COV LIFE BLOG

Hosea 1:1 Introduction to Our Series: “God’s Faithful Love”

The people chosen of God to be His own people, upon whom He had lavished His love, had turned their backs upon Him, and were spending the very gifts of love in lewdness; and the prophet adopted the most tragic and awful illustration, as he declared that the sin of Israel in her infidelity to love was that of spiritual adultery.

I can quite believe that in this age when we are afraid to handle things as they ought to be handled, there are those who dislike the prophecy of Hosea. Nevertheless its message is a living one, and needs emphatic statement. He declared to the people of God that the relation existing between them and God was most perfectly symbolized in the sacred relationship of marriage; and therefore that their sin against God was that of infidelity and unfaithfulness.

The prophet learned the truth through the tragic and awful experience of his own domestic life. He entered into fellowship with God when his own heart was broken, when there came to him the unutterable and most appalling sorrow that can befall the spirit of man. What the sin of Israel meant to God, Hosea learned by the tragedy in his own home and in his own heart; and with fierce, hot anger he denounced kings, priests, and people alike. Thus while he dealt with the incidental manifestations of sin, the real message of the prophet had to do with the central sin of infidelity to the covenant based upon love.

Of times and seasons I have no right to speak; they are not within my knowledge or understanding. I do say that the Church needs supremely to remember that the highest, most wonderful, and most inspiring figure of her relationship to God is that which declares she is the bride of Christ. If that be once recognized, the sinfulness of spiritual adultery and harlotry with the forces which are opposed to Him will be realized.

We need to remember that when the Church is guilty of these sins it is inevitable that the judgment of God should rest upon her. We may also remember that He loves her yet; and as the members of His body, His flesh, His bones, turn back to Him in loyalty of spirit, He will receive them in the fullness of His love, and the great word may be spoken of all such, “I will heal their backsliding.”

G. Campbell Morgan

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Heart Preparation
Read Hosea 1:1. Ask God to reveal to you areas where you may be committing spiritual adultery and for Him to grow you in those areas over the next few months. Share this with some brothers or sisters at CLC who can encourage you in your pursuit of godliness.