Hosea has been called to serve the LORD as a prophet and the message he had to transmit was far from being a popular one. At a time when the people seemed to be enjoying a long period of prosperity and with little looking likely to change that Hosea had to preach a message of repentance or face the serious consequences.

In their prosperity the people felt safe and justified in leading the kind of lives that they wrongly thought had brought about their well-being. How easy it was to drown out the voice of God from their comfortable lives!

But God was not prepared to abandon so easily the people He loved and so began to "turn up the volume" as it were. Hosea then was sent to issue the people with warnings and threatenings and to speak of the real dangers of looming judgment.

The people must somehow learn through the misfortunes that were about to break upon them what God was wanting them to understand. The misfortunes were not signs of His final punishment and rejection of them but in fact the wake-up calls of a kind heavenly discipline. It was a discipline that has been designed to correct sin with a view to restoring and developing their relationship with their God. But before there can be restoration, they must recognize that they did indeed deserve God's displeasure.

Hosea was no disinterested spectator sitting idly by on the sidelines merely passing on an unpopular message. Hosea himself had been called to certain very painful experiences which caused his own life to be deeply and personally affected. His life experiences were designed to mirror the LORD's experience with His people. Hosea's wife would prove to be just as unfaithful to Hosea as the people of Israel were to the LORD and yet Hosea was not to turn his back and walk away because the LORD was not prepared to treat His people like that either.

Hosea was brought then to feel what the LORD feels and so be enabled to minister with something of the LORD's own compassion.

After a long series of accusations have been levelled against the people of Israel Hosea now launches into an impassioned plea to the people for a change of heart and for a change of behaviour. He doesn't sit on judgment on the people but, as is so often the case for the LORD's servants, he identifies himself fully with them. He supports his plea by pointing the people to the LORD and to His character. If there is to be any hope for the people they mustn't look to something to trust in themselves but they must look away to the faithfulness of God.

In our own relationship with the Living God the same holds true. It is always inappropriate to try to find something in ourselves upon which to base our hope – the Bible makes it plain over and over again that men and women are sinners and however much we may try we are always coming short of God's standards. But there is another way! And that way offers hope – it is the way of looking away from ourselves, our works, our efforts and looking away to God to find in Him mercy and grace.

Hosea's Appeal

Chapter 5 ended with the LORD declaring that He intended to withdraw from His people until they acknowledged their guilt and set about earnestly seeking Him in their distress.

Hosea picks up on this in the opening verses of chapter 6 and pleads with the people to act with him in a particular way. He in fact calls upon the people to do three things:

1. Let us return to the LORD

2. Let us know

3. Let us press on to know the LORD

We need to look more closely at these three.

1. "Let us return to the LORD" v.1

The first thing perhaps for us to notice is that this is far from being a unique sort of appeal. The prophets in particular often had to issue just this type of appeal. For example the prophet Jeremiah in the passage we read earlier cried out in the LORD's name:

Jer.3:22 “Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness.”

Secondly we should understand what a testimony this is to the graciousness of the LORD God as He wills the wayward sinner to return to Him! Maybe you feel as though you've wandered and perhaps more than once and you're asking yourself will the LORD really be prepared to take me back. Well the fact that Scripture inspired by the Spirit of God contains just this sort of exhortation should leave us in no doubt but that God will receive returning sinners. A return to the LORD is both possible and desirable!

Thirdly, we must understand that it is as repenting sinners that we are called to return to the LORD. The very word "return" tells us that we have wandered off in the first place. Hosea's call to return is a call that involves recognising our mistakes and admitting them. The call to return is also a call to give up our blustering attempts to justify what we've been doing and how we've been living our lives.

Fourthly, we must learn to properly appreciate how the LORD has been dealing with us. Warnings, threatenings and indeed His judgments must not be interpreted as meaning that God is irrevocably opposed to us now. We must not give in to the thoughts that suggest to us that it is no good to return because God is finished with us, that it is all too late, that final judgment has already been declared against us! No, but it may well be that our past behaviour has caused the LORD to pick up that megaphone and shout to get our attention. If indeed God has had to resort to strong disciplinary action to get your attention then He has done so because He wants you to return to Him. To interpret troubles and difficulties as evidence that God wants nothing more to do with you could be the exact opposite of what the LORD intends!

Fifthly, the God who has shown Himself to be sufficiently powerful to tear and to strike down is also sufficiently powerful to heal and make good again. Yes, it is true that at times God can and does inflict serious wounds but His striking does not go on forever and it is also true that He is a great physician and well able to bind up what He has broken.

Let us make sure that the thoughts we entertain concerning the LORD God are true thoughts. Much as men might like to portray God as helplessly wringing His hands while waiting impotently for men to allow Him to participate in their lives – the God with whom we have to do is not a bit like that. As the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar was to discover later

Dan.4:35 "he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”"

Sixthly, as Hosea speaks of just a short time delay in v.2 we are to interpret this as underlining the great mercy of the LORD. Greatly sinned against yet He remains ready to act quickly to restore His people when then do indeed turn to Him. When we are conscious of having done wrong we can convince ourselves that that's it, that our case is simply too serious for God to forgive us – this emphasis here tells us that that is simply not true. Great sinners can be saved by the great mercifulness of our great God!

Seventhly, the LORD's great mercy is described in life-giving terms. Look again at v.2 and we see the affirmation that He will restore and revive – the result of such activity on His part is life for His people! Sometimes we may hesitate before coming to the LORD wondering whether we will be able to keep up the Christian life. Well it is good not to be cocky and overly confident about our own abilities but the word here is that we need not worry as He will supply all that we need that we might indeed live!

Finally, under this first part of Hosea's appeal, we should flag up that Hosea spoke of more than he knew or understood. There are messianic elements to what he said though he probably did not appreciate this himself.

Sadly, the people of Hosea's day did not respond positively to his appeal and yet his words were fulfilled subsequently. A return to the LORD was made a reality through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Healing, restoration and life were secured by our Lord Jesus. He was bruised and broken – indeed He was struck down and died on the cross yet on the third day He was raised for our justification and eternal life is ours in Him. Eternal life is all about knowing God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. The next parts of Hosea's appeal move on to talk specifically about knowledge!

2. "Let us know"

In the earlier chapters of this little book the Lord had declared that there was no knowledge of God in the land and this was His people's problem. The people were ignorant and their teachers weren't teaching as they should. The results were catastrophic and the people were being destroyed.

Now Hosea addresses the root of the problem and calls upon the people "to know" specifically "to know the LORD" but how on earth can he be hopeful for a change of heart when rejection has characterised the entire nation up to this point? Well, there is hope because the LORD had already spoken of restoring His wayward bride. Back in chapter two He had said:

Hos.2:20 "I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD."

Isaiah had prophesied in similar vein confident that the LORD would teach His people when they turned to Him:

Is.2:3 “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”

And Jeremiah would speak of how the LORD was prepared to give the new sort of heart that the people needed:

Jer.24:7 "I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart."

If the people of God are to know God then He must give them a new heart with new capacities – this He is willing to do but the people must turn whole-heartedly to Him. Do you see the wonderful harmony that is expressed between divine sovereignty and human responsibility? We are never to sit back using divine sovereignty as an excuse for not seriously seeking the LORD but neither are we to imagine that we can find Him by our own unaided efforts.

Knowing God is what life, real life, is all about. And life is exactly the context of Hosea's words as he speaks of revival and restoration. In the NT these ideas of life are frequently to be found. Jesus spoke of the need for a new beginning, a new life, if men and women were to be able to see the kingdom of God. When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about his need of being born again He was developing OT imagery about being given a new heart of flesh in the place of a stony hard, unfeeling heart. Elsewhere He spoke of how new wine needed new wineskins – the new life of knowing God was so great that it couldn't be treated as a mere add-on or the result of a little tinkering here and there.

One of the most wonderful promises ever to fall from Jesus' lips is found in John's Gospel:

Jn.10:10 "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

3. "Let us press on to know the LORD"

Where life is present there must be growth, progress and development. Becoming a Christian is the beginning of a great journey and not the end of it!

We sometimes describe becoming a Christian as coming to know the LORD but we mustn't deduce from that that we already know all there is to know about Him! Yes, our knowledge of God is true knowledge as we come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ but that knowledge is far from being exhaustive and complete!

There is then a life-time indeed an eternity of getting to know Him better! Hosea wasn't aiming low as he called the people back to the LORD he was calling them to an immensely high and rich life. Shame on us if we are satisfied with what we have already! Shame on us if we suggest to the world that God is so small that we've got Him packaged and there's no more to have of Him! That has never been the true path of the believer and we shouldn't aim pitifully low!

Listen to some of Scripture testimony on this matter:

Prov.4:18 "But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day."

Phil.3:13-15 "Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you."

1Pet.2:2-3 "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good."

Eph.4:15 "speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,"

2Pet.3:18 "speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,"

But, you may ask, how is it possible for a man or a woman to press on in this manner to know the LORD?

Well Hosea focuses not upon human capacity but upon divine qualities of God. Man can know God because of the wonderful faithfulness of God:

Hos.6:3 "his going out is sure as the dawn;"

Just as the sun rises every day – you can count on that – well so you can count on the LORD, He won't fail you because He is utterly dependable. Practically that means for us that what He has said in His word He still says – His standards don't change but neither do His promises. What He approved of yesterday, He approves still today. What He promised yesterday He is still prepared to keep today. What He did in Jesus Christ to secure salvation 2000 years ago is still effective today to secure our salvation if only we will trust Him!

Hosea went on:

Hos.6:3 "he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth."

How confident he was that the purposes of the LORD were good for His people! How necessary was the rainfall to an agricultural community! How refreshing were the showers in a dry hot land! That is how Hosea portrays the way in which the LORD will respond to meet His returning people! Surely this God is worth getting to know better and better.

Peter in the Acts of the Apostles used similar imagery when he made a further appeal in the Temple preaching the good news of Jesus Christ:

Acts 3:19-20 "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,"

Conclusion

What a wonderful appeal Hosea has made! It is reasoned, well thought out and rich – but how will his hearers respond?

You see the greatest appeal is of no value to the hearer if the appeal goes unheeded.

Response to God and His word is of the greatest importance, it was in Hosea's day and it remains so in ours.

How will you respond to the appeals of God's word? Will you turn to the LORD in faith and trust, repenting of a former way of life that side-lined God and effectively sort to exclude Him from your life. Will you "know God"? Will you know the truth about yourself and the truth about God's plan of salvation? Will you press on to know God in the face of Jesus Christ?

The people of Hosea's day did respond to Hosea's message – we will have to come back to this is the future (DV) - but not in a good or profitable way. And what about you? Do you really mean to turn down this glorious invitation to know God? He already knows all about you and still He calls upon you to be saved by trusting His crucified Christ. Do so and do so today.

Amen.

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