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687. Bible Study: Hosea 11 (God is calling, What is our Response?) · Faith by annm2705

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Chapter 11 of Hosea, dear God, please be with us as we read
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through this chapter and maybe more and please let the Holy
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Spirit give us wisdom and understanding from this in Jesus
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name, Amen. God's love for Israel.
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When Israel was a child I loved him, and out of Egypt I called
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my son. But the more they were called,
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the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the bales,
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and they burnt incense to images.
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It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms,
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but they did not realize it was I who healed them.
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I LED them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love.
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So it's some of the things here that stood out to me was that
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God was calling Israel, but they were turning away from him.
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And that's something that we can probably all relate to if it
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takes us a while to turn to God in repentance, that there's been
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times in our life where God has called us.
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And in hindsight, we can look back and say, yeah, he was
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probably calling me, trying to get my attention during those
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things, but then we ignored him or we said, I'll wait till
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later. And that's the same thing that
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Israel has done over and over. And, you know, we're guilty of
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it, too. And then I find it interesting
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that, you know, it's the sacrifice to Baal and then
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burning incense to images. So the whole image thing really
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goes against the second commandment of God, not to
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create any graven images, any images of any kind that become
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something that are a focus of worship or a focus to, yeah, to
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the worship of God. So none of those should happen.
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And that's in the second commandment that God gave.
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And then Baal, we see that Baal also had like child sacrifice.
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And I, I really do in hindsight now.
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I mean, I didn't always think this way because I didn't know
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about it, but it's it's a spiritual battle and it, the
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spiritual realm influences what actually happens in the world.
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And ultimately abortion is very demonic and it influences and
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the world gives different reasons for justifying it.
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But ultimately, I believe it's still that same spirit that
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encouraged people to sacrifice their children to bail.
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And it's the same thing. I mean, most of the abortions
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are because the child would not be at a good time or not be from
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somebody, you know, like it's a decision of a person that
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they're not ready for this. So it's a very selfish decision
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rather than, you know, letting God deal with it.
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And, you know, God could decide this person would not come to be
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or God could say, I have great plans for this person.
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And ultimately, we should not be taking God's decision into our
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own hands because we don't know what God's plans are for that
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person. And God can use bad and turn it
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to good. So we always need to rely on God
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for these things. Then I also noticed that it was
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God who healed them. I mean, he, he was mentioning
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that he healed them. He gave them kindness and showed
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them love. So this is, you know, again,
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God's character is revealed. Even though there's all of this,
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you know, warnings of bad things and destructive things that are
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happening. It is ultimately God is, you
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know, he heals, he gives kindness and love and it's just
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the rejection. It does say in the Bible that
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God disciplines his children. So when bad things happen, there
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could be a a reason for it. If somebody is getting out of
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line, is getting down a path that could lead to destruction,
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God may cause something to shake a person up so that they turn
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back to him. And we see that historically
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throughout the Bible of how God dealt with people.
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And we primarily see that through Israel because the Bible
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is all about Israel. So OK to them I was like the one
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who lifts a little child to the cheek, so I bent down to feed
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them. Will they not return to Egypt?
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And will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to
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repent? So he gives the reason why they
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go back to Egypt. Now.
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Egypt was the center. There's something weird about
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Egypt when you think about it. I mean, just think about the
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pyramids. Think about, you know, they have
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all of these multiple deities. And I don't know, you can get
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into the Book of Enoch where he talked about fallen angels.
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They were the watchers who came to the earth and told mankind
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things they were not supposed to tell of mankind that God didn't
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want people to know. And it it is centered around
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technology, around beautification.
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There were several different categories, astrology,
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divination graph, I guess like plant grafting.
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There's a lot of things that were taught to humans that were
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listed in the Book of Enoch that were provided to humans by these
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fallen angels. And then you just think about
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the complexity of the pyramids and the times that they were
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built and how did they do that. And it just seems like, well,
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maybe the Book of Enoch is true and maybe that's how it was, how
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it happened. So that's speculation.
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Of course that's not proven, but it just really makes you think
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about those things. OK, let's go back to scripture.
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So a sword will flesh in their cities.
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It will devour their false prophets and put an end to their
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plans. My people are determined to turn
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for me. Even though they call me God
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Most High, I will by no means exalt them.
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How can I give you up Ephraim? How can I hand you over Israel?
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How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboyam?
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Well, this didn't mean a lot to me.
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So thankfully the study Bible had something.
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Who were Admah and Zeboyam? Admah and Zeboyam were two of
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the sinful cities that were destroyed along with Sodom and
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Gomorrah. And we'll find that in Genesis
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19 and Deuteronomy turning 29 verse 23.
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They are recalled here as reminders of the judgement and
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desolation that follows disobedience to God's command.
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Now when I think about Sodom and Gomorrah, in fact that's where
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the name sodomy came from. And then I think about this is
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kind of appropriate. This is the last day of the
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month, June 30th, that this is being recorded.
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And the whole month of June was had been dedicated to Pride
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month. And what's really, you know,
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twisted here is that God hates pride.
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He hates that arrogance and then we are celebrating it as a
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month. God says that like 2 men lie
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together is an abomination that's in the Bible and that you
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know, the sexually immoral will not be in God's Kingdom.
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And so those are the things it was it's multiple times.
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So it's not again, this is this is a sin that is not different
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from all all kinds of sin. All sin separates us from God.
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So the question is why do we promote or celebrate something
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that separates us from God? Why?
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I think it's evil. And I think especially
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Christians who celebrate this and encourage this are, are
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blind, first of all, spiritually blind, and they do not know what
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they are doing. Because if you read the Bible,
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it doesn't end well for someone who continues in that sin.
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And there is an opportunity for repentance, an opportunity to
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break from that. The power of the Holy Spirit can
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help a person overcome that, but they have to turn to God and
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they have to be willing to let God do that work within them.
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And that person has free will. If they choose to allow God to
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guide them, they can be in God's Kingdom.
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So we shouldn't celebrate their rebellion towards God.
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It's evil. It's basically saying, yay,
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you're not going to make it into God's Kingdom.
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That's what people are doing who are celebrating Pride Month.
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And I think that's horrible. And it's it's just, it's not a
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Christian thing. And I realized that people who
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do this are just ignorant. They're blind to what the Bible
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says. But we shouldn't celebrate that.
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We should, We should absolutely love the people.
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But just like God does, like God says he loves the people, but he
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hates the sin, It's, it's the sin that needs to go.
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That sin separates us from God, that sin keeps us from God's
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Kingdom. We have to deal with that.
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And a lot of churches don't want to talk about dealing with sin
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because people don't want to hear it, because people don't
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want to feel guilty. It says in the last days that
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people will have these itching ears to basically hear what they
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want to hear. And if you search Itching ears,
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you will find that verse in the New International Version of the
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Bible. But people in the last days,
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they don't want to hear the truth from the Bible.
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They just want to hear something that affirms whatever life
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people are living. But that's not the truth.
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So isn't it more compassionate? Isn't it more loving to tell
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someone the truth in love, to say that I'm telling you this
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truth because I care about you, I care about your future, I want
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you to be in God's Kingdom. It's not like it's something
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judgy, I guess is not the right, the right word for it, because
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it isn't being judgy on anyone. It's like telling them the truth
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and being loving towards them. Like pay attention to this, open
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your eyes, call on God, ask God to show you this, you know, make
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make changes in your life, but don't try to do it on your own
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because that won't be successful.
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You need God. That's why we need to be born
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again. Jesus said we must be born
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again. We need the Holy Spirit.
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And that happens when we use our free will to accept the Holy
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Spirit from God. Jesus says he receives the Holy
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Spirit from the Father and gives it to us, and that's being born
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again. And then our lives begin to
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change, not as a result of what we do, but as a result of what
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God does in us. That's why it's not that our
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actions don't save us. It's our free will that saves
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us. Because our free will, because
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of what Jesus did on the cross. So Jesus is the way, the truth
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and the life, and no one comes to God except through him.
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No one comes to the Father except through him.
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So it's by the what Jesus did is he made it possible for us to
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get into God's Kingdom. But if Jesus's death on the
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cross was the only thing that ever had needed to happen, that
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means that every single human being on the earth would be in
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heaven because Jesus died for all people.
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But that's not the case. We have to use our free will to
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accept, to believe what Jesus did, to understand that he gave
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atonement for our sins. He sacrificed his life for all
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of us so that we could possibly be in God's Kingdom.
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Then it's up to us. Then we have to use our free
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will and say, God, I want your Holy Spirit.
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I want you to change me. I accept what's in the Bible.
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Maybe it's hard for me and I struggle with it, but, and it
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usually is for most people. So Holy Spirit, you know, help
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me with it. That's what we need to do.
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That's our portion of it. And then when we receive the
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Holy Spirit, as long as we stay close to God, we were guaranteed
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to be in the Kingdom of God. That's what the Bible says.
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It's, it's us, it's our choice. We can't blame anybody else
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about where we where we end up because the Bible clearly tells
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us what certain things will keep us from the Kingdom of God.
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And most of us probably do those certain things.
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And so we realized, well, we don't, It doesn't.
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The outlook doesn't look too good.
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So we need God to intervene in our lives to change us.
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And the Holy Spirit does change people.
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Many people whose share, who have shared their testimony say
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this. And I know that personally, I've
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experienced changes in my desires the more I've walked in
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there. I hate using those terms that
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people use, but the more that I've read the Bible, the more
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that I've prayed and communicated with God be a
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prayer, the more my life has changed and God has done things
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in my life where I actually want to do things I had no interest
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in before. Like reading scripture was one
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of them. Like going to church was another
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one. I didn't really want to do those
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things. And over time and getting close
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to God, I, I do. I mean, I definitely want to be
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in God's Word and pray. Those are things.
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Anyway, going back to Scripture, so it says, my heart is changed
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within me. All my compassion is aroused.
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This is God speaking. I will not carry out my fierce
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anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again, for I am God and
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not a man, the Holy One among you.
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I will not come against their cities.
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They will follow the Lord, and he will roar like a lion.
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When he roars, his children will come trembling from the West.
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That's interesting to me that when he roars like God, you
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know, or Jesus, that you know the lion, the lion of Judah is
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Jesus. When he roars, his children will
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come trembling from the West. I thought that was interesting.
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They will come from Egypt trembling like sparrows, from
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Assyria, fluttering like doves. I will settle them in their
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homes, declares the Lord. I do think this is when Jesus
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returns and also Jesus enters the temple from the east.
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So there's a lot of focus on coming in from the east.
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And so, you know, it makes sense when his children will come from
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the West towards the east. So I believe this is talking
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about, this is prophecy about when Jesus returns.
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So now it goes on to Israel's sin.
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Ephraim has surrounded me with wise Israel with deceit, and
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Judah is unruly against God, even against the faithful Holy
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One. And that's the end of Chapter
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11. So I'll read what the study
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Bible has about Chapter 11. Why switch the love analogy from
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husband wife to father son? Hosea did not limit himself to
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one method of communicating his message.
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Since Israel had not responded to his analogy of an unfaithful
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wife, he appealed to history to try to reach the people.
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Just as a father cares for and nurtures his son, God has taken
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care of the people of Israel, bringing them out of Egypt and
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establish them, establishing them in the land of promise out
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of Egypt. I called my son Matthew saw this
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as a picture of God's protection of Jesus when God LED Joseph to
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take, when God LED Joseph to take Jesus to Egypt to escape
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from King Herod. OK so I at first I kind of got
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confused on that because I was thinking of the Joseph of the 12
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tribes. But this is Joseph the husband
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of Mary to take Jesus to Egypt to escape from King Herod.
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What are the cords of human kindness?
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The exact meaning is unknown. Some think it pictures a farmer
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using ropes to lift the yoke off his oxen so they could eat.
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Others suggest these cords were used to teach young children to
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walk. Still others see here a picture
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of God as Father bending over to lift or perhaps feed a small
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child who were OK. We read that one.
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Has this happened yet? It is difficult to know if this
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prophecy has been fulfilled in its fullest sense.
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The southern Kingdom Judah did have a well documented return to
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the Promised land after 70 years of exile.
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See the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
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However, we don't have historical information about a
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return of the northern Kingdom Israel there.
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Therefore, we must are this may be a reference to a future
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reality for God's people. The phrase from the West seems
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to indicate a return of worldwide proportions.
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And I think some of that's be started beginning like in 1948
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when Israel became a nation and people started returning to
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Israel and they still are returning despite being at war.
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There's many people that return to Israel.
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Does God change his mind? Many would say that since God
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knows all things, he knows he does not change his mind.
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Yet the Bible frequently speaks of God's mercy in terms of God
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relenting from threatened judgment.
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God's intentions, both for blessings and punishment, are
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often tied to our response. God in His sovereignty can make
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promises that are conditional, that is dependent upon the
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obedient response of His people. God's judgments can also be
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conditional, that is dependent on the continued refusal of His
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people to repent. God wants us to see Him as a God
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who cares passionately, passionately for His people, and
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longs to have a loving relationship with us.
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To emphasize the depths of God's love for Israel, Hosea spoke of
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God changing his mind, still looking for some glimmer of
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response from his people. So that's the end of Chapter 11
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and we will stop here for today.