, that we should be called children of the living God, and that is what we are!!
As we come, then, to this text, notice firstly...
1. A Promise of Restoration (vv.14-15)
1. A Promise of Restoration (vv.14-15)
God promises here that he is going to bring restoration.
As He does that, take note of the fact that He says that He will allure Israel.
We read in verse 14...
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.
To speak of “alluring” is to say that He is going to woo them to him. It speaks of the action of a man who is attracted to a young woman that he wants to marry, and the effort that he will go to in order to win her heart. God is essentially saying here that He is going to win her heart back to himself.
But notice further that God would do this by leading her into the wilderness.
Why the wilderness? What was unique or special about the wilderness that God chose to allure them to that place?
Well, there are a number of things that can be said of the Wilderness. It was a harsh place, where very little food and water was available. It was a place of a good measure of suffering and hardship.
Recall that the Israelites were led into the wilderness and they wandered there for 40 years before entering into the promised land, because they had rebelled against God, and had not believed in Him. Remember that they said they would rather have died in Egypt than to have been without food and water in the wilderness.
So it was not a great place to be.
But having said that, we must recall that the wilderness was often a place of meeting with God. And it is a place of dependence upon God. We read concerning the Israelites wanderings in the wilderness in...
2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
Specifically, within this context for Israel, they would be led into the wilderness so that they too may learn reliance once again on the true and living God, rather than on the Baal’s that they had started to place their trust in.
God spoke here of leading them to a place of humility and trust in Him alone, and then wooing her to himself as a new bride.
Note that when God leads them into this wilderness, he says that he will speak tenderly to her.
The word translated “tenderly” means inwardly, or to the heart. God would speak to her heart. This immediately brings to our minds the New Covenant language of Jeremiah 31:33, where God says that under the New Covenant he would write His laws on the heart.
This is a beautiful picture that God gives of speaking to this wayward bride, and wooing her to himself in such a way that she would be compelled to respond in positive manner to Him.
But notice further that God says in verse 15...
"...and there I will give her vineyards..."
What does this refer to? We must see this as figurative language. This is not saying that they will suddenly be growing grapevines in the wilderness. The language here is speaking about the comfort that would be brought to the people of God.
Recall that in the Bible, wine is often spoken of as that which brings comfort. Psalm 104:15 speaks of “wine that gladdens the heart of a man.” And in Proverbs 31:6 is speaks about giving “wine to those who are in anguish” in order to bring them comfort.
But we must see further the wonder of this bearing of fruit in a barren wilderness. God promises here that grapes will come forth in the wilderness. In a place of barrenness, life would appear by the grace of God.
Again, I would take this all to be referring to the New Covenant era, the church era, where the spirit of God has gone out even into barren places and is producing much fruit. There is repentance and trust in Christ, even in those places where darkness ruled, and people were outright opposed to God.
Taking this a step further, notice also that he says that he will...
"... make the Valley of Achor a door of hope..."
What is being spoken of here when he refers to the Valley of Achor?
This was not a place with fond memories for the Israelites. Rather, this was a place of the judgment of God.
Achor means "trouble". The place was named such due to the sin of Achan. When Israel had fought against Jericho as they started their campaign to take habitation of the promised land, Achan had gone into Jericho and he kept some of the treasures for himself that God had told them they were not to take.
As a consequence of this, when Israel sent a portion of their armies to go and attack Ai, they were overcome. They were beaten, because God’s judgment was on them as a result of Achan’s sin. We read in Joshua 7:25-26
25 Joshua said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today.”
Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. 26 Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.
Achor meant trouble. The trouble in that account was as a consequence of sin. But notice now that this place called trouble, says God, will be called a door of hope. God would bring a deliverance and would provide a door of hope. This door of hope is nothing less that a door of deliverance for those who had been humbled.
Notice, as Hosea goes on, that he says...
"...and there she shall sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt..."
Clearly the time that he had in mind was the time of the great deliverance of Israel from the land of Egypt. Having been trapped at the Red Sea, God delivered the Israelites through the sea, where deliverance looked impossible, and there was little hope. And having gone through the Red Sea, we recall the account of the song of Miriam, and the great jubilation and joy that there was at the deliverance that God had effected.
For us in our day, the deliverance that has come through Christ is far greater. It is a spiritual deliverance from a spiritual oppressor. It is a deliverance from that which would keep our own souls in bondage in hell. But God promised deliverance. Fruit to be borne out of a place that was a barren wilderness.
As Hosea goes on, notice in more detail...
2. The Promise of Covenant (vv.16-20)
2. The Promise of Covenant (vv.16-20)
We recall the language of divorce in the preceding section in chapter 2. But here is a promise of a changed relationship. God would woo His wayward people, and they would respond with joy and celebration, and with a returning to Him.
Firstly, notice the wording at the beginning of verse 16...
"And in that day...declares the Lord..."
This is God making a judicial statement. It is a divine decree. We must know that this will most certainly take place. There is no doubt about, there is now shadow of turning with God.
Then God says...
"...you will call me 'my Husband, you will not longer call me “my master”..."
Some translations have it as...
“…you will call Me Ishi… And will no longer call Me Baali...”
Ishi… meaning “my husband...”
Baali… meaning either “my master” or “my husband...”
There was a play on words here. Israel would refer to God as “Ba’al” - meaning husban, or master. But in the context of a society that used this name in association with their pagan god, they were in fact paying homage to the pagan god, and not truly worshipping Yahweh.
The point that Hosea is making here is that these Israelites would have this name removed from their lips, and they would worship the true God alone, without even a hint of reference to Ba’al.
Hosea goes on in verse 17...
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked.
This New Covenant relationship would result in a true worship of the living God, with no idol worship distracting the people.
At this point God speaks very clearly about this New Covenant.
Verse 18-19 reads...
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air
and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
Firstly, we need to consider that this covenant would be made for Israel with the beasts of the field etc. This may seem strange to us in our thinking, but again, this is figurative language.
Some have thought this to be referring to the animals that God said would previously devour the vines of the Israelites (see Hosea 2:12).
But again, I’m certain that what is referred to here, along with the next sentence concerning the bow and sword and battle being abolished, this all refers to a time of peace which is inaugurated by the coming of Christ in the New Covenant era.
Let me provide another example of this.
Isaiah 11 speaks about a leader rising up and bringing great peace. In verse 1...
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
And then further down in verse 10 of Isaiah 11, we read...
10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.
If you read that passage, you will find that he speaks of gathering his people together from all the different places of the earth. In other words, there will be peace between these people in Christ. There will not be one nation, or people, that is God’s and then the surrounding nations at war. Rather, the people of God will be from all nations and peoples.
Now, in the middle of that passage, we find these words...
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
Now, often people say this must refer to the New Heavens and the New Earth, because, well, we don’t exactly see the wolf and the lamb lying down together. But again, we need to see the figurative language being used here.
Wolves were those who were opposed to the people of God. For example...
6 Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them,
a wolf from the desert will ravage them,
a leopard will lie in wait near their towns
to tear to pieces any who venture out,
for their rebellion is great
and their backslidings many.
These phrases refer to the enemies of Israel.
The joyful truth is that all of these who were formerly enemies (that is the Gentile nations) will become united with Israel and form one people of God - those who are in Christ.
25 “ ‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of wild beasts so that they may live in the desert and sleep in the forests in safety.
Just going back to the Isaiah 11 passage, if you go across to Romans 15, you will find that Paul says that what was prophesied by Isaiah, came to fulfillment in Christ. You see that’s the argument of Romans 15, and particularly in verse 12 of Romans 15 Paul quotes Isaiah 11:10.
But notice also the marks of this New Covenant.
19 I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
This is an everlasting covenant. It is a marriage in righteousness and justice. It is a covenant in love and compassion. All of these descriptions are beautifully pictured for us in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
We could go on - there are many New Testament references. The point is these are the characteristics that mark this profound covenant of God in Christ.
Justice and righteousness, perfectly bound up in the person and work of Christ.
Love and compassion, perfectly demonstrated through Christ’s entry into this world and the life that he lived.
God has betrothed his people, the church, forever. What a beautiful truth!! People who were wayward, rebellious, sinful, adulterous, we have all been brought together in Christ. God allured even us, and we are His. We are loved by Him.
As we look further into verse 20, Hosea says there...
20 I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the Lord.
The word acknowledge in the NIV should rather be “know” - you will “know” the Lord. That is what we learn from Jeremiah 31:34 in terms of the New Covenant.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
One of the great realities of the New Covenant is our knowledge of God through Christ, the perfect revelation of God...
Hebrews 1:3 says… “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being...”
And in John 14:9-10, we read...
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
WE have this knowledge of God through Christ and the working of His Spirit. What a profound and wonderful truth!
Notice finally, from this passage...
3. A Promise of Abundance (vv.21-23)
3. A Promise of Abundance (vv.21-23)
21 “In that day I will respond,”
declares the Lord—
“I will respond to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
Here is a promise of abundance. There will be an abundance. God is saying that he will speak to the elements, and they will all obey, and they will produce a harvest through the abundant provision of resources.
Israel had forsaken God and attributed abundance in the earth to false gods, the Baals. But now having wooed them back to him, and having betrothed them, and having set his love upon them in a new way, he would also provide for them richly according to their needs.
Indeed, this is the great promise of our heavenly Father...
19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
And then, just in closing in verse 23, notice that God says through Hosea...
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ”
Again, here is the reversal of the names of judgment. We’ve already gone into this in some detail previously, so I won’t delve into it again. But the fact is that God will be faithful to call a people, and according to Romans 9, we are that people. We are the people of God. He is our God.
Application / Conclusion
Application / Conclusion
This passage is a most beautiful account of the unfailing, unmerited love and kindness of our God. It is the love and kindness that is ours in Jesus Christ. We are those who have received the mercy of God, and now stand in this covenant relationship with Him.
Our relationship with God is by His own divine initiative. It is by His amazing grace. It is by His deep care and concern. And He remains faithful to His people, even today.
If you are in the body of Christ, praise God, because it was Him who allured you. It was He who woke you out of your great slumber. It is him who has brought you into this covenant of peace, where you are living at peace with God.
And since you are in Christ, nothing can separate you from the love of God… Nothing!! Now weapon that is formed against will stand. Praise God.