The book of Hosea may begin with one of the most surprising commands God ever gives a prophet, but behind the difficult story is one of the most beautiful pictures of the gospel in all of Scripture.

In today's episode of The Dwelling Place, we're walking through Hosea chapters 1–6 and discovering how Hosea's heartbreaking marriage points us to the relentless, faithful love of God. Even when His people repeatedly wandered, chased idols, and broke covenant with Him, God continued pursuing them with mercy, compassion, and steadfast love.

If you've ever wondered whether you've wandered too far... whether your failures define you... or whether God could truly delight in you after repeated sin, Hosea reminds us that our Savior never stops pursuing His bride.

As moms, we spend so much energy teaching our children obedience and character. Hosea gently turns the spotlight back on our own hearts, asking where we seek satisfaction apart from Christ and inviting us to return to the One who alone can satisfy.

In this episode, we'll discuss:

• Why Hosea's marriage is one of Scripture's clearest pictures of the gospel
• What spiritual adultery really means—and why idolatry is still a danger today
• The significance of Hosea's children's prophetic names
• God's justice, mercy, and covenant faithfulness throughout Israel's rebellion
• Why every cycle of judgment in Hosea also contains a promise of restoration
• How Hosea's story points directly to Jesus, our faithful Bridegroom
• What Christian moms can learn about forgiveness, marriage, parenting, and wholehearted devotion
• The invitation of Hosea 6:3 to "press on to know the Lord"

Key Scriptures

• Hosea 1–6
• Exodus 3
• Genesis 12
• John 3
• Ephesians 5
• Revelation 19

A Truth to Remember

God's greatest pursuit has never been merely changing our behavior—it has always been winning our hearts.

The Lord doesn't pursue His people because they've earned His love. He pursues them because that is who He is.

Three times in Hosea 2, God declares:

"I will betroth you to Me."

Our salvation rests not on our faithfulness, but on His.

For the Christian Mom

It's easy to focus so much on shaping our children's hearts that we forget to examine our own.

Where are we looking for security?

Where are we seeking satisfaction?

Where have lesser loves quietly replaced our first love?

Hosea reminds us that God lovingly exposes our idols—not to shame us—but to draw us back into the joy of knowing Him.

As we pursue biblical parenting, may our children see parents who aren't simply trying to be "good Christians," but who genuinely delight in Jesus.

Join the Journey

The Dwelling Place is a daily Bible podcast from Entrusted Ministries, helping busy moms read through the Bible, understand God's Word, and apply it to everyday life.

If this episode encouraged you, would you take a moment to leave a 5-star rating and written review? Your review helps more overwhelmed moms discover the hope and encouragement found in God's Word.

Subscribe so you never miss another daily Bible reading as we journey through Scripture together.

Resources Mentioned:

• Entrusted With a Child's Heart
• The Again Podcast
• Full-Circle Discipline Resources

Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary

This is The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Haycox, and today we'll

look at the first half of the book

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of Hosea The Bible began with a

marriage in the garden, And it ends

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with the marriage feast of the Lamb

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The picture of Christ and his bride is

one of the primary metaphors in scripture

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of God's relentless devoted love for us

Before I begin, I'm gonna say that this

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episode needs to be for mom ears alone.

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It's difficult to talk

about the Book of Hosea

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without bringing up some sensitive topics

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Hosea is the first of the minor prophets.

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The term minor doesn't relate to

the importance of the prophet,

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but just the length of the book.

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Like the names Joshua and Jesus,

Hosea also means salvation.

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We don't know much about this man except

that he was most likely from the Northern

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Kingdom because he seemed to know so much

geographically and historically about it

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And that means that he and Jonah

alone were the only two prophets

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from the Northern Kingdom.

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But Hosea's message was

for Judah and Israel.

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He prophesied during 755 to 710 during

the reign of various kings, beginning

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with Jeroboam II in the Northern Kingdom.

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As we've discussed, the nation of Israel

was seemingly thriving financially

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and diplomatically at that time, but

their hearts were far from the Lord

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It seems to me that this is one of

those books of the Bible that really

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speaks to the heart of a woman.

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If you've ever wanted to be fought

for Or to know how much you're loved.

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Reading this book speaks volumes about the

unfathomable depths of God's love for us.

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Although we have the perfect display

of Christ's love on the cross, the way

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that God uses the allegory of marriage

powerfully reveals His love for us

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john K.

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Goodrich explains that there

are six cycles of judgment and

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restoration in the Book of Hosea.

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The first emphasizes the children as

signs and takes place in chapter one.

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The second cycle in chapter two

emphasizes the unfaithful wife.

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The third elevates the faithful

husband in chapter three.

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The fourth occurs in chapters four through

six and emphasizes Israel's unfaithfulness

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And the fifth cycle chronicles

God's resulting discipline upon

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the nation in chapter 6 through 11.

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And the final cycle is

in chapters 11 through 14

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which emphasizes God's faithfulness

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I hesitated over whether or not

to bring this up, as I know that

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the movie was rather controversial

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But I would love to talk about the

book, Redeeming Love, for a moment.

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It's authored by Francine Rivers.

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Before she became a follower of Christ,

she wrote pretty spicy romance novels.

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but when she became a believer, she

developed severe writer's block, and

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for a long period of time, she just

couldn't write until she felt the

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Lord give her this idea of writing

the story of Hosea, but setting it

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during the Gold Rush in California.

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In the book, there's an honorable

young man named Michael Hosea.

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He's pure, and he loves the Lord.

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One day, he sees a beautiful young

woman and feels the Lord tell him

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that this is his bride-to-be But

he discovers she's a prostitute.

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He's shocked, as he's certainly waited

for marriage and expected a godly

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young woman to share his life with.

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The book follows his pursuit of her And it

speaks powerfully for those who have tried

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to love someone that's been hurt before

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for those longing to

love like Christ loves.

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And I think it also speaks to the

level of forgiveness that God is

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asking us to walk in toward others.

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And that's a really important message

for our own marriages and our parenting

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Often as women, when we read things

like this, we're so enthralled with this

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idea of being loved so faithfully that

a man would patiently, wholeheartedly,

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sometimes literally fight for you But

the greater message of redeeming love,

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and certainly the Book of Hosea, is that

regardless of your circumstances, there

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is a Lord that loves you patiently,

wholeheartedly, faithfully and he

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has jealously fought for his bride

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So let this book be to you a confirmation

that you are thoroughly known and loved.

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The book begins, The word of the

Lord that came to Hosea, the son

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of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah,

Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of

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Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam,

the son of Joash, king of Israel.

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When the Lord first spoke through

Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea,

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Go, take to yourself a wife of

whoredom and have children of whoredom.

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For the land commits great

whoredom by forsaking the Lord.

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So he went and took Gomer, the

daughter of Diblaim, and she

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conceived and bore him a son.

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And the Lord said to him, " Call his

name Jezreel, for in just a little while

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I will punish the house of Jehu for the

blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end

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to the kingdom of the house of Israel,

and on that day I will break the bow

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of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."

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She conceived again and bore a daughter.

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And the Lord said to him, " Call

her name No Mercy, for I will no

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more have mercy on the house of

Israel to forgive them at all.

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But I will have mercy on the

house of Judah, and I will save

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them by the Lord their God.

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I will not save them by bow or by sword

or by war or by horses or by horsemen."

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When she had weaned No Mercy,

she conceived and bore a son.

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And the Lord said, " Call his name

Not My People, for you are not

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my people and I am not your God.

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Yet the number of the children of Israel

shall be like the sand of the sea,

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which cannot be measured or numbered.

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And in the place where it was

said to them, 'You are not my

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people,' it shall be said to

them, ' Children of the living God.'

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And the children of Judah and the children

of Israel shall be gathered together,

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and they shall appoint for themselves one

head And they shall go up from the land

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for great shall be the day of Jezreel

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Let's go back to the beginning of

the chapter when God says, "Take

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for yourself a wife of whoredom

and have children of whoredom.

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For the land commits great

whoredom by forsaking the Lord."

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Right away, what we need to understand

about this book of the Bible is

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how much our sin and our chasing

after idols or worldly pleasures

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is adultery against the Lord.

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He is rightly jealous for us, and

instead of being put off by that word,

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we should feel so cherished by it.

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rather than looking at Gomer's sin

and condemning her, let's evaluate our

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own hearts, saying, "Lord, where am I

seeking fulfillment apart from you?"

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We were all created to worship, and

as we aim to point our kids to be

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wholeheartedly devoted to Christ,

we need to make them aware of

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this tendency within us to worship

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what we can see before us

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It surprises me a little bit, but some

commentators, including the MacArthur

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commentary, don't believe that God

was calling Hosea to marry a current

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prostitute, but that God was revealing to

him that Gomer would become a prostitute.

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See, that term whoredom in the Hebrew

refers to both an occupation and a sin.

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So we know this was not a one-time

occurrence, but she had devoted

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herself to unfaithfulness.

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But how would Hosea know to take a wife

who was going to be unfaithful to him?

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I agree with the Moody commentary,

as it seems more likely to me

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that she would have already

been involved in this occupation

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when Hosea married her and that she

went back to it After he married her.

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But when I meditate upon it, aren't

both options incredibly painful?

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Think about marrying someone that

you knew would be unfaithful to you.

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It's heartbreaking.

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It's a painful call that God puts

on Hosea, but it's the best picture

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the Lord could give us of the

loyalty of His love despite Israel's

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sinfulness Did you notice that God

said, "And have children of whoredom"?

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It's entirely possible that

these children were not Hosea's.

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Maybe he never knew

which ones were or not.

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Nevertheless, he's called to father them.

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The first child is called which means

God will scatter, and it foreshadows

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Israel's exile in 722 by Assyria.

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I know we keep covering that

point in history through so many

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books of the Bible, but it was a

monumental event, and the Lord led

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multiple accounts to be given of it.

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Next, Gomer has a daughter, God says to

call her No Mercy, which means not pitied.

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this is an announcement that God is not

going to give mercy to Israel anymore

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His patient endurance is reaching an end.

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But Judah will continue to have mercy.

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next Gomer has a son.

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God says, "Call his name Not

My People, for you are not my

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people, and I am not your God."

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In the original Hebrew,

your God is not there

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but It more literally translates

to, " I will not be I Am to you."

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I Am That I Am was God's covenant name

that He gave in Exodus 3, and this

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symbolizes His rejection of Israel

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If you're thinking, haven't we learned

that this covenant is dependent upon

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God's faithfulness and not ours?

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That's entirely true, but God is not

forsaking the promises He has made to

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Abraham and to Moses and to David, because

that line continues through Judah, and God

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has separated off a remnant for Himself.

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And if we keep reading, we see That

God will restore Israel back to him

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And in that exact location where God

said, "You are not my people," they

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will be called His people, and Israel

and Judah will be unified during

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that millennial reign of Christ,

worshiping under one head, the Messiah

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now let's look to chapter two,

beginning that second cycle

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emphasizing the unfaithful wife.

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Hosea and Gomer present an allegory of

God punishing Israel's faithfulness.

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" Say to your brothers, 'You are

not my people,' and to your

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sisters, ' You have received mercy.'

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Plead with your mother, plead, for she is

not my wife, and I am not her husband."

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After a lengthy, rebuke, the restoration

is described beginning in two fourteen.

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Therefore behold, I will allure her

and bring her into the wilderness

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and speak tenderly to her.

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And there I will give her

vineyards, and I will make the

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Valley of Acre a door of hope.

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And there she shall answer as in the

days of her youth, as at the time when

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she came out of the land of Egypt.

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And in that day, declares the Lord, you

will call Me my Husband, and no longer

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will you call Me my Baal; for I will

remove the names of the Baals from her

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mouth, and they shall be remembered by

name no more And I will make for them

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a covenant on that day with the beasts

of the field, the birds of the heavens,

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and the creeping things of the ground.

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and I will abolish the bow, the

sword, and war from the land, and

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I will make you lie down in safety,

and I will betroth you to me forever.

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I will betroth you to me in

righteousness and in justice,

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in steadfast love and in mercy.

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I will betroth you to me in faithfulness,

and you shall know the Lord.

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And in that day, I will answer, declares

the Lord, I will answer the heavens,

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and they shall answer the earth.

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And the earth shall answer the grain,

the wine, and the oil, and they

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shall answer Jezreel, and I will

show her for myself in the land, and

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I will have mercy and no mercy.

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And I will say to not my

people, " You are my people."

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And he shall say, " You are my God."

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, Three times God says,

"I will betroth you."

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He is bringing the bride price while

Israel brings nothing to the table.

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And the price he'll pay for his

bride is his very character, his

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righteousness, justice, loving

kindness, compassion, and faithfulness

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And that moves us to the third cycle,

which elevates the faithful husband The

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Lord said to me, "Go again, love a woman

who is loved by another man and is an

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adulteress, even as the Lord loves the

children of Israel, though they turn to

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other gods and love cakes of raisins."

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Hosea pays a steep price to release

Gomer from the debt she incurred.

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We don't know exactly how this

happened, but since she's departed him

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She owes a payment and she needs to

settle it for him to bring her home And

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in verse three, " And I said to her,

' You must dwell as mine for many days.

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You shall not play the whore

or belong to another man.

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So I will also be to you.'

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For the children of Israel shall

dwell many days without king or

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prince, without sacrifice or pillar,

without ephod or household gods.

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Afterward the children of Israel

shall return and seek the Lord their

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God and David their king, and they

shall come in fear to the Lord and

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to his goodness in the latter days."

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Isn't it beautiful how in each cycle there

is a picture of restoration and hope?

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with the next God strongly

rebukes his adulterous wife

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In verse six we find, "My people

are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

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Because you have rejected knowledge, I

reject you from being a priest to me.

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And since you have forgotten

the law of your God, I also

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will forget your children."

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Remember in the Torah that parents

and the priests were commanded

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to pass on the knowledge of the

Lord to the next generation, but

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they have forgotten all of this

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And the people no longer know their God

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At the end of the chapter, God says, "Like

a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn.

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Can the Lord now feed them like

a lamb in a broad pasture?"

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The level of their rebellion and

their lack of character is requiring

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their captivity to refine them

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In chapter five, there's a rebuke

against the nations seeking their

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strength in the king of Assyria But

the Lord tells them that the king of

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Assyria will not be able to protect

them from the Lord's judgment upon them

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And we'll conclude with

this portion in chapter six.

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Which begins, " Come, let us

return to the Lord, for He has

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torn us that He may heal us.

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He has struck us down,

and He will bind us up.

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After two days, He will revive us.

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On the third day, He will raise

us up that we may live before Him.

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Let us know, let us press

on to know the Lord.

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His going out is as sure as the dawn.

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He will come to us as the showers, as

the spring rains that water the earth."

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This is one of my mom's very

favorite verses, and I painted

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it on a banner for her once

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But I love thinking about this reality

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That when we press in to know the

Lord, we are sure to follow Him.

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We will not be disappointed

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And in Him, we rightly find all

we desire and were created for

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Heavenly Father, we are humbled

by the depth of your love for us

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We're filled with gratitude for your

faithfulness to purify us from our sin

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and to remove any obstacle that stands in

the way of us worshiping you and you alone

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Though we do not worship Baals on high

places anymore, we pray that you would

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open our eyes to any places that we

seek to be satisfied apart from you.

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We agree, as Piper says, that you are most

glorified in us when we are most satisfied

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in you, and we long for that to be true in

our hearts and in our children's hearts.

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As we spend so much time devoted to

discipline and character training

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and instruction, I pray that the

joy of knowing you would be evident

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to every one of our children.

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We thank you that your coming

is as sure as the dawn.

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May the hope of your return, Jesus,

be on the forefront of our minds.

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It's in your name we pray.

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Amen.