Hosea 2

What would matter for the point of the story, though, is that these were brought up to deliver this message to an adulterous Israel.

That leads us to Hosea 2.

And I will warn you, the book gets dark and darker before the light comes on.

The light does come on, and that's the point.

And so Herod gets mad and comes in and tries to slaughter all the babies in Bethlehem.

Jesus and his family go to Egypt and they stay there a couple of years.

And when he comes out, Matthew quotes Hosea 2.15. I'm sorry.

He quotes Hosea 11, my son come up out of Egypt.

know, it's been said that one of the proofs of the Bible is that there is what's called the principle of embarrassment.

Hi, Alex McFarland here along with Bert Harper, and we are continuing on in the book of Hosea, and we invite you to turn there.

This is one of the Old Testament writers called the Minor Prophets because of the brevity of the books.

But, you know, Bert, the Word of God is not just all perfect, just-so stories.

You look at the Apostle Peter.

And part of the reason, and a number of scholars have said that the Bible has authenticity because it says, portrays human leaders' warts and all.

And I think about the life of Hosea.

This is a man of God, a prophet, and yet a pretty hard set of circumstances that he was called to.

The valley of Achor, which literally means the valley of trouble.

Centuries later, the prophet Hosea, he looks back at that valley.

Hosea 2, verse 15 in the complete Jewish Bible, and in Hebrew Bibles, it's verse 17.

God says of his wayward people, I will make the valley of Achor a door of hope.

In Hebrew, petach tikvah, a door of tikvah.

You don't have to tell me.

Write it on a piece of paper.

Then write Hosea 2, verse 15 across it.

They're not God-inflicted.

But because you belong to him, and I'm thinking of Hosea 2, and I'm also thinking of Hosea 13, where it talks about what the Lord does with those.

He allows them to go on in their sin until he brings them out into a place where he hedges them up and brings them to godly repentance.

Those are the ones that still belong to him as well.

Make distinction.

And you know who I'm talking to if I'm talking to you right now.

But Hosea 2.14 talks about it, and it also talks about this in Hosea 13, verse 15. those that are in sin that still have not yet been brought to Christ, namely the cross, he's still bringing you into a place of bringing you back unto himself.

And to those that are in the world and you don't belong to the Lord, that's why you have a worldly sorrow is because you're self-inflicting the trials and tribulations that you're going through right now, and you are going to endure the curse of what it is that you sowed into.

It's a hope in the Lord God of heaven.

The Bible says something in Hosea 2, verse 15.

God tells Israel, He says, I'm going to take the valley of Achor.

That is the darkest day in Israel.