SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/8/2015
10:06 PM
My Worship Time Focus: God’s Love
Pictured
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Hosea 3:1-5
Message of the
verses: “1 Then the LORD said to me,
"Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress,
even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and
love raisin cakes." 2 So
I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a
half of barley. 3 Then I said to her, "You shall stay with me for many
days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so I will also
be toward you." 4 For
the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without
sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols. 5 Afterward the sons of Israel
will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will
come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.”
When we studied the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel we saw
what Dr. Wiersbe described as “action sermons,” and that is what this very
short chapter from Hosea is as he takes back his wife, actually buys her from
what was a slave market and again takes her home with him. We will also see a prophetic portion of this
chapter as Hosea speaks of the end times in verse five.
Gomer had left Hosea and was living with another man,
playing the harlot, but after a while she probably had to leave this man,
perhaps he tired of her and so she ended up in a slave market where God must
have told Hosea to buy her back, but the price that he paid was not a lot for
she had surely been damaged by her sins.
When we look at verse three we see that Hosea did not immediately
begin to have relations with Gomer, but waited awhile to make sure that she
would be true to him. Perhaps another
reason was that Hosea wanted to make sure that she was not pregnant with
another man’s child. There is a
spiritual message in this in that the Messiah of Israel has come to pay the
price for them and yet they have not returned to the Lord.
When we studied Ezekiel we saw that because of their sin
against the Lord that they lost having a king over them, and they still do not
have one over them today for their ancestors did not want the Lord Jesus to
rule over them.
They do not have a place to offer sacrifices for their
temple has been destroyed along with the altar and the priesthood. However they do have a High Priest if only
they would acknowledge Him as we have seen in our study of the book of
Hebrews. One day as we see in verse five
Israel will have an afterwards and “they will come trembling to the LORD and to
His goodness in the last days.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “The key word is ‘return’ (Hosea 3:5),
a word that’s used twenty-two times in Hosea’s prophecy. When Israel repents and returns to the Lord,
then the Lord will return to bless Israel (2:7-8). God has returned to His place and left Israel
to herself (5:15) until she seeks Him and says, ‘Come, and let us return to the
Lord’ (6:1, NIV.”
Hosea 14:1-2 says “1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your
God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 2 Take words with you and return to the LORD.
Say to Him, "Take away all iniquity And receive us graciously, That we may
present the fruit of our lips.” This
prayer is good for anyone who desires to know the Lord and be saved from their
sins whether Jew or Gentile.
6/8/2015 10:27 PM
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