Scripture reading: Hosea 1:1-11

“A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So then, they are no longer two but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

A shocking command! Scandalous! Hosea 1:2 “The Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord’”

God’s people had become unfaithful! “. . . for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord”

Hosea and Gomer’s 3 children and the message of each Vs 3-5 Call him Jezreel (the location of Jehu’s bloody massacre of Ahab’s line) Vs 6, 7 Call her Lo-Ruhamah “not loved” for Israel is no longer loved or forgiven Vs 8, 9 Call him Lo-Ammi “not my people” for Israel is rejected as God’s people

Israel was unfaithful like Gomer The people Hosea 4:1, 2 “Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.”

The prophets and priests were equally guilty! The prophets 4:5 GNV “Night and day you blunder on, and the prophets do no better than you.” The priests 4:6 NLT “My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests.”

They forsook Jehovah for False gods and idolarty! Hosea 4:10-13 “They have deserted the Lord to worship other gods . . . They have been robbed of their senses! They ask for revelations from a piece of wood! A stick tells them what they want to know! They have left me. Like a woman who becomes a prostitute, they have given themselves to other gods. At sacred places on the mountains they offer sacrifices and on the hills they burn incense under tall, spreading trees.”

There must be sincere repentance to be blessed of God Israel had to repent! Hosea 14:1 “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sins have brought you down. Bring your confessions and . . . Say to him, “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us, so that we may offer you our praises.” God promised forgiveness! Verse 4 “The Lord says, ‘I will bring my people back to me. I will love them with all my heart; no longer am I angry with them.’”

against unfaithfulness 2. A warning to us against unfaithfulness Objection: “All that OT stuff is good and well, but I came here to hear about us!” 1 Corinthians 10:11 “All these things happened to them as examples for others, and they were written down as a warning for us.”

Were the promises for physical Israel? Hosea 1:11 “The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited. They will choose for themselves a single leader, and once again they will grow and prosper in their land.”

Hosea 3:1 “The Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods.” Verse 5 “Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.”

The church is the promised bride of Christ 2 Corinthians 11:2, 3 NRSV “I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”

Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

Revelation 21:2, 3 “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.’” Vs 9, 10 “Then came one of the seven angels . . . and spoke to me, saying, ‘Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.”

Our devotion to God must be pure and sincere We must confess: we have fallen short, sinned, and soiled the wedding dress Is there any hope for us? Lamentations 3:22-24 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.”