Devotionals

The Restoration of a Fallen Bride Hosea

by Henry Jaegers
06/26/19
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SECTION One

The Illustration

Page 6-52

VIEWING THE FOREST FROM AFAR

A birds-eye-view of What Lies Ahead.

The book of Hosea demonstrates to us the great love of God toward a people who have treated him like an adulterous wife would treat her faithful husband. The actions of Israel have no effect upon the great love of God for her and as we discover throughout this book, no matter how great our sin may be, it can never dispel or disintegrate God's great love for his people. The acts of sin are another problem in that sin is a total contrast to the love of God. God's love toward man produces forgiveness and restoration but sin calls forth the righteous judgment of God based on a violation of His holiness. God never changes his personality and His purposes. It is never God's purpose to destroy man, His destruction comes as a result of his choice to turn his back on God's love. So, we see that sin always has something to do with God's love being rejected. That is what Hosea is all about.

 The book begins with the command by God to take to him a wife, not just any wife but one of the worst sorts because the more wicked she is, the greater understanding will be of how great God's love is. It is noted by some commentators that Hosea's wife bore three children, and as we consider the meanings of their names, it is not improbable that all of these children were illegitimate. That means they were not the seeds of Hosea, but were born by other men. Now we have no reason to substantiate this claim, but it is not a far-off supposition to think that this woman whom Hosea is called to marry, cannot be bad enough to properly illustrate how horrible her condition must have been.

 But despite all of this, it is a picture of how God views Israel's rejection of His love, how undeserving she must be of his mercy and contrary to reason, that God still loves her and seeks for her restoration. It is a message to those of us who live far removed from the times of Hosea. The awfulness of sin that Gomer displayed is still possible in the hearts of all of us. But despite all of this, God’s hand of love is always in operation with the purpose of restoring us and receiving us as whole and healthy followers of Him.