By Woodrow Kroll
Part 6 - God Saves His People
Now, when a nation sins against God, God responds to that nation. But what if a nation repents of her sin? The next step in our study of the Book of Hosea is to see that God not only brings judgment, but if a nation turns its back on its sin, God resolves the situation by saving His people.
So, lets go back to the first couple of chapters of the Book of Hosea. Because, as I said, the story of Hosea is found in the first three chapters. Once you get beyond chapter 3, what you're finding are examples of what he's teaching in the first three chapters. Go back with me to Hosea, chapter 2 in verse 14. "Therefore, I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. Therefore, 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. 'In that day' declares the Lord, 'you will call Me "my husband"; you will no longer call Me "my master."(NIV)
Now, friends, that's good news! He says in that day, when I restore Israel, when Israel comes to her senses, when Israel finally realizes what a fool she has been, when she realizes that all that God has given her did not come because she was clever or because she got into e-commerce early. Everything that she has comes from the hand of God's blessing. When she recognizes that, God says, "The day will come when my blessing will flow back to her. She will no longer call Me my master, she will call Me my husband!" She will come home to the love of God. Coming back to God's love. That day will come, says God.
See, that's the underlying theme of this story of Hosea. It's the love of God that won't let Israel go. It's the love of God that has to bring judgment to Israel, but will call Israel back to Himself. So, that when Israel repents of her sin, there's God's love, there's His arms, stretched out wide to welcome her back.
You know, what God did for Israel, He'll do for you. There is no sin so deep, no sin so grave, no sin so heinous, no sin so awful that if you repent of that sin, God will not be waiting there with open arms. Oh, love that will not let me go.
Now, I want us to think today about God's resolution of the problem of Israel's sin. Israel sinned, God responded in judgment on the nation Israel, and now He brings the nation back to Himself.
Notice, first of all here in verse 16 of chapter 2. It tells us that God will not withhold His love forever. Remember, I said God would withhold His love temporarily in order to bring Israel to her senses and come back to Him. But the Bible clearly teaches, God will not withhold His love forever.
I want you to look with me in contrast, verse 6 of chapter 2 and verse 16 of chapter 2. Verse 6 is early in the story, when Israel is sinning against God. Or in the case of this story, Gomer is sinning against Hosea. Verse 6 says, "Therefore I will block her path with thorn bushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way." That's God's judgment.
Now, look at verse 16. "'In that day', declares the Lord, 'you will call Me "my husband"; you will no longer call Me "my master."'" That's God's love. And the contrast is striking. See, the Lord's judgment of His people would bring them to a relationship that would complete itself in the end, in which they came back to God and they received His love again.
Like Gomer, as a last resort, Israel would resolve to return to her husband. And when she came back to her husband it was the responsibility of Hosea, the wounded husband, to welcome her back with open arms and love her. And that is not easy. Not when your love has been spurned. Not when your wife has become unfaithful to you. That is not easy. And it wasn't easy for God either. But, God is teaching us through the story of Hosea and Gomer that His love is always open to us. That when we come back to Him, He welcomes us and He blesses us again.
Verse 16 indicates that Israel will be restored to the land. Israel is going to call Him, "my husband", not "my master." Now, the word for husband here, the word for man in Hebrew is the word, 'ish'. If you want to say MY husband, putting the personal pronoun on the end, you add a letter. And do you remember from the other day what the letter is? It's the letter I. So ishi, with the I on the end becomes my. Like Rabbi is my teacher. So, when He says, you will call me "my husband", you will call me Ishi.
What He also says is you will not call me Bali, my master, my lord. The relationship, whenever a wife comes back to her husband is different from the relationship a wife has when she's estranged from her husband. And the relationship my friends, when you repent of sin and come back to God, it's different from the relationship you have with God while you're living in sin. While you're living in sin, He's a hard taskmaster. He's bringing judgment on you. But, when you come back to Him, He's no longer your judge, He's your husband.
Remember that tender verse in John 15:15? Jesus said to His disciples, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you My friends, for everything that I learned from My Father, I have made known to you." See, the relationship changes when your master is also your husband. It's a love relationship, not a duty relationship.
What He says to these Israelites is, "I'm going to bring you back. I will betroth you to myself." Verse 19...He's very specific here. "I will betroth you to Me forever. I will betroth you in righteousness and in justice and in love and in compassion." And notice the dowry that He provides here. He says, "I will betroth you the Lord's price paid for Israel." His righteousness, notice in verse 19, that's maintaining a just cause.
Secondly, it's justice that's vindicating Israel through deliverance. Thirdly, it's love that's His unswerving devotion to her even though she has not been very devoted to Him. And fourthly, it's compassion. It's that tender feeling motivated by eternal love. God says, "This is the price I paid to welcome you back in my arms of love." And you know what? God is extremely happy to pay that price.
All of these things represent the character of God, don't they? This is what God is like. He is justice, He is righteousness, He is love, He is compassion. All of that is true of God. And the price that He pays is the price that is not unreasonable for God to pay. So, first of all in giving a resolution to the problem, God says, "I will not withhold my love for my people forever." Secondly, notice in chapter 3. God will ransom His people from their sin. The Lord said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again. Though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turned to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."
Now, this is a pretty amazing passage. We could spend an hour on chapter 3. In verse 2 of chapter 3, he says, "I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and lethek of barley. Then I told her, 'You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you.'"
Do you see the price he paid here? He paid 15 shekels of silver. He also paid a homer of barley, a homer and a half actually of barley, because an lethek is a half an homer. An homer was the largest dry measurement that they had in Israel. It was equivalent to the normal load that a donkey could carry in one sitting. So, if you had an homer of wheat, or an homer of barley, it would be what a donkey could carry. And you would say to yourself, "I don't have a donkey, how much can a donkey carry?" Let's get it down in terms that you and I understand.
Take a two liter bottle of Pepsi. If you take 110 two liter bottles of Pepsi, you have the equivalent of one homer, what one donkey can carry. That's what we're talking about. An homer is a little more than six bushels. That's something we can identify with. Ten ephahs and one lethek, one lethek is half an homer. Put those two things together, you have 15 homers. Ten and a half of the ten is 15. So, basically what you have at the bottom line is you have 15 shekels of silver and you have 15 homers of barley. Total, 15 and 15...30. You paid the equivalent of 30 pieces of silver to buy your wife back from her sin. Interesting, isn't it?
And the Old Testament Book of Exodus, chapter 21, the price of a slave was 30 pieces of silver. In Matthew, chapter 26, verse 15, Judas was paid 30 pieces of silver when he betrayed our master. He was given that amount. Now, what does that teach us? I think that it teaches us that when God had Hosea purchase his wife back, it was a wonderful picture of Jesus purchasing us. But look, here's a man who paid silver and barley.
Think of the price Jesus paid to purchase you. Just think of the wonderful verses. For example, 1Timothy, chapter 2, verse 6, "Jesus gave Himself a ransom for many. His purchase price was Himself." It tells us in Romans, chapter 5, verse 9 that we've been justified by His blood, His blood. And cautioned in chapter 1, verse 20 that Jesus made peace through His blood shed on the cross. In Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 7, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. In Revelation, chapter 1, verse 5, Jesus has freed us from the sins of ourselves by His blood.
And the great verse, 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 18 and 19, "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." See, when Jesus purchased my redemption, He was even greater than redemption that Hosea purchased when he bought back his wife from the market place of sin.
This is an eighth century story; a tragedy that ends well. It's also a first century story, about a crucifixion tragedy that ends well. It's also about a twenty-first century story about the tragedy of nations gone wrong. It can end well, because the underlying theme of the Book of Hosea is simple: Sin always brings judgment. Repentance always brings salvation. And underneath it all there is always the love of God calling you home to Himself. And waiting with open arms for you to receive His grace and His love. And that's true on a national level and it's true on a personal level. It's as true for you as an individual as it was for Israel; that God is awaiting you and me to come to our senses, be convicted of our sin, to repent, genuinely repent of our sin and come back to Him. And when we do, we have this promise; His arms are open, His love is strong, and He'll welcome us back.
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