this is one of the most beautiful passages in the whole book of Hosea. 'cause you really see God is saying, I don't want this relationship with you to end, come return to me. I will, I will have to, make you suffer. I will have to prune you. I will have to discipline you. But after I've torn you, I'm also gonna heal you. And after you've been stricken, I'm gonna bind you up. This is, this is gospel in the book of Hosea. This is gospel truth right here.

Well, hello and welcome to the You Can Learn the Bible Podcast where we summarize complete Bible books in single episodes. My name is Bodie Quirk from You can learn the bible.com here with Joey Rozek, lead Pastor of Living Springs Fellowship in New Jersey, Joey, what is good in New Jersey on this fine day?

What is good in New Jersey? Well, we have snow on the ground still after three weeks of winter here. But we have also learned as the scriptures tell us that good character is forged in suffering. So uh, well we suffer on the East coast. We also grow, I think, you know, we on the East Coast just get to grow more than you guys on the

You do? Yeah. We're deeply unsanctified over here,

I love it.

Oh, it's so good to see you, brother. Are you so good to see you. Are you excited to be here today?

Uh, Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, we, we have such a privilege, you know, for all of you guys who have been tracking with us, what a joy it is that we get to kind of take a whole book of the Bible and break it down for you all in ways that we pray enriches your soul and spirit and also gives you a, a desire and a hunger to get into the word of God.

and we're in a great book today, Bodie. Hosea, this incredible little minor prophet book carries an incredible weight of God's glory in his mercy, and love and covenant promise. So this is gonna be a good one for all of you listening out there. And if you know people that have fallen away from God, or maybe you're one of those, listen to God's heart in this episode.

Amen. Yeah, this is gonna be a good one. It's our first of the minor prophets. And Joey, just to, to what you said earlier, it's been so encouraging when people leave comments on YouTube and on our podcast as well, leave reviews. the whole point is that this helps you enjoy and delight and understand and make progress in studying the scriptures, and so when you guys share with us that this is actually working, it's really helpful. So thank you guys for doing that.

And so, as we've always done, we want to approach Hosea with a easy to follow framework. We wanna talk about the essentials of this minor prophet book. We wanna talk about where it falls in the overall biblical storyline.

Its themes and ideas, its structure, and then those application questions. What does it teach us about the character and nature of God? What does it offer our Christian life today? And what are those unique special things that we love? So we're gonna apply that framework right now, getting right into it on the book of Hosea.

So Joey, I love letting you kick it off for us. Again, imagining that somebody doesn't really know this book, this, someone might just be coming upon this before they even read it. Well, how can we set people up for success, if they're not familiar with this book on some of the basic essentials of the book of Hosea?

Yes. Well, I, I'd like to just start by saying, you know, God is a God who speaks and he communicates to his people, and Hosea is framed in a way where God's people are rebellious at this point.

This is actually the book that is calling God's people to repent one last time before the Northern empire of Israel is going to be taken down, Northern kingdom of Israel is going to be judged by the Assyrians. We know 722 BC there's gonna be an attack on this kingdom. And so what we're gonna see in Hosea is an incredible illustration of God's love embodied through a man named Hosea, which by the way. Is the same root for the name Yeshua. Jesus, meaning salvation. So you really get God's heart of salvation in this book Bodie.

And I would also add, what's interesting is that the last King of Israel is also the same name, Hoshea

Yep.

And so God is really driving home his salvation even in this last king and this last prophet that's gonna speak at this particular time. So let's go to the essentials and take a look. So the date of this book is 755 to 714 BC. That's what it's covering. It's right before the Assyrian invasion, as I just mentioned. Now, the genre of this book, it is a minor prophet book, the first, as you mentioned, but also it's biographical history, so you're really gonna get an incredible historical tone and feel of what it was like in that time.

Yes.

The author of the book is the one that, the name comes from Hosea, as I mentioned, he's the prophet to the northern kingdom also during the time of Amos, and we talked about Micah in the past, but this is a really key prophet for this particular time. The setting of this takes place again. Judgment for Israel is, is about to happen.

This is the final 30 to 40 years leading up to that time of judgment. Now, what's the purpose of this book? Well, specifically covenantal love. God remains faithful. He keeps his word. He keeps his promises, he keeps his people and He who keeps Israel, neither slumbers nor sleeps.

Praise the Lord for that. So who is the audience? It is Northern Israel. Again, the northern kingdom is the focal point. They are rebellious at this point, and I would say anybody in any time period of any generation who is dealing with the rebellious heart of mankind should know this book well because it really shows in contrast, God's unconditional love.

In the time of man's rebellion and what God speaks and does to woo us back unto himself. So that's what the book of Hosea is all about.

That is so true because that is really the heart of this whole book with every book is unique that we've tried to summarize for you we've discovered that each gift in the canon is unique, and Joey, you just mentioned it, God's heart for the rebellious, wayward, either nation or person is so clear in this book, and we're gonna get to the themes more on that in a second.

But like, that really is the banner of this whole book. So thank you for getting us on that.

And so now you also talked Joey, about the place in this Bible storyline that Hosea falls because it's really important when we go to number two. Where does Hosea fit in the story of the Bible? You already put us there. End of the Northern Empire. But why is that important? Because, well, God has been patient for centuries for them to come back and he has been using the prophets and he has been calling them. God has shown such patient covenant love, but it's not going to be forever. 'cause They don't need more time. More time isn't actually helping them.

And so you had mentioned that this takes place in the final years of the Northern Kingdom. So just so that we understand on our Bible timeline, there was the time when Israel was a nation under Saul, David, and Solomon.

But then the time the nation split into Israel, the North and Judah, the South. So what we're talking about right now, Hosea is at the end of what's called the Northern Kingdom during that divided era. So for about 200 years, the kingdom has been split into two. Okay? You've got the northern tribes, and you've got the southern tribe of Judah.

And so what's happening now at this particular moment is israel's rebellion and idolatry has peaked. There were 19 kings in both kingdoms, but the north had no good king did they, Joey. And so God has given them warning after warning, and he's ready to deliver his final warnings to the northern kingdom.

So what does he do? He raises up a prophet. The prophet Hosea. But this is an interesting prophet and he's, he is actually an illustration of Israel's sin, which I'm gonna let Joey talk about in a second when we get to the themes. But Hosea is the final warning because God is using a foreign nation to judge his own covenant people.

That foreign nation being Assyria, he is preparing Assyria as his own tool for judgment. And so the Assyrian invasion is right about to happen when this book takes place. But Judah, in this. South Assyria wanted to overthrow Judah, but actually Judah was preserved through the Assyrian invasion. They didn't get overtaken by Assyria. They get overtaken later, but not at this moment.

And so the Book of Hosea, in the first verse, it talks about this timeline moment. So it says in the word of the Lord came to Hosea, the son of be in the days of, and these are the southern kings. Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Kings of Judah. And then it also says in the days of Jeroboam and and the Son of Joash, the King of Israel. So he references both the north and the south in the very first verse.

And so, for those of you who are able to see this, we have a little visual here that shows that Hosea is right at the end of that Northern Kingdom. And you can also see how he relates to some of the other prophets. He's a contemporary of Isaiah and possibly Micah, as well.

But the kings are important here because you got two kingdoms at this time, but the north is about to fall, and so that is really gonna be important for how we understand when you go through the reading of this book. This is a book of final warning, but it's also a book of incredible covenant love.

So that's a little bit on the timeline. Joey, anything you wanna add before you take us into the themes?

Well, no, I mean, you said it so well, Bodie, I, there's actually 150 statements that Hosea speaks about the sin of Israel. So I, I also wanna stress the fact that we are dealing with a very depraved time. You know, the Bible tells us that God is long suffering, that he desires that none shall perish, but all should come to repentance.

And so you really see now, this is at the very end of God's long suffering for them. At this particular point, 200 years of, of all Kings, 19 kings of Israel being evil kings is sort of saying God's saying enough. Enough.

And so that's gonna take us into these themes that we're gonna look at right

yeah. Let's talk about the themes, Joey. So What are the major themes of this book?

So at the top of the list on the major themes of this book, I'm just gonna call it like this, Israel's idolatry, which can be also described as spiritual adultery. Now, adultery is usually a term used for people in marriage and, and they're having an affair on someone that they're supposed to be in covenant with.

You know, they're, they're cheating on that person. That's exactly what Israel's doing with God. They were in covenant with God. There's a marriage, so to speak, that God has created with Israel, and now Israel is committing adultery. They, their hearts have turned away to other things, other gods, their sinful state is serious, and everything is now hanging in the balances of, can this.

Relationship lasts, so to speak. So Hosea Hosea's life embodies the covenant because God starts to speak his wooing and his heart through a prophet named Hosea again, whose name means salvation. So that's key. Then here's another theme. Israel is depicted by a prostitute woman by the name of Gomer.

She's a harlot, and so Israel is actually committing Harlotry with her, and she's a literally woman here that's that's mentioned who Hosea is gonna be told to marry. So in the midst of all that is gonna be pleas for repentance and restoration. That's another theme. God is pleading for his people to repent and to be restored to

Yeah.

Then we come to God's unfailing love for prodigal Israel. Now we've often heard about the prodigal son, but the prodigal son in that story is also dealing with prodigal religious leaders of the day. In Jesus's time, we're seeing it again in this Old Testament, very clearly, the prodigal nation of Israel.

Yep.

Now the other theme is there's a reaping of what sown. So there's the sowing of sin and there's the reaping of judgment. That's another key theme. And then we have poetic illustrations of apostasy, which is departing from the faith. And rebellion, which is rejecting God's word and doing their own thing.

And that is gonna lead them Bodie to the final theme that we see in this book, which is the Coming of Sudden Destruction. Now these are the themes of the book, but you're gonna see this all seems so dismal, so negative. God's love is gonna shine through this book, like radiant beams coming through dark clouds.

God is going to show his mercy and his heart, even in the promises he's gonna make, despite the coming judgment that's about to happen. So we're excited to dive in in that way. Bodie, anything else you wanna add here?

No, I just think that you're right, Joey. it is his love that has caused him to wait this long. But it is also his love that is causing him to wait no longer because giving them more time isn't gonna help them. It's going to only gonna amplify their sin. It's actually the most loving thing to actually bring forth judgment.

And sometimes friends, you've probably had to have a hard discussion with people where it didn't feel like love, but it actually was the best for the other. That's where we are at. And so Hosea is this phenomenal picture of the incredible tender love of God, at the same time, he's having to bring some harsh judgment on his people.

Well said. Every parent understands that if you love your child, you chasing them, you discipline them. And if you don't, you're gonna have spoiled children or, or, or do even really love your children. 'cause what parent doesn't want the best for their children and, and points them in the right direction when they start veering off track. So that's really what the heart, the father, heart of God is seen here very, very clearly.

Yeah, very clearly. Yeah, exactly.

So that's the first three. We talked about the essentials, we talked about the storyline. Joey just walked us through the themes. And so we like to bundle four, five, and six of our framework, which is the structure of the book. Like what are the major sections, and then as we walk through those, we actually want to ask the questions of, what can we learn about God? And we've already talked about it a lot and we're gonna see it more as we walk through this book.

But also, what can we apply to our lives today? we always want the scripture to be both true in its original context, but relevant for you, for where you are at today. So that's what we're gonna do next.

Let's talk about this book, and Joey, as we've been preparing this book, figuring out the structure of the book is always one of the most challenging things that we have to do because lots of people have different ways of breaking up some of these books, and so we approach this fresh every time.

But one of the things we notice that this book is a little different. It does have a structure, but I think the structure is a little bit more thematic than other books in the sense that there are, there's definite emphasis in this book. There's three primary emphasis and it does fall through the chapters.

But I think that what's more important about this book than its structure are the key theme versus that we're gonna walk through.

That said, though there is a structure we want that we feel like is helpful for this book. And so the first section is gonna be sec chapters one through three. The focus there is Hosea's Holiness, and this is where we have a parallel of God's covenant.

So what's gonna happen in chapter one is you have God commanding Hosea to marry an unfaithful wife, which is wild. We're gonna talk about that. But he's this living metaphor of what? Joey already said it, the covenant. Between God and wayward Israel. So that's gonna be our first section, Hosea's Holiness, chapters one through three.

Section two is Israel's idolatry. So you have this divine call for, not just for judgment and destruction, but actually for reconciliation. The big theme, God wants his people back, and so he charges Israel with this spiritual harlotry, which is a form of idolatry, but he's personally wooing them back to himself.

His goal is restoration, not destruction. And then we see, so that's Chap, that's section two chapters four through 10. And then the third section are chapters 11 through 14, God's goodness. And this is a promise to restore Israel. So what's happening is God is gonna overlook the rebellion of his people so that he can renew the covenant commitment to mercifully heal and prosper them.

He's not overlooking their sin, He's providing his grace and kindness as a final offer to them to come back. So you got one through three is Hosea is Holiness, four through 10 is Israel's idolatry. 11 through 14 is God's goodness.

So what's really gonna be important though, are the key verses within each of these pieces of these parts of the book. But Joey, anything you wanna add about the larger structure of the book? And if not, let's just go ahead and get right into the first one.

You said it so well, Bodie, we're gonna just see everything interwoven through all of the chapters, but this is a great way to look at it structurally, and the key verses we're gonna pull out are really gonna zoom in and hone in on the heart of God and what is actually taking place historically at this time in Israel.

So let's hit the first three sections. So chapters one through three is Hosea's Holiness, A Parallel of God's covenant as we said. And

the very second verse of the first chapter, it really tells us what God is doing. It says, when the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, go take yourself a wife of Harlotry. Imagine that God's a command from God. Go take yourself. A wife of Harlotry and children of Harlotry for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord. Now, let me be very clear. God's not saying go commit harlotry. He's saying Go marry a woman who has

Right,

very important, because God is never going to condone sin.

Yes.

But he does love to draw sin out of people and to connect with sinners so that he can bring them out of that lifestyle. So that's what God's telling Hosea in a sense to do here. So that's a really key verse is chapter one. Verse two. Another key verse. And I, and by the way, before we go to this next key verse in chapter one, you'll notice that he really does marry this woman, and they have a daughter and a son.

The daughter's name is Lo-Ruhama. It has to do with no mercy. It's kind of like you know, God is, is in a sense saying by marrying this woman and having this child, like this is a time of judgment and, and this is coming with this name. But he will have mercy on Judah, but not on Israel. So that's kind of what this child's reminding of.

Then the second child is a son and the son's name is Lo-Ammi, and this name means not my people or sort of no child of mine. So it's kind of like God's making declarations here. We were once together, but you've turned on me. Now. You're not gonna have mercy now. You're no longer my children, in a sense, through this illustrative family.

It's unfolding before us. Now, this doesn't mean that God's forever abandoning Israel, but what it does mean is at this particular time, God is saying, enough, your sins have reached to my heart, to the point where I can take it no longer and it's full grown. At this point. Bodie

but it's a wild thing, Joey. I think people would or would pause and be like, why would God do this? This seems unfair. It seems a little bit weird. So maybe let me ask you, if somebody would say, Hey Joey, like this seems like, something that is out of character for God. Do we think that it is, or is there something that I think that we need to see better in this?

Yeah, I, let's go to the New Testament. We think about the woman caught in the act of adultery, you know, very unique passage thrown in John chapter eight. And, and we see that the people were ready to just bring judgment themselves against this woman. But what do we see in Jesus? Let you who without is without sin, cast the first stone.

And you know, God's heart is always restorative. God's heart is for reconciliation. So everybody drops their stones. We all know, and nobody can actually say that they're without sin. And so Jesus is standing alone with the woman. The stones are on the ground and he says, women, where are your accusers? He says, she says, there are none.

Lord, well, neither do I condemn you, but go and sin no more. You notice the character of God. Yes, he's restorative. Yes, he's merciful, but he is never okay with sin. God is never pleased with sin. He says, go and sin no more. Let's not excuse God's mercy and grace. For condoning or minimizing sin. And that shows that story really reflects the full picture there.

Holiness justice, yes. But mercy and grace is available and that's what God is trying to convey here. And so I hope, you know, I hope our listeners are really catching that God remains holy and he'll never be less than just. But he reserves the right to be merciful, and he is doing it beautifully, even through what he is saying to a rebellious Israel,

and we see it too. There's the, another verse in this first section, Hosea two 19 and 20, right? So we've talked about this unique setup where God calls this prophet to do something he's never not gonna call any other prophet to do. But again, it has to do with where Israel is at in this. Spot in the timeline and his heart for them.

And so one of the verses that we really get to see his heart is in chapter two, verses 19 and 20 says, I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to be in righteousness. In justice, in loving kindness and mercy. I will betroth to you. To me in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord. Like this is the heart God wants.

And so he's using this illustration of this relationship to wake people up, not to how bad God is, but to how good and kind and, and how much he wants them back in Covenant because God hasn't made a covenant with any other nation except this one, and so they have broken it and he wants them back.

If God were vengeful and wicked and horrible, he would just wipe 'em off the planet, but that's not the heart of God. That's why we see so much of God's heart in this book, don't we,

Amen. Amen. Bodie.

Yeah.

it really, it it, on a personal level, haven't we all been so grateful that although our sin has abounded, God's grace has abounded so much more, and we learned that in Romans five verse 20, and. You know, Hosea is just, it's consistent. Some people have said Bodie, that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament.

But I just wanna say, listen, not only does the Lord not change, not only did Jesus say that he's the same yesterday, today, and forever, but God has actually always been merciful, even in the judgments of the Old Testament. And what we don't realize is how long sin was perpetuated when God does bring judgments, people think, oh, God is just bringing judgment all throughout the Old Testament.

No, he was long suffering and merciful time and time and time again. And that's exactly where we're at now. Again, he's already waited a couple hundred years of watching. 19 Evil Kings just lead people into sin and idolatry, and now he's saying enough. I mean, that's not a God. That's quick to show judgment, is it?

No, not at all hundreds of years. That God's patience has been shown. And so that's a really good point, Joey. I'm glad you said that.

And so we see it again too in chapter three. Another key verse here is chapter three verse one. Joey read us this one, if you would, and explain why this key verses so important for this first section.

Hosea three matches Jonah three because here you have God sort of saying, you kind of missed me the first time. You kind of blew it. But now go back again. Go back a second time and, and so here's what Hosea three one says, then the Lord said to me, go again. Love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel who took to other gods. Love the raisin cakes of the pagans. In other words, they're, they're eating up their pleasures. They're doing their own thing. Now,

right.

I was making a comparison to, to Jonah, because Jonah didn't wanna see the Assyrians. He'll, later on, come on the scene to try to, he wants to see the Assyrians judged the very people who are gonna judge Israel, he wants to see them judged for their sin, but like God sent Jonah back to Nineveh to call them to repentance.

God is again saying wanna show you by taking back the woman who's committed adultery. This is the way I am taking you back. I want to take you back to myself. Jonah was showing rebellion against God's merciful heart, and here you have God commanding Hosea to show the merciful heart of God by, by taking this lover of sin back to himself so that, so that she'll be committed as a wife, again, that's God's heart for us.

He wants to sanctify us and chasten us and prune us so we can bear more fruit. Bodie, this has been consistent in John 15. This has been consistent throughout the Old Testament. This is a God saying, I will not give you up. This is amazing, and you're gonna see that as we go through the sections here, but this command to go back and marry the wife is God saying, I'm still, I'm still here. I'm still wanting to take you back.

Yeah, the unfathomable love of God. We see all over this book, and I'm glad you mentioned that too, about people casting this false view of the Old Testament God and the New Testament God, all I wanna say is read Hosea and then read Revelation, and it is the same God. He is loving, he is just, he is holy, he is patient, and he is revealed himself in Jesus.

And so this first section, Hosea's Holiness, is really important because Hosea did nothing wrong. He was literally willing to be the mouthpiece of God at this time for this people because of God's heart for them. So that really gets us started into this book and we really see Hosea as really representing and illustrating the heart of God to this wayward people.

So now let's look at section two, which are chapters four through 10. And so the focus here is Israel's idolatry. So Israel has forsaken God, they have forsaken the covenant. So we see this divine call for reconciliation. So Israel has, oh, see it's funny, Joey. Israel is the only nation who can commit spiritual idolatry 'cause they're the only nation that God has chosen to make a covenant with.

That's why this is so heartbreaking and sad, right, is because of all the nations, God, he hasn't extended favoritism to them, but he has extended an invitation that he's not extended to any other nation. And so for them to just utterly reject it in favor of the false gods and the wickedness of the other nations is just such a heartbreak to the heart of God. And we really see it in this second section where God is really wanting bring them back, to reconcile them.

But I love their first key verse. This is one of my favorite verses in this whole book, Hosea 4:6, because in it we see the same reason for why we want to do this podcast, right?

Why we want, why we give our lives for the gospel, it says this, Hosea four, six, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. What did they, are they not smart enough? No. That's not what it is. Because you have rejected knowledge. I will reject you from being a priest for me, right? A priest is that intercessor because you have forgotten the law of your God.

I will also forget your children, right? So it's this. They had special knowledge of God because they were in covenant, but their destruction is not because they didn't have a chance and they were just accidentally, they, they just messed it up. This is centuries of willful rejection of the covenant God has brought them into.

Yeah, and you know, Bodie, I think it's really important that we talk about. A little bit about when you, you mentioned in a sense Israel was not a favored people, but they were a favored people. You know, there, there's a balance here because as you get the knowledge of God, God needs to preserve Israel in order to bring the Messiah into the world at the right time, which is going to obviously benefit all people in which every tribe, tongue, and nation will be represented.

So we know God's ultimate heart. Is to have children from every tribe, tongue, and nation, not just Israel. And so he, he in, in a sense, he's not favorable forever to a certain group of people, but he is favorable to Israel at this time because they were entrusted as a steward with a covenant promises, the covenant prophecies, the scriptures, the sacrifices,

And so because they were given all of these things, they are now going to be destroyed for their lack of seeing with spiritual eyes, what God has entrusted to them, and they're turning their heart away from the Lord, and as a result, they're gonna reap what they sow.

And so because they were entrusted with all that God had given to them and they had forgotten the law of their God, and they had forgotten God's goodness and grace, now God's saying, I have to forget you for this. I have to respond to your rebellion.

I have to give you over, so to speak. And that has also been God's way. We, we see this in the book of Romans, when you start to worship and serve the creature rather than the creator, when you suppress truth. Then God starts to give you over to a debased mind or he gives you over to your sinful inclination

Right.

and that's sadly what is happening here. Yeah. I mean, and, and, and, and, and when we say lack of knowledge here, some of you are thinking like book smarts or it's not that Israel was no longer a smart people with their intelligence. This is like they're no longer intimately knowledgeable about their God, when you start losing your experiential intimacy with God, you've already, in a sense, abandoned the marriage anyway.

It's like the person who's living in a house with his spouse, but they don't talk. There's no intimacy, there's no affection, there's no conversation. You've kind of left the marriage while staying in it to some extent, and it begs the question, have you forgotten who you're here to love? And that's, that's what we're seeing here.

And it's not possible to stay in tune with the law of God and then just walk away with the love of God, right? You forget the law and the love follows. Our affections begin to drift, and that's what we have seen in this, with this nation, and that's what we see the heart of God.

when you lose the law of God, you'll s obviously lose the awe of God. And then what happens is the heart becomes raw without God and you start to to replace God with all the other things. And that is what idolatry is. Idolatry is when God has been removed from his rightful place and is throne in our lives and we set up a false throne with a false altar to a false God, and we start living in a false way, and that causes us to say.

I, you know, we, we can't do it anymore without God, but when we can't say it, God is saying it for us and, and this is what we come to,

Now the next verse is God saying for, for his bride what they bride can't say for himself. Hosea six one through three, let me read this. Says come. And let us return to the Lord for he has torn, but he will heal us.

He has stricken, but he will bind us up. After two days, he will revive us. On the third day, he will raise us up that we might live in his sight. Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord for his going forth is established as the morning he will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain of the earth.

Bodie,

It is absolutely beautiful. Yeah, again, this is the heart of God. That's what this book, we're gonna see it over and over again. He does not desire destruction. He desires reconciliation. And that is not just for Northern Israel friends. That is for you as well. At every moment of the day, we can always return right from even an hour away from the Lord.

We can always, that's why God has given us prayer and the Holy Spirit to draw us back because when we are communing with God, we are living the lives that God has created us to live. For our joy and for his glory,

Amen Bodie. And there's a couple little insights in the, the language here. Not only are you seeing God binding up the wounds of his people and bandaging them up, you get a little bit of the good Samaritan here, like a person dead on the side of the road and someone comes along to bandage them up. And Jesus, of course, is our ultimate good Samaritan.

But do you notice some of the descriptions. After two days, he will revive us, on the third day he would raise us up. You got a little bit of, you know, foreshadowing of the third day of resurrection for Jesus. You could even kind of look, might be a you know, not intended, but just an interesting picture here.

Since a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years, like a day, you got two days of God just wanting to do some revival. Think of that as like 2000 years, God's doing that, but it's gonna be with mostly the Gentiles. Then on the third day, he'll raise us up. The third set of thousand years will be what I believe is gonna be the millennial reign of Christ where we do get to live in his sight. So that could be a little

Could be echoes,

introducing echo of what's to come and or, or a taste of what's gonna be echoed later. But I love the call at the end though. Bodie let us know. Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning, and comes to us like the rain, how we need the mercies of God to cover our nations of sin, our families that have been broken down, and how every heart needs to be mended by the refreshing mercy of the Lord. Times of refreshment come from the presence of the Lord when we repent. We see that in the Book of Acts in chapter three, don't

Yeah. And it's funny, it's raining literally right now as I'm looking outside my window. So it's a

California because that's because California needs the

it's because California needs it. That's right. That's right.

The last key verse of the second section, Hosea 10 12. Sow yourselves, righteousness reap, in mercy, It's the exact opposite of what they are actually doing. They're sowing in wickedness then they're reaping in judgment again, the heart of God. Sow righteousness, reap mercy. Break up your fallow ground for it's time to seek the Lord till he comes and rains righteousness on you. I just love it. It's just this is, and this could be in the New Testament, but it's written from the prophet Hosea to us and to the original audience as well.

Beautiful. And just that phrase, break up your fellow ground. You know, that's a prayer. For those of you who have gotten a little hardened against the Lord, maybe you don't feel close to the Lord. That's a prayer. You can say, Lord, what has to be broken up in my life? You know it. It's not sacrifices and offering that God desires, psalm 51 says, but a broken. And a contrite heart.

We need sometimes God to do some breaking up in us, some fallow grounds, you know, like the good soil that can receive the good seed. Maybe our, our hearts have gotten thorny or, or stony, or even is the, the dry ground. Maybe there's, you have a, a loved one that has never received the Lord and they're far away.

You know, start praying. God start breaking up their fallow They, they need to be able to receive the implanted word, which is able to save the soul. As James one says, so this also just brings up a prayer and that takes us right into the third section now, right, Bodie?

Yeah. So Joey, what has happened is, so the final part of the Book of Hosea is looking at God's goodness. Again, now we've seen God's goodness throughout. That's why this book is unique in the sense that these sections are really more theme emphasis,

but we really do see it, particularly focused in these final chapters, 11 through 14, because again, it's a promise to restore Israel, ' cause remember, we know that judgment is on the doorstep right now in the form of the Assyrian Empire, but now God is making a promise to restore Israel in the future. And so one of the cool things, there's some great verses in this final section, but we know that it worked, right? Because we know, first off that Israel is on our map. Again, it was not on the map for a long time, wasn't it,

that's right. Almost 2000 years. Interestingly enough, following a bit of that pattern, God is now reawakening Israel for the coming of the Messiah, coming of Jesus, which is exciting because he's coming back to set up his kingdom reign of righteousness on this earth in fullness which is exciting.

And you talk about some of these echoes, right? This idea of types and shadows. You had mentioned the possibility of some of the timelines and the centuries there, but the New Testament authors, they actually do one better and they actually take Hosea 11, one and two, and Matthew literally says, this is fulfilled in Jesus. Could you read for us, why is Hosea 11, one and two, one of our key verses?

Yeah. Listen to this prophecy and this declaration of God's heart here. It says in Hosea 11, one through two, when Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt, I called my son. And as they called them, so they went from them and they sacrificed to the Baals, and they burned incense to carved images.

Now, I'm sure anybody in the northern kingdom of Israel who would hear Hosea say this would naturally be thinking of the history of their own nation. They came out of Egypt and God rescued them through Moses and Aaron, and they were delivered. And so when it says, when Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

But you know, interestingly, Israel is not usually called a son. Israel is often more referred to as the wife of, of Yahweh, or maybe the children of Israel, the children of God, but just a particular son is an interesting way to describe, if it's talking about the nation of Israel. But you can see the application, and this is a really important principle.

Many prophecies that are given by God have a relevant meaning for the people who first hear it. It may be that there's something about to come in their time period. It may be that it relates to their history, but clearly the word, my son was more literal than they realized because, as you said, Bodie in the gospel of Matthew, this is actually a prophecy that is fulfilled by Jesus, when Mary and Joseph were called to flee to Egypt against Herod's reign, who was trying to really preserve his own kingdom and his own name because he was a selfish man full of his own glory.

And so God protected the Messiah Jesus, by calling Joseph and Mary to go to Egypt. And then out of Egypt, he called his son. So this is what Matthew points out in that, and this is the fulfillment of this prophecy. So a very powerful verse, and it shows you that just because it had relevance to the nation doesn't mean that's the fulfillment of the prophecy, and that's what we see as the New Testament writers show us that the true fulfillment is usually centered more upon Jesus. That's what it's all about.

Well, and that's beautiful because it helps us recognize the interconnected nature of scripture across centuries in such a way where it's so powerfully interwoven, and this is friends, is why when we have a New Testament author quoting an Old Testament book, we see that they are intending for us to see a connection. Now, Joey, I love what you just said about a near fulfillment. And a future fulfillment. And this is what we see with the New Testament and the Old Testament.

Right? Because the New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed, and the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed. It is literally they, this is why I don't even like the terms Old Testament and New Testament. Jesus never called it the Old Testament. They called it the law, the prophets, and the writings.

Because sometimes people could hear old and they could hear outdated or unnecessary. Friends, this is exactly why we were wanna do this podcast, we want you to see the full beauty of the fullness of scripture and be able to study it and enjoy it for yourself and verses like this, in a prophet speaking to the northern kingdom of Israel, having Matthew in the New Testament saying This is fulfilled in Jesus is perfect example of why the Bible is unparalleled in our

Amen. Amen. Amen. So well said, Bodie. I sometimes put it this way. The old is in the new. The new is in the old. Let scripture interpret scripture. Then read and behold

Oh, I love it. I

God wants us to see how the volume of the book is written of his son, and so there's application. In the prophecy for the nation, but the prophecy fulfilled is about the salvation that's found in Jesus. It's

good. It's so good.

We would also wanna point you to chapter 11 of this second section, Joey. Right. What are some key verses in 11, we wanna highlight?

this verse, Bodie, I love, Hosea 11:4. I, I've always gone back to this as. One of the most beautiful descriptions of how the gospel sort of unfolds itself from heaven to earth. Look at the way, look at the illustration and the poetry here. God says, I drew them with gentle chords, with bands of love.

You could just, cords and bands of love. You could just see God's sort of interwoven love over his people. Jesus said, I'm gentle and lowly in heart, bands of love. So you see beautiful descriptions that the Lord fulfills. Then it says, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them.

Wow.

Wow. I mean, I see Jesus all over this verse because Jesus says, come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Then he says, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

And here you have in this beautiful verse, God's saying, I'm gonna take the yoke from your neck. And I'm gonna stoop and feed you the idea of God descending, condescending, even to become a man for. In order to become humble and then obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, God stoops down to our level, meets us where we're at, and he feeds us as a shepherd feeding his sheep.

Jesus is the bread of life. He's the shepherd of Israel, and he comes with the manna from heaven because he is the manna from heaven. He feeds our weary souls with living water. Bodie. He gives us living water so our spirit is renewed and so that out of our innermost being will flow rivers of living water. Jesus does all of that and more, and God is showing us in prophecy and in illustration the beautiful picture of his heart of love for his people.

so good.

what I love.

Love it. I love it.

Another one in chapter 11, and again, the same heart. We just see these and we wanna share these verses. We want you to hear the heart of God. He says, how can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeum, my heart churns within me.

And then he says this, my sympathy is stirred. I just love it. Again, another beautiful picture of God's heart in this section. And the final one that we wanted to share just really, I think, encapsulates, encapsulates what we have shown about the heart of God in this book.

14, four. What does it say, Joey?

Here we have this final word of the Lord. Again, God's commitment in his covenant. He says, I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from him. This is the last chapter in Hosea and even though judgment is still upon them. Do you see that God is still giving a promise?

He will heal their backsliding. So one day, that's what you can look forward to, and it shows you the unconditional love of God. He's gonna love them freely. Remember in the Garden of Eden, God says, of all the trees you may freely eat and in their limited free will, they chose to rebel against God. But God in his unlimited love continues to love us freely.

And so we know that his anger is, but for a moment, but his mercies are from everlasting to everlasting. His compassions, they fail not. So we really see that God in the end has the final word and the final embrace because his grace covers our sin.

and I think that little phrase, God loves you, right? It sounds something like, just like a simple, trite phrase, the Book of Hosea takes those three beautiful words, and it gives you a picture of depth and sacrifice and patience and goodness. That, that I just feel like is often missed by people that don't, that we don't sit and read the scriptures like this.

So friends, that's why we want to take the time to walk through these books with you and this last chapter, it's God's goodness, right?

So let's review the book, right?

We have Hosea's Holiness in chapters one through three, A parallel of God's Covenant. We have Israel's idolatry, A Divine Call for Reconciliation in chapters four through 10, and then the last section 11 through 14, God's Goodness, A Promise to Restore Israel.

Friends. This is the book of Hosea. I think that it is one of the most special gifts. There is some clear judgment in here, but if you wanna get the heart and the kindness and the love and patience of God, this is the book for you, right,

Mm. Amen Bodie. Amen.

And that just takes us to our, our, our final thoughts. Just any final just conclusions that we might wanna bring out from this book. Bodie, what, what's something that really you just kind of in. Reflection now after talking about this book and any final thoughts you have or where, really hits your heart personally today

I think about people who feel like they're too far from God and that there have done something that is unforgivable. And I just want to remind you, friends, that God really loves you and that your sin, it might break your communion with him, but the hand is outstretched to you like. So strong God.

God is passionately wanting to reconcile you back to him without any strings attached, right? You don't have to go through a bunch of cleaning rituals, none of that. Just turn your heart to God, and I love that any person from any race who's done anything, who is willing to trust in God has That outstretched hand available to them. There is no one who is too far from the love of God, and I just love it. I love it. I feel like that's what this book really gives us. What about you?

I, I think the marriage picture, highlights to me the meta narrative of the whole Bible. And so whenever I see the Bible really using marriage as the picture, let's remember everyone that the first two chapters of the Bible has a culmination that leads to marriage between a man and a woman on earth, Adam and Eve.

But if you remember, the way that that marriage came together was that Eve came out of the side of Adam, and that was a picture of one day our Jesus, who is the ultimate bridegroom out of his side, came a bride himself as the spear went into his side at the cross out came blood and water, and Jesus redeemed mankind through his love and, and just as Eve was presented to Adam, so the church will be presented to Jesus.

And of course the Bible ends with marriage too, because the last two chapters of Revelation is about the marriage between the Lord and his people, namely the church, which is Jew and Gentile made up of every tribe, tongue, and nation, and God becomes. the God of his people. We become his people forever.

But as a bride. As a bride, and that's what the Bible says in the end, revelation 22, the spirit and the bride say, come. You really get to see that this covenant was upheld because Jesus upheld his part of the covenant, and we get to enjoy the richness of being married to Jesus and the inheritance that's awaiting us because of his unconditional unfailing love for us. That's what I love.

It's beautiful

Friends. That is our summary of the book of Hosea, using our seven part framework, the essentials, the storyline, themes and ideas structure. What does it teach us about God? What does it offer our Christian life and some of our favorite things? What a feast, Joey.

The Book of Hosea is a short book, but it is a feast on the love and the goodness of God. And so friends, we are gonna wrap it up here as far as the Book of Hosea.

If you'd like a one page summary. You can get that at, you can learn the bible.com/notes. That is, you can learn the bible.com/notes. There is a couple ways that you can actually view this. If you're listening to it, you can watch it on YouTube. If you're watching on YouTube, you can listen to our podcast feed. We are on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We're trying to make it so that in one shot, you have everything you need for this book. And I hope that this has been helpful.

And so now Joey, we're entering into our second book of the Minor Prophets. what book and what, which, what do we have to look forward to in episode 35? Our next episode?

Well, we'll be hitting the small but potent book of Joel. Joel is a prophetic book that highlights the day of the Lord when Jesus Christ is gonna come back, and it talks about the judgment that leads up to it. It also speaks about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This is a book that's quoted in the Book of Acts.

And we get to hear about God's heart of repentance for his people again, how he wants to see a restoration among his people. So we're gonna see more of this continued theme in the book of Joel.

Amen. Well, that's it for us today on Hosea Explained. Thank you guys for joining us. Thank you for leaving reviews and letting us know that this has been helpful. And Joey, it is our joy to do this because we believe that you can learn the Bible and we love partnering with you guys on this journey. So to we meet again, grace in peace, and we'll see you again next time.