Transcript My Servants The Prophets”

“My Servants The
Prophets”
THE BETRAYED HUSBAND
Hosea
Hosea Meets & Marries
Gomer

V.2 – “…take unto thee a wife of whoredoms…”
(a woman destined to become a harlot)

Vv.6-9 – “…children of whoredoms…” (children
disgraced because their mother was a harlot)

This marriage & home a symbolic act of the
prophet designed to show Israel how sinful they
had become!
Similarities of Relationship

Hosea married
“Gomer”

God married Israel
And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor
for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth,
and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. (Hosea
2:15)
And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make
thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast. (Hosea
12:9)
Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know
no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me. I did know thee in the
wilderness, in the land of great drought. (Hosea 13:4-5)
Similarities of Relationship

Gomer left Hosea

Israel forsook God
For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied
her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. (Hosea 2:8)
And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to
them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went
after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD. (Hosea 2:13)
My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for
the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a
whoring from under their God. (Hosea 4:12)
Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring
from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor. (Hosea 9:1)
Similarities of Relationship

Gomer gave her
love to other men

Israel gave her
love to other gods
For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her
silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. (Hosea 2:8)
And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them,
and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her
lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD. (Hosea 2:13)
They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes
shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the
land of Egypt. (Hosea 7:16)
When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended
in Baal, he died. (Hosea 13:1)
Similarities of Relationship

Hosea divorced
Gomer

God divorced
Israel
Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither
am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms
out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
(Hosea 2:2)
Similarities of Relationship

Hosea loved
Gomer

God Still loved
Israel
And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake
them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then
shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then
was it better with me than now. (Hosea 2:7)
Similarities of Relationship

Hosea Bought
Gomer Back To Be
His Wife

God Bring His
People Back
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the
wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give
her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a
door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her
youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of
Egypt.
(Hosea 2:14-15)
Similarities of Relationship

Hosea Bought
Gomer Back To Be
His Wife

God Will Bring His
People Back
For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king,
and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an
image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward
shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God,
and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness
in the latter days. (Hosea 3:4-5)
The Husband/Wife
Relationship
• Religion is like a marriage:
In Hosea
• Not “mechanical”, but “individual”
• A “communion” between two
persons…God and Man!
• Unfaithfulness condemned in our
marriages. But what about our
relationship with God?
The Husband/Wife
Relationship
In Hosea
Israel: God’s
Bride in O.T.
Church: Christ’s
Bride in N.T.
“For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have
espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a
chaste virgin to Christ.”
2 Corinthians 11:2
The Husband/Wife
Relationship
In Hosea
Israel: God’s
Bride in O.T.
Church: Christ’s
Bride in N.T.
“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is
the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.”
Eph 5:23
The Husband/Wife
Relationship
In Hosea
• Has The Church Gone A whoring?
• Seeking Other Lovers?
• Committing Adultery?
• Work of the church?
• Worship of the church?
• Organization of the church?
The Husband/Wife
Relationship
In Hosea
• Has The Church Gone A whoring?
• Seeking Other Lovers?
• Committing Adultery?
• Replaced work for entertainment?
• Replaced worship with devotionals,
camp meetings, Bible workshops
• Social gospel for soul-saving gospel
Seeking Other Lovers…
“As the congregation becomes an audience,
the worship service is presented as
entertainment. Across the Protestant and
Roman Catholic spectrum, local
congregational worship seems more and
more like a Hollywood production. . . . Showbusiness elements are unmistakable in
contemporary worship. The key words used
by advocates are ‘relaxed,’ ‘informal,’
‘interesting,’ ‘relevant’ but the inevitable
result is TV-styled services.”
[Televangelism And American Culture;
(Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1991), pg.
211]
Seeking Other Lovers
 Chasing numbers –
Attendance Records
– The customer is always right –
provide what people want
(tolerance, anonymity, positive
reinforcement, humor,
entertainment . . .)
– Provide a social, nonthreatening
atmosphere where unbelievers
can feel comfortable – never
having their sins challenged . . .
Seeking Other Lovers
“Many have left looking for the
experiential aspect of religion . . .
Baby Boomers’ lives are so filled
with worry about economics and
relationships that they want a
place where they can flat out have
some fun.”
[Boomers Demand Own Spiritual Paths: Prodigal
Sons, Daughters Want Changes If, When They Return
to Fold,” The Tennessean, 11 April 1993, 14 A]
Seeking Other Lovers
“We have a society filled with
people who want what they want
when they want it. They are into
their own lifestyle, recreation, and
entertainment. They want comfort,
happiness, and success. When
churches appeal to those selfish
desires, they only fuel fires that
hinder true godliness.”
(Ashamed of the Gospel, When the Church
Becomes Like the World, pg 85)
Seeking Other Lovers…
“Now evangelicals everywhere are
frantically seeking new techniques and new
forms of entertainment to attract people.
Whether a method is biblical or not
scarcely seems to matter to the average
church leader today. Does it work? That is
the test of legitimacy. And so raw
pragmatism has become the driving force
in much of the professing church.”
(Ashamed of the Gospel, When the
Church Becomes Like the World, pg 71)
Seeking Other Lovers…
George Barna,
Marketing the
Church, pg.145
“It is . . . Critical that we keep in mind a
fundamental principle of Christian
communication: the audience, not the
message, is sovereign. If our advertising
is going to stop people in the midst of
hectic schedules and cause them to think
about what we are saying, our message
has to be adapted to the needs of the
audience. When we produce advertising
that is based on the take it or leave it
proposition, rather than on a sensitivity
and response to peoples’ needs, people
will invariably reject our message.”
Seeking Other Lovers…
“Could any procedure be more surely
predestined to dullness and futility? Who
seriously supposes that, as a matter of
fact, one in a hundred of the congregation
cares, to start with, what Moses, Isaiah,
Paul, or John meant in those special
verses, or came to church deeply
concerned about it? Nobody who talks to
the public so assumes that the vital
interest of the people is located in the
meaning of words spoken two thousand
years ago.”
(“What Is the Matter With Preaching” Harpers
Magazine, July 1928, pg.135)
What God Taught
Hosea/Us!

The true nature of sin and goodness!
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of
God more than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)
What God Taught
Hosea/Us!

The true nature of sin and goodness!

He discovered that God is a “suffering” God!
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
(Hosea 11:1 )
I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not
that I healed them. (Hosea 11:3 )
What God Taught
Hosea/Us!

The true nature of sin and goodness!

He discovered that God is a “suffering” God!

God would disown/disinherit Israel – sending them
into captivity – graphically illustrated by the
symbolic names given to Hosea’s children:

1st child a boy named “Jezreel” – God scatters!
And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a
little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the
house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the
house of Israel. (Hosea 1:4)
What God Taught
Hosea/Us!

The true nature of sin and goodness!

He discovered that God is a “suffering” God!

God would disown/disinherit Israel – sending them
into captivity – graphically illustrated by the
symbolic names given to Hosea’s children:

1st child a boy named “Jezreel” – God scatters!

2nd child a girl named, “Lo-Ruhamah” – one who
has not obtained mercy – symbolized the fact that
Israel had gone so far that God would no longer
have pity on them to forgive them
What God Taught
Hosea/Us!

God would disown/disinherit Israel – sending them
into captivity – graphically illustrated by the
symbolic names given to Hosea’s children:

1st child a boy named “Jezreel” – God scatters!

2nd child a girl named, “Lo-Ruhamah” – one who
has not obtained mercy – symbolized the fact that
Israel had gone so far that God would no longer
have pity on them to forgive them

3rd child a boy named “Lo-Ammi” – Not My People!
Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my
people, and I will not be your God. (Hosea 1:9)
What God Taught
Hosea/Us!

The true nature of sin and goodness!

He discovered that God is a “suffering” God!

That God is a merciful & forgiving God!

“How shall I give thee up ”Hosea 11:8 )

God said He will restore Israel to his house
I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not
return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the
Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the
city. (Hosea 11:9)
What God Taught
Hosea/Us!

The true nature of sin and goodness!

He discovered that God is a “suffering” God!

That God is a merciful & forgiving God!

“How shall I give thee up” Hosea 11:8 )

God said He will restore Israel to his house

Reinstate him to the status of full sonship
And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her
that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my
people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
(Hosea 2:23)
What God Taught
Hosea/Us!
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of
the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall
come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them,
Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are
the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and
the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint
themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land:
for great shall be the day of Jezreel. Say ye unto your brethren,
Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. {Ammi: that is, My people}
{Ruhamah: that is, Having obtained mercy}
(Hosea 1:10 - 2:1)
HOW DID IT END?
 Hosea
Still Loved Her!
“… the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for
the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.
(Hosea 9:7)
“A prophet is a crazy fool,
A man inspired is a man insane.”
Hosea 9:7
Moffatt
HOW DID IT END?

Did she soften under such unbelievable love?

Or, did she continue to resist that love and die as
she had lived?

A marvelous love story indeed!

But there is one that surpasses it:

God’s love for man! (1 Pet.1:18,19)

Will you resist Divine Love? Or let it soften your hearts
and win you back to God?