COV LIFE BLOG

Hosea 2:14-23 The Shock of God’s Grace

When the Lord gets His people all alone, what words of comfort He has with them! What words they are when He assures them of their full forgiveness, when they see all the sins of their former perverse life gone forever and hear the Lord say, “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions and, as a cloud, your sins.” These are, indeed, comfortable words when they are spoken home to the heart! And so they are when the Lord not only tells His people that all evil is removed, but that all good is theirs—when such words as these come home to them—“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” And, “It does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like He, for we shall see Him as He is.” And, “There is, therefore,
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” And, “Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” Those are comfortable words when the Lord goes on to tell us of our everlasting safety—“They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abides forever.” And when in prayer He foretells our coming glory—“Father, I will that they, also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am.”

Go, then, to that mercy of God which, in the very sins of men, spells out arguments for displaying itself! God does not want your fullness—He wants your emptiness— that He may fill it with His fullness. He does not want your good works, you poor sinners—He wants your bad works—that He may wash them all away. Paul says that Christ “gave Himself for our sins,” and Luther’s comment on that is, “He never gave Himself for our righteousness. That would not have been worth His having, but He gave himself for our sins.” “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” This is the footing on which we must go to God!

Then our blessed Master, having risen from the dead, now charms us by the fact that amidst all His glories He is faithful to His first love. He has not forgotten you and me, though cherubim and seraphim have been singing His praises all these years, day without night. See what He is doing. He makes intercession for the transgressors and he bears upon His breastplate the names of guilty ones for whom His cry goes up that they may be forgiven and find mercy through His wondrous merit! I will not say that you ought to love Him, for love does not act that way. But I will say this—if you truly know Him, you cannot help loving Him—you must love Him. Thus does He allure men to Himself.

Charles Spurgeon

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Heart Preparation
Read Hosea 2:13-24. Do you ever consider the marvel of God’s great grace? Did you notice the number of times God spoke of the things he will do in this passage? Consider the promises and grace of God and consider how that impacts your worship and daily life.