Thread by @GPrater85015

#GeraldsDevotional
The Book of Hosea – A picture of the Gospel and God’s Unending Love

The LORD led me in recent days to study and meditate on His word through the minor prophet Hosea. A relatively short book of only 14 short chapters, I was able to read through it several times to lean into what He was trying to tell me. And I walked away from this study with an

astounding reminder of the power and living nature of the Word of our Lord.

As a quick overview and to put the book into perspective, Hosea was a prophet that the Lord sent to preach to the northern kingdom of Israel after the nation split with Judah in the south. Hosea spent

many years preaching to the northern kingdom, warning them about their unfaithfulness and the way they had turned their backs on the Lord God who they knew had done great things for them.

In the first three chapters, God has Hosea demonstrate a living example with his life

(*note 1). This example which was illustrated through the life of Hosea was designed to show Israel a living example of how they had fallen and rejected all that God had done for them. God told Hosea to go and take as his wife a well-known prostitute (Gomer) and to love her in

spite of her past and present lifestyle tendencies. Even from the very beginning when the Lord told Hosea to do this, He said in verse 2 that it was an example of what Israel had done to Him. The first three chapters draw parallels of how God was using the things that took place

in Hosea’s marriage to illustrate what He had also been doing and was about to do with His rebellious and ungrateful people in Israel.

God shows pictures of how He had done so much to care for and provide for His people after He brought them out of bondage in Egypt, provided for

all of their needs, and made a covenant with them. Yet, they rebelled against Him and committed adultery with other gods. And even through all of what Gomer did, God told Hosea to remain faithful and to wait for her (an illustration of God’s faithfulness and patience with His

people). This was a process that was very painful for Hosea because it required him at times to go and buy back his wife from men to whom she was still selling herself (see the 5 verses in Hosea 3). Again, all of this was being done through Hosea’s life as a way of illustrating

in a way that the people could see a living example of God’s amazing love, grace and faithfulness to His people.

After chapter 3, God has Hosea preach sermons that are allegories to show Israel how she had fallen and been unfaithful to the God that she had clearly seen. A famous

verse that jumped out to me from the 4th chapter is this:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to me: seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your

children.” – Hosea 4:6

This verse jumped out to me because when I saw it I was once again reminded about the importance of truth. God was saying that they knew very well what the truth was of what God had done, but they still rejected it and went after pursuits of worshipping

other gods. Throughout the book, God has Hosea reference instances where the people were worshipping other gods, committing many iniquities, and still coming to sacrifice and worship Father God as if everything was alright. Verse 6:6 is another well-known verse that highlights

God’s response to this type of hypocritical worship:

“For I desired mercy and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burn offerings.” – Hosea 6:6

Chapter 7 gives some examples of how the children of Israel had been walking in this way for so long that their hearts

had become hardened to the point where they didn’t even realize that they were doing it (see 7:6-10). This is a very dangerous place for any of us to be. When it gets to the place where we are doing all of the religious things and have strayed so far from the path that we don’t

even realize we are not walking in the truth. From His righteous nature and just response to iniquity, God has Hosea preach in chapter 8 about the consequences that all of this rebellion and unfaithfulness demands (8:7 says “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the

whirlwind…”). He further emphasizes this in verse 9:17 when Hosea says “My God will cast them away because they did not hearken unto Him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.” One of the reasons that God talks about scattering them to among the nations (which

eventually does happen kind of) is because Israel is placing much of her confidence and trust in political alliances with neighboring nations (chapter 10).

When it is starting to seem like there is no hope, God demonstrates His faithfulness and mercy in spite of Israel’s lack of

appreciation and adultery. In chapter 11:9-12, God shows that in spite of everything these people have done and continue to do (remember Hosea’s wife Gomer), He will remain faithful and do what only He can do to make a way for them to choose to come back to Him.

*Note 1 – Remember how in the first chapter God used the life of Hosea and his wife Gomer as a living example to illustrate His point to the people of Israel? I found it interesting that the Lord circled back and reinforced this point near the end of this book in chapter 12 where

He said that He had always been using these and other efforts to try to get the attention of His people. But due to rebellious natures, they have always rejected the truth. Here is what He said to circle back on how He used life examples like Hosea’s marriage:

“I have also

spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.”

The last 3 chapters (11-14) are just reminders of how this has always been a problem (rebellion, selfishness, and ungratefulness) and gives examples going back to how

Jacob deceived his brother and his father Isaac in Genesis 27-28. But at the end, God shows once again that through it all, He is determined to keep His promise. Another beautiful picture that points back to the promise that He made to Abraham that points forward to the ultimate

fulfillment of that promise in the cross at Calvary by Jesus.

Who would have ever guessed that the book of Hosea was a 14-chapter description of the Gospel?
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