Hosea – Page 14 – I'm Following Jesus

KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Chapters: Hosea 1-7
Message: Judgment Then Restoration

Hello My Friend,

The book of Hosea contains fourteen chapters, the author of the book is Hosea and it was written to Israel. The timeline for these events were approximately 790BC to 725BC, same as when Jeremiah prophesied in Judah. 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 truly learn of God’s love, mercy, and grace for all who seek and or return to Him. “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.” – Hosea 14:4.

God chose to use Israel as an example for the rest of the world to follow, His purpose them under his wings was to show all nations that He is the only living God, and how blessed they can be by acknowledging, following, and worshiping only Him. Israel has not always been the best example, in fact, they are kind of like everyone else in the world, full of pride and indignation toward God. Hosea takes a look at God’s judgment upon 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, not one of them attempted to lead the people to God. God gave Hosea an unusual request to show Israel what was about to happen to them, 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 it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. 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. 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.” – Hosea 1:3-6,8-10.

“Ye are the sons of the living God.” Whenever God allows a godly person to interact with an ungodly one you have to wonder what He is up to. The three children that Hosea had were Jezreel which means, God scatters, symbolic of a great slaughter about to take place, Loruhamah which means, uncompassionated, symbolic of the utterly ruined condition of the kingdom of Israel, and Loammi, which means “not my people”, symbolic of God’s rejection of the kingdom. God may have promised Abraham that his seed would be as the sand of the sea, but He did not promise that they would all be His. However, one day, He will return to Israel, all will become one in a marriage like you have never seen. 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.

“For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. 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 2:8-9,12,21-23.

“For she did not know that I gave her corn,” 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. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. 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.” – Hosea 4:1-2,6.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:” 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,” One thing we should all realize, is that we all have this flesh and until we get to heaven this flesh will sin, especially if we take our eyes off God for a second. God knows this and even though we can fall away from His presence, He is not really gone, He may turn His back to the sin, but never turns His back us, when we are ready to face Him, all we have to do is turn around. 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 free will says that we choose the life we want to live, if we are going to live in our own will, we will suffer, and while we do suffer from time to time even in God’s will, it is better to suffer in His will than our own.

“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 care more about our relationship with Him than fulfilling the lusts of our flesh. Jesus makes our soul perfect so we do not end up in hell, everything we do after we are saved counts with God while we are here. “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: Today, Jesus is revealed through Israel returning to their KING (Hos 3:5). There will come a day, when Jesus returns and Israel will finally acknowledge Him as the Messiah and King.

Today’s Prayer: God, Sometimes it can be so confusing following Your will because it just 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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