Hosea's Heartbreak - God's Gift

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The Old Testament is a collection of books which speak of God's covenant relationship with the nation of Israel - our example for marriage and establishing a relationship with God.  This relationship cannot be established unless we spend time with God: studying the Bible, attending church, praying.  So that we would have a model to follow, God left a record of His marriage to Israel through the writings of His prophets.

God married Israel: "... I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine."  (Ezekiel 16:8)  In the next verse, begins teachings on husband/wife relationships: "Then washed I thee with water ..."  Compare this with the directive in Ephesians 5:25-26 for husbands to read the Word to their wives:  "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word."

Study the next several verses to see how God provided the very best for Israel:  "I clothed thee also with embroidered work ... and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk ... This wast thou decked with gold and silver ... And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD."  God is not saying here that spouses are to be involved with wild extravagances for one another but the ATTITUDE of our heart should be to care for one another with love and admiration; i.e., to cherish.

The sad thing, however, is like so many marriage partners, Israel played the harlot and turned to (married) other gods: "But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by ..." (Ezekiel 16:15) This is what we do to God. He gives us so many blessings, but we give credit to our own efforts and others. We worship possessions instead of God by devoting our time and financial resources to personal desires and excesses instead of furthering the work of the Kingdom and glorifying Him with our blessings. We become self-centered, refusing to worship Him. We become so busy that we don't attend church, study the Bible or pray fervently except when emergencies or tragedies come into our lives. We reserve huge amounts of our time and money for our careers, expensive transportation, hobbies, eating out, vacations and various forms of entertainment.

This being an article written in the month of December, how does this topic relate to the message of Christmas and God's gift to us through Hosea?  Hosea learned the sorrow God experiences from our misuse of time, resources and relationships by experiencing spurned love from his wife who became involved in worldly extravagances, adultery and another marriage. Likewise, God made a covenant with the nation of Israel who became involved in harlotry and adultery. Hosea experienced, on a personal level, what God experienced with His chosen nation (wife).

This husband/wife analogy runs throughout the Old Testament: God being the husband; the Israelites, the wife. Israel went after other gods - played the harlot. "... When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbor's wife."  (Jeremiah 5:7,8)  God's wife (spiritual) married other gods. Recorded is His response to Israel's sinful relationships:   Even though the Israelites committed these abominations, God repeatedly begged them to return telling them that they were still married, even though separated by sin:  "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you ..." "Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me ... Return ye backsliding children ... If thou wilt return, O Israel ..." (Jeremiah 3:14,20,22; 4:1)  They were separated from God because of their sinful lifestyles, yet God's unconditional love extended through His indissolvable covenant. 

Sin separates us from God. The Israelites separated themselves from God (divorced, dealt treacherously) through their acts of fornication, harlotry and adultery. Yet, God's message didn't change. They were still bound to the covenant and had to come out of sinful lifestyles to receive eternal life. He was teaching us through the lifestyles of the nation of Israel that we cannot live in a covenant (a relationship) with other gods and enter heaven. This was the same message given to us through Hosea with his adulterous wife who married someone else. God commanded Hosea to go get his wife and continue to love her as He had given the example: "Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine."  (Hosea 3:1)

That's what the message of Christ coming to earth is all about. His love is here to draw us back to Him. He is saying, "Return unto me, ye backsliding children."  We have all sinned and turned from Him in some way, but when we turn from our sins, He will forgive us. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." (Proverbs 28:13) 

Actually, we do not have a choice if we want to live eternally in Heaven. We must make Jesus Lord of our lives by following the Word. This is an analogy of God's invitation to the Israelites to return to Him (to follow Him). They could not turn to another god and be saved. We cannot turn to idols or any other god and live with Him.

How do we apply this to our lives? How do we transfer our affections from God to idols.  Think about what happened with Eve in the book of Genesis.  Eve lusted after something God had placed off limits - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  She came to the point in her life that she wanted the fruit of the forbidden tree more than she desired to obey God.  The fruit became an idol to her. Idolatry is anything that draws us away from obeying the Word of God. We let possessions become idols if they take first place in our lives. Do we spend more time building our personal homes and careers than we do on the house of God? Do we make the Sabbath the day on which we go skiing, play golf, or go for a drive in the mountains? Would we skip work to participate in one of these activities? Have we put ourselves in a financial position that we work on the day of worship because we need the additional income? When these things keep us from the house of God, they have become idols. Do we consume so much food that our body (the temple of the Holy Spirit) cannot properly burn it and thus stores extra weight which later may create complicated physical problems? Does our lust of the flesh drive us to participate in sexual sin - that which God says will destroy our souls (keep us out of Heaven)?

Many Americans cannot understand a people who would worship a cow, but do we worship (pay tribute to financially and with our time) a career, car, motorcycle, boat, vacation home, sport's activity, extravagant luxuries or even another person?  Has the TV become an idol? Is it the center of attention? Are all the chairs in the family room centered around it?  When I walk into my house, do I turn on the TV or open the Bible?  How many of us sacrifice and plan for the college education of our children and greatly rejoice upon graduation day? This is quite normal. However, to balance that, what kind of commitment, financially and time-wise, have we devoted to their spiritual development - that which will carry them into heaven for eternity?

Do you have a Sacred Cow that has replaced God?  Remember, we are three-part persons: spirit, soul and body.  Our body is called the flesh and is the instrument that responds, in the physical, to sin or righteousness. Our soul includes the mind (emotions/feelings, intellect, will); the spirit, that which communes with God. The Scriptures instruct that we must be born again. This refers to our spirit. Our soul directs our spirit by what we feed it - how we train it: what we read and listen to; the relationships we foster; how we invest our time.  What we say, what we think, what we do, how we spend our time are factors that shape our soul, making it an instrument to accept or reject the commands (spirit) of God.

That's what Romans 12:1,2 mean:  "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." This does not mean that we are to offer our physical bodies to be burned, but we are to discipline our soul (will) to follow the commands of God, whatever the cost. "Our Father which art in Heaven thy will (not ours) be done." If we surrender our will (soul), then God is directing our life; if not, then we are in rebellion as we then take charge with the flesh.

God sent Himself in the likeness of man through Jesus Christ (Immanuel: God with us) to teach again the message given in the Old Testament. There is one God to whom we must pledge our faithfulness. The way is through the Person of Jesus Christ: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6)

If we don't spend quality and quantity time with Christ; if the thought of reading the Bible bores us; if we have little interest in attending church or fellowshipping with other Christians; these are red flags that should greatly concern us. These are the foundation for an eternal life in Heaven. Christ gave us life and presented Himself a living sacrifice for us. Can we do anything less than to give our lives back to Him - to follow His teachings, to worship Him, to devote our time and resources to further His Kingdom in our lives and in those with whom we come in contact?  

May we all continue to push toward the mark of His calling upon our lives so that we may enjoy the harvest of righteousness when we meet at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb:  "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God." (Revelation 19:7-9)

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