Hosea 11

Must the gallows supplant the cross or be invoked in its aid as a means of grace? Of old, God drew the sinner back with cords of a man, with bands of love.

Hosea 11:4.

Has modern improvement found the halter a better cord for such a purpose? Or do the learned teach perchance that they are both the same? It would almost seem that the propositions questioned here must all be true, judging from the reasonings by which some attempt to prove the reformatory operation of the punishment of death.

But being unconvinced as yet that they are true, I still must doubt the fitness of that cause to work out any such benign effect.

But I think we'll learn some things about this.

In Hosea 11:1, "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." If you look at this in the context of the verses preceding and following, you'll quickly discover that this passage is about national Israel.

It's a stretch to say, "Gee, this is Messianic." But Matthew tells us it is Messianic.

Why? Because Matthew's Jewish, and he understands that pattern is prophecy, and that's what he's all about.

Here's another example.

Hosea 11:1 applies primarily to the nation of Israel, but the Holy Spirit also uses it of God's greatest son, the Lord Jesus Christ, talks about, uh, bringing Israel...

Uh, let's just look at it actually, shall we? Hosea chapter 11, verse one.

[clears throat] Hosea chapter 11, verse one.

We note that this is used of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew chapter two, verse 14 and 15.

"When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod," notice, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 'Out of Egypt have I called my sons.'" That's interesting, isn't it? So in Hosea 11:1- God is talking about the nation of Israel, but there we see the law of double reference.

It does refer to the nation of Israel and the fact that God brought, brought Israel out of Egypt.

I'm thankful that I am someone who can now be there for other people who are experiencing similar heartache or pain because they've seen me walk through it and they've seen me come out the other side.

You wrote in your piece that there's a poem in Hosea 11 that paints a picture of God as a loving father who raised his son Israel and shared everything with him.

However, the son grew up, rebelled and turned against his father.

It strikes me sort of there's parallels there with the prodigal son.

story how the sort of son grew up and wished his father was dead you know took his inheritance and squandered it and yet the son's reaction to him coming back but you said that in the poem god is an emotional wreck one moment he's filled with anger the next he's heartbroken he's overwhelmed with compassion and then forgiving he cries how can i ever give you up israel What do you learn about God from that passage in Hosea 11? What sort of the big takeaway picture of God and God's character, God's love from that picture that's painted on top of, you know, as a mirror to Hosea's story.

Like Hosea obviously felt in some senses like he He understood what God was going through.

And maybe this passage or this poem is a reflection of Hosea's pain and him humanly relating to God.

I'll give you an Old Testament verse and a New Testament verse, and then we'll worship this God.

Hosea 11, one's in the Old Testament.

This is looking back to the days of Moses, the book of Exodus and the deliverance.

When Israel, God's people, was a child, I loved him and out of what? Out of Egypt, I called my son.

Matthew tells us in 2.15, Jesus with his parents is in Egypt.

He, quote, remained there until the death of Herod.

This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, quotes Hosea 11.1. Out of Egypt, I called my son.

Son.

And so they had a great opportunity there for that relationship with the Father, and they messed it up.

And then you look at Hosea 11, it's prophetic in nature in terms of the Messiah.

It truly is.

When Israel was a child, I loved him.

day 247 or september the 4th why not choose to make god smile our thoughts today come from hosea chapter 11 verse 7 my people are determined to turn from me even though they call me god most high i will by no means exalt them Now the big picture surrounding this verse.

Hosea reminds his fellow countrymen that God's judgment is certain, but that doesn't mean God has stopped loving them.

On the contrary, he loves them so much that wherever they go, he will always be their God.

They have been given chance after chance until chances run out and judgment comes.

Hosea knows how God feels because he has given his unfaithful wife Goma many chances too, and she has spurned them all in favor of simply going her own way.

And now today's action step.

When I taught our two sons to ride a bike, I ran behind them ready to catch hold of them and their bicycle if they lost control.

He was, uh, you know, he, uh, his mother was a virgin, Isaiah 7:14.

He went down to Egypt, came out of Egypt, Hosea 11:1.

And he resettled in, uh, re- Nazareth because the scripture says he shall be called a Nazarene.

So it sounds like another scripture fulfillment.

And I think everyone loves chapter 11 of Hosea, right? And so the metaphor now kind of shifts.

Before this, Israel was like the unfaithful wife, and now the metaphor shifts into Israel becoming the unfaithful son, right? And so in Hosea 11:1-4 it says, uh, "When Israel was a child, I loved him.

And I called my son out of Egypt.

But the more I called to him, the farther he moved from me." Offering sacrifices to the images of Baal and burning incense to idols.

Because if there's one thing you sense when you read the Old Testament, oh, my goodness, Yahuwah is so full of compassion, so full of love.

Yes, he's holy.

Yes, he's wrath, but he is so full of love, and we can see this here in Hosea 11.

It says, "How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboim?" Admah and Zeboim, they're associated with Sodom and Gomorrah.