Prayer, Promise and Proverb

Hosea 14:1-9
August 9, 2020
Peter Yoo

Sermon Script

Review

Last week began somewhat of a micro-series through the book of Hosea. I spoke on Hosea 3, where we were reminded that God redeems his people, God restores his people, and then God’s people return to him.

Context

But if you’ve read through the book of Hosea, you know what I mean when I say that it’s not the most uplifting book of the Bible. It’s actually a deeply emotional book. Why? Because of Israel’s sin. God entered into a covenant relationship with Israel, but Israel whored herself to other gods. Israel chased after other gods. One of the most heartbreaking verses I read as a child was in Hosea 2, when God said that Israel adorned herself with rings and jewelry, and she went after her lovers, but me she forgot.

And this is what sin does. Sin separates God from his image-bearers. And sin must be dealt with first before anyone can be with God. And this is why Israel went into exile. This is why God raised up Assyria to take over Israel and scattered them. God raised up Assyria to be a form of judgment on his people because of their sin. And this is so ironic, because Israel went to Assyria for help, not knowing that Assyria would actually be the one who ultimately destroys them. Israel abandoned God and chased after Assyria, who would eventually end them as a nation.

Prayer (14:1-3)

But imagine hearing these depressing words from Hosea when things were going pretty well. We probably wouldn’t believe him. We might not want to listen to Hosea and his bad news. But some of us may hear his word of warning and repent. We might say to Hosea, “Hosea, do you have any words of encouragement? Assyria’s going to destroy us and we’re going to go into exile. Do you have any good news? Anything?”

The good news that Hosea gives is today’s passage. Right before Israel goes into exile, Hosea gives them chapter 14. The first three verses takes the form of a prayer to God. Hosea tells Israel to return to God. Return to God. We saw this last week in chapter 3 when God promised that the children of Israel would return and seek God, not other gods. And now, Hosea is telling Israel, no, commanding Israel to return to God. If there was one word to summarize the book of Hosea, it would be the word “return.” Turn yourself. Reorient yourself. Turn away from one thing and turn again to what you were once facing. Return to God. Seek him.

And Hosea commands Israel to pray these words, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips.” As difficult to translate this verse may be, the idea is clear. Israel must plead with God that he would take away all their sin. All their sin. And the covenant vows they gave to God will not just be words, but they will live out their vows. And the prayer continues, “Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hand.” When Israel prays, “Assyria shall not save us,” it means they will not trust in political powers to save them. And when Israel prays, “we will not ride on horses,” it means they will not trust in military powers and chariots to save them. And when Israel prays, “we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hand,” it means they will not trust in other gods or other forms of worship. This is a prayer of repentance for every aspect of the nation of Israel. This doesn’t sound like your average “sinner’s prayer.”

Brothers and sisters, is this our prayer? Do we ask God to take away all our sins? I don’t just mean when we first came to know the glories and riches of Jesus Christ and his salvation. I mean even today, do we ask God to take away all our sins? Because it’s possible that we pray and vow these things, but we might secretly hold onto to certain sins. We might say, “God, take away all my sins! Except for this one. I can’t let go of this one. You can take away all my other sins though.” Brothers and sisters, sin is the thief of true joy. Sin corrupts true joy. I’m sure we know this. When we sin, sin gives us a counterfeit joy, doesn’t it? But no sin can ultimately satisfy. And this is something that Israel would soon learn.

And brothers and sisters, do we trust in political powers, military powers, and other gods or other forms of worship? Israel trusted Assyria for these things. But now Israel recognizes that political powers don’t save. Military prowess doesn’t save. Other gods can’t save. Other forms of worship can’t save. There really is no salvation outside of God himself. Nothing in creation can save. Nothing. Have we, like Israel, replaced God with an idol during our time of exile, so to speak?

Hosea concludes the prayer with a sentence that must never be forgotten: “In you the orphan finds mercy.” “In you the orphan finds mercy.” God shows compassion and mercy to those who can’t help themselves. Because every one of us in Adam have sinned against God and we always seek things other than God. But in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, the orphan finds mercy. Think about it. An orphan is both fatherless and motherless. And we have a lot of parents in G5. It’s such a scary and horrible thought to think that our children would be left without father and without mother, completely helpless and unable to survive on your own. We are likened as an orphan. But God extends his mercy to us as orphans, adopting us as his own. Brothers and sisters, in Jesus Christ, we have found mercy. We have found mercy.

Promise (14:4-8)

The first three verses was in the form of a prayer. But now, God speaks. And God, as the Father of once-orphans, gives the next four verses as words of promise. And these words of promise are so reassuring. God says, “I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.” God captures all their sinfulness and their apostasy, and he says, “I will heal their apostasy!” And God says, “I will love them freely,” meaning without restraint, God will love them. Why? Because his anger has turned from them. But God is a just God and he cannot have sin in his sight. So how did he deal with it? He sent his Son. He sent his Son to bear the weight of the sins of his people. God no longer has anger towards you because he has unleashed his wrath and anger and judgment on his Son on your behalf. This was true for the remnant of Israel, the remainder of Israel after the exile, and this is just as true for us today. Be comforted by when Christ speaks to you and he says, “I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.” The very sin that separated you from God in the first place has been healed. And God has healed you.

The promise continues. Verses 5-7. “I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.” What is God promising here? God promises his people that he will be like the dew, the water that plants need to flourish. Israel’s future will be abundant with great splendor like a lily in the wilderness. Israel’s future will be stable like the roots of the large trees of Lebanon. And verse 6 echoes the promise in verse five in reverse order. And verse 7 copies this message from verses 5 and 6 with more plant language. And all of this plant language and blossoming language is thematic for the age to come. Plants can easily resemble new life, or the life to come. And so what God is promising Israel is a rich future, a secure future, a desirable future. After the exile, they must wait for this abundant future that awaits them. But their sin must first be dealt with through the judgment of the exile.

Brothers and sisters, I remind you this morning that this prophecy is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He was the one who was exiled, cut off from the land of the living. But after his death came the resurrection. And as Jesus Christ rose from the dead victorious, there was no more possibility of Jesus dying ever again. When I was in youth group, I once asked the guest speaker of our retreat if after Jesus comes back, people will sin again and the Bible will be like a cycle. And all I remember is that the pastor told me, “You know, you think weird. You know that?” And then he walked away and never answered my question. But Scripture has given me the answer that I need in this life and the next. I know that sin and death have no power over Jesus. And I know that there is no chance that Jesus will ever die again. And as Pastor Abe told us earlier, we are born twice, but we only die once.

Brothers and sisters, there is an abundant and secure future that awaits you upon Jesus’s return. Any sin that you are wrestling with, even to this day, will have no place in the new heavens and new earth. And this is what God is ultimately promising every believer in Jesus Christ. You have a rich future, a secure future, a desirable future in Jesus Christ. An inheritance that cannot be measured by any metric.

And Hosea continues God’s promise in verse 8, but in a different way. Verse 8. “O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.” When God refers to Ephraim, he is referring to the remnant of Israel, the few who will return to God after the exile. And so God reminds Ephraim that he alone is God. God made his people, but his people made idols. But those idols were powerless to save. Again, anything in creation is powerless to save. And idols, who don’t have eyes to see or mouths to speak, especially can’t save. That’s why God tells them that he is the one who looks after them with his eyes and he answers them with his mouth. Simply put, God is the one true living God. Anything else in all of creation is not God. Only God is the Creator and only God is the Redeemer.

And then God said, “I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.” And upon first glance, this is a strange, almost nonsensical saying. Evergreen trees don’t bear fruit! So how can God, as Israel’s evergreen tree give them fruit? But it’s quite a beautiful way in which God describes himself. Evergreen trees are just that, they are always green. Makes sense why we would use an evergreen tree for Christmas, it’s one of the few trees out there that is green year-round. And we know that plants often symbolize life in the Bible. But what’s interesting is how in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life was just a tree. It didn’t have mystical powers that gave you life if you ate its fruit. But the tree of life symbolized eternal life with God. And in this case, God is saying that he is like the evergreen tree. Why? Because God himself is life. And he likens himself to a tree that is green year-round. There is a sense of eternality, an everlasting sense, in which God will continue to be.

And he is the source of blessing for his people. God promised to give his people blessings, but they prostituted themselves to get it their way. But now, God is promising blessing that will never fade. And he is not only the source of blessing. But he also is the blessing. To be with God is the ultimate blessedness. This again is what life is all about, to be with God forever. And God is saying that he will be our sustenance. We will be with him forever. And just like verse 7 says, “They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow.”

I encourage you this morning, brothers and sisters, to believe this. Our God is our source of blessing and he is eternal. How can eternity run out? God’s blessing for you in Jesus Christ is infinite. But why don’t we live that way? Why don’t we live every day remembering that God is our blessing and our source of blessing? It’s not that there’s something wrong with God; rather, we are the ones who need to be reoriented and remember who our God really is. We must know our God as he has revealed himself in his Word. And as God reveals himself to us in his Word, then we can come to know our God as he is and not how we picture him to be. We can understand our God as both life and blessing. 

Proverb (14:9)

And Hosea concludes chapter 14 with an interesting section. Verse 9. “Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.” This sounds like a proverb, doesn’t it? It’s rare to find proverb language in prophetic books of the Bible. But it is appropriate in this situation. Why? Because just as the Northern kingdom Israel was about to go into exile, they needed words of hope and assurance. And Hosea commanded them to pray in repentance and God promised them return.

But this wisdom section, this verse is here so that the remnant of Israel would teach these prophecies of Hosea to their children so that they they could pass on these teachings for generations. Because the Northern kingdom of Israel did not have a set day when they were going to return. As far as they were concerned, they were going to be there for a while. So when the remnant is exiled, they must remember the teachings of the Lord and obey them. And this teaching must be continued from generation to generation.

Brothers and sisters, I remind you this morning that we are in an exile of sorts. We are not exiled by a specific nation like Assyria. Rather, we are under the temporary reign of this present evil age. We are not true citizens of this age. We are true citizens of the age to come. And just as Israel did not have a set day on a return, we too do not have a set day of Christ’s return. The Holy Spirit is ensuring that his teachings are continued from generation from generation. Whether that be in the family setting or the church setting, we must be wise and seek to obey God. We must seek the wisdom of God from his Word.

And so I ask us this morning, have we embraced worldly teachings and have we disregarded wise and godly teaching? How do we know that what we believe is truly wise and godly and not just worldly? I encourage us to return to God’s Word. As God’s people, we must not separate from his Word. Especially as we are in this time of exile, we must hold fast to the teachings of God’s Word, especially as we wait for Christ to come back and bring us home.

So brothers and sisters, let us continue to pray prayers of repentance. Let us remember the promise of God that we will be with him forever. And until he returns, let us be wise and live by faith in his Word as we see the day approaching.

Soli Deo Gloria