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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore,
which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ The
people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together; they will appoint
one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of
Jezreel.”
Hosea 1:10-11
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As the Book of Hosea opened, we were reminded how much the Israelites
were in a bad place with God before His judgment came. They had been an
unfaithful and spiritually adulterous people who had directed their devotion
away from God toward pagan gods and idols even though God had commanded them (as
He had commanded their ancestors) to do otherwise:
“I am the Lord your
God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
“You shall have no
other gods before me.”
“You shall not make
for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth
beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.”
Exodus 20:2-5a
Through their actions, the Israelites showed complete
disregard for these commands and, in doing so, complete disrespect for the God
who had given them, something He was not going to take kindly to.
Yes, the people of God were an unfaithful lot as we examined
in yesterday’s devotion and through the illustration of Hosea’s marriage to the
promiscuous Gomer (symbolic of God’s relationship with his disloyal people). As
Hosea and Gomer produced children, the names of the children represented how
God would withdraw His love from the Israelites and abandon them as they had
abandoned Him when His punishment was imposed. They would no longer be His
people nor He be their God.
It was a pretty bleak picture, really. And the saddest part
of it all was that it could have been so very different had God’s people simply
remained obedient to His word and will, placing their fullest trust and
dedication in Him and Him alone.
But that didn’t happen and as we know from history, God
would end up sending consequences on His people, destroying their homeland, the
land He had given them, before surrendering them into the hands of the
Assyrians and Babylonians, a captivity that would last seventy years in the
latter case.
Left like this, we would have a story with a very somber
ending but as we find in the closing two verses of Hosea 1, God was giving His
people some hope to hold onto. For after their serving their penalty for sin,
redemption would come. Look again at these words of promise:
“Yet the Israelites
will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In
the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be
called ‘children of the living God.’ The people of Judah and the people of
Israel will come together; they will appoint one leader and will come up out of
the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.” Hosea 1:10-11
When the seventy year exile was over, God would bring His
people back to their homeland to rebuild their homes, their lives, and their
relationships with Him. Note that they wouldn’t just simply survive once
returning but rather thrive, multiplying their population to where they would
be “like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted.” In the
land where God proclaimed they were no longer His people, He would reinstate
them into His favor and call them “children of the living God” as the “people
of Judah and the people of Israel” would once again “come together”, appointing
“one leader” as they come “up out of the land”.
It would be a great day in the lives of the Israelite
people, a “day of Jezreel” which meant the day of God’s sowing as He planted
His people back in their land.
So what assurance does this word offer us today?
I believe it has present and future implications.
First, the present for we all, like the Israelites, are
going to fail and fall at some time in our lives. We are going to sin and find
ourselves in opposition to God who hates sin. That opposition may lead us to a
place where God chooses to correct us in some way as we fall out of His favor.
It happens.
But just as prevalent as the incidents of God imposing consequences
on His people are the occasions when He grants redemption to them. For God is a
God who ever seeks to bring His people back to Him. He doesn’t desire to be
separated from His people forever.
If you don’t believe that, then you haven’t really heard the
words of this scripture verse which leads me to the future:
For God so loved the
world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
If God were not the Great Redeemer of His people, He would
never have went to the lengths He did to ensure everyone had a chance to
redemption. He would have never sacrificed His one and only Son to die for the
sins of all mankind and offer a way for people to not only be redeemed but
saved in a way that would allow them to live with their Father, Creator, and
Master forever.
That is how much God loves us. That is how much He desires
that we be His people.
That is redemption and it will come when Jesus returns to
gather His own, a great day of sowing when God plants all those who placed
their hope in His Son as Savior into His new earth. I pray you will be there
with me on that day.
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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