Hosea 11 & 12 show us up for our constant bias towards sin, and yet also offer hope – encouraging you to always put your hope in God. Even though you have done wrong and offended him, he loves you. He loves you enough to give you a way to return to him.
And you must! To be separate from God is hell itself, and yet to be with him – as he would want you to be – is eternal joy and bliss.
So will you always put your hope in God, even when you keep on failing? Hosea is about just that.
These notes accompany a sermon on YouTube delivered at Bromborough Evangelical Church Wirral in October 2024. You can find more in the series in our sermon index.
But first:
Why are the prophets so hard to read?
We have one more sermon in Hosea after this, and you may well have found some of it a bit hard to understand – at least, at first reading.
It’s not that you’re stupid, or that the prophets like Hosea are trying to hide things.
- First, they wrote to a context – a time, a people, a place. So you do need to know a little of the history of Israel.
- Second, they regularly allude to God’s covenant as a call to repentance, to blessing. Again, a little familiarity helps.
- Thirdly, often, the prophets were writing into multiple time horizons.
- So their words would be for their own time, but also speak of a time yet to come. We’ll see that in Hosea 11:1.
- Fourthly, it’s largely written in the style of Hebrew poetry. So it appeals to your whole person – mind, emotions, will. So slow down, give it time, and feel the text.
- Lastly, remember that the basic message is always clear: God loves you, he is just and will punish all sin, and he calls you to repent of your sin and turn to him for life.
God loves you intensely (11:1-7)
Read Hosea 11:1 and 12:13.
God called Israel out of Egypt. It’s called the exodus, and it’s all written down for us in the book of Exodus. He rescued them, gathered them together into a nation, and established a covenant with them to bless them. Exodus 19 is where he gathered them together.
- God had these words for the Israelites: ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’
- A special possession – chosen from all the nations.
- A kingdom of priests – to intercede for the nations.
- A holy nation – to proclaim God to the nations in holiness.
God made it clear that it wasn’t because of anything attractive or brilliant in them that he loved them. He just chose to love them.
And what a love! He called Israel, “my son.” He loved them and cherished them. Israel were adopted by God, knew him intimately like no other people. God was to them the perfect Father. He was protective, sacrificial, and leading.
How did Israel respond to this salvation from Egypt? Read Hosea 11:2.
So the pain in God’s heart is the pain of a perfect Father being rejected by a stupid, rebellious, wilful son: Read Hosea 11:3.
Verse 4 changes the imagery again to a farmer gently leading and caring for an animal (like the imagery in Hosea 10).
Verses 5 & 6 speak of judgment that will come to Israel because of their continual sin and rebellion.
Bent hearts
The human heart is summed up in v7: Read Hosea 11:7.
- Bent on turning from God. That’s you.
- Like a broken shopping trolley, or a boat with one oar, going round in circles but never forwards.
It’s your natural state. And yet you are loved intensely by God. He knows you’re a sinful person, and he desires that you come to know him, to be forgiven of your sin. All of it. Your knowledge of your sin is a step towards remedy. Go to the God who loves you enough to die for you.
Even as believers, your heart is still bent. You live in a body of sin with iniquity twisting you from God. Yet he loves you intensely, with a perfect Father’s love. Which makes your sin not only offensive, but deeply hurtful.
But there’s good news with such a God:
Christ saves you completely (11:8-12:1)
God is a perfect Father. Can such a Father ever completely give up on a son? A sinful father might, but not God. Read Hosea 11:8-9.
Now God might have wiped them out. Remember we’re talking about northern Israel, and David’s line to the Messiah Jesus was secure in Judah. Certainly God’s justice demands punishment for all sin. You or I might well say, “See ya! Game over!”
But he is God and not man; he’s the holy one among his people. His love tempers his wrath to find a way for justice and mercy to come together.
And then Hosea 11:10-12:1 show both God’s intention to save some (not to wipe them all out) and Israel’s intention to go on sinning and rejecting him.
So how can God continue in both grace and punishment?
Out of Egypt I called my Son
Read Matthew 2:13-15.
The early chapters of Matthew have many instances of Old Testament words finding fulfilment in Jesus.
There’s also a theme of recapitulation – Jesus re-doing everything Israel did, but doing it without sin or failure. Some examples:
- Herod’s massacre of infants in Bethlehem – Pharaoh attempted to kill babies when Moses was born.
- Israel passed through the Sea and had 40 years in the wilderness; Jesus was baptised and faced 40 days in the wilderness.
- Where Adam was tempted by Satan and fell, Jesus sent Satan packing.
The Old Testament gives us stunning, rich words to describe Jesus: He is prophet, priest and king. Jesus is our Passover Lamb. He’s the Messiah, our Immanuel, our Saviour.
And the point of Matthew’s gospel quoting Hosea 11:1 is that where Israel was God’s son and completely failed in its task of interceding for the nations and proclaiming God to the nations, Jesus is the perfect son who came to save us all, bringing all nations to God, and making him known to all nations.
God loves you intensely, even though you’re a sinner.
He loved you enough to come into the world to take the punishment your sins deserve.
Jesus – and only Jesus – brings you perfect, complete salvation.
Christ alone saves you completely
If you put your hope in anything other than him, you will die in your sins and be separate from God forever. But as you go to God in repentance of sin and ask him to forgive, his justice and mercy are met in the cross of Christ – him punished for you, you alive to God.
And as if that weren’t wonderful enough, there’s more. Will you receive Christ as your Lord and Saviour? Read John 1:12-13.
When you receive Christ as your saviour, asking God’s forgiveness, you are adopted by the Father.
Jesus, the Son, sanctifies you (make you holy) by your union with him: He is in you, you are in him. And then, …the one who sanctifies [Jesus] and those who are sanctified [us] all have one Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters…
Christ truly saves you completely.
And because you are in Christ, 1 Peter 2:9 says that what was said of Israel at Exodus 19 is now said of you:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
Christ is the Son of God that Israel failed to be. He intercedes for broken sinners, and he proclaims God to the world. And he does that through his brothers and sisters, his church, you. It’s an astonishing thought, and yet… you know your heart is still bent away from whole-hearted devotion and service, don’t you?
Keep returning to your God (12:2-14)
God loves you intensely. Christ saves you completely. If you are a child of God, he will never ever give up on you. And yet, your heart still turns away.
Do you ever feel like a fraud as a Christian? A complete failure? Do you ever wonder if you’re even the real thing? When you’ve let God down yet again, moaning and grumbling, gossiping, deceiving, losing your temper.
Satan would point the finger at you, wouldn’t he? He’ll tell you you’re not the real thing, or that you’ve blown your chances with God. But he’s a liar who hates you. Don’t listen to his lies.
Rather, go back to the beginning.
Read Hosea 12:2-3.
- Hosea is taking us all the way back to Genesis, to when Esau and Jacob were born.
- Jacob was grasping his older twin brother’s heel.
- He stole Esau’s birthright and blessing, and fled.
- Jacob was a rogue, full of scheming and self reliance.
- “…and as an adult he wrestled with God.”
- Quite literally, one night, wrestling in the dark.
It was a picture of how he’d been wrestling with God all his life.
Jacob was given a new name: Israel (which sounds like “he struggled with God” – all in Genesis 32). He also received God’s blessing that night.
Wrestling is close, sweaty, and hands-on. Jacob (Israel) didn’t go to God through some kind of set worship or liturgy – he grappled with God directly.
The true God too – not some random idol. So read Hosea 12:4-5.
He was at Beth-el, the house of God. Not Beth-aven, the house of empty idolatry and wickedness.
And that’s good. Don’t waste a moment with empty idolatry – you’ll lose it all. All the good things in your life are gifts, so don’t treat them like they’re the Giver.
Grappling with God
Maybe it’s time for you to start grappling with God. Maybe you already are.
Read Hosea 12:6.
Go back to your God, to the beginning. Let nothing distract you from being with him.
Does he feel far away? He has not moved. He speaks to you, through his word: Read Hosea 12:10, 13.
Take God seriously. Your heart is so bent that you will continue to curve away from him unless you keep very close to him.
Grapple with God in prayer over those things that matter to you. Don’t trust in false gods and idols for eternal happiness – they’ll let you down.
If you need to, go back to the start and cling on to God. Christ is the Prophet who speaks to you, the Son who saves you.
In summary
God loves you intensely.
- His love isn’t conditional on your perfection or performance. He knows your heart is bent away from him.
- But his love doesn’t come and go like the tide at Moreton shore.
- It’s full up and overflowing continually, even though your sin is so offensive, so hurtful to his love.
Christ saves you completely.
- He did everything his people failed to do, being perfect in goodness in everything.
- Jesus is your place of atonement, the place where God punishes for your sin and cleanses you completely from all guilt.
- Will you pray for that forgiveness, and live? Will you become a child of God forever?
So keep returning to your God.
- You’ll not be perfect in this life.
- So you’ll never not need to return to God, day after day.
- And if you find you’ve drifted a little too far from him, he stands waiting for you to return to his love, his embrace.
Hosea 12:6
But you must return to your God.
Maintain love and justice,
and always put your hope in God.