“A Persistent Love”

The Appomattox Court House Presbyterian Church Pulpit
Rev. Cameron S. Smith
The Lord's Day, January 28, 2007
Hosea 1:1-11; 1 Peter 2:9-10

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

Introduction
     I remember my wedding day very well. The one thing that stands out in my mind is when I was standing up front with the minister and my new bride turned the corner in the lobby and started up the aisle. Shannon was beautiful as she came up towards the front beaming. For some reason that I can't now explain, I had this stupid grin on my face!

     In our text from Hosea this morning, we experience another kind of wedding and this one is truly surreal. The groom stands up front with a contented smile on his face. He is dressed to kill, and he is dashing and handsome. As his new bride turns the corner and makes her way up the aisle, the guests' joy seems to turn to shock. As everyone gets a closer look at her as she walks by, they notice that her dress seems to be a little torn and dirty. Upon closer inspection, there's a cigarette hanging from her bottom lip and she's been far too generous in the amount of make-up caked on her face, accentuated by the ruby red lipstick smeared on her lips. As she passes by, she reeks of stale perfume and liquor -- she's smashed.
     All eyes respond by shooting quickly back to the groom to see what his response might be; and they're totally surprised to see that he is still smiling lovingly at his new bride, making her way to the wedding party.

The Prophet's Call
     This is a strange wedding scene, indeed. But this is what we find God doing for us in the Book of Hosea. We need to flesh that out this morning. Turning back to our text in the first chapter of Hosea this morning, we find the 8th century BC prophet opening up with a memorable line: "When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, 'Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry and have children of harlotry….'" (Hosea 1:2a NASB)
     I must tell you that this opening has caused quite a bit of speculation in the history of interpretation. To begin with, some commentators from a feminist persuasion sometimes attempt to generate earnest sympathy for the woman of harlotry -- Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. Maybe, they opine, she was a good girl who found herself in trying circumstances? Maybe she was just a victim of the cruel, harsh, patriarchal culture of the Ancient Near East?
     On the other side of the spectrum, some commentators, most notably the master theologian from Geneva, John Calvin, took aim at the interpretative issue from a different perspective: Denying that God could ever really command a man of God like Hosea to mix it up with a prostitute. This must have been a figurative story told by the prophet, and he stands front and center in front of a wayward people holding up this literary mirror.

     To begin with, while it might be interesting to investigate the life of Gomer to learn more about her and her particular rock-in-a-hard-place situation, it simply isn't possible to do so, and it involves fanciful, fruitless speculation. Worst of all, it misses entirely the point of the story.
     The second part of Hosea 1:2 seems to me to be very clear about the purpose: "Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD." In other words, God told Hosea to "go and marry this wayward woman because I want the people to see in your flesh and blood life a literal, graphic picture of how they treat me."
     Secondly, I don't think that we are dealing in the merely figurative here. It is by no means inconceivable that God could or would ask Hosea to do something like this. Quite frankly, it wasn't unusual for God to command His prophets to act in ways that would be judged outrageous by any casual observer.

     In Isaiah 20, God commands Isaiah to take off all of his clothes and walk around butt-naked for three years to show Israel how the seemingly invincible Egyptians will eventually be lead away by the Assyrians. Israel, instead of trusting in Yahweh for their strength and protection, looked instead to their Egyptian neighbors. Wrong choice!

"Then the LORD said, "As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, 'Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?'" (Isa. 20:3-6 ESV, hereafter unless specifically identified otherwise.)

     In Ezekiel 4, God commands Ezekiel to barbeque his food over fire seasoned with human excrement! The prophet was commanded to do this for a period of time to symbolize the horror and oppression of the coming judgment on Jerusalem.

"'And your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from day to day you shall eat it….And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.' And the LORD said, 'Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.' Then I said, 'Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I have never defiled myself. From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth.' [Please don't miss God's sense of humor here!] Then he said to me, 'See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.'" (Ezek. 4:10, 12-15).

     Jeremiah 38 contains the account of Jeremiah's being cast into a waterless cistern, and sinking up to his neck in mud. I can't help but see God's real life imagery in the misfortune of "the weeping prophet," reminding the people of the horror of being abandoned by God.

"Then the officials said to the king, 'Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.' King Zedekiah said, 'Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you.' So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud." (Jer. 38:4-6).

     The bottom line here is that the prophets and their lives were often the canvas upon which God painted pictures of judgment and salvation. These actions were not merely literary pictures wheeled out by the prophet to illustrate the horrors of disobedience. Their often outrageous behavior was intended to provoke and encourage repentance and return, and in due course, leading to greater love, trust and obedience. Now, tell me truthfully, aren't you glad that all God wants me to do as your pastor is preach?

The Prophet's Mission
     I'm sure that the people were utterly shocked that a man of God would marry someone of such ill-repute. How could Hosea do such a thing? He's supposed to be an example to us. He's supposed to live a holy life. But, that was the whole point! Hosea, in his choice of a wife, was holding up a divine mirror to the nation. Do you see? This is exactly the way you are behaving!
     Hosea was preaching to the northern kingdom of Israel during the time of Jereboam II. Jereboam is the only northern king listed in the inscription of Hosea 1:1. During his reign, it was a time of prosperity in Israel. They were at the top of their game, socially, politically and economically. However, it was a nation that was starting to mix and match their religious devotion; they treated the poor disdainfully, and they eager to imitate and match their ungodly neighbors in power politics. (The prophet Amos has much to say about the spiritual and moral condition of the northern kingdom!)
     God's answer to the prosperity and the resulting waywardness was to have Hosea marry a prostitute; and then, as each child was born, they were given a significant name that would be a sign of judgment hanging out in plain view to the unrepentant nation.

"So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. And the LORD said to him, "Name him Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel." (Hosea 1:3-5 NASB)

     This first son, who is the only one who is explicitly designated as Hosea's own, is named "Jezreel." In Hebrew, Jezreel means "scattered." This prophecy operates on two different levels. In one sense, it refers back to the fall of the house of Omri. Omri was the less than good king of the northern kingdom who upon his own death gave the world King Ahab, his son. To make matters even worse, the kingdom got the added bonus of Ahab's wife, Queen Jezebel. Getting back to our prophecy here in Hosea, Jehu was the common man appointed by God to put an end of the house of Omri and Ahab for its willful disobedience, in the final analysis leading the people hopelessly astray.
     However, Jehu's divine mission turns into an excessive bloody slaughter, mercilessly carried out and severely cruel. Literally, hundreds of family and anyone favorably disposed to the former king were slaughtered and ghoulishly displayed in the valley of Jezreel. The upshot of the story is that Jehu's reign was no different than the evil reign of the family line he had just extinguished. For example, after his bloody deed was done, 2 Kings 10:18 records this: "Then Jehu assembled all the people and said to them, 'Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much[!]'" More to the point, Jehu's great grand son was the current king, Jereboam II; and I know it's not hard to believe, but Jereboam was a chip off his ruthless ancestor's shoulder. In this historical context, God says, the house of Jehu is coming to an end and I will not entrust this to a mercenary such as Jehu, I am going to take care of this myself this time!

     But, as we go a little deeper with this prophecy, we find that it comes to its ultimate fulfillment no more than forty years later as the northern kingdom of Israel and its capital of Samaria fell to Assyria in 722 BC. When the Assyrians invaded Israel, they carried the captives out of their homeland, and even to this very day, as the late James Montgomery Boice memorably put it, many Jews remain scattered "from Samaria to San Francisco" and "Nazareth to New York"

But, the judgment continues to intensify:

"Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the LORD said to him, "Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them." (Hosea 1:6 NASB).

     This child, probably not Hosea's. The lack of connection to the prophet is striking. This is probably a child of adultery. The sin and rebellion continues unabated, becoming so bad that God purposed to do something drastic. He would no longer have mercy on Israel.

But the judgment grows yet still:

"When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said, "Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God." (Hosea 1:8-9 NASB).

     This is the final straw. You are not my people. I do not recognize you. You have disinherited yourselves. This is about as severe as a judgment can get. It certainly cost God's chosen people much. They were booted out of the land, and have experienced much heartache down through the ages. Of that, I don't think anybody can deny.

     Before I move into some practical application, I must remind you of a literary clue that Hosea has left us concerning the judgment of the northern tribes of Israel. You remember that I told you a little while ago that Jereboam was the only king of the north to be listed in the inscription in Hosea 1:1? That has always seemed odd at first blush, because Hosea not only directs his oracles primarily to the north, but he also lives in the northern kingdom. Why this silence on the kings that followed Jereboam's reign?
     Four kings of Judah are listed in Hosea 1:1; but only Jereboam is listed from Samaria. In reality, there were six more northern kings during Hosea's time of "ministry," following Jereboam. I believe that Hosea is giving us a grim literary reminder of the starkness of God's judgment; accomplishing this by not even recognizing these sham kingships that followed Jereboam. God's judgment was complete; it was a done deal sealed by the hardened hearts of the northern tribes!

The Prophet's Mission To You
     As we reflect on the meaning of this prophecy for ourselves - because after all, this is not just a history lesson here -- we reassure ourselves that we aren't as bad as Gomer. We aren't as bad as those stubborn Israelites. But, if you look closer, at your own life, how often do you seek after other "gods." What are the things that take precedence over worship and service in your life? Don't we, as a matter of habit, take for granted the love of our own Bridegroom, Jesus Christ? How about when the collection plate is passed, do you offer God a tip? I mean, there are things that you would rather or could buy with that money! Do you find yourself using these words lightly on your lips, "Yes, I'm a Christian." But then you behave in ways that say just the opposite?
     But, the God that we serve has a persistent love for us! He will not give up on us. He pursues us jealously, refusing to give up. Just remember this one point, if you take nothing else I say this morning to heart: God never ends the story on a note of judgment for those who hear, turn and return [read: Repent!], trusting Him in faith. Listen to the prophetic turn the passage takes:

"Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered; and in the place where it is said to them, 'You are not My people,' it will be said to them, 'You are the sons of the living God.' And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint for themselves one leader, and they will go up from the land, For great will be the day of Jezreel." (Hosea 1:10-11).

     I find it very interesting that the Hebrew word "Jezreel" has two meanings. In one sense, a negative one meaning "scattered" as we have already noted. However, the same gesture with which a person would throw something away - a backward flip of the hand - is also the same gesture with which a farmer would plant his seed. Hence the other definition of Jezreel: "planted."
     God will overwhelm his disobedient and wayward Bride by wooing her back to Himself. How does He do this? By becoming one of us! By entering into the human scene, experiencing rejection, and yet loving us with a persistent love, all the way to the cross.
     You see, in this prophecy, God not only seeks to bring back, to woo back a remnant of Israel, but He throws open the floodgates to extend salvation to the nations of the world. This is not only a persistent love; it is a pervasive love.

A Final Word
     I want to draw this message to a close by turning to the relevance of our New Testament passage this morning from 1 Peter. The backdrop to these two moving verses (1 Peter 2:9-10), I believe, comes from Peter's initial, very personal introduction to God's original purpose to extend His persistent love beyond the borders of Israel to the Gentile nations of the world. This introduction was none other than Peter's vision experience on the rooftop of Cornelius' house recorded in Acts 10. I think this is one of the keys to understanding God's unfolding plans unveiled by Hosea.
     In Acts 10:34-36, we find this startling, life-changing declaration following his visit in Caesarea, "So Peter opened his mouth and said: 'Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him....(he is Lord of all)"
     After many years have passed since this event and his adventurous days as one of the three pillar disciples within the twelve; Peter seems to be reflecting back and marveling at the plan of God: His faithfulness, His persistent and pervasive love. He remembers this magnificent prophecy from Hosea and delights in how it has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ:

"But [now] you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light [Jezreel!]; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE [Lo-ammi], but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY [Lo-ruhamah], but now you have RECEIVED MERCY." (1 Peter 2:9-10; Cf. Romans 9:22-26).

     In Ephesians 5:26-27, Paul says that Jesus Christ has cleansed his Bride "by the washing of water and His word, so that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless."

     Once again, I love the words from Dr. Boice, who's work has had a great impact upon my understanding of the prophet (which is evident in my analysis above!): "If this is the case, learn what it means to be Christ's bride. Learn what a horror spiritual adultery is, and flee from it to Christ. Lie in his arms. Tell him of your love. Do not continue in disobedience, allowing little infidelities to become those great spiritual adulteries that bring chastisement."

     My friends, I leave you with this thought this morning: Your name is not Gomer! You are and are to become by the grace of God in Christ, the shining, glorious, spotless, pure Bride of Jesus Christ.

Amen.