COV LIFE BLOG

Hosea 11 – The Lord’s Great Compassion

The contrast of persons and actions is vivid. Jehovah is seen as the persistent Lover, and the people as contemning His love. What is to be done? There is only one thing to do, by all the laws of human conduct, and all the laws that are only laws of righteousness and equity and justice. Give them up, abandon them. I declare that when I see the Lover, teaching to walk, nursing with a tender care, healing; Father, Husband, Herdsman; and then watch these people definitely, persistently, positively rebellious; I say there is only one thing to do with them: give them up.

What, then, was it holding Him back ? The answer is in the text: “My heart is turned within Me, My compassions are kindled together.” Was it something in Israel that made God say, “How can I give thee up?” As I look at Israel I should say, Surely not. It was not something in Israel, but something in God.

Here, all mere intellectuality breaks down; here is something very strange. I have been talking about His love. He has spoken of a heart in turmoil, of compassions that are moved to the very depths, and He says I will not give you up; what is the reason? Because of His heart and His compassions? Yes, but go on. “I am God, and not man,” and I am “the Holy One in the midst of thee.” There is no lowering of the standard of moral requirement. The Holy One can be compassionate and remain holy because He is God, and not man.

So in the fullness of time the gleams and glints of glory broke out into full manifestation; and we find out at last in Jesus, how God can be just, and the Justifier of the sinning soul. Through Him the claims of justice which are against my soul are all met. Through Him the glory of holiness is maintained; for His redemption of the human soul is not a pity that agrees to ignore sin; but a power that cancels it and sets free from its dominion. Through Him the loved one is regained, restored, renewed, and all the lights that flash and gleam upon the prophetic page, astonishing my soul, come into focused unity in Jesus. God says of you, of me, “ How can I give thee up ? I will not . . . I will not . . . I will not.”

Through Christ He has made the way by which sinning souls can be conformed to His image, His likeness, His will. The Gospel is gleaming in Hosea. It is shining in full radiance in Christ. We can leave the historic and come to the immediate. That is God. But in order to provide ransom, and redemption, and renewal, what? The answer is found fully in the words: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

G. Campbell Morgan

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Heart Preparation
Read Hosea 10:1-11:11 and consider the marvelous grace of Christ that would not give you up despite your sin. How does this impact your view of God? How does this affect every day of your life?