HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1156
Hosea
A L L Y O U R L I F E Y O U ’ V E D R E A M E D of the wonderful person
you would one day marry. Oh, maybe the details aren’t clear, but you
know the person will share your love for the Lord and your passion to
serve him. Together, the two of you will raise beautiful children, whom
you will teach to honor and love God.
Then a clear message comes from God. “You
What you will be
must marry an adulterous person,” God comreading about
mands. “Some of your children will be born from
1:1-11
affairs with others.”
Hosea’s unfaithful wife
What? you think. Could this possibly be what
2:1- 23
God wants me to do?
God’s love for unfaithful
Israel
That is exactly what God told Hosea the
prophet to do. Why? Because Hosea’s adulterous,
3:1- 5
Hosea buys back his wife
unfaithful wife would be a living object lesson for
the adulterous, unfaithful nation to whom Hosea
4:1 – 7:16
The sins of Israel
must minister.
Hosea’s messages were directed toward Israel
8:1 –10 :15
The consequences of
(the northern kingdom). The people had become
unfaithfulness
unfaithful, chasing after other gods. These people
were like Hosea’s wife, Gomer, who chased after
11:1-11
The faithful and endless love
other lovers and made adultery a way of life. God
of God
was faithful to his people, but his people were
11:12 – 13 :16
unfaithful to him. As a husband or wife expects
Punishment for forgetting
faithfulness from a spouse, so God expects and
God
longs for faithfulness from his people.
14 :1- 9
Hosea’s great love for his unfaithful wife is
Repentance will bring
a powerful illustration of God’s great love for
restoration
his people, despite their unfaithfulness. When
Gomer hit bottom, she became a slave. Hosea bought her back and brought
her home to reconcile her to himself. Likewise, when we hit bottom, deep in
sin, Jesus bought us back and reconciled us to God. Jesus paid for us not with
money but with his own life.
If the whole concept of Hosea and his unfaithful wife stirs disgust, think of
the many ways in which we are unfaithful to God. Just as Gomer lost interest
in Hosea and ran after other lovers, we, too, can easily lose interest in our special relationship with God and pursue dreams and goals that do not include
him. When we love anything or anyone more than we love God, we are being
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