“A Persistent Love, Part 3

The Appomattox Court House Presbyterian Church Pulpit
Rev. Cameron S. Smith
The Lord's Day, February 18, 2007
Hosea 3:1-5

"O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities."
Psalm 130:7-8

A Stubborn Love!
     A persistent love: That is how the book of Hosea describes the love of God for the objects of his affection - his people. Webster's New World Dictionary defines "persistent" as: "Refusing to relent; continuing, especially in the face of opposition, interference, etc. [Further, it is] stubborn; persevering; continuing to exist or endure; lasting without change; constantly repeated; continued."
     As you have doubtlessly noticed thus far, the language of the prophets can be rather frank. God commands Hosea to go and marry a woman who will, in a matter of course, become unfaithful to the marriage covenant. Of course, every marriage comes with the risk of an unfaithful spouse; but precious few brides or grooms dwell on this possibility in the glow of their wedding joy. However, in the days running up to the wedding, God reveals to Hosea that his new bride is going to be unfaithful in the worst of ways. But in spite of this revelation of marital woe, he must marry her anyway and love her just as well.
     I told you a few weeks ago, that the reaction to Hosea's marriage was probably one of bewilderment. How could he do such a thing? What a scandal! Imagine a guy like him marrying a girl like that - what's gotten into him? But God, in and through this marriage, is holding up a mirror to his congregation and saying, "Gotcha! Admire this work for I tell you, you are just like this bride that offends your sense of decency."

Hypocrisy Unbridled
     Let me see if I can illustrate this scene for you: I like to think of myself as NOT being overweight. You realize that I am a relatively thin man. Please note that important qualification -- relatively! However, whenever I see a picture of myself, I think, "Is that really me? I look so, so large." Straight-forward, un-doctored photographs don't lie! When you stand in front of a mirror, it tells the truth in real time!
     Without the mirror or photograph, I can move on uncritically with my life and never have to confront the fact that I may have to lose a little weight. I can live the way I always have, eating what I want. I rarely look at pictures of myself because I don't want to be troubled by the truth. Now, if I choose to ignore or cast aspersion at the mirror or the picture, then all that I am really doing is deceiving myself and living in the worst sort of denial.
     In the same way, we don't like the "mirror" of holiness that God holds up to us in his Word, and so we ignore, criticize or try to change the "mirror."

This is the Gomer in every one of us and this is also, at the same time, exactly where we are when God comes to us in Christ. Listen again to Hosea 3:1 once more: "And the LORD said to me [Hosea], 'Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.'" Did you catch that? God loves his people even in spite of the fact that they habitually turn away from him to other "gods." Making matters even worse, if you can imagine that, they apparently actively participate in the pagan rituals of their neighbors in the Land. (The reference here to the "cakes of raisins" is an interpretative nightmare that could refer to an ancient delicacy offered up in pagan ceremonies [cf. Jer. 7:18, Jer. 44:17-19]. In this context, I'd guess that it is most likely a negative reference showing how Israel was uncritically serving "other gods.")

The sobering reality is that we are no different than our spiritual ancestors. Now if you are convinced of how unflattering you look through the "mirror" of God's holiness; just what are you to do? What can you do?

"The Greatest Chapter in the Bible"
Dr. James Montgomery Boice, the late pastor of Philadelphia's Tenth Presbyterian Church, helps out here by pointing out in his commentary on Hosea, that this chapter is "the greatest chapter in the Bible, because it portrays the greatest story in the Bible - the death of the Lord Jesus Christ for his people - in the most concise and poignant form to be found anywhere." He goes on to call the story in Hosea up to this point "a pageant of the love of God for Israel, indeed, for his people in every place and age."
Boice concludes with this penetrating observation: "Hosea 3 shows us God's work of redemption-the work by which the Lord Jesus Christ delivered us from sin's bondage at the cost of his own life - portrayed in Hosea's purchase of his fallen wife from slavery." (James Montgomery Boice, The Minor Prophets, Hosea-Jonah, vol. 1; p.31).

     Moving back to the story; it reaches a crescendo in verses two and three: Gomer's empty, rebellious life-style has led to her own enslavement; and now we await Hosea's response to his wife's infidelities.
     The response is not what you might expect! "So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech [that is six and a half bushels] of barley. You must dwell as mine for many days. And I said to her, 'You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.'"
     Hosea redeems his wife from slavery. Here's the sorry scenario: The good times came to a screeching halt and Gomer's lovers most likely bottomed-out, leaving her to be sold on the market to cover bad debts to the highest bidder. Pure speculation there, I know; but the reality was that slavery was her reality and Hosea took an unbelievably uncalled-for gracious course of action. His grace really didn't make much sense in light of Gomer's betrayal. Hosea freed her and gave her a new lease on life, summed up in these beautiful words: "You will love me and I will love you."

The Love Language of Redemption
This language of being purchased from slavery is shot-through and through in the New Testament, with the only exception being that the purchase price isn't 15 pieces of silver and a few bushels of barley. The "price" is the life of God's own Son. Not only is Jesus the one who redeems his "spouse," he is in his own flesh, the means of the redemption.

The Old Testament prepares the "soil" of the New Testament, so to speak: Psalm 130 drops hints concerning this great "purchase": "O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities." (Ps. 130:7-8).
Jesus, himself, speaks of his mission in these terms in Matthew 20: "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matt 20:28). At his Last Supper, Jesus said of the cup, "this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins." (Matt 26:28).
The apostle Paul used similar language in Galatians: Jesus "gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age." (Gal. 1:4). In Ephesians 1:7-8, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us." He told Timothy that Jesus "gave Himself as a ransom for all…." (1 Tim 2:6); and to Titus, that he "gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds." (Titus 2:14).
The anonymous author of the book of Hebrews says that "through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." (Heb 9:12). The apostle Peter weighs in with these words: "You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ." (1 Peter 1:18-19).
And last, but certainly not least, the apostle John writes in the book of Revelation that Christ "loves us and [has] released us from our sins by His blood" (Rev 1:5); adding a little further along that gathered before the Throne at the end of time, the heavenly chorus of the redeemed will sing with gusto, "Worthy are You [Lord] for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men [and women] from every tribe and tongue and people and nation." (Rev 5:9).

Working Things Out in History,
Returning to our story, the final two verses of the chapter (vv. 4-5) project the larger picture of redemption. Up to this point, verses 1-3 have described what happened to Gomer and what Hosea did to redeem her; the final two verses of the chapter look to the future to envision how these things will work out in history:

"For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days."

     It's helpful to remember here the context of Hosea's prophecy: The industrious northern kingdom of Israel is at the zenith of prosperity. Unfortunately, they are also at the wretched bottom of their rebellion and apostasy from God. They will, within a matter of years of these words of warning from Hosea, be carted away in chains to Assyria. They will live in captivity without king or temple, or even their sinful "household gods." Even the relatively righteous kingdom of Judah in the south will eventually succumb to captivity for the same reasons to the Babylonian empire not quite 150 years after the fall of the northern kingdom.
     The prophecy's primary focus, though, dwells not on the depressing reality of exile, but rather on the overwhelming goodness of God's saving work in Jesus in the "latter days": "Afterward [after years of exile and a disappointing return to the Land with the decree of Cyrus, 2 Chron. 36:22-23] the children of Israel [read spiritually here, Jews and Gentiles, cf. 1 Peter 2:9] shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king [Jesus!], and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days [cf. Jer. 31:31 ff.]."
     In these prophetic words, there is an announcement of the coming of Jesus Christ; a coming to redeem a people for himself; just as Hosea redeemed his wayward wife before their very eyes.

Application
Let me give you a few practical consequences of God's persistent love that I speak of this morning.

     First, there is the thorny matter of obedience and love. Hosea's actions and words seem harsh at first blush: "So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver…. And I said to her, 'You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.'" If I wanted to twist things a bit, I could ask how it is that God could be so heavy handed and Draconian in commanding love towards himself. Sometimes, ministers love to play this obedience card: You need to obey! Obey! Obey! That's what you're supposed to do if you want God to love you.
     But, we can never divorce obedience from love or love from obedience. On your wedding day, you recognized that you were committing yourself to your future spouse in a way that you had never done to anyone before and subsequently never will again. But, it didn't get a rise out of you then because you were so in love with this person that you could and would walk through a brick wall for that person. It is mutual love and mutual submission.
     The analogy is close here with our relationship with God. It is a relationship; and it is a relationship of love. How could it not be? For his part, he has pursued you to his Son's own death! For your part, you kept purposefully wandering off -- but he never gave up on you. This unbelievable, self-sacrificial pursuit is what inclines the heart towards the lover! With Gomer, I'm sure it's not fanciful to speculate that once she realized the undeserved love and mercy coming from her jilted husband, her heart melted; and just so with God. In her case, rebellion was transformed by love. The same thing is true with us! Love and obedience are two sides of the same coin.

     The second thing to observe here is that the relationship that we now have with God through Christ is an exclusive relationship. The marriage analogy is still relevant here. We live in a day when it is in vogue to believe that Jesus is a way to God -- not the way. Jesus is just one of the many ways to pursue the highest good. Religion seems to have become largely a matter of preferred, personal taste. The wisdom of our particular moment in time says that mixing and matching various spiritualities is the way to go. Syncretism is legitimate and exclusive devotion is fanaticism and willful ignorance.
     Sounds pretty broad-minded doesn't it? As one of my colleagues in ministry once reminded me, "It's a big world out there." What I think he meant was this: We can't afford to be provincial and narrow-minded. We need to be broad-minded in living out our faith in a scientific and modern world. Could this be true? I don't think so.
     Returning to the marriage analogy: How would you like it if your bride or groom revealed this at the altar: "Honey, I want you to know that I have no intention of being faithful solely to you because, after all, it's a big world out there! Oh, there are sooo many other compatible lovers with which to craft a happy, fulfilled life; how then, I ask you, could I be so narrow-minded and restrict myself to just one person? - Diversity in relationships is a good thing, and besides, you might not even be right for me!" (MTV "wisdom" on display here.)
     That doesn't hold water in our marriages; why would it hold water in how we exercise our faith? Think about that question in light of the fact that one of the primary ways that God describes the Faith is in terms of the covenant of marriage! You have been redeemed into a marriage relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. There simply isn't enough room for any other "lovers" [read: spiritualities or religions]. "You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you."

     Finally, there is the matter of who is worthy enough to enter this extraordinary "marriage" relationship. I had many conversations with a former neighbor of mine about this very thing many years ago. His name was Al: a bail-bondsman by trade. Owned a lot of guns -- (On the door leading into his house, there was a picture of a gun pointing in the direction of your face with the words, "Forget the dog, beware of the owner!") He loved gambling -- owned a race horse up in Charlestown. In short, not the kind of man you cross. I'm told that he packed a mean pistol on those occasions when he headed out the door to chase down some low life who had the nerve (and stupidity) to jump bail on him!
     Being a new believer and a second year student at Liberty University, my witnessing courage knew no bounds! I would tell Al that Jesus loved him! Even him! But, he would always tear up and say only that "I've done too many bad things in my life." The subject would get unceremoniously dropped on the spot.
     Al died in 1990. As far as I know, he was never able to get his mind around this persistent love of God and live it for himself. Honestly, the point of the Gospel, and especially as we see it here in Hosea, is that no one deserves God's love; but he has determined to call us out of the darkness, and to pursue us persistently, and to restore us; and all of this because he loves us. The scope of this love extends to the nations of the world. Never underestimate God.

The Final Word
In sum, you love God because you can really do no other, and that's based on how much he has already loved you. This is also an exclusive relationship, so don't go mixing it up with every new trend you see coming down the trail. Finally, you are not worthy of this relationship. But, that's not the final word -- God has made you worthy in Christ. You are redeemed in Christ.

A few weeks ago, I told you that your name wasn't Gomer; that you are part of the radiant, pure Bride of Christ, a child of God. And so you are. Still every bit as true today as it was yesterday -- and it will be tomorrow. All glory to God.

Amen.