Hosea 6 - God's Greatest Desire
by Lance Ponder(94)http://fkiprofessor.xanga.com
Messianic Hope
Hos 6:1-3 “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” This is one of the most potent and straightforward messages of repentance and reconciliation in the entire Bible. Hosea repeatedly uses “us” to identify himself with fallen Israel. Any call to repentance is necessarily personal. By including himself, he makes the call personal and at the same time eliminates the judgmentalism so often associated with religious leaders calling people to repent. Hosea understands God’s sovereignty when he proclaims that it is God who tears down then restores. The power is not in the hands of humanity, no matter how pompously we may think we control our own destiny. Hosea’s prophecy of two days to revive and on the third be risen is clearly a direct reference to the death and resurrection of Messiah. Through this event the Savior will restore the relationship between God and man, granting man eternal life. To pursue this hope it is our responsibility to do all we can to seek and know God. God’s promises are sure and He is faithful to bring them to pass.
Temporal Love
Hos 6:4-5 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. God’s nature is unchanging. His faithfulness is absolute and forever. His love never changes. The rhetorical questions here, on the heels of Hosea’s great call to repentance, poetically illustrate divine frustration with fickle human love. Because they could not find it in them to remain faithful to God, prophets were sent to issue God’s judgment. Just as God spoke the universe into existence, so also His words spoke judgment as sure as the morning sun.
God’s Greatest Desire
Hos 6:6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Jesus quotes this verse twice (Mt 9:13, 12:7). Christians frequently quote this verse, though sometimes they take it out of context to justify selfishness. This bit of profound wisdom puts into simply language what God has always desired of His creation. God wants us to know Him. He wants us to come to Him, to rely on Him, and to willingly submit to Him as our rightful master. All creation is already His, so sacrifice is not a practical way of giving God anything. God’s nature is love. By loving Him and loving others we express His character. By expressing God’s character we experience God. To know God personally and intimately ideally includes at least a degree of intellectual knowledge about Him, but it must include experiencing persistent, pervasive love in the form of a life lived in joyful surrender to the Lord. In proper context, this verse also restates and amplifies God’s desire that our love be constant. It is easy to love for a season, but real love must endure difficulties that the human heart does not easily abide. Enduring love is worth infinitely more than any one-time gift. For us to receive God experientially through divine revelation is worth infinitely more to Him than any gift we could attempt to offer.
Conviction
Hos 6:7-10 But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me. Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood. As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests band together; they murder on the way to Shechem; they commit villainy. In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim's whoredom is there; Israel is defiled. Hosea has called for repentance (6:1-3), expressed divine frustration (6:4-5), and spelled out clearly God’s greatest desire from His people (6:6). Here Hosea returns to the subject of Israel’s unfaithfulness. God created perfect conditions for humanity in the Garden of Eden, yet Adam disobeyed. The lands given to the tribes of Israel were “flowing with milk and honey,” yet Israel did not remain faithful to YHWH, the giver of all good things. Priests behave like robbers and do all sorts of wicked things. YHWH testifies His divine witness of their evil. Samaria in Ephraim is the spiritual and political heart of Israel. This is why Hosea specifies Ephraim as the place of whoredom that defiles all of Israel.
Restoration Promise
Hos 6:11 For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I restore the fortunes of my people. A harvest is a time of gathering. It is associated with celebration for the bounty. Previous chapters cycle between indictment, judgment, repentance, and restoration. Through Hosea, God is speaking to both Israel and Judah. This verse is a reminder that the promise to Israel is also a promise to Judah. A time will come when God will gather and restore Judah. This passage was fulfilled, at least in part, when many of those exiled to Babylon returned to construct the Second Temple. In the Messianic sense associated with the early part of Hosea 6, this passage appears to point to a greater fulfillment to be carried out when Christ returns in glory to gather the elect from around the world.
Majoring in the Minors
Hosea Chapters:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Article submitted Monday, March 08, 2010 & read 273 times.
Leave Your Comments:
» left by Teresa (144 days 13 hours ago.)
Hi Lance, I like the way you changed the Scripture to italics. It's much easier on the eyes. The message, straight to the heart!Respond to this comment
» left by Lance Ponder(94) (143 days 22 hours ago.)
Thanks. I try to do italics on all of them, but this site has a mind of its own. It all depends on how it gets pasted in. I try to edit source, but it has a mind of its own, too, so a few of them don't end up with italics or the right spacing. This is one that actually looks right when done. I think I'm getting it figured out. Thanks so much.
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