Today, we turn to the Book of Hosea, a prophet whose ministry was directed to the Northern Kingdom, Israel. He is often called the “Deathbed Prophet,” because he was the last prophet in Israel before the nation fell to the Assyrians. As we will see, the LORD directed Hosea to marry a prostitute, which was to symbolize Israel’s relationship with Him. Israel had become a prostitute, and even so the LORD still loved “her.” He would, however, tolerate no other lovers in Israel’s life, so the message was to repent or perish . Some biblical scholars believe the LORD’s command to Hosea to marry a prostitute was symbolic, but the book reads as a literal direction to Hosea, not a symbolic one.
Hosea 1 lays out the command of the LORD to Hosea: marry a prostitute and have children. Each of the children’s names symbolized the LORD’s judgment against Israel. The first, named Jezreel, symbolized the LORD’s judgment of the people that would take place at Jezreel. The second, named No Mercy, showed the LORD would not have mercy on His people. The third, Not My People, showed the LORD would say the Israelites were not His people. The chapter ends, as we have seen so many chapters of prophecy end already: with a promise of hope for the future. The people of Israel would return and be numerous. They would once again be God’s people.
In Hosea 2, the LORD condemns Israel for her unfaithfulness. In graphic detail, He recounts how she has turned from Him, but then in the second half of the chapter, the LORD promises to take back His unfaithful wife. He promises the people will prosper and “No Mercy” will be called “Mercy,” and “Not My People,” will be called “My People.” This shows us the LORD’s mercy and forgiveness are always the final word for His people.
Hosea 3 recounts the LORD’s command for Hosea to go and redeem his wife from prostitution. Hosea pays the price of her redemption but tells her she must remain pure for many days. In the same way, the LORD promises to redeem Israel, but it will be after a long time without prince, or king, or anyone in charge over Israel.
The LORD condemns the people once again in Hosea 4. He continues to pronounce judgment against them and compares their going after false gods to “whoredom,” which it was. The LORD was their “husband,” but instead of remaining true to Him, they chased after gods of wood and stone, and worshiped aspects of nature. This passage is comparable to Romans 1, where the Apostle Paul condemned those who knew the LORD and his ways but abandoned them to worship idols and nature. The human heart was created to worship. When we don’t worship the living God, we worship created things. When we become so arrogant that we will no longer worship any god, claiming to be atheists, we worship ourselves. Thankfully, as we see from cover to cover in the Scriptures, the LORD is merciful, and His steadfast love endures forever. While He condemns sin, when we repent–when we turn away from our sins–He receives us back and restores us. Jesus is the ultimate affirmation of the redemption the LORD has for us.
As return to Mark 8, we come once again to the “turning point,” in the gospel. Here Jesus sets His face to go to Jerusalem. While we are only half-way through the book, from this time forward Jesus is heading to His ultimate destiny of dying on the cross to pay the penalty for human sin and rising from the dead to show He is Lord and God and the only way to salvation. As the chapter unfolds, Jesus feeds four thousand men along with women and children with a few loaves of bread and fish. Then He has a brief run in with the Pharisees who demand a sign, which is quite odd given He just fed thousands of people with a meager amount of food! Jesus tells them He isn’t giving them any sign. Then as Jesus and the disciples travel by boat across the Sea of Galilee, Jesus tells the disciples to beware of the “leaven” of the Pharisees. As was often the case, they didn’t get it. They thought He was reprimanding them forgetting to bring bread. Jesus reminded them He had provided bread for thousands but was talking about the works of the Pharisees.
When they arrived at land, they went to Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus asked the key question: Who do you say I am? We must all answer that question. Peter gave the right answer, “You are the Christ(Messiah) of God!” After affirming Peter’s answer, Jesus told them for the first time He was going to be arrested, found guilty, crucified and buried. He told them He would rise again. Peter, who had just answered the most important question ever, showed his humanity by rebuking Jesus for saying He was going to die. Jesus then called Peter “Satan,” for thinking solely from a human perspective. Jesus then turned to the crowd and reminded them, and through them us, the only way to follow Jesus is to deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily, and follow. Jesus never sugar-coated the cost of being His follower. It will involve self-denial, pain, and in extreme cases even death in this life, but the rewards both now and eternally are far more than any cost.