The Book of Hosea
The Book of Hosea
By Richard St.James
Bible 1611.Com / Old Paths Baptist Mission © 2023
Hosea, chapter six:
Verse one:
“Come, and let us return unto the
LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath
smitten, and he will bind us up.”
After the night is
passed, the sun rises. After the
judgment, then comes the blessing.
After the chastisement is over, then comes the
restoration. The LORD God heals the
wounds! The LORD God binds up the
open sore!
Let us return unto the
LORD
It goes like this
as it is found in the book of Malachi, chapter four,
verse two:
“But unto you that
fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise
with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth,
and grow up as calves of the stall.”
[Malachi 4:2]
There is HEALING in
HIS WINGS!
Verse two:
“After two days will he revive us: in the third
day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his
sight.”
There is more here than
we realize. The prophet Hosea by the Holy
Ghost is telling Israel after two days.
Two days
Each day
of these two days represents one
thousand years. The prophet is prophesying
that Israel would be cast away, [their branch
would be cut off from the tree - Romans 11:19]
for two millennial days or two thousand years from
national Israel’s rejection of their Messiah – Jesus
Christ.
Which see:
Romans 11:15: “For if
the casting away of them be the reconciling
of the world, what shall the receiving of
them be, but life from the dead?”
In the third day he
will raise us up.
Then the prophet
prophesies that in the third day [another
millennial day for a thousand years] God will raise
them up from the dead [Ezekiel chapter 37].
Raised up – A
Resurrection
Ezekiel 37:14: “And
shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I
shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know
that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed
it, saith the LORD.”
This will occur in the
restitution of all things [Acts 3:21], in the
Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of
Heaven will be a physical literal kingdom
which will be established here on this earth [on
Mount Zion] in Jerusalem of Israel. Jesus
Christ WHO is GOD come in the flesh will dwell
amongst men. Do you doubt this?
Then, read about it in
the BOOK of God. Turn to the book of
Zechariah, the prophet, to chapter eight, verse
three:
“Thus saith the LORD;
I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst
of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city
of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the
holy mountain.” [Zechariah 8:3]
Verse three:
“Then shall we know, if we follow on to
know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the
morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as
the latter and former rain unto the earth.”
This knowledge of
the LORD is conditional. Do you see
that? The Jewish believer [the Old Testament
saint] must follow on to know the
LORD. If he does not follow on, then he
loses this knowledge of the LORD. He loses
what he once had.
This is different from
what happens to the New Testament Church age
believer. For once he believes
on the LORD Jesus Christ, he knows [without
conditions] he has eternal life and is
kept by the power of God saved
forevermore.
Ye may know that ye
have eternal life.
Here we go: 1 John 5:13:
“These things have I written unto you that
believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may
believe on the name of the Son of God.”
Kept by the power of
God.
That is what the word
of God says in the Epistle of First Peter:
“Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
[1 Peter 1:5]
There is no one that can
break this power of God that brings
this assurance of salvation. Amen!
Ye were
sealed!
Furthermore, we learn
that the Christian is sealed by the Holy
Ghost.
We see this beautiful
promise shining ever so bright in the Epistle to the
Ephesians, chapter one, verse thirteen, which go
there:
“In whom ye also
trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after
that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy
Spirit of promise,” [Ephesians
1:13].
Verse four:
“O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah,
what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is
as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth
away.”
The goodness of
Israel is seen only momentarily. The
LORD God enjoying the fellowship seemingly only for
a moment. [Remember Hosea.]
For the marriage vow was soon forgotten.
Love so quickly dissipated. [Remember
Gomer.]
The love for God went
away!
Then enters in the
prophets.
Verse five:
“Therefore have I hewed them by the
prophets; I have slain them by the words of my
mouth: and thy judgments are as the light
that goeth forth.”
In the first book of
Samuel, the prophet, chapter fifteen, verse
thirty-three, we will see how a prophet used a
sword:
“And Samuel hewed Agag
in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.” [1
Samuel 15:33b]
Cut to the Heart
But what we have here [in
verse five] is not the literal hewing by a
prophet, as Samuel the prophet hewed Agag.
Rather it is the prophet using the sword
of the Spirit [which is the word of God] to
cut them up as in the same manner as
they were cut up in
the day, they heard Stephen. This is
for us to see in the book of the Acts of the
Apostles, chapter seven, verse fifty-four:
“When they heard these
things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed
on him with their teeth.”
[Acts 7:54].
We see the sword of
the Spirit being the word of God in the
Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter six, in verse
seventeen:
“And take the helmet
of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God:” Ephesians 6:17].
It is the same for all of
us living today. The word of God being
heard by you will cut you up! It is a
surgical operation of the Holy Ghost cutting
your heart.
This surgical operation
is found in the book of Hebrews, chapter four, verse
twelve:
“For the word of God
is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart.” [Hebrews 4:12]
This shows that this BOOK
is alive, and it knows all of your thoughts!
Those judgments are as
the light that goeth forth.
Psalm 119:130: “The
entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth
understanding unto the simple.”
The judgments of God are
for a beautiful purpose. This
purpose is to lead a person, or a
people, to the light of Jesus Christ.
·
John 1:4: “In him was
life; and the life was the light of men.”
·
John 8:12: “Then spake
Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the
world: he that followeth me shall not walk in
darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
Conclusion: Judgment
heeded on the part of an individual, or even
nations, always will take them to Jesus
Christ!
Verse six:
“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the
knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
God is interested
primarily in the inward parts of a
man when these parts are steeped in the truth
of his words. The outer man [his
body] is of secondary importance. God
is interested in seeing in the heart of a man
whose heart seeks wisdom. This is seen
so vividly in the book of the Psalms.
For instance, look at Psalm fifty-one, verse six:
“Behold, thou desirest
truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part
thou shalt make me to know wisdom.”
[Psalm 51:6]
Therein, [the heart] is
the spirit of man:
“The spirit of man
is the candle of the LORD, searching all the
inward parts of the belly.”
[Proverbs 20:27]
The presence of mercy
and the knowledge of God in you shows the love of
thy God.
In the Gospel according
to Matthew, in chapter twenty-two, verse
thirty-seven [and in other places in the Bible] is
located the primary command for all men to
obey:
“Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”
[Matthew 22:37]
Now, when one backs
away from the love of the Lord, thy God,
he backs off little by little. What
happens to the man when his love grows cold?
Well, when one’s love waxes low, ritualism
will often take its place.
Now what is ritualism?
Ritualism is the outer man going into
autopilot in performing religious service.
Thus, with men in this
mode, the LORD is repelled with
sacrifice and burnt offerings.
Through the Spirit of
God David wrote in Psalm fifty-one this:
“For thou desirest not
sacrifice; else would I give it: thou
delightest not in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
[Psalm 51:16, 17]
Conclusion: When we
have a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart,
God is well pleased.
Verse seven: “But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.”
Israel has displayed the
ultimate treachery that could ever be brought
against God WHO purely loved them.
This treachery had
spread like a disease, [as we saw earlier].
They were now polluted!
Verse eight:
“Gilead is a city of them that work
iniquity, and is polluted with blood.”
Gilead is a city on
the east of the Jordan River [near the Sea of
Galilee] and appertained to the half-tribe of
Manasseh. When any city departs from
the laws of God, it will end up totally corrupted
[polluted with blood].
Verse nine:
“And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so
the company of priests murder in the way by consent:
for they commit lewdness.”
When the true worship
of God is replaced by the ritualism
of the Pharisees [which is dead religion] we end up
as a murderous religious cult.
Jesus Christ said this of
the Pharisees when HE was on this earth in
the First Advent in the Gospel according to
Matthew, in chapter twenty-three, verses thirty-four
and five:
“Wherefore, behold, I
send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes:
and some of them ye shall kill and crucify;
and some of them shall ye scourge in your
synagogues, and persecute them from city to
city:
That upon you may come
all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from
the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of
Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the
temple and the altar.” [Matthew
23:34-35]
This religious
crowd were the murderers of the righteous!
Verse ten:
“I have seen an horrible thing in the house of
Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim,
Israel is defiled.”
The horrible thing
the LORD saw in his own house [which is Israel]
was prostitutes. It is
prostitution that produces a whore.
The proliferation of whores then reduces a
land to whoredom. Whoredom
results in the destruction of a people and the land.
It is what defiles both a people and a land!
A land reduced to whoredom is a
polluted land. Polluted with what?
It is polluted with BLOOD!
Verse eleven:
“Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee,
when I returned the captivity of my people.”
This a prophetic
glimpse into their future. It is even in
our future who live today. God will return
the people to their land. [And he has been
returning them since A.D. 1918.]
The long, long, night
of darkness will have passed.
The sun will arise in the sky. Israel’s
restoration will then be all out in the
open for all to see, the world over. The
goodness of Israel in one sense is all that
God will see. The LORD God refuses to see
anything different. The LORD has His
mindset! The blood of their Messiah, the Lamb
of God, will accomplish what no other could ever
have hoped to do.
And so, Israel will
sing:
“And they sing the
song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of
the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are
thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are
thy ways, thou King of saints.”
[Revelation 15:3]
Here we will close our commentary of chapter six of Hosea, the prophet of God.
Friend
If you
know the Bible Is True,
And you
never received
Jesus
Christ as your personal Lord and Savior...
And you
want to come to Him for Salvation now ... Then:
1. Admit
... To God that you are a Sinner...
Deserving Hell Fire...
2. Believe ... that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God...
Who died on the Cross for
You! ...
3. Repent! ... Ask
Him to Forgive You of Your Sin...
4. Receive Him... By
Asking Him to come into Your Heart...
And You
Will Receive the Gift of Eternal Life!
Born of God! You
Are in The Narrow Way ... To HEAVEN!