“Departing From the Lord” (Hos 1:1-7)

“When the Lord began to speak to Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord” (vs2).

First, you can be the harlot sinner that He saves, or you can miss salvation. But, Christ came to save sinners (vs1-2). He told Hosea, “for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord”.

The harlot woman departs from the Lord, but she pictures you and me who have whored from God, serving self, and prancing about as if we are self-saved, above reproach. He calls us back, not by calling us “little sinners” or minimizing repentance, but by DESTROYING self-confidence and bringing us to confess that we are spiritual whores, needing redemption. He only saves the admitted sinners who take their place as low.

Secondly, only those who bow to judgment obtain mercy (vs3-5). Not only am I a sinner - a spiritual whore - but I am DESERVING of whatever punishment God gives in chastisement or in the cross. He says, “It shall come to pass in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel”. Whatever He did to open my eyes is justified, and as a sinner, I find it right that Christ alone can bear the punishment of my sins. I am not a “protesting sinner”, destroyed by unbelief; I'm a confessing sinner, surrendered to all of God's dealings, calling them JUST and right.

Thirdly, Jesus saves us, not because of what we do, but because of what He does for us (vs6-2:1). He says, “Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword or battle, by horses or horsemen”. We read in Romans 9, “For He says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion'. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy” (vs15-16). We RECEIVE His mercy, but mercy is God's gift, not by will-power, nor by our improvement, and not by minimizing sin. Mercy comes because God WILLED it for us, and justly gives it by the sacrifice of His Son, paying for sins. Mercy isn't because I got better; it is mercy that opened my eyes, made me admit my sins, and then freely forgave me of transgressions (Matt 10:8). Mercy - a relationship with God based upon Christ's accomplishments, guaranteeing not only acceptance but also the power of the Spirit, is the only way with God. He says in Zechariah 4, “not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts”.

We are the sinners... not the Savior... and to Him belongs glory. He is only willing to help those who meet the conditions of sinful, justly punished, and thereby mercifully and to God's glory, saved.