God or Man

There is no doubt about it, the words of Hosea 11:1 are Messianic.  Yet could we have ever guessed as much without the benefit of Matthew’s testimony and interpretation (specifically in Matthew 2:15)?  I think not.  These words by Hosea are clearly a national reference.  God did love the young nation of Israel.  Despite their carnality and unbelief, He loved them.  And, He called them out of Egypt through the ministry of the prophet Moses.  He loved them (Hosea 11:1 & 4), healed them (Hosea 11:3), freed them and fed them (Hosea 11:4).  Nevertheless, they ignored Him and worship idols instead of worshipping Him (Hosea 11:2).  So, He determined to send them into exile under the heavy hand of the Assyrian king (Hosea 11:5).  He didn’t want to destroy them (Hosea 11:8-9), but He did feel obligated to punish them with the rod of Assyria.  Evidently, it was the only way.

Back to verse 1 again though, is the prophecy primarily about Israel, or is in primarily about Jesus Christ?  The answer is a resounding, “YES!”  You may remember back in Genesis 32 where we read about how God wrestled with Jacob and changed his name to Israel (Genesis 32:28).  Read it again, God said, “Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince you have power with God and with men, and have prevailed.”  Of course, this definition for the name “Israel” fits more perfectly with our Savior, Jesus Christ, than with any man in history… including Jacob, even though he was the very man to whom the statement was originally directed.  Jesus is not just a prince, He is the Prince.  Additionally, He does indeed have all power with God and with men (Matthew 28:18).  He is the “daysman” for which Job yearned (Job 9:33).  He is the mediator of whom Paul wrote in I Timothy 2:5.  He is the intercessor of Romans 8:34  & Hebrews 7:25.  He is the original Comforter (Paraclete) of John 14:16; the advocate of I John 2:1.  He is exactly what He wasn’t in Hosea 11:9.  Jehovah had said, “I am God, and not man…” but now He is both… Emmanuel… God, with us (I Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 10:5, John 1:14 & I John 4:3).

So, at one time God basically said through the prophet Hosea that He was not drawn by the same passions that men were drawn by, therefore it might be expected that He would act in unanticipatable ways.  If He were merely an infinitely powerful sinful human, He might have simply eradicated the Jews altogether because of their resistance against Him.  But, being divine, He has the power to extend mercy further than we could ever possibly imagine.  And yet, surprise of all surprises, the incarnation of the Son of God, while giving Him an infinite right to judge us harshly (John 5:22) because, after all, He is now an insider, also gave Him deep empathy for us and our predicament.  Instead of rushing forth to destroy us, He has held back destruction (John 3:17).  His incarnation experience gives Him a particularly strong legal right to do away with us for good, but the opposite has occurred (Hebrews 4:15).  If anything, the patience of God has been intensified by becoming the Son of man (Romans 3:23-26).  Now then, we don’t have a “God or Man” proposition at all here.  Instead we find hypostasis.  Jesus “became” Israel in Bethlehem and then died as Israel on the cross… and in doing so He became all of us (II Corinthians 5:21, John 11:50-52 & I John 2:2).  God came to us so that He could bring us to Himself.  Hallelujah for the God-man!

 

Hemlock in the Field

If Israel was compared to a farmer’s field (and they were in this chapter), then that field was in a poor condition indeed.  Their spiritual field was fallow, unplowed and hard.  Instead of verdant grape vines there, the deadly judgment of God was springing up (Hosea 10:4).  The rich land that should have produced gratitude, humility and worship in the hearts of the Jews, instead brought poisonous hemlock that could only numb them and kill them.  Their hearts were divided.  They were full of faults (Hosea 10:2).  As such, their set punishment was severe (Hosea 10:14).

What was the solution then?  Well, no surprise… the nation needed to repent of their sins and to follow God.  Hosea 10:12-13 is rather plain and simple I think, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till He come and rain righteousness upon you.  You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped iniquity; you have eaten the fruit of lies: because you did trust in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men.”  It was indeed time to seek the Lord, but they didn’t do that.

It is an unsettling realization that the very things that God blesses us with can become detrimental to our spiritual health if not viewed properly.  God may have blessed you with a good appetite and with good food with which to satisfy it.  God may have made you attractive, and perhaps He gave you a spouse who appreciates your good looks and lets you know it regularly.  God may have given you a healthy body, a good mind, great talents, wonderful opportunities… the list could go on and on… but have you invested these things as blessings in your life, or have you allowed them to rot.  It is a short trip from a healthy appetite to gluttony.  It is a short trip from being attractive to being vain… and on we could go.  The good things that we have are designed to draw us toward God, but we can easily sneak around behind those blessing and allow them to eclipse God from our view.  Wealth, affluence, prosperity, safety, security, education, industry, technology, infrastructure, power, influence… all of these things can be great assets if we appreciate them and worship Jehovah, the giver of all good things.  But, if we enjoy these things and leave God out, like Israel did, then in a sense, all of these enviable fruits will become poison to us.  God still judges sin. 

 

 

The Apple Falls

We are all familiar with the phrase, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”  It is the same as, “Like father, like son.”  Among other things, these phrases remind us that a man is affected by his parentage.  It is obvious that God has designed this world in such a way that who one’s parents are greatly influences who he or she will become.  Adam chose to sin, and so all of his descendants have therefore been born as condemned sinners.  If he had not chosen to sin, then obviously his descendants would not have been born into this predicament.  Think also of God’s command to Saul for him to slay the Amalekites, including infants (I Samuel 15:3).  Especially under the law, the universal sin nature of all of humanity clearly makes us all candidates for death at some point… before birth, as infants, toddlers, teens, adults or in old age.  This theology fits perfectly with reality too.  We all know that death is no respecter of persons.  People die… it doesn’t matter what your age, gender, race, socio-economic situation, intelligence quotation or religious persuasion: the possibility of death is always present.  And, the ratio of people conceived to people who have died (or are dying) rounds off to 1 out over every 1 (considering the exceptions of Enoch and Elijah, we could say that maybe .0000000001% of those who have been born have escaped death).  Every person has an appointment with death (Hebrews 9:27).  As far as I can tell, only the “rapture generation” will escape it.

So, when children die, is it God’s fault?  Didn’t babies drown in the deluge?  Weren’t there children in Sodom and Gomorrah?  Didn’t God know about the babies who would be slaughtered in Egypt when he sent his people there?  Didn’t God know about the babies who would be slain in Bethlehem after the birth of the Messiah?  Isn’t God aware of the untold millions of babies who are being murdered in our modern world by the means of abortion?  Could He stop it?  Why doesn’t He stop it?  Your queasiness and mine about this matter doesn’t change reality in the least.  And indeed, there has to be a reasonable explanation.  I did not say an easy or an emotionally palatable explanation.

Hosea 9 is an exceedingly unpleasant prophecy, but it fits with the reality that I have brought uncomfortably to our attention today.  Israel (Ephraim) was full of sin (Hosea 9:15 & 17).  Hosea was sent to declare to them that their sins were going to cost them their children.  “Rejoice not,” he wrote at the beginning of this chapter.  And no wonder, considering what the rest of his message is like.  Hosea 9:1-10 emphasizes the sinfulness of Israel.  The rest of the chapter describes the consequences that they brought upon themselves.  God said, “Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them” (Hosea 9:12).  “Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer” (Hosea 9:13).  “Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts” (Hosea 9:14).  “Ephraim is smitten… they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb (Hosea 9:16).  Death, even the death of the smallest child is evidence of God’s justifiable hatred for sin.  No, not every death is the specially direct result of a parent’s specific sin, but ultimately, the universal curse of sin is always the problem.  In Hosea’s day, it was the immediate problem.  And friends, if America continues in sin as we now are, our kids will be taken too.  And, it won’t be God’s fault… it will be our fault.

 

Disposing of Good Things

Some of us get a little frustrated when we see people throwing away things that are still good… justifiably so.  Good food, good cloths, perfectly good things that still have a lot of potential for usefulness… these things should not simple be thrown in the trash.  Wastefulness is actually condemned in the Bible (Proverbs 18:9).  But, in our society it is common to dispose of good things because we have so much.  It has been said that most of the world could live off of what we Americans throw away.  I figure this is probably true.  But, we don’t throw absolutely every good thing away. 

On the other hand, a child may ignore with disdain many good things in pursuit of something that is actually worthless.  A man who allows his hormones to govern his mind might throw the best things in his life away in order to get the woman for whom he foolishly lusts.  A drug addict strung out on methamphetamines, heroin or crack might throw away everything good in order to get repeated fixes.  This is how far gone Israel was spiritually.  They had it all, but sold it for monopoly money.  Hosea 8:3 says, “Israel has cast off the thing that is good.”  They forsook God and began to follow idols (Hosea 8:6).  How strange.  God has power.  Idols have no power.  Jehovah is alive.  All other deities are not alive… never have been and never will be.  It’s like trading a real baby for a ragdoll.  It just makes no sense.  Yet, Israel did it.  Israel rejected God’s Law, rejected His love and rejected Him (Hosea 8:12, 9 & 14).  So, God rejected them too (Hosea 8:13).

It is a startling realization – the majority of the people who have ever lived on this planet are burning in hell today (Matthew 7:13-14 & Isaiah 5:14).  Their souls were valuable.  They were valuable.  God wanted to save them (II Peter 3:9); to preserve them; to bless them, but because they died without that which is most valuable (the knowledge of God through humble faith in Christ), they now perish as if they had no worth at all.  I don’t burn nice things.  I burn trash… valueless things.  If humans reject that which is good and valuable… if humans reject God, then He will reject us.  You and I are valuable.  God does not enjoy damning souls (Ezekiel 33:11).  But, He will do it if we make Him do it (Matthew 10:28).  Those of us who sow the wind will reap a whirlwind (Hosea 8:7).  If we plant weed seeds then we will only have weeds in our harvest.  We can’t sow wild oats and harvest fine wheat.  The Jews were destined to learn that lesson (as Hosea points out in this chapter).  Let’s learn it by their example not by our own experience, Amen!?!  Don’t dispose of good things.  Don’t avoid or ignore the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Don’t quench the Holy Ghost (I Thessalonians 5:19).  Don’t reject Christ!

 

 

Of Bread, Birds & Bows

In describing the sins of Israel, God used several different analogies.  He mentions a heated oven several times in this chapter (Hosea 7:4, 6 & 7).  But, today we will focus on the word pictures of a cake (Hosea 7:8), a dove (Hosea 7:11) and a bow (Hosea 7:16).  Consider these 3 illustrations and evaluate your own heart and life in light of them.

First, God compared Israel to an unturned cake.  This is a portrait of imbalance.  I envision a pancake on a hot griddle.  The bottom of it is crispy black and the top is still cool, raw and runny.  The heat of God’s discipline is intended to make us better, but an immovable disposition will cause bitterness instead.  Spiritually, you and I are useless when we are too hard on the one hand and too soft on the other?  “Let your moderation be known,” the Scripture says (Philippians 4:5).  Of course, there are some believers who are so hard on others and yet so hypersensitive themselves.  What a shame!  We should accept criticism graciously & deal it out (if necessary) just as graciously… and gracefully.

Secondly, Israel is described as a silly dove.  The implication here is that they had no sense or discretion.  If a lost dove calls ever so loudly (if a dove can be loud) to a passing hunter, the calls may be a result of “sincere” despair, but the hunter will still shoot the dove for supper, not just despite the dove’s calls, but in a way because of them.  Israel sought for help from Egypt & Assyria (Hosea 7:11), but this was not just futile, it was suicidal.  Assyria came at the invitation all right, but they came like a heat seeking missile.  When we seek to the world and to the flesh to alleviate our pains and frustrations, we are also like silly doves.  Our cries (because of their direction) only make us more visible targets, at whom Satan himself can shoot.

The last metaphor in this chapter is a bow with misaligned sights.  The archer lines the sights up with the target and shoots, but every time, the arrow veers wide to the left.  When Israel felt the pressure of God’s judgment upon them, they adjusted, but not in the right direction.  You might say that they went from firing at nothing to firing at themselves.  “They returned, but not to the Most High” (Hosea 7:16).  If God is the archer, do His arrows fly straight when fired from the string of your life and mine?  Or, do we always redirect and go astray?

If God were to issue a few analogies to describe you and me, what would they look like?  Not like these, I hope.  Are you an unturned cake… are you inconsistent?   Are you and I like silly doves… pursuing the very thing that will kill us.  Am I a deceitful bow, always turning aside from the truth that God gently pushes my way.  Try to make up an analogy that you think God might use to describe you, if you were the topic a today’s prophecy.