God's Continuing Love

Hosea 11:1-12 

1 "When Israel was a child, I loved him,
And out of Egypt I called My son.

2 As they called them,
So they went from them;
They sacrificed to the Baals,
And burned incense to carved images.

3 "I taught Ephraim to walk,
Taking them by their arms;
But they did not know that I healed them.
4 I drew them with gentle cords,
With bands of love,
And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck.
I stooped and fed them.

5 "He shall not return to the land of Egypt;
But the Assyrian shall be his king,
Because they refused to repent.

6 And the sword shall slash in his cities,
Devour his districts,
And consume them,
Because of their own counsels.

7 My people are bent on backsliding from Me.
Though they call to the Most High,
None at all exalt Him.

8 "How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I set you like Zeboiim?
My heart churns within Me;
My sympathy is stirred.

9 I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim.
For I am God, and not man,
The Holy One in your midst;
And I will not come with terror.

10 "They shall walk after the LORD.
He will roar like a lion.
When He roars,
Then His sons shall come trembling from the west;
11 They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt,
Like a dove from the land of Assyria.
And I will let them dwell in their houses,"
Says the LORD.

12 "Ephraim has encircled Me with lies,
And the house of Israel with deceit;
But Judah still walks with God,
Even with the Holy One who is faithful.

Israel Learned of God’s continuing love for them as His chosen nation, individually cared for and called out of the bondage of Egypt which is also representative of sin.  The very first line here was to be applied to Jesus Christ to come as the one setting all His children free at last as we see in Matthew 2:15.  God had called His people, but they ran away to worship idols of lifeless gods in His place and so were enslaved.  Even then the LORD drew them to Himself with love as He freed them, met their needs, and cared for them that they might not perish but have life in Him as we see the foreshadowing of later in John 3:15.  As they continued to reject and rebel, God met their unrepentant hearts with a different master of a worldly kingdom, Assyria, as they seemed bent on backsliding from Him, calling to the Most High but not exalting and lifting Him high in obedience of true worship.  Even then the Almighty refused to give up on them because He had called them and loved them from the beginning (Ephesians 1:5, 11, Romans 8:30, John 13:1) as He does all His called and chosen in Christ even now.  His promise for His elect then is mercy instead of the justice of judgment because He is not a mere man with a nature like ours, but is God who is sovereign and eternal in the heavens made by His word uttered according to His will (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16).  His promise was grace to His own whom He loves and retribution of justice on His and their enemies as we see in secular literature as a recurring theme because our souls long for God’s justice (Revelation 6:10) on those who enslave us and yearn for His mercy to show He loves us (Zechariah 1:15-16).  We ache in our hearts to see the Holy One come among us without terror of the fear of death and judgment.  Like Israel before us, we then walk after Him who is the mighty Lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5) who speaks and gathers all His own from every tribe, language, and nation (Revelation 5:9, 14:6-7) and who will dwell with us forever (Revelation 21:3-4)!  We are then as Judah who walk with God in Christ in truth because He is faithful.  We know God’s continuous love in grace and mercy.  Praise Him! 

Sow Righteousness, Reap Mercy

Hosea 10:1-15 

1 Israel empties his vine;
He brings forth fruit for himself.
According to the multitude of his fruit
He has increased the altars;
According to the bounty of his land
They have embellished his sacred pillars.

2 Their heart is divided;
Now they are held guilty.
He will break down their altars;
He will ruin their sacred pillars.
3 For now they say,
"We have no king,
Because we did not fear the LORD.
And as for a king, what would he do for us?"

4 They have spoken words,
Swearing falsely in making a covenant.
Thus judgment springs up like hemlock in the furrows of the field.

5 The inhabitants of Samaria fear
Because of the calf of Beth Aven.
For its people mourn for it,
And its priests shriek for it—
Because its glory has departed from it.

6 The idol also shall be carried to Assyria
As a present for King Jareb.
Ephraim shall receive shame,
And Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off
Like a twig on the water.

8 Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
Shall be destroyed.
The thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars;
They shall say to the mountains, "Cover us!"
And to the hills, "Fall on us!"

9 "O Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah;
There they stood.
The battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity
Did not overtake them.

10 When it is My desire, I will chasten them.
Peoples shall be gathered against them
When I bind them for their two transgressions.

11 Ephraim is a trained heifer
That loves to thresh grain;
But I harnessed her fair neck,
I will make Ephraim pull a plow.
Judah shall plow;
Jacob shall break his clods."

12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap in mercy;
Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the LORD,
Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.

13 You have plowed wickedness;
You have reaped iniquity.
You have eaten the fruit of lies,
Because you trusted in your own way,
In the multitude of your mighty men.

14 Therefore tumult shall arise among your people,
And all your fortresses shall be plundered
As Shalman plundered Beth Arbel in the day of battle—
A mother dashed in pieces upon her children.

15 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
Because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
Shall be cut off utterly.

Israel’s sin and captivity are contrasted with the call to sow and reap good things instead of sin’s judgment from wickedness and lies.  They trusted their own ways and strength over God’s word and rule, and therefore reaped the whirlwind of destruction as they broke their covenant which Je made with them.  With divided hearts they erected lifeless idols and left worship of the only God in heaven and on earth.  There remained no fear of God in their eyes and the Lord pulled down their idols as they cried out for Him to hide them from sudden destruction saying, “to the mountains, "Cover us!" and to the hills, "Fall on us!"  Just as Jesus said would happen in the latter days foreshadowed by these (Luke 23:30, Revelation 6:16-17).  Yes, since sudden destruction will come in judgment on all our sin, we should also sow righteousness instead of wickedness and reap eternal life at peace with God as we seek Him according to His word.  The idle fallow fields of our hearts, like those of Israel, must be turned over in repentance and good seed sown for the kingdom as we trust in Christ alone for fruitfulness and lasting goodness.  Israel faced a certain judgment for rejecting repentance and the LORD; we who are in Christ have acceptance and received Him to trust and obey.  Our future is an eternal unbreakable covenant if we have been reborn of His never fading word of salvation (1 Peter 1:23-25).  We have sown His righteousness and reaped eternal mercy.  Amen. 

Israel Cast Away for Continuous Disobedience

Hosea 9:1-17 

1 Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples,
For you have played the harlot against your God.
You have made love for hire on every threshing floor.
2 The threshing floor and the winepress
Shall not feed them,
And the new wine shall fail in her.

3 They shall not dwell in the LORD's land,
But Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
And shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

4 They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD,
Nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing to Him.
It shall be like bread of mourners to them;
All who eat it shall be defiled.
For their bread shall be for their own life;
It shall not come into the house of the LORD.

5 What will you do in the appointed day,
And in the day of the feast of the LORD?

6 For indeed they are gone because of destruction.
Egypt shall gather them up;
Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver;
Thorns shall be in their tents.

7 The days of punishment have come;
The days of recompense have come.
Israel knows!
The prophet is a fool,
The spiritual man is insane,
Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.

8 The watchman of Ephraim is with my God;
But the prophet is a fowler's snare in all his ways—
Enmity in the house of his God.
9 They are deeply corrupted,
As in the days of Gibeah.
He will remember their iniquity;
He will punish their sins.

10 "I found Israel
Like grapes in the wilderness;
I saw your fathers
As the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to Baal Peor,
And separated themselves to that shame;
They became an abomination like the thing they loved.

11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird—
No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!
12 Though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them to the last man.
Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!
13 Just as I saw Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place,
So Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer."

14 Give them, O LORD—
What will You give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
And dry breasts!

15 "All their wickedness is in Gilgal,
For there I hated them.
Because of the evil of their deeds
I will drive them from My house;
I will love them no more.
All their princes are rebellious.

16 Ephraim is stricken,
Their root is dried up;
They shall bear no fruit.
Yes, were they to bear children,
I would kill the darlings of their womb."

17 My God will cast them away,
Because they did not obey Him;
And they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Because of Israel’s continuous disobedience their sin caused them to be cast away from the LORD.  They committed spiritual adultery with dead metal, wood, and stone god made by  man’s hands on every threshing floor instead of providing food to eat for nourishment as if prostitutes of intimacy with those lifeless things, paid for their covetousness with suffering and judgment instead of expected blessings of health and wealth.  Some still do this today, substituting these for the living God (Romans 1:23, 25) with the same disastrous results.  Their sacrifices therefore no longer pleased the LORD, their bread became for mourners at their death and was no longer allowed into the tabernacle for offering of sacrifices to God. What they had sowed was now reaped with accountability of just punishment for breaking the covenant which the Almighty had made with them.  They knew these things as their prophets became fools and the once spiritually minded became as mad men, having left the truth of and adherence to God’s word which was law and life to them.  That was how great their sin and hatred of God had become.   The spiritual corruption went so deep and wide that God had to punish their unrepentant sin at last.  God had chosen them as a nation as His own precious people to cultivate, but they spoiled the fields and served abominations instead for a supposed quick gain and no accountability in following all the laws they couldn’t keep.  This is why the grace of salvation in Christ was needed because it is impossible to keep the law (James 2:10) to the letter; only the perfect Man and God Jesus the Christ (Matthew 5:17-18) could and did that.  Galatians 3:23 reminds us of this.  Our works are as hopelessly soiled rags which are impossible to be cleansed by our efforts as was apparent in these mentioned here by Hosea.  Their evil deeds from corrupt hearts led to fruitlessness and judgment.  God cast them away for their disobedience.  Had they repented and trusted His forgiveness and grace instead of continuing  in willful sin, they would have seen the righteousness in the promised Messiah to come as other did instead (Hebrews 11:13, 25, 39-40).  These things were not only a record of the failure of God’s people, but are for our learning so we do not repeat the same mistakes (1 Corinthians 10:11) but live according to every word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17) in faith and willing obedience to work out our free gift of salvation with fear and trembling (Psalm 2:11-12, Philippians 2:12-13) at what would have been but for the grace we received in Christ.  We are not cast away for continuous disobedience (Isaiah 43:13, Hebrews 10:35, 39, John 10:28-29).  We therefore are thankful and secure in the anchor of our souls as we work out our established salvation in our continuing sanctification by His strength to make us willing and able followers of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Sowing to the Empty Wind of Apostasy

 Hosea 8:1-17 

1 "Set the trumpet to your mouth!
He shall come like an eagle against the house of the LORD,
Because they have transgressed My covenant
And rebelled against My law.

2 Israel will cry to Me,
'My God, we know You!'
3 Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.

4 "They set up kings, but not by Me;
They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.
From their silver and gold
They made idols for themselves—
That they might be cut off.

5 Your calf is rejected, O Samaria!
My anger is aroused against them—
How long until they attain to innocence?
6 For from Israel is even this:
A workman made it, and it is not God;
But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

7 "They sow the wind,
And reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no bud;
It shall never produce meal.
If it should produce,
Aliens would swallow it up.

8 Israel is swallowed up;
Now they are among the Gentiles
Like a vessel in which is no pleasure.

9 For they have gone up to Assyria,
Like a wild donkey alone by itself;
Ephraim has hired lovers.
10 Yes, though they have hired among the nations,
Now I will gather them;
And they shall sorrow a little,
Because of the burden of the king of princes.

11 "Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin,
They have become for him altars for sinning.
12 I have written for him the great things of My law,
But they were considered a strange thing.

13 For the sacrifices of My offerings they sacrifice flesh and eat it,
But the LORD does not accept them.
Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
They shall return to Egypt.

14 "For Israel has forgotten his Maker,
And has built temples;
Judah also has multiplied fortified cities;
But I will send fire upon his cities,
And it shall devour his palaces."

The apostasy of Israel led them back into the bondage of sin as in Egypt.  They showed sin by ignoring Him and reaped the empty wind of idolatry and immorality which blew hot and unsatisfying over them.  Because God’s people had forgotten the covenant agreement with the LORD and His word to be followed, He had given them what they deserved instead of the grace offered for trust and obedience to Him according to the scriptures delivered by Moses and the prophets (Acts 28:23) which anticipated the Messiah who would end their futile works by His work (John 6:29) in a new covenant of grace.  Israel loved to rely on their standing as a chosen nation and imagined that they knew Him even though they disregarded and disobeyed His word in direct denial of their words.  Even now many identify as Christians but their hearts are far from Him (Matthew 15:8, Mark 7:6).  Crying, ‘Lord, Lord’ is no proof of conversion, but a changed life lived in pursuit of God in Christ and according to the scriptures is true evidence.  Though nobody is saved by their works in obedience to the word of God, those who have God living in them run after and hunger for that word to live out in pleasing thanksgiving for the grace and mercy poured out on them (Titus 3:5-7).  Israel as a nation was still blind to this as they heard the message from Hosea, though there was a small remnant according to grace (Romans 11:5) who still sought the Lord and awaited the Messiah to come.  Israel for the most part relied falsely on their standing as a nation being chosen while as individuals rejecting His word and running after idols of gold and silver crafted by those own philosophies of imagined deities of the godless around them.   Those who worshipped other gods were therefore held to account under God’s wrath and their false innocence rejected as it was uncovered for the lie it was based on.  They sowed seeds of godless ideas in idolatry and immorality and reaped out of that sin the whirlwind of wrath and judgment that wiped them away from the earth because of their continuing and willful disobedience and rejection.  They had no fruit to show from sowing bad seed and the consequences were disastrous and completely unsatisfying to body and soul.  They ended up with the other nations who gave no pleasure to honor God.  May those who read this passage hear and consider their ways, turning to live according to His word and pleasing God in Christ alone by faith in Him and His grace alone.  Israel went to worship other gods on altars of sinning and found that idolatry and immortality had a profound price.  God does not accept the sacrifices of those willingly sinning while refusing to repent.  Their acts of sin and thoughts of iniquities were punished accordingly as they were given back into the bondage of sin which they had been delivered out of as in Egypt.  Those who continually forget and dishonor their Maker face the consequences for the idols of self in place of the Most High God.  We who are in Christ have been called to better things and therefore pursue Christ through His word in thankful and willing obedience.  We do not sow to the empty winds of apostasy in adding to or taking away from the scriptures by ignoring or blending the philosophies of men with the word which is all we need for life and godliness (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:3).  Amen.

Disregard Sin or Call on Him

Hosea 7:1-16 

1 "When I would have healed Israel,
Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered,
And the wickedness of Samaria.
For they have committed fraud;
A thief comes in;
A band of robbers takes spoil outside.

2 They do not consider in their hearts
That I remember all their wickedness;
Now their own deeds have surrounded them;
They are before My face.
3 They make a king glad with their wickedness,
And princes with their lies.

4 "They are all adulterers.
Like an oven heated by a baker—
He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough,
Until it is leavened.

5 In the day of our king
Princes have made him sick, inflamed with wine;
He stretched out his hand with scoffers.

6 They prepare their heart like an oven,
While they lie in wait;
Their baker sleeps all night;
In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
7 They are all hot, like an oven,
And have devoured their judges;
All their kings have fallen.
None among them calls upon Me.

8 "Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples;
Ephraim is a cake unturned.
9 Aliens have devoured his strength,
But he does not know it;
Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him,
Yet he does not know it.

10 And the pride of Israel testifies to his face,
But they do not return to the LORD their God,
Nor seek Him for all this.

11 "Ephraim also is like a silly dove, without sense—
They call to Egypt,
They go to Assyria.
12 Wherever they go, I will spread My net on them;
I will bring them down like birds of the air;
I will chastise them
According to what their congregation has heard.

13 "Woe to them, for they have fled from Me!
Destruction to them,
Because they have transgressed against Me!
Though I redeemed them,
Yet they have spoken lies against Me.

14 They did not cry out to Me with their heart
When they wailed upon their beds.
"They assemble together for grain and new wine,
They rebel against Me;

15 Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms,
Yet they devise evil against Me;

16 They return, but not to the Most High;
They are like a treacherous bow.
Their princes shall fall by the sword
For the cursings of their tongue.
This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

God’s people had His word spoken to them but refused to consider their sin to confess it and turn to call on Him for forgiveness through repentance of heart and deed.  When thieves of idolatry and immortality from the godless around them came in to steal and defraud them of their holiness in the LORD, they allowed it and pretended that God did not hold them accountable.  Those evil actions and thoughts encompassed the people of God and they did not consider that God sees all things and that this wickedness was plain to see before His eyes.  Nothing is hidden from Him (Hebrews 4:13).  They pleased their leaders by following the evil which they themselves propagated instead of standing for what was right as it was written in order to obtain selfish gain of the sinful nature’s status quo.  They were described as adulterers like overheated ovens not put out when the bread is done, with reckless abandon running after sin and overrunning the law of the land.  This sinful nature is seen ever more in these latter days among our world of lawlessness and disregard for the things of God.  Yes, just as Ephraim had mixed with the ungodly, even now some of God’s people mix sound teaching according to His word with the philosophies and acceptable practices of the world and it’s corrupt laws set in opposition to God’s word.  May all such consider their ways and regard sin for what it is as they confess and turn from it (1 John 1:9) to obtain forgiveness and avoid the consequences of unrepentant sin as the example here shows us.  God loves His people but still hates sin.  Israel’s pride kept them from repentance and from seeking to please with fearful honor and worship.  They were disciplined and so are we because He loves His own (Deuteronomy 33:3, Hebrews 12:7-8, 11).  True repentance is more than feeling sorry; it means  crying out to God with the heart as we lie down at night in our beds, seeking certain reconciliation as we confidently confess and forsake our wicked ways.  When we then receive discipline to correct us, then we should turn to the Most High and not away from Him as the bad example here.  We now have these examples to teach and warn us (Hebrews 4:11-13, 1 Corinthians 10:11-12) as a loving admonition to say no to sin and yes to Jesus.  May we then who call on the name of Christ live in such a way to honor and please Him as people of His word ought to be, not compromising any of it and even exposing those who do as Ephesians 5:8-11, 15-17 teaches us.  Above all things, may we do and speak these truths in love. 

God’s Call to Repentance

Hosea 6:1-11 

1 Come, and let us return to the LORD;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.

2 After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.

3 Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth.

4 "O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?
O Judah, what shall I do to you?
For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,
And like the early dew it goes away.

5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have slain them by the words of My mouth;
And your judgments are like light that goes forth.

6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

7 "But like men they transgressed the covenant;
There they dealt treacherously with Me.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers
And defiled with blood.

9 As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man,
So the company of priests murder on the way to Shechem;
Surely they commit lewdness.

10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:
There is the harlotry of Ephraim;
Israel is defiled.
11 Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you,
When I return the captives of My people.

God’s call for His people to repentance is vividly clear here.  The Old Testament had predicted the coming of Christ (Messiah) Jesus who would be broken for all His chosen people to heal us eternally and was wounded for us that our souls may be healed in His righteousness alone.  What a foretaste of glory divine!  How these very verses of scripture were likely heard on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-14, 26-27) as the Lord explained Himself in the scriptures from the fall of man to that present time when He walked and talked with them along that narrow way!  He even spoke of the resurrection of the just and unjust to come in the latter days with a promise to raise Himself from the grave on the third day after His sacrifice.  He died so we can live and expect the same resurrection with Himself as proof, being Himself the first fruit of His deliverance of us from death to life (John 5:24).  What are all listeners then and now told to do in light of these things?  We are to run after knowing God (John 6:29) as our only work of salvation and our ongoing sanctification as we are transformed by Him (Romans 12:2) into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18), God’s Son and our divine Savior (Titus 2:13).  As we run after knowing Him because we are known by Him (1 Corinthians 8:3, Galatians 4:9), we do so in perfect expectation of His return as promised here.  God’s people had turned away and He called them to turn back in repentance through faith to Him.  He made it clear that it is all by grace and His sacrifice, not our own works and sacrifices, by which we are restored and reconciled.  Knowing God and seeking the scriptures to know Him ever more means infinitely more than our works attempting to earn His favor ever could.  Though we all sin (Romans 3:20, 23) and fall ever short of earning an entrance into heaven before His face, His grace has bought us and brought us into that promised land to come to worship Him alone before His face!  The LORD judged Israel and Judah but offered these things when He returned to them as a picture for all His called and chosen in Christ Jesus our Savior and Deliverer from our spiritual death sentence earned by disobedience and disbelief.  What grace to tell us these things before He set foot on earth and walked on that road to Emmaus and then through the apostles to explain even more.  Now we have Him living in us as the Holy Spirit who continues to teach and show us wonderful things unwrapped and made clear from all His word (Psalm 119:18) as we continue to seek Him and confess ongoing sins as we are conformed to Him!  God calls in repentance and saves His called ones as always planned from eternity (Hebrews 4:3, Ephesians 1:4). This is our certain hope of eternal life.  May all who read and have ears to hear turn from sin to Him, from darkness to marvelous light, according to these promises.  Amen.

Impending Judgment and Restoration

Hosea 5:1-15 

1 "Hear this, O priests!
Take heed, O house of Israel!
Give ear, O house of the king!
For yours is the judgment,
Because you have been a snare to Mizpah
And a net spread on Tabor.

2 The revolters are deeply involved in slaughter,
Though I rebuke them all.
3 I know Ephraim,
And Israel is not hidden from Me;
For now, O Ephraim, you commit harlotry;
Israel is defiled.

4 "They do not direct their deeds
Toward turning to their God,
For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst,
And they do not know the LORD.

5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
Therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;
Judah also stumbles with them.

6 "With their flocks and herds
They shall go to seek the LORD,
But they will not find Him;
He has withdrawn Himself from them.

7 They have dealt treacherously with the LORD,
For they have begotten pagan children.
Now a New Moon shall devour them and their heritage.

8 "Blow the ram's horn in Gibeah,
The trumpet in Ramah!
Cry aloud at Beth Aven,
'Look behind you, O Benjamin!'
9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.

10 "The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark;
I will pour out My wrath on them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment,
Because he willingly walked by human precept.
12 Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth,
And to the house of Judah like rottenness.

13 "When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah saw his wound,
Then Ephraim went to Assyria
And sent to King Jareb;
Yet he cannot cure you,
Nor heal you of your wound.

14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
And like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, even I, will tear them and go away;
I will take them away, and no one shall rescue.

15 I will return again to My place
Till they acknowledge their offense.
Then they will seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me."

There were approaching hoofbeats of judgment coming for Israel and Judah because of their adulterous idolatry and immortality resulting from turning their backs on God’s word.  They led others astray with their harlotry of spirit and bodies that followed after their sins of rejection and disbelief.  They defiled a people called to be holy (Leviticus 11:44-45) and the LORD uncovered their sin (as if it was ever hidden from Him) when He offered to cover it for them in the blood of pure sacrifices.  This was their judgment spoken through Hosea for them to hear, take heed to listen, and repent by turning away from their sin to Him.  Their adulterous nature testified against them and uncovered the fact that they did not truly know Him at all.  Their denial and defiance was their own pride testifying to them in their face as they continued to stumble, lost in the darkness of sin and rejection of Him.  Their rituals of sacrifice no longer were meaningful as they imagined that if they gave all their herds to sacrifice that it would cover unrepentant offenses against the Almighty Holy One.  We also must beware of the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13) which attempts works to earn forgiveness when repentance and faith in His grace are required instead.  Wisdom is known by her children (Luke 7:35) whether we bear divine or pagan fruit through following or living in opposition to the scriptures commanded by the Lord to us all.  Like Israel and Judah of time past, we can blow the trumpet to claim victory with words not backed by righteous and reap only defeat.  It is not our lack of enough faith, but of humility and obedience in seeking forgiveness for our presumptuous pride to demand and command God to do our will instead of praying for His to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).  It is not our power to defeat the enemy but God’s.  His rebuke teaches us humility and trust in His providence instead of thinking our might of effort in our good works makes right in His eyes for a speedy result instead of trusting in God’s timing and working.  These of old thought they could heal themselves and work victory but failed to trust and obey in humility.  May we learn not to repeat this bad example recorded for our edification and exhortation.  If God brings down a people or a work in opposition to His predetermined will, then those who do so like Ephraim and Judah these will find no rescue from continuing rejection and disbelief of disobedience.  However, if the sinner admits their sin and acknowledge they are as all others (Romans 3:23), then they can seek Him as they are drawn back in repentance through faith (1 John 1:9) to find forgiveness in God’s absolution found in Christ alone and through no other.  He called the sinner then to earnestly seek Him when afflicted by the consequences and condition wrought by their own disobedience and calls us now to do likewise.  Eternally, there is impending eternal judgment for those not covered by the sacrifice of Christ according to His work (John 6:28-29) which is unobtainable by our own efforts, but there is continuing forgiveness for those in Christ even when they wander back into pride with the spiritual and even physical idolatry of immortality.  We are called to seek Him when He calls us out of darkness into such marvelous light and then daily seek His absolution which is unobtainable by the hand or promise of any mere mortal man.  Hosea 5:15 reminds us to confess our sins, turn back to Him, and find Him before our faces clear again in restoration.  We are accountable and yet secure in Christ. 

Enslaved Hearts of Adulterous Idolatry

Hosea 4:11-19 

11 "Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart.

12 My people ask counsel from their wooden idols,
And their staff informs them.
For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray,
And they have played the harlot against their God.

13 They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops,
And burn incense on the hills,
Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths,
Because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters commit harlotry,
And your brides commit adultery.

14 "I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry,
Nor your brides when they commit adultery;
For the men themselves go apart with harlots,
And offer sacrifices with a ritual harlot.
Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled.

15 "Though you, Israel, play the harlot,
Let not Judah offend.
Do not come up to Gilgal,
Nor go up to Beth Aven,
Nor swear an oath, saying, 'As the LORD lives'—

16 "For Israel is stubborn
Like a stubborn calf;
Now the LORD will let them forage
Like a lamb in open country.

17 "Ephraim is joined to idols,
Let him alone.

18 Their drink is rebellion,
They commit harlotry continually.
Her rulers dearly love dishonor.
19 The wind has wrapped her up in its wings,
And they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

Israel had gone from rejecting God’s word of truth and cast mercy aside to pursue violence and self-destruction.  Adultery of the spirit and body made them slaves to sin (Romans 6:20-21) with drunkenness thrown in to blur their understanding and blind all remorse to keep repentance towards holiness at bay.  We see this today with haters of God (Romans 1:30) whose desire for unrighteousness fills their lives and blinds them to the truth of God’s word and the gospel of reconciliation by faith through repentance.  They make their bodies temples of selfish desires and not of worship to God as they reject Christ and mock Him in drunkenness.  Even some who know God fall into the trap of bringing such idols into their temples, committing physical adultery (1 Corinthians 6:15-17) as well as spiritual as they accept the teachings and worship of the world’s philosophy.  We are warned in 1 John 2:15-17 not to indulge in desires of the flesh, eyes, and pride, but to do according to the word of God instead.  Our desires become our worship which we bring into the temples where God lives and so are the idols littering our bodies and corrupting our pure worship (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  In Hosea’s time we see God’s people asking for counsel from dead idols similar to modern horoscopes, tarot cards, and false philosophies of self instead of digging into the scriptures for true answers to benefit the soul for the kingdom here now and to come forever.  Even followers of Jesus Christ find themselves pulled into these spiritual harlotries if we are not careful to test all things and only hold to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22) according to God’s definition.  Israel had been offering sacrifices to non-existent gods by burning incense to them like the deceived Buddhists or New Age adherents in our present time of darkness (Galatians 1:3-4).  This led to both the spiritual adultery of having other gods in defiance of the first commandment, as well as physical adultery with ritual sex, even with the newly married.  God told these women they would not be punished without first punishing the men who visit prostitutes in and out of religious venues.  He told those who refused to understand that they would be trampled down in the approaching hoofbeats of His judgment.  Because of their obstinate stubbornness in outright rebellion, God would leave such to their own devices and certain end.  Their drunkenness and immortality of idolatry against Him will end in eternal shame and regret which cannot be undone apart from confession and repentance in their life before death (Hebrews 9:27-28).  Only then we can escape such adulterous idolatry of the heart enslaved by sin.  May all who consider this example and now hear the gospel of reconciling grace find eternal forgiveness, and then pursue righteousness and holiness (2 Timothy 2:19) in worship of God alone by grace alone in Christ alone.  Amen.

Consequences of Rejecting God's Word of Truth

 Hosea 4:1-10

1 Hear the word of the LORD,
You children of Israel,
For the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land:
"There is no truth or mercy
Or knowledge of God in the land.

2 By swearing and lying,
Killing and stealing and committing adultery,
They break all restraint,
With bloodshed upon bloodshed.

3 Therefore the land will mourn;
And everyone who dwells there will waste away
With the beasts of the field
And the birds of the air;
Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.

4 "Now let no man contend, or rebuke another;
For your people are like those who contend with the priest.
5 Therefore you shall stumble in the day;
The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night;
And I will destroy your mother.

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.

7 "The more they increased,
The more they sinned against Me;
I will change their glory into shame.
8 They eat up the sin of My people;
They set their heart on their iniquity.

9 And it shall be: like people, like priest.
So I will punish them for their ways,
And reward them for their deeds.

10 For they shall eat, but not have enough;
They shall commit harlotry, but not increase;
Because they have ceased obeying the LORD.

Israel had stopped hearing God’s word of truth and with it the pursuit and practice of that truth and mercy in their ignorance of the knowledge to trust and obey that which was life and peace with Him.  Hosea cried out the message to hear the word of the LORD once more.  He was charging them as a nation and people with disobedience and spiritual adultery.  Because they cast aside knowledge of God from His word and ceased living in mercy according to the truth of the scriptures delivered by the prophets (Jeremiah 35:15), they were charged for their sin of leaving Him.  They had devolved into a lawless people of lies and curses on each other, with thieving, adultery, and murder.  They no longer restrained themselves as they shed more and more blood as spiritual children of Cain instead of faithful Abel who offered his best to God as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1).  Because of their godless lives of sin in rejecting Him, the whole country fell into disarray and destruction, the pattern seen throughout history of all who cease listening and following God’s word of truth that tells us to love Him above all others and then to love others as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31).  They were told to live peaceably with each other instead of arguing and dissenting angrily as we see today in meaningless temporal political debates and resulting hatred instead of considering others as God does each of us.  Those who contended then were likened to ones arguing with the priest who ministered sacrifices of forgiveness and mercy, leading to stumbling and destruction in their lives.  This is akin to arguing against Christ and accusing Him while refusing to hear His word to the contrary in our dealings with each other and God Himself.  The end of rejecting the knowledge in scripture is ruination of the individual and nation with the lack of understanding of the peace of God which comes by faith and following His every word.  How people are still destroyed for lack of knowledge in both small and great ways, depending on the amount of seeking that knowledge to understand or the level of scoffing against pursuing it.  Israel increased in prosperity of power and possessions and allowed their willful ignorance to increase their sin because the sin nature is what we all come to as our spiritual quiescent state when not allowing daily renewal and change sought according to His word.  Because they left the scriptures, God’s people reaped what they sowed and faced the consequences.  They ate bit were never satisfied, they committed sexual immortality but did not fruitful and did not multiply.  There is only grief if we follow their example (1 Corinthians 10:6, 11) and stop pursuing our sanctification by reflecting in His word to see our true condition and follow Him according to His word to obey in trust as a proof of our true faith and to please our great God and Savior (Titus 2:11-13).  May we love God by living opposite to this example by pursuing the knowledge of obedience as we become people of the Book in living sacrificial lives of thankful worship.  Hear the word of the Lord (Hebrews 2:1)! 

Return to God!

Hosea 3:1-5 

1 Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans."

2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. 3 And I said to her, "You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you."

4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days.

Israel was given a visual demonstration of their infidelity to their LORD through the witness of the prophet Hosea.  He was commanded to find a woman with her lover committing adultery with her husband and take her in, keeping her from committing further adultery.  He paid a price for her in silver and grain as an example to Israel who committed adultery with idols and immortality with food offerings to lifeless gods of metal and wood and stone as the godless ones do.  Whether he restored his own wife Gomer (Hosea 1:2-3) or this was another’s wayward spouse is unclear, but the picture to Israel is the same, to stop their spiritual adultery with images of false gods and return to God in faithfulness.  Hosea paid the price as a witness to Israel paying the price for their sin, but he also loved the woman as a faithful husband by example and caused her to stop playing the harlot with other lovers so Israel might observe and understand to do the same with their LORD.  He remained celibate as she would also do with him.  Then the message to God’s people was relayed through him that they would have no ruler of men over them and no worship through sacrifice of idol images.  They were commanded to be spiritually celibate and faithful to their Husband (Hosea 2:16) before their repentance led them back to seek the LORD their God and the line of David as king which led to the Messiah we call Christ in faithfulness to Him alone.  Only in being wed to Him in faithfulness apart from any other god would they be able to fear God and His goodness in the latter days of His coming to them and before His return to claim His Bride, which is the church consisting of all His redeemed children from both Jew and Gentile.  The message was of repentance through faith and resulting faithfulness and devotion to the one and only living God.  For all who are still in sin today the message remains the same, ‘Return to God!’ 

God's Mercy for His People

Hosea 2:14-23 

14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
Will bring her into the wilderness,
And speak comfort to her.

15 I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;
She shall sing there,
As in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

16 "And it shall be, in that day,"
Says the LORD,
"That you will call Me 'My Husband,'
And no longer call Me 'My Master,'
17 For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.

18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
With the beasts of the field,
With the birds of the air,
And with the creeping things of the ground.
Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth,
To make them lie down safely.

19 "I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And you shall know the LORD.

21 "It shall come to pass in that day
That I will answer," says the LORD;
"I will answer the heavens,
And they shall answer the earth.
22 The earth shall answer
With grain,
With new wine,
And with oil;
They shall answer Jezreel.

23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth,
And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy;
Then I will say to those who were not My people,
'You are My people!'
And they shall say, 'You are my God!'"

After God revealed that all His people were under the judgment of condemnation for their idolatry and immorality, He offered comfort by His goodness of grace towards those He chose and called to be His.  He would persuade them and draw them to Himself as Christ does now in John 6:44, 10:27-29, never to let His people go again.  He promised to meet their needs in verse 15 as we are told later in Matthew 6:26 as to how He cares for His chosen children.  He further told them that He was more than just their Lord, but also their Father who looks after and cares for them, as one who provides and protects each one.  He would take away the taste of idols and every false way which He hates (Psalm 119:103-104, 128) from their mouths as His word which they had neglected and disobeyed would be sweetness to their mouths (Proverbs 16:24) to worship Him with.  They would be called by His name and none other again.  He further made a covenant agreement between His people and the animals around them to keep them safe as the lion and lamb laying down together (Isaiah 11:7-9) to give them rest and peace together (Isaiah 11:10).  Their betrothal to Him was to be everlasting, promised in righteousness, justice, lovingkindness, mercy, and in His faithfulness to them.  This is the promise of the gospel which is eternal in the heavens.  It is in the imputed righteousness of Christ in which His people stand firm, in the justice of the cross settling our sentence of death for our sin as completely and forever exonerated, in His loving mercy and love for His own whom He has called and chosen, in His great mercy to pass over our sins against Him, all according to His infinite and unbreakable faithfulness according to His word.  This was their and our hope of God’s mercy for all who sit born under the condemnation of certain judgment for our disobedience and resulting sins of idolatry and immortality.  Because of these great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:3-4), we have prosperity and peace in our souls and partake of His own divine nature!  We are planted in this world to bring forth fruit as was promised to His people centuries ago in verse 23.  We also have gained His mercy and are now His people as He is now our same God as theirs (1 Peter 2:9-10, Romans 9:24, Romans 9:25-26) under a new contract or covenant, one sealed in His own blood of sacrifice (Hebrews 12:24, 12:20-21) which paid for all our sins once and forever for all whom He has called out and chosen as His own (Hebrews 9:12, 10:10, 19-20)!  This is a picture of God’s great mercy for lost sinners such as you and I, a picture of the gospel for all His people throughout history.  We now also say with them, 'You are my God!' as He says, 'You are My people!' 

God's Unfaithful People under Condemnation

Hosea 2:2-13 

2 "Bring charges against your mother, bring charges;
For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband!
Let her put away her harlotries from her sight,
And her adulteries from between her breasts;
3 Lest I strip her naked
And expose her, as in the day she was born,
And make her like a wilderness,
And set her like a dry land,
And slay her with thirst.

4 "I will not have mercy on her children,
For they are the children of harlotry.
5 For their mother has played the harlot;
She who conceived them has behaved shamefully.
For she said, 'I will go after my lovers,
Who give me my bread and my water,
My wool and my linen,
My oil and my drink.'

6 "Therefore, behold,
I will hedge up your way with thorns,
And wall her in,
So that she cannot find her paths.
7 She will chase her lovers,
But not overtake them;
Yes, she will seek them, but not find them.
Then she will say,
I will go and return to my first husband,
For then it was better for me than now.'
8 For she did not know
That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil,
And multiplied her silver and gold—
Which they prepared for Baal.

9 "Therefore I will return and take away
My grain in its time
And My new wine in its season,
And will take back My wool and My linen,
Given to cover her nakedness.
10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
And no one shall deliver her from My hand.
11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease,
Her feast days,
Her New Moons,
Her Sabbaths—
All her appointed feasts.

12 "And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
Of which she has said,
'These are my wages that my lovers have given me.'
So I will make them a forest,
And the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13 I will punish her
For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense.
She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry,
And went after her lovers;
But Me she forgot," says the LORD.

After Hosea spoke of how sin separates but mercy saves, he turned to describe just how God’s people were unfaithful and described their sins to hold them accountable and without excuse (Romans 1:20-23, 3:10-12, 23).  Israel was described as an unfaithful wife exposed by God’s word and judged if she did not repent from such sins and turn back to Him as husband.  Otherwise, He would show no mercy on her shamefully conceived children born of idolatry and immortality of body and spirit.  She looked to her physical wants and satisfied her needs by seeking them from idols instead of the living God which she was joined to by promise and covenant.  God protected and corrected her by setting thorns of circumstances as a hedge to block her from straying further from Him that she might be unable to pursue those idolatrous lovers and run to Him again.  Then she would appreciate all His provision instead of throwing the food and wealth to false and lifeless gods.  Because she did not consider and continue to return in repentance, God took away the provisions and prosperity, leaving her once again naked and ashamed before those she ran after as her lovers.  God took away her laughter and joy which she had in celebrating the feasts given to worship and thank God for all His provision and providence of His love.  He took away the fruitful trees and handed them over to the animals to graze on instead.  He punished her for burning incense to idols like Baal in direct disobedience to the first commandment to have no other gods and no images to worship in place of Him.  God’s people had forgotten Him as she committed spiritual adultery with dead gods which she chose instead to pursue.  Such disregard for the holy covenant as of marriage with their LORD led to the consequences of sin’s price to pay which is death (Romans 6:23).  God’s unfaithful people who were under condemnation were offered mercy if only they turned back to Him in a renewed commitment to their restored relationship.  Such is the call to all in Christ to receive Him by faith in turning from sin to Him, admitting the false worship and misdirected affections in the idolatry and immortality of body and soul.  Hope follows as we will see in the rest of this chapter for them as an example for us all. 

Sin Separates, Mercy Saves

Hosea 1:1 - 2:1

1 The word of the LORD that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

2 When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea:
"Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry
And children of harlotry,
For the land has committed great harlotry
By departing from the LORD."

3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 Then the LORD said to him:
"Call his name Jezreel,
For in a little while
I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu,
And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5 It shall come to pass in that day
That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel."

6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him:
"Call her name Lo-Ruhamah,
For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel,
But I will utterly take them away.

7 Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah,
Will save them by the LORD their God,
And will not save them by bow,
Nor by sword or battle,
By horses or horsemen."

8 Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Then God said:
"Call his name Lo-Ammi,
For you are not My people,
And I will not be your God.

10 "Yet the number of the children of Israel
Shall be as the sand of the sea,
Which cannot be measured or numbered.
And it shall come to pass
In the place where it was said to them,

'You are not My people,'
There it shall be said to them,
'You are sons of the living God.'

11 Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel
Shall be gathered together,
And appoint for themselves one head;
And they shall come up out of the land,
For great will be the day of Jezreel!

2:1 Say to your brethren, 'My people,'
And to your sisters, 'Mercy is shown.'

Hosea’s name means “Salvation,” but the name Jesus includes salvation is from God, “Yahweh Is Salvation.”  Hosea as God’s messenger offers the possibility of salvation if only the nation will turn from idolatry back to Him.  We see here how sin separated God’s chosen people because of the harlotry of idolatry and subsequent physical and spiritual immorality, yet how God’s mercy offered salvation as a possibility if they turned from sin to Him in real repentance by trusting Him according to His Word.  When the LORD began speaking through Hosea as a prophet, He also called him to do something seemingly against His word, to marry a harlot and have children of harlotry as a sign of warning to Israel.  This act visually told the harsh reality of Israel’s unfaithfulness with Him as a man paying for sexual services; they went through motions of sacrifices in the sanctuary as they flirted with idols and had spiritual relations with them in their hearts and in blasphemous acts of worship.  This broke their covenant as of marriage with their LORD as they did also in the flesh and left Him.  Hosea was told to do the same outward act but with a heart for God to be a sign of impending judgment as well as a call to turn from those idolatrous and immoral spiritual relationships.  They were married to God and committed spiritual adultery against Him as a way of despising the gracious covenant He had made with them as His own special people.  Hosea had a son named Jezreel, meaning “God sows,” as He would reap the immortality of His people in recompense for their sins.  He also had a daughter named Lo-Ruhamah, meaning “No-Mercy,” because they deserved only judgment for constantly rejecting Him and His word of the covenant.  This judgment was specifically aimed at the house of Israel, while Judah was to find mercy in God’s salvation.  This would be done by God’s power alone; no army or other tool of man would be necessary, a picture of God’s salvation in Jesus the Christ proving God is salvation as his name implies.  After these two children, a third was born named Lo-Ammi, which means “Not-My-People,” showing that the rejection and sin of Israel had taken them from God’s favor.  In spite of the rejection and spiritual adultery, God then brought up the promise to Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 22:17-18) that the LORD Himself would yet prosper and multiply His called and chosen people like sand and stars in number and as commanded in the Garden with Adam (Genesis 1:22, 28).  Those who sinned had were seen as “lo-ammi,” not God’s people, would be reconciled as sons of the living God (1 Peter 2:10), having yet obtained mercy in the grace of God’s love as their Father and ours now in Him as our salvation!  Just as the houses of Israel and Judah were united under one head, so now we from all nations are united with them under Christ (Ephesians 2:13-14) as head over all (Ephesians 1:22-23) His chosen children.  This is the grace and mystery of the gospel revealed in Jesus Christ who lives in us (Colossians 1:26-27) and who He calls His own by mercy and reconciling grace.  We are His people.  Mercy has been shown.  Sin separates, mercy saves.  God is our salvation!

Deliverance through Tribulation

Daniel 12:1-13 

1 "At that time Michael shall stand up,
The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;
And there shall be a time of trouble,
Such as never was since there was a nation,
Even to that time.

And at that time your people shall be delivered,
Every one who is found written in the book.

2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
Some to everlasting life,
Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

3 Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever.

4 "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase."

5 Then I, Daniel, looked; and there stood two others, one on this riverbank and the other on that riverbank. 6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, "How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?"

7 Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.

8 Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, "My lord, what shall be the end of these things?"

9 And he said, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10 Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.

11 "And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.

13 "But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days."

Michael the archangel who watches over all God’s chosen people will stand up to defend them in the great time of troubles or tribulation to come at the end.  This affliction and distress will be far greater than anything like it ever before, and so we can assume Daniel had a vision of the great tribulation we read about in Mark 13:19, 24 with the hope of delivering us in Mark 13:27 at the very end.  There seems to be no mention of deliverance before that tribulation but an assurance for the elect out of the end of all things as all the chosen ones still alive are brought out when God gathers them together to Himself.  To be clear, only those written in the book of God (which is the Lamb’s book of life) from Revelation 21:27 (and Philippians 4:3) will be delivered or saved forever after that time of greatest affliction on the earth, as all are judged and held accountable for their unrepentant sin not acquitted by that book of life.  As for those already dead in that time, we see Daniel’s description of only two alternatives in waking to judgment (Hebrews 9:27-28) - by waking in resurrection to everlasting life, or to shame and everlasting contempt (John 5:28-29, Matthew 25:46).  The wise who hide in the righteousness of Christ will shine brightly as the stars in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16) and turn many to that light of the gospel while they live and have breath in anticipation of the end.  Before then, many will run after knowledge of these things but still be surprised when He comes like lightning (Luke 17:24) and as an unseen thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2) of darkness covering the eyes of men.  Here we also see God as הָעוֹלָ֑ם, the Eternal One (אֵ֥ל עוֹלָֽם) as in Micah 5:2, Genesis 21:33, and Psalm 90:2, as well as further explained in John 1:1-2, 14.  He is the eternal one who makes certain all these things from the beginning to the end as promised to us by Daniel and all the prophets.  Yes, many before the end will understand and be found by Him and made white in Christ’s righteousness (Revelation 7:14) and in their sanctification (1 Peter 1:22), while those whose refuse faith and repentance will go on doing wickedly without understanding.  The precise end times given here have varying interpretations as they apply to both past and future events, but the certainty for us to pursue is finding rest for our souls in Christ and His inheritance in the end of days.  There is then a certain absolute hope in our deliverance through the tribulations to come and we have time to forewarn other and offer hope of deliverance from God’s wrath.  Praise God who delivers His chosen elect in Christ Jesus our Lord!  Amen.  

Blasphemies End Through Tribulation

Daniel 11:29-45 

29 "At the appointed time he shall return and go toward the south; but it shall not be like the former or the latter. 30 For ships from Cyprus shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and return in rage against the holy covenant, and do damage.

"So he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. 32 Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. 33 And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. 34 Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help; but many shall join with them by intrigue. 35 And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time.

36 "Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done. 37 He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all. 38 But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. 39 Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain.

40 "At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. 41 He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. 44 But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. 45 And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him.

The North and South continue to wage war, but the king of the North takes over.  In a rage against God’s covenant, he blasphemes God and encourages those who also turn against Him in leaving behind the covenant made with them by the LORD.  When they take away the daily sacrifices in the temple to show their disdain against worship of God, they then replace the sacrificial system with the ‘abomination of desolation’.  This abomination leading to destruction was an altar to the pagan god Zeus set up in 167 B.C. by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, but it also is a shadow of another abomination that Jesus predicted would be erected (Matthew 24:15, Luke 21:20).  The worship of a false and lifeless god instead of worship of the true and living God whose house and its sacrifices were His alone made the sacrilege all the more heinous and led to spiritual desolation by destroying the relationship with the LORD.  This act also made reconciliation through atonement impossible and destroyed those worshippers of one not God, just as in the last days when this is re-enacted by satan and his antichrist minion.  History then was a foreshadowing and forewarning of what will come again before the final judgment.  Matthew 24:21-22 warns the believers in Christ who endure such tribulations at the end to notice when the abomination begins in the temple and to get away from it, but also to hold to the hope that as God’s chosen they will find it passes quickly.  There is no promise of being caught up out of it as some teach, but that they will endure that time of tribulation by God’s preserving grace.  Even here in Daniel 11:32-33 we find the faithful chosen (Revelation 17:14) ones will be strong and not deceived by flattering words (Jude 1:16-17) but work the truth of God in their words of the gospel and righteous deeds in those pressing times, boldly teaching others of the true and living God and not the abominations of worshiping any other to save their physical lives.  Just as back then, some will be weak and fall for a while but will get back up to continue following their Lord as they are refined and made pure in the tribulations and trials they walk through with Him.  They wait patiently until the end according to God’s appointed time (James 5:11) which is hidden from us as Matthew 24:36 tells us.  We should be more concerned with the work of the Lord than consuming our days trying to calculate the day and hour of His return and not flippantly leaning on a hope to be taken up out of the suffering and trials to come for His glory.  We see Daniel warning of the king of the North then as a foreshadowing of one to come at the end as well, one who lifts himself above God to claim and demand worship for himself instead.  In his blasphemy he assembles a mighty army as if that could overpower God Himself, and will face opposition in God’s land to destroy many.  But in the end he is utterly defeated, just as when our Lord returns and destroys with the sword of His mouth as the Word of God, King of all kings and Lord over all lords (Revelation 17:14, 19:11, 13, 15-16).  There is no victory for the enemy of God and no defeat for His called, chosen, and faithful ones.  This is hope in and through great tribulation.  The blasphemy will come to an end as we endure tribulation and we will be victorious in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57).  We endure tribulation as God ends the enemy’s self-worship and attack on God and His own.  Amen!