Well, good morning, everybody. Good to have you all with us this morning. As you notice, John's not with us this morning. He's not feeling too well. Just so you know, I did give him a reprimand when he told me that he had fallen ill. I said, what, do you got to do what everybody else is doing? I mean, if everybody else jumped off a cliff, are you going to jump off a cliff? He's supposed to be the leader. John, if you're listening, get better. Please, get better quick.

Just one reminder, and that is concerning Thursday night studies. The North and the South are meeting together here at the church for the second half of the Friends of Israel Conference on the Names of God. And everybody is welcome to come, whether you're a part of the studies or not. I encourage everybody to come. It's very encouraging as we study the names of God because the names of God express his character and his goodness. So I want to encourage everybody to come and to be a part of that.

Now, let's go to the book of Hosea as I get started. Now, last time I was with you, I kind of did an overview of the book of Hosea. And this was a number of months ago. So it might not be a bad idea to go back to Living Hope Sermons and kind of get the background and all of that more in depth in that overview. So I'm not going to spend an awful lot of time on it. 

But I have given you something that I've never done before. I've given you an outline. And I don't know if I'll be able to follow that outline very well or not. But if you want to take notes, I encourage you. One of the good things and one of the cool things about the Old Testament is a lot of Christians don't really understand what it means to be living in the new covenant. And John has laid such a wonderful foundation these past couple of weeks as he's begun the book of Joel in describing how to go about this. 

When we study the Old Testament, a lot of people gloss over it because they just don't understand it or they don't take the time to dig into it and to find out what's really being said. And so I love the book of Hosea. It's one of my favorite books in the Bible, not just because it's so poetically beautiful. And it is very much that. And we'll look at that as we go along. But if you take your time to dig in and see what's really being said, it's so encouraging, so encouraging. 

And I want to remind you that Jesus said to the Pharisees, he said, you search the Scriptures, meaning the Old Testament, because that's all they had at the time when Jesus was talking. He said, you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is these that speak of me. So as you look at the Old Testament, look for Jesus because he's there. He's there everywhere in the Old Covenant. And so please don't be afraid to read the Old Covenant. Don't be afraid to read the Old Testament.

Now remember that as you're reading it, though, that God does not deal with us in this church age in the same way that he dealt with Israel in the Old Covenant. He does not deal with us in the same way. He dealt with them as a nation. And as John pointed out last week or the week before, there is the if you will, I will. And there's the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience. And we see that play out throughout the Old Testament, that when they were obedient and when they followed the Lord, it went well. When they didn't, it went bad. In fact, it went very, very bad.

So anyway, now we come to the book of Hosea. And let's read it, beginning at verse number 1 of chapter 1. The word of the Lord which came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. Now here's one thing that's interesting. As you read the Old Covenant, as you're reading in the Old Testament, oftentimes in the prophets, they'll give you a timeline. And it's really helpful to go back and look up that timeline and see what was going on during that timeline. 

So we can go back and we could look at the days of Uzziah, what was going on in the days of Uzziah, of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, and during the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, the king of Israel. And Hosea was mainly a king to the, excuse me, a prophet to the northern kingdom. Although he also speaks to the southern kingdom a number of times throughout this book, his primary mission is to the northern kingdom, the kingdom of Israel. 

Remember that after Solomon died, Rehoboam became king. And then he followed the foolish advice of his people and said that if Solomon disciplined you, I'm going to discipline you even harder. And so there was a split that happened between the northern and southern kingdom. Rehoboam remained the king of Judah and Benjamin. And then the 10 tribes of Israel split off and went with Jeroboam I. There's two Jeroboams. We're talking about Jeroboam II, but there was two Jeroboams. 

And Jeroboam set up for the northern kingdom because he did not want them going back to Jerusalem to worship for fear that they would return. He set up golden calves and said, these are your gods, O Israel. And so he set off on that northern, put that northern kingdom on a footing of idolatry right from the beginning. But now, these many years later, we come down to Jeroboam II, and this is who was being addressed during the days of Hosea. 

Just for background, Jeroboam II was the third son or the third king, excuse me, following Jehu. And God made a promise to Jehu that he would have a king to sit on the throne to the fourth generation. Let's go to 2 Kings chapter 10. 2 Kings chapter 10, just to get a little bit of a background. Because it's going to be important as we get a little further into this. And you're going to want to keep your thumb in 2 Kings because we're going to refer back to it a number of times this morning. 

2 Kings chapter 10, and verse number 30. And we'll discuss it a little bit more in depth later on. But at 10 verse 30, it says, the Lord said to Jehu, because you have done well in executing what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. So this is where God made a promise to Jehu. 

God, as you recall, sent Elisha, the prophet, to anoint Jehu king over the northern kingdom, the northern tribes. And so when he came, there was that promise that after he had done what God had told him to do, that his sons would reign to the fourth generation. So here we come to Jeroboam, and he is the third of that promise of Jehu. And there would be one more after him, and I believe his name was Zechariah. And he reigned only for six months before he was conspired against and overthrown. 

So anyway, Jeroboam II was the last of the northern kingdom's powerful kings. They were experiencing great economic prosperity under his reign. So in spite of the fact that they were ungodly, in spite of the fact that they were idolatrous, they were experiencing some good things. There was a strong economy under Jeroboam II. And isn't it interesting that when the economy is strong, people don't really think about spiritual things? And these people were not thinking about spiritual things. They were rejoicing in the fact that things were going well for them outwardly. But God looks not on the outward, but he looks on the heart, amen? 

And so anyway, under Jeroboam II, they were experiencing great economic prosperity. And so that's just a general introduction and background and timeline to the book of Hosea. So let's go on. He says in verse number two, he says, when the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord had said to Hosea, go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry, for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord. 

So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. And the Lord said to him, name him Jezreel, for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. On that day, I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. 

Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said to him, name her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel that I would ever forgive them. But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the Lord their God and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen. When she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said, name him Lo-Ami, for you are not my people and I am not your God. 

So on point number two in your outline, the wife and the children of Hosea were to be a living message or a living sermon to the people of Israel during their lifetime. And it's interesting that God would call and tell him to take a wife of harlotry. Remember, Hosea would be, I believe, a part of the priestly caste. And as a prophet, it would seem to be improper to take somebody who was born in harlotry. 

Now, we don't know if she was a harlot at the time that he took her or if she became a harlot afterwards. All we know was that she had turned to harlotry. But this was a picture, and I like this because the Apostle Paul talks about how he longed to enter into the sufferings of Christ. Remember in Philippians chapter 3, he said, oh, that I might know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, that the Apostle Paul desired to enter into the sufferings. 

Well, here Hosea is entering into the sufferings of God because during this time, as they were living in such idolatry, the heart of God was being broken time and time and time again as the children of Israel turned away from him and turned their back upon him and forsook him time after time. And so going and taking this wife of harlotry was symbolic of how Israel was treating God. And that was the whole purpose of him taking this woman of harlotry. 

Like I said, I don't know if she was a harlot when they first got married or if it happened later on, we don't really know. But we also know that he took Gomer, the daughter of Deblam, and she conceived and she bore him a son. So we know that this child, this first child, is Hosea's actual child. Remember, he said, take a woman of harlotry and have children of harlotry. We know for sure that this one actually belonged to Hosea because it says that she bore to him, to Hosea, a son, name him Jezreel. 

And then when you get down to Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi, it doesn't say that she bore them to him, okay? So she might have gone into harlotry at that time and had these children out of wedlock. So anyway, these three children were to serve as a reminder to Israel of the promised judgment to come if they did not repent, all right? This was kind of the whole purpose. Hosea is going to enter into the sufferings of God and he's going to, through his life, he's going to suffer greatly in his heart and he's going to be rent in his heart time and time again in his ministry and in his life. 

And this was to be a sermon to the children of Israel throughout their entire lives. Now, we know that there was about 50 years from the time that the prophecy was first spoken here about Jezreel to the time when this was actually fulfilled. So there was a long time that this family lived and every time that you would see these people, you would be reminded that God had spoken judgment and their lives were going to remind them that God has spoken judgment to the children of Israel. 

Isn't that amazing? God is so patient and kind that he gives them so much time to repent and to turn. But we know that they didn't and we'll see that as we go on, that they went on in and forsaking the Lord. But the promises there was there, that if you will repent, I will turn and I will not do what I said that I would do. If you do not turn, these evil things will come upon you. 

So let's look at this now. First of all, we'll look at Jezreel, the first of the children. It says, and the Lord said to him, now she bore him a son, and the Lord said to him, name him Jezreel for yet a little while and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. Now this word Jezreel, the name means God scatters or God sows, okay? 

And so the picture would be back in those days, the farmers would scatter seeds. So they would have it in their hand and they would fling it out onto the plowed fields. They would throw the seed out. They would scatter it to sow it. So it means to scatter or to sow. And it's interesting that you're going to see that Hosea kind of uses both of those scattering and sowing in different ways as we look at this. 

So Jezreel now is a city that's in what's called the Jezreel Valley. And it's the location of many historic battles. So we're in the section of Jezreel and Jehu right now in case you're keeping notes. It's the location of many historical battles. Deborah and Barak, if you remember from the Book of Judges, Deborah and Barak and the stars came out and fought for Israel at that time. This took place in the Valley of Jezreel. 

Also Gideon, as you recall, Gideon with his 300. This also took place in the Valley of Jezreel. Gideon defeated the Midianites there in Judges chapter 7. It wouldn't hurt to go back and look at these things just for sake. It is also there that Ahab killed Naboth in order to take Naboth's vineyard. You'll recall, I believe that was Second Kings. I don't remember off the top of my head. It was before Second Kings 10, 9, 8, 9, somewhere in there, where King Ahab smote Naboth through Jezebel's encouragement, had Naboth killed so that he could have his garden in that Valley of Jezreel. 

So that took place there. Jezreel, the Jezreel Valley is also known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat. I think John mentioned that last week. When you see that term, the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the Valley of Jehoshaphat means the Valley of Judgment, the judgment of God. And so this is also the place where, in Joel chapter 3, he talks about, in the end, when all of the kingdoms of the earth gather together against Israel in the Valley of Jezreel, and God will fight against them. And it's also the place where Har-Megiddo is in that Jezreel Valley. This is a very important strategic place, this Valley of Jezreel. 

Har-Megiddo, otherwise known to us as Armageddon, that's the place where the final battle is going to take place when all of the kingdoms of the earth gather together to fight against Israel, and God himself comes and fights against them. And that's such a wonderful, wonderful idea. Anyway, this Valley of Jezreel is a very, very important place. And remember, his name means Yahweh he scatters, or Yahweh he sows. 

Now let's look at, I want us to look at Jehu's history a little bit. Let's go to 2 Kings chapter 9. 2 Kings chapter 9. In 2 Kings chapter 9, verses 1 to 10, says this, Now Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, gird up your loins and take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth-Gilead. When you arrive there, search out Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, and go in and bid him arise from among his brothers and bring him to an inner room. 

Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, thus says the Lord, I have anointed you king over Israel. Then open the door and flee and do not wait. So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth-Gilead. When he came, behold, the captains of the army were sitting. And he said, I have a word for you, oh, captain. And Jehu said, for which one of us? And he said, for you, oh, captain. He arose and went into the house, and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel. 

You shall strike the house of Ahab, your master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants, the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male person, both bond and free in Israel. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Basha, the son of Ahijah. The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her. Then he opened the door and fled. 

So here's the call of Jehu, and the instruction that God gives to him, you are to destroy the house of Ahab. You are gonna become the king, and you are going to destroy the house of Ahab. That was God's commission to him. And then in chapter 10, we read about the judgment upon the house of Ahab. And we're not gonna read the whole thing, but in chapter 10, Jehu destroys the house of Ahab. 

At the end of chapter nine, he destroys Jezebel. And Jezebel, just like God told Jehu at the beginning, Jezebel at her home in Jezreel was thrown out the window by the city. The horses trampled upon her. The dogs ate her and left nothing but palms, the palms of her hands, I believe it was. So that was fulfilled. And then in chapter 10, the descendants of Ahab are destroyed by Jehu. So I encourage you to go back and read that because it gives us understanding of what's being said in the book of Hosea. 

So he destroys the house of Ahab and Jezebel. In verse number 12 of chapter 10, he kills Ahaziah, king of Judah, which to my understanding was not what God had directed him to do. Although Ahaziah was married to, I believe it was Athaliah. I don't remember which, but anyway, she was a part of the house of Jezebel. She was one of the daughters of Jezebel and Ahab. 

So anyway, in verse number 12, he kills Ahaziah, the king of Judah. And in verse 18, he destroys Baal worship, all right? So the Baal worship was prevalent in the Northern kingdom at that time. And in verse number 18, Jehu gathers them all together in one place and makes sure that there's no children of Israel that were present who didn't, excuse me, that didn't worship Baal. And he set the place on fire and killed the entirety of them and wiped out the Baal worship in those days. 

And then in verse 30, God promises Jehu to the fourth generation. Now notice in chapter 10, verses 29 and 31. In verse number 29, it says, however, as for the sins of Jeroboam, that's Jeroboam one, as for the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin, from these Jehu did not depart, even the golden calves that were at Bethel and that were at Dan. And then verse 31, but Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel with all his heart. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel sin. 

So we see this great zealous King Jehu as he goes and carries out the word of the Lord. But I think that he went a little bit too far as we look in Hosea chapter one, where God says, I am going to punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I'll put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. So apparently somewhere along the line, Jehu overstepped his boundary. What God had commanded him to do, he did right in that he destroyed the house of Ahab, that's what God had called him to do. 

But whether or not he should have killed Ahaziah, who was the King of Judah, I don't know. I'm not sure on that one myself. But he also didn't command him to destroy the worship of Baal, not that God approved of it, but that wasn't a part of what God said to do. So he might have gone a little beyond what God had said. And the principle here is that, do what God tells you to do. Don't go beyond, do what God tells you to do. 

And apparently Jehu went too far somewhere in this matter. And so the judgment is given concerning. This is why that this judgment is coming. And he says, I will punish the house, in verse number four, I'll punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. On that day, I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel. 

Now, one other thing that you should know about the Valley of Jezreel, Napoleon Bonaparte said that this was one of the best, most perfect battlegrounds to ever exist. If you were going to attack Israel, you would have to come, if you were coming from the north, well, it was a strategic trade route. So everywhere you wanted to go led through Jezreel. If you were coming into from the north, you would have to go through Jezreel to get down to Samaria and to Jerusalem. If you were coming from the south, you would have to come through Jerusalem and go up through there. 

If you were coming from the east, there are passages to get into that area. It was just an ideal place for battles to take place. And according to Napoleon, that was like one of the best, most premier battle sites in the entire world. And we are gonna see in the last days that again, there's gonna be great battles that take place there. 

Now, there is that promise then concerning Jehu, I am going, you're gonna have a king that will last until the fourth generation. And then I'm going to break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel. All right, and then he says in verse number six, then she conceived again. Now, I just brought that out and want you to go back and read that because it's important to understand the background of what Hosea is talking about. And it's not hard to do. We are given that timeframe. We can go back and look and study. 

Whenever you're studying in the Old Testament, it's good to go back and see why. Okay, why are these things being done? All right, and so that's why I spent the time I did on that. Then in verse number six, then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said to him, name her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel that I would ever forgive them. 

But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the Lord their God and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen. Now, how would you like that to be your lot in life? Your name, the name Lo-Ruhamah means no mercy. Ruhamah means mercy. I think everybody wouldn't mind having the name mercy, but how would you like to be addressed? Every time you're addressed, she has no mercy. She has no mercy. 

Or like the, but this again, remember this is speaking prophetically of what's going to happen to the children of Israel. They are not going to have mercy. God is at the end of his rope. He is not gonna have mercy on them. He is going to break them and destroy them and scatter them among the nations, which is what happened in Jezreel. So this Lo-Ruhamah reminded the people that God was not going to have mercy upon them. 

And then in verse number nine, verse number eight, when she had leaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said, name him Lo-Ami for you are not my people and I am not your God. And I think the best interpretation there, according to the old would say, you are not my people and I am not in your behalf anymore. I am not for you anymore. I am not in your behalf anymore. 

And remember this was a judgment that is being pronounced by God upon the people of Israel. And this family was a living sermon to them for 50 years, they lived, this family lived among the people of Israel and they were reminded continually that God had spoken judgment against them. All right, now, all this was fulfilled within 50 years time. If you looked at 2 Corinthians chapter 15, verses eight through 12, you would see that the promise concerning the fourth of Jehu was fulfilled, where the fourth son of Jehu, Zechariah was killed and the house of Jehu came to an end. 

And then there's just a rapid succession after that of king after king, after king, after king. They had never recovered from that point until the time when Assyria came and carried them away. In chapter 17 then of 2 Kings describes the serious destruction of Israel. And this happened in the Valley of Jezreel. Remember, as you're coming out of the North, you have to pass through Jezreel to get to Samaria, which was the capital of the Northern Kingdom. Okay, so Samaria was at the Southern end in the mountains, at the Southern end of this great valley. 

And so they would have sent armies there to combat the Assyrians. And in that valley, they destroyed Israel in that Valley of Jezreel. And then they were able to move freely into Samaria and overthrow the city. And so that's what happened. All of that was fulfilled within a 50 year period of time. 

All right, now I want you to notice something though in Hosea chapter one, verse seven. He gives a little side note here. He says, but I will have Ruhamah, I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the Lord their God and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen. 

Now, can anybody think about when that might've happened? Again, it's good to go back and study and see what was going on at this time. If you go back and read in 2nd Kings chapter 18 and in chapter 19 verse 35, you'll see that this happened during the days of Hezekiah. The Assyrians had already defeated and carried away, scattered as it were, the children of Israel, the northern kingdom, scattered them among the nations where they have they remain even to this day. They have never come back yet. 

But he scatters them to the to the northern kingdoms and now the king of Assyria is moving into Judah and he's threatening Jerusalem. And who's king at the time when when this happened? It was Hezekiah, right? Hezekiah was the king. It's a good possibility that Hosea was still alive to see this at this time. 

So we see that Hezekiah is the king. The king of Assyria comes and he sets up a siege against Jerusalem and he makes great boasts to them, says, who is going to deliver you from my hand? There is none who, none of the gods before have ever been able to protect you, protect them from from us, from the Assyrians. We have trampled underfoot everyone and and we are going to do the same to you. 

And then he makes the great boast that God himself sent them to do this and and and so it's it's just interesting to go read the story. You can also read that story in Isaiah chapter 36 through 37 where where the king of Assyria sends an acrob and they begin to speak out these boastful words and King Hezekiah humbles himself and cries out to the Lord and the Lord sends word through Isaiah the prophet says you don't have to answer him. 

You don't have to answer him. Do you know you don't have to answer the devil when he comes with accusation? When he comes you don't have to answer him because God answers him. God will answer him. And so as you see the end of that at the end of that time is is that time then when they're all gathered together and in Jerusalem and the angel of the Lord goes out in one night and slays 185,000 soldiers in one night. 

Decimates the entirety of the army of the Assyrians there at the and so that's the fulfillment of chapter 7 in Hosea. I will have compassion on the house of Judah. Why? Because Judah had not turned away from the Lord yet. So God continued to have compassion on them and delivered them miraculously. If Israel would have turned in repentance God would have delivered them but they didn't and so they were scattered and Judah was given more time because they had not yet turned from the Lord. 

Praise God. Did you ever think about that as you're reading the book of Hosea? Think about all these things because all of these things speak of God doing great and wonderful things to those who love him and to those who call upon his name. And that God is so good at keeping his word. I mean when he says something he means it people. When he says that he's going to do something he's going to do it. We can rely upon him. We can trust him that what he says is going to come to pass. 

Now we have this promise beloved for those of us who are under the new covenant those of us who have received the Lord Jesus Christ. We have this promise that we have passed out of judgment into life. There is no longer judgment for us. God does not deal with us in the way that he dealt with them. We have been taken out of judgment and been brought into life. Never will we have to face the judgment of God for our sins at this point anymore according to the new covenant. 

And that's the glory and the difference between the old and the new. The old was if you do this, I will do this. All right. So I hope that brings you some understanding as to what's going on in the book of Hosea and he's going to go on and and pick this up and he's going to describe in detail where Israel had fallen. He's going to call them to repentance. I'm going to call Judah to repentance and going to finish up the book in chapter 14 with that glorious promise of them becoming fruitful again and and being planted in the land. 

But it's important to remember that God is all of these things that that we're looking at that God was meticulous about keeping his word. And this is what brings us hope because if he doesn't keep his word with Israel, how can we trust that he's going to keep his word with us? Amen. 

So then we come to verse number nine and the Lord said, excuse me, number ten. He says, yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And then the place where it was said to them, you are not my people, it will be said to them, you are the sons of the living God. And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together and they'll excuse me, and they will appoint for themselves one leader for they will go up from the land for great will be the day of Jezreel. 

All right. So here's this promise. Now, as we look at this promise of restoration, Hosea now calls to their remembers the Abrahamic covenant. Remember, John talked about this in the past couple of weeks. He talked about the Abrahamic covenant. He talked about the Mosaic covenant and the Davidic covenant. Well, he's referring back now to the Abrahamic covenant, which you recall, happened 450 years before the covenant made with Moses. All right. 

And he calls them to remember it. So it's in Genesis chapter 22, verses 13 to 18. You don't have to turn there. I'll read it for you. It says, then this is when Abraham was offering up Isaac, his son. Remember, when he was offering up Isaac, God had promised that through Isaac, your descendants will be named. And then God calls him and says, now I want you to offer up Isaac on the altar. And so he goes, Abraham goes with Isaac and Isaac submits to Abraham. 

And just as Abraham is about to plunge that knife into Isaac, bringing to death that promise of God, the angel of the Lord stops him. And he says this, then Abraham raised his eyes and looked and behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. Abraham called the name of that place. The Lord will provide as it is to this day. 

In the mount of the Lord, it will be provided. Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, by myself, I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son. Indeed, I will greatly bless you and I'll greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as a sand, which is on the seashore. And your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. 

So here the prophet Hosea calls to their remembrance that great covenant that God made with Abraham. And at this point yet, all the promises of Abraham had not been completely fulfilled with the children of Israel yet. And so he's reminding them that in spite of this judgment that's coming, I am going to bring restoration. You will have this promise of the land. You will have this promise. Remember that land promise has never even been fulfilled. Israel right now, where it wasn't even in its heyday, was never even close to the amount of land mass that God had provided for them. 

So that promise is yet to be fulfilled. God said you were going to have it from this place to this place and they never even came close to conquering all that land and possessing it. But that promise still remains and God will fulfill that promise. In Joel chapter 3, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time there because I don't want to steal John's thunder on this. He'll be addressing this soon enough. 

But in Joel chapter 3, he talks about this time in the valley of Jezreel when God is going to bring the nations into judgment. Let's just read it. For behold, in those days and at that time when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Okay, that means Jehovah judges or Yahweh judges. All right, going to bring them and that's the valley of Jezreel. That's the same place. 

Then I will enter into judgment with them there and on behalf of my people and my inheritance Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and they have divided up my land. They have also cast lots for my people, traded a boy for a harlot and sold a girl for wine that they may drink. Moreover, what are you to me, Otir, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering me a recompense? 

But if you do recompense me swiftly and speedily, I will return your recompense on your head. Since you have taken my silver and my gold, brought my precious treasures to your temples, and sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory, behold, I'm going to arouse them from the place where you have sold them and return your recompense on your head. 

Also, I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabaeans, to a distant nation, for the Lord has spoken. Proclaim this among the nations. Prepare a war. Rouse the mighty men. Let all the soldiers draw near. Let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am a mighty man. 

Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down, O Lord, your mighty ones. Let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. 

The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness. The Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth tremble, for the Lord is a refuge for his people and a stronghold of the sons of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will pass through it no more. And in that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah will flow with water. 

And a spring will go out from the house of the Lord to water the valley of Shittim. Egypt will become a waste, and Edom will become a desolate wilderness because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, in whose land they have shed innocent blood. But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem for all generations. And I will avenge their blood, which I have not avenged, for the Lord dwells in Zion. 

So here we have again the promise that God is going to bring all of the nations to this valley, to this valley of Jezreel that Hosea is talking about, and he is going to bring judgment upon the nations. And we can read about that, I think it's Matthew 24 or 25 anyway, talks about when God will judge the nations, and he will say to them, you know, that I was weak, or I was sick, and you did not visit me. I was, you know, all of these things. 

And they say, Lord, when did this happen? And we didn't. That's the judgment of the nations. This is going to happen in the valley of Jezreel, and that day is going to be a glorious and a powerful day. But now let's, I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself here. 

So anyway, that's the same valley, and this is what he's talking about. Now there's this promise of restoration. There's also, remember though, in the book of Revelation, in chapter 16 verses 12 to 16, if you're taking notes, write those down and look them up later, and then 19 chapter, verses 11 to 21, describes this place again called the valley of, or Armageddon, the battle of Armageddon. This is that final place. 

This is in the valley of Jezreel. This is that place that Hosea is talking about. And it's in this place that God is going to restore the fortunes of Israel. And it says in verse number 11, then he says, and the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together. Remember, they were separated. The northern kingdom was scattered among the nations, all right, and then Judah was eventually taken away captive to Babylon later on, and scattered among the nations. 

And he says that the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint for themselves one leader, and they will go up from the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel, the day of God's sowing, all right. The first part was God's scattering, scattering among the nations. The second part is God's sowing them, planting them in their own land again. 

Now what does this mean to us? Why is it important to us to understand this? Well, we know from the book of Romans, verses chapters 9 through 11, that God isn't done with Israel yet, all right. He has sent them out and scattered them abroad. And in this time of their scattering, in this time of their being cast out, he has turned his attention to the Gentile world. Remember that Abrahamic covenant where he said that your seed will be a blessing to all the nations? And that seed, of course, is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

And so God has taken this time now to bring the word and bring salvation to the Gentile world. Praise God for that. You and I are recipients of the fulfillment of that Abrahamic covenant that we are blessed out of that covenant that God made with Abraham. We are blessed out of that covenant. 

That covenant was made with the people of Israel, but the promise was that all of the nations would be blessed because of it. Now, this is important for us because, as he's, we're going to read, and when we get to chapter 2 and towards the end of chapter 2, we'll see it, where he talks about, I will call them who are not my people, my people, and those who are not, did not receive mercy, they will receive mercy. And they will say, you are My God, and I will say that you are My people." 

So we have the pattern there. There's the judgment that comes, that God declares to them, and then there's that promise of restoration at the end. Now, this is important to us. I want us to look at Romans chapter 11 for a minute. Romans chapter 11. And we'll begin reading in verse number 11, 11 verse 11. I say then they did not stumble, speaking of Israel, so as to fall, did they? May it never be. 

But by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous. Now, if their transgression is riches for the world, and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be? But I am speaking to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them, for if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 

We look forward to the day, do we not? Are we not yearning for that day when all those promises of the end times will come, where the lion will lay down with the lamb, and the child will play by the nest of the viper, and it won't hurt them? This doesn't happen until Israel is restored. This is so much important, so important for us. If it's wonderful now, what we have received, what's it gonna be in that day when God restores the fortunes of Israel and brings them back? Glory to God. 

This is important for us because if God won't fulfill his promises to Israel, then we have no ground to stand upon ourselves. Now I wanna go back to Abraham for just a moment, and that promise that Abraham, where God said that the name, where Abraham named that place Jehovah or Yahweh, will provide. You know, the faith movement has twisted that so completely and terribly. They say that when God says that he will provide, they believe that he's going to provide riches. 

He's gonna provide me a Cadillac and a house and all kinds of wonderful things that I can spend on my own glories. But the provision that God has made, and he made at the time of Abraham, was that lamb to take the place of Isaac in that place, in our place. He has provided that lamb for us so that we could pass out of judgment into life. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Amen? 

Praise God. So I hope that this encourages you. I want you to understand that God is going to fulfill every word that he has said. He's looking over it. He proved it in Hosea chapter one as he spoke the judgment about what was gonna happen to Israel and his promise to Judah that he would spare them. All of that was meticulously watched over and cared for. The Lord watches over his word to perform it. His words will never fall to the ground and fail. Amen? 

That means that the promises to you that God has made to you will not fail. He will accomplish what he has done. Remember, Abraham had to wait 25 years from that first time that God promised him a son. It was 25 years before Isaac was born. 25 years he had to wait for that promise. In Romans chapter four, it says that he didn't waver in unbelief but clung to that promise. 

He knew that God was able to call into existence that which does not exist. And he did in the case of Isaac. And he says in, oh, I've lost my train of thought there. Anyway, oh yeah, in Hebrews chapter 11, then when that time for sacrificing Abraham was there, and Abraham trusted God so much that if he ended up plunging that knife into Isaac's chest and killing him, it says in Hebrews chapter 11 that Abraham believed that God was able to raise up even the dead so that he could fulfill the promise that he made to Abraham. 

So if Abraham had, or excuse me, if Isaac had died, God would raise him back to life to fulfill that promise. And that was the faith that he had. And I hope that's the kind of faith that you have, that what God has promised for you, he will carry it through to the day of Jesus Christ. Amen? Praise God. 

All right, let's have a word of prayer. Father, I am thankful to you for the book of Hosea. I'm thankful, Father, for the way that you have time and time again throughout the scripture shown that you are, that you keep your word, that your word never fails, that what you say is going to happen happens. Your word, Lord, is like a hammer and like a rock that's slamming upon a rock. 

Lord, your word will not return to you a void, but it will accomplish what you send it forth to do. So, Lord, send forth your word into our hearts today to perform a work in us. And we want to trust you in all that we say and do. So, Lord, bring glory and honor to the name of Jesus in our lives this week, I pray. In Jesus' name, amen.