Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / February 16 - Hosea 1

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February 16 - Hosea 1 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean. Here it is Monday, it's the 16th
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  of February and here we are at the beginning of a new week and
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  a whole new book of the Bible for us to dive into.
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  Today we are beginning to head back.
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  I think it was four years ago we spent some time reading through
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  the minor prophets, and this year we are going to dip our toe
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  into the first section of that prophetic group of books, and
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  we're doing that by reading Hosea.
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  Now. Hosea is a fascinating book.
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  Hosea is actually the only book that was written by a prophet to
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  the northern Kingdom of Israel before the Assyrians arrived.
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  This is the Northern Kingdom in its apartment, absolute heyday
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  going gangbusters, and they have just turned their backs on God.
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  And God has a really interesting way of calling them back through
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  a very literal mirroring of Hosea and God and what that
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  looks like. And just an interesting thing to
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  note, back then, when Israel came into this land of Canaan
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  and took over, all the inhabitants worshipped the Baal,
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  right? This is the God of Thunder and
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  rain, and this is the God that kept the rain coming, kept the
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  animals fertile, kept the people fertile, and kept things going
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  well. But there was another God in
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  that pantheon of gods by the name of Mott.
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  And Mott was the God of sterility and death.
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  And so the locals had to worship Baal so that rain and fertility
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  were the rewards that they got from bar and not being sterile
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  and dead, as obviously that would have been difficult for
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  them. So in this space you've got
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  people using temple prostitutes to celebrate that fertility and
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  a country that is just torn between these old practises of
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  worshipping Baal and this new way that God says no, no, no,
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  no, no. From now on I brought you into
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  this space. You are my people, you are
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  Yahwehists, you will worship the one true God.
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  But they keep on worshipping Baal, and that is what this book
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  is about. This is the book about Hosea
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  calling God's people back to be faithful to worshipping God
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  alone. So let us without any further
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  ado, dive in and read together Hosea chapter 1.
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  The Lord gave this message to Hosea son of Birai, during the
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  years when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah
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  and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
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  When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through
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  Hosea, he said to him, Go and marry a prostitute so that some
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  of her children will be conceived in prostitution.
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  This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by
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  turning against the Lord and worshipping other gods.
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  So Hosea married Goma, the daughter of De Blame, and she
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  became pregnant and gave Hosea a son.
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  And the Lord said, name the child Jezreel, for I am about to
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  punish King Jehu's dynasty to avenge the murders he committed
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  at Jezreel. In fact, I will bring an end to
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  Israel's independence. I will break its military power
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  in the Jezreel Valley. Soon Goma became pregnant again
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  and gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said to Hosea, Name
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  your daughter Lo Ruamar not loved, for I will no longer show
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  love to the people of Israel or forgive them, but I will show
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  love to the people of Judah. I will free them from their
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  enemies, not with weapons and armies or horses and
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  charioteers, but by my power as the Lord their God.
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  After Goma had weaned Lo Ruhama, she again became pregnant and
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  gave birth to a second son. And the Lord said, Name him Lo.
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  Am I not my people? For Israel is not my people, and
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  I am not their God. Yet the time will come when
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  Israel's people will be like the sands of the seashore, too many
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  to count. Then at the place where they are
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  told You are not my people, it will be said, you are children
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  of the living God. Then the people of Judah and
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  Israel will unite together. They will choose one leader for
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  themselves, and they will return from exile together.
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  What a day that will be, the day of Jezreel, when God will again
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  plant his people in his land. Our Lord, it's very easy for us
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  to distance ourselves from the people of Israel and to feel
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  like, ah, those stubborn Israelites.
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  Why didn't they just maintain their absolute dedication to you
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  above all else? But here we are Lord, living
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  lives surrounded by temptation and other goals that we would
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  pursue. Our Lord, forgive us our
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  infidelity as we continue to love others more than you, as we
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  continue to be seduced by the things of this world, by honour,
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  by success, by wealth, by self righteousness and all these
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  things which seem so delicious and attempting for us to pursue.
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  So Lord, humble us and bring us back to you.
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  May our hearts just yearn for you more than anything else and
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  may we return on bended knee to you as our Lord and our King.
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  So we come back to you. Lord Jesus, we worship you and
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  you alone. We love you and pray all of this
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  in your saving name, Amen.