Hosea (Program #5) – On Hosea (6)—Jehovah’s Unchanging Love Versus Israel’s Stubborn Unchastity (1)

The entire book of Hosea servers as a kind of metaphor showing us how Israel as God’s wife was unfaithful to Him even becoming a harlot. Unfaithfulness in marriage always lead to more and more evil and sinfulness. And the same was true with Israel. She eventually became sinful in her social dealing, that’s in her dealing with man. And also in her relationship with God on every level. Not only was Israel given fully to idolatry and sinfulness, but also she was stubborn refusing to turn back to Jehovah. In Chapter 7 referring to the stubbornness Jehovah says of Israel Ephraim is a cake not turned. By Chapter 11 Israel as this unturned cake refusing the admonition of Hosea and all the prophets eventually losses everything, including the temple, Jerusalem, the sacrifices, and ultimately the priesthood and the prophets.

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Hosea (Program #4) – On Hosea (3)—The Sins of the Apostate People, the Punishments of Jehovah, and the Return of the Apostate People

Chapters 4 through 6 in the book of Hosea give us many details concerning God chastisement of rebellious people, Israel. For the most part He used the great nations, the great empires of the human history to accomplish this chastisement. Israel had suffered under first the Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar and then the Medo Persian empire and the Greek empire and ultimately the Roman empire. And as harshly as Israel had suffered under these four great empires that were prophesied first by the prophet Daniel, still God had used this for good. Because Israel will eventually return to Jehovah and be fully restored. But even more than that God had used these four consuming empires as factors to help in the accomplishment of His great purpose in bringing forth and manifesting Christ

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Hosea (Program #3) – On Hosea (2)—The Symbol of a Wife of Harlotries (2)

The Lord used the prophet Hosea to signify His own sorrow and anguish over the unfaithfulness of His people Israel. Jehovah commanded Hosea to take Gomer who was a harlot as a wife and to love her in spite of her adultery. This was to show Hosea that the Lord view His people Israel as an unfaithful wife. Well, Hosea obeyed the Lord and married Gomer. But after he had born children to him, she left again to chase other lovers. Once again Jehovah came to Hosea and told him to receive her back, and to love her again. Here we see that the Lord patiently drawing Israel His people back to Himself. With a clear promise that at the end of this age He would restore her. This age of restoration would be at the coming of the Lord Jesus. The Minor Prophet Hosea gives us both a clear window into God’s heart for His people and also an unmistakable prophecy of the coming age of the kingdom.

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Hosea (Program #2) – On Hosea (1)—The Introductory Word and The Symbol of a Wife of Harlotries (1)

Do you realize that the subject of the two bookends of the Bible is the same?  It is marriage.   The Bible both begins and ends with the loving union of a husband and a wife.  In Genesis chapter two, the couple is Adam and Eve.  In Revelation 21 and 22, the couple is Christ and the church which becomes the New Jerusalem.  In fact the entire Bible is the story of Romance.  A romance between God and His corporate people.  In Genesis, Adam is really a type of Christ and Eve a type of the church.  In Song of Songs, Solomon typifies Christ while the Shulammite maiden represents the church.   In the books of the prophets, the bride is typified by the nation of Israel.  So now we can see truly the Bible is a romance, the story of a divine person pursuing, wooing and eventually winning the delight of His heart.  By Revelation 21, we are told that the bride has made herself ready and that she is spotless and without blemish.  But she was not always so.  As we see in many places in the Bible, like Hosea, this bride needs much work before she can be ready to be presented to the most lovely and attractive One in the universe, the Lamb of God, our dear Lord Jesus, our bridegroom.

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Hosea (Program #1) – An Introductory Word

The book of Hosea begins the final group of books in the Old Testament.  These twelve books call the Minor Prophets may actually been combined into one book in ancient times called the Book of the Prophets.  It was to these and the four Major Prophets that the Lord Jesus Himself refer to in Luke 24:44, “And He said to them, These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things written in the law of Moses and the Prophets and Psalms concerning Me must be fulfilled.”  Hosea, like all of the Minor Prophets is a book that is full of the revelation of Christ.  Particularly, Hosea also reveals that it is God’s deep longing to have a love relationship as a husband to a wife with His people.

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Hosea (Program #7) – On Hosea (8)—Three Implications Concerning Christ

To every genuine believer the Bible becomes a sheer delight. One of the key elements that usher us into a deeper appreciation of the Bible is when we begin to discover clear, unmistakable passages in the Old Testament that reveal our dear Lord Jesus in rich detail. Some Old Testament passages are well known in this regard and unmistakable in how they reveal Christ. Like Psalm 8 and Isaiah 53 but there are so many other portions not so familiar and not quite so obvious, but once the key to seeing Christ has been provided to us, they are nonetheless full of rich and nourishing revelations of the One who is the central focus of every book and every chapter of the Bible. Such a passage is found on the first 4 verses of the Minor Prophets Hosea in Chapter 11.

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Daniel (Program #17) – The Visions of the Overcoming Daniel (7)

The book of Daniel in the Old Testament covers a wide span.  If we have the proper understanding, Daniel shows us the entire Bible actually from Genesis to Revelation.  In fact, it could be said that without Daniel there is no way to understand the Bible as the single unique, divine revelation available to mankind.  We come to our final program today on this life study of Daniel…

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Daniel (Program #16) – The Visions of the Overcoming Daniel (6)

Anyone who has ever studied history realizes that throughout the ages Israel has been a land of wars and destruction.  Yet it survives and even today after so much turmoil but once again it is the center of the world’s attention and occupies so much space in our newspapers and newscasts.

Daniel saw prophetically that Israel will be such a land of distress.  He also saw how God’s purpose and His people will ultimately prevail as Christ Himself will come to that very place to rule and reign on this earth for a thousand years.

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Daniel (Program #15) – The Visions of the Overcoming Daniel (5)

Throughout the ages great kingdoms and great nations have battled and men have fought and died.  This kingdoms would come and go and new kings would appear on the scene.  This kind of earthly activity was specially prevalent during the time of Daniel in the Old Testament.  Much of Daniel’s time was occupied by his concern and prayer for Israel.  In chapter 10, the Lord Himself appeared to Daniel as a man and He gave Daniel a look into the unseen spiritual activity going on behind the scenes while all these things were taking place on earth in the physical realm.  We also get a  glimpse into the unseen, spiritual realm on today’s life-study of the Bible from the book of Daniel.

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Daniel (Program #14) – The Visions of the Overcoming Daniel (4)

The prophet Daniel is often held up as an example of what a godly person should be like.  He was faithful, obedient, diligent and steadfast and he also prayed much. Surely this was one of the giants of the Old Testament.  But not only so, he received visions from God about future events and experienced dramatic miracles.  It is easy to esteem and envy such a one. But of all his attributes, it is his prayer life that serves as the top example.  Because Daniel knew the secret of how to approach the righteous and holy God. He knew never to approach God on the basis of his righteousness and good deeds.  But rather according to God’s compassion and mercy.  Whereas most people take their own need and desires as the focus of their prayer. Daniel prayed always according to God’s Word and God’s need rather than his own. How did God answer such meaningful and effective prayer.  Well, the answer comes from Daniel chapter 9 in the vision of the seventy weeks.

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