King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Friday, July 19, 2019
Chapters: Hosea 1-7
Message: Sons And Daughters Of The Living God
Hello My Friend,
As you read through the prophecy books you can get a sense of God’s sadness as He pleads with Israel to come back to Him. It even makes you sad to see just how much He loves them, and yet they reject Him time and time again. Still today, while they do acknowledge God, they refuse to accept that His Son is the Messiah they waited for so to save them. While God will always have a place in His heart for the people of Israel, one thing is sure, He is not respecter of persons because He pleads with each and everyone of us the same. “Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.” – Romans 2:9-11.
“Tribulation and anguish,” While tribulation comes to all of us, we are the ones who are responsible for the anguish that comes as a result of doing right in our own eyes instead of God’s. The book of Hosea contains fourteen chapters, the author is Hosea and it was written to Israel. The timeline for these events were about 790BC to 725BC, the same as Isaiah. The purpose of the book was to alert Israel to her sinful condition and bring her back to God. What we are to learn from the book is that, only from falling can we understand God’s love, mercy, and grace for all who seek, and or return to Him. Hosea takes a look at God’s judgment upon the Northern Kingdom side of Israel, it had been centuries since God had even been mentioned there, no godly influence, and out of the nineteen kings to reign since the kingdom was divided, none of them attempted to lead the people to God. God gave Hosea an unusual request to show Israel their fate, take a prostitute as a wife.
“So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son. And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son. Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.” – Hosea 1:3-4,6-11.
“for great shall be the day of Jezreel.” Jezreel; seed of God. Loruhamah; the uncompassionated. Loammi; not my people. Hosea was to name his children to show the ruin of the people, With Jezereel, He foretells of the ruin of the royal seed of God. With Loruhamah, He foretells of His having no more compassion on Israel. And with Loammi, He foretells of the day He when they will no more be His people. The mercies of God are abundant, but abuse them too much, and He will take them away. Sin turns away God’s mercies, even from His own professing people. Though some, through unbelief, are broken off from the Vine, there will come a time with both Israel and Judah will come together as one again, and accept the Seed of God, who is Jesus Christ. “And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:” – Romans 9:26-27.
“a remnant shall be saved:” God may have promised Abraham that his seed would be as the sand of the sea, He did not promise that they would all be His. God laments a bit over the state of His people, they do not even know Him, but He does not completely discard them because He knows they will return to Him.
“Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.” – Hosea 2:1-5,13,21-23.
“and they shall hear Jezreel.” This again is referring to the day that Israel will finally acknowledge Christ as the Messiah, and also something else, the Gentiles will do this as well. Ammi; my people. Ruhamah; having obtained mercy. Ammi and Ruhamah are both Jews and Gentiles, when Israel finally recognizes Christ as their head, that is when God will have mercy upon them once again and call them His people along with the Gentiles. Both shall hear Jezreel, and come to know Him as their Saviour. God’s spiritual Israel is made up of both Jews and Gentiles without distinction, they shall call one another brethren and sisters, for God shall say, “You are my people.” And the people shall say, “You are my God.” “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” – Revelation 21:3-4,7-8.
“But the fearful, and unbelieving,” People are oblivious to the blessings of God, sadly, more and more are growing up not even knowing God exists, and thanks to the world, and public schools pushing evolution as fact, they have no idea that life does not end here. Through Hosea, God addresses His controversy over Israel completely rejecting Him, and not even acknowledging Him.
“Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall. Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth. For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.” – Hosea 4:1,6,13-16.
“because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee,” People die every single day, even church going, follow the rules of their religion people, because they lack the knowledge they needed to know and accept Christ as their Saviour. Ignorance never saves, and it is not because God does not love them, it is because they never took the time to listen to His Word when they had the opportunity. God promised Israel that even though He turned His back to them, He would always be there when they return to Him. “And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them. They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.” – Hosea 5:5-6,15.
“till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face:” God’s purpose in showing Israel all this was to show them that they were living an adulterous life with the idols they created, He was going to remove Himself from their presence and they were going to be judged and scattered all over the world. Still today, Jews and even Christians are scattered all over the world because of this. God’s gift of freewill says that we choose the life we want, if we are going to live in our own will, we will suffer, and while we do suffer even in God’s will, it is better to suffer in His will than our own. Once again, God pleads with them to prevent all this, but they refuse. “Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.” – Hosea 6:1-3,5-7.
“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice;” God never asked us to be perfect because He knows we cannot be, no matter how much we try, what He asks is that we love Him, that we acknowledge Him, and make Him a part of our lives. Jesus makes our soul perfect so we do not end up in hell, everything we do after we are save is God’s mercies for having put our faith and trust in His Son. “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” – Romans 10:3-4,9-10.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.” – Hosea 3:5.
Today’s Prayer: God, Sometimes it can be so confusing following Your will, especially when it seems like something that does not come from You. While we may not always understand Your will, there will come a day when we will see the purpose of it. No matter what we go through, whether it is joyous or grievous, we will be blessed and find meaning in it as we remain faithful to You. Lord, give us Your power, wisdom, and guidance, help us to understand and know if the things we are doing is in Your will or something we just drummed up ourselves. Give us Your strength, mercy, grace, and patience as we grow closer to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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