So we're going to continue this morning in our book of Hosea, chapter 3. It's been kind of what I've been filling in, been working through the book of Hosea. You know, in the day and age in which we're living, you can't turn on the TV anymore without seeing things that are just disturbing. One of the things that we see a lot of is the protesters for free Palestine. You know, they're chanting and shouting, “from the river to the sea, Palestine is to be free,” and all of those sort of things. We see the Jewish people being attacked sometimes in their synagogues or out on the streets where they're attacked just because of the fact that they're Jewish. And who can forget what happened in World War II when six million Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis at that time? The Jews have been under a great amount of persecution for the entirety of their career, for the entirety of their existence.

And it's interesting to me that one of the things that's happening right now, something that's going on that is very disturbing to me personally, is that there is a shift away in the evangelical church, away from Israel. They're saying that Israel is no longer the people of God. One of the strong points of the Reformation movement is that they believe that God has forsaken Israel, that He is done with Israel, and that never again is Israel going to be anything but all of the blessings of Israel have transferred to the church. And that's a very prevalent and a growing sentiment among evangelical Christians. And it's very disturbing to me because as we read through the Old Testament, the promises are made to Israel. The covenants were made with Israel. And although Israel has fallen, they've stumbled, they have rejected their Messiah, God isn't done with them yet.

As we read through the Old Testament, we'll see how God is not done and why it's important for us that God is not done with Israel. If God was done with Israel, then there are so many promises that have yet to be fulfilled for Israel. For instance, as they chant from the river to the sea, they mean from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. But what God meant when He laid out the boundaries for Israel was from the Euphrates River to the sea, to the Mediterranean, which is a much bigger area than what they have now, and they have never occupied that. So that's one of those promises that God made to the children of Israel that has yet to be fulfilled.

Another one is in Zechariah where he says that in that day, in the last day, that ten people from the nations will grab the hand of a Jew, the arm of a Jew, and say, “take us to the house of the Lord.” Has that ever happened? No, it hasn't. Another one in Zechariah says that when Jesus returns, they will look upon him whom they have pierced and they will mourn and beat their breasts as one for an only child. Has that ever happened yet? No, it hasn't. So either God is lying, and these things aren't going to happen, or God is telling the truth, and all of these things are going to happen. And I opt for the last option, that God is true. Let all men be liars, but God be found true. Amen? 

So as we come to the book of Hosea, we'll do a quick recap of what, because it's been over a month, I think. I don't know when the last time was I was up here preaching, but we've been through Chapters 1 and 2 so far. Thus, a recap to this point. In Chapter 1, Hosea is commanded to marry a woman of harlotry and have children of harlotry. Hosea's marriage and his children were to be living sermons to the people of Israel, of the northern kingdom, the ten tribes of the north, and he was going to have three children. So he marries this woman, Gomer, and has children with her. 

The first child is named Jezreel. The name Jezreel means God scatters or God sows. In the first instance, God warns that He is going to scatter them among the nations. In Hosea Chapter 1, God is going to scatter Israel among the nations. That's the warning that's coming. They are going to go into exile from their own land into all the earth. The second child they were going to have is a girl, and they named her Loruhamma. Loruhamma means no mercy. The warning here is that when God brings the judgment, when He scatters Israel to the four winds, He is not going to show mercy on the northern tribe, that there is going to be no mercy shown to those people. 

Then the third child that he was given was a boy named Lo-Ami, which means not my people. So God is saying that when this happens, they are no longer going to be His people. You have Jezreel, God’s going to scatter; Loruhamma, there's going to be no mercy for those who are in the land of that day; and Lo-Ami, they are no longer my people. But that's not where it ends, and that's what we have to understand. The promise of God is that these judgments will be reversed one day. The judgments that God is bringing on that northern kingdom will be reversed one day. 

We saw also how the Holy Spirit applied these promises to the Gentiles who had not obtained mercy and were not His people. So God uses the nation of Israel and the judgments against her to open the door for the Gentiles to come into the kingdom. Amen? Isn't that a glorious thing that we are now able to come into the kingdom? 

Then we come to chapter 2, and in chapter 2, the prophet calls upon the people of God, the remnant who are faithful that had not fallen into idolatry with Baal. He calls upon them to contend with Israel and give warning against their idolatry in that instead of acknowledging that God Himself had provided for them, they put their trust in their idols and claimed that all they received came from their false gods, for which God was going to hedge up her way with thorns and build a wall against her so that she could no longer pursue her idolatries and remove from them all of the blessings that He had bestowed upon them. 

But after a while, He would speak unto her heart, and I love that. In Chapter 2, in verse number 14, He says, “Therefore I will behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness, and speak upon her heart.” So, there's the promise that judgment is coming, but it's not the end. God is going to do something later on, and He draws them out into the wilderness. He speaks kindly to them. We talked about how God hedges up her way with thorns and builds a wall that she can't get out, and what a picture that is of how God deals with us sometimes when we go astray. It's like thorns and thistles. 

I remember when I walked away from God for a season in my life, and it was miserable, and God is so jealous of His people that He will not allow them to continue in sin or walk away from Him without any consequences. But after a while, He said He would speak upon her heart and draw her into the wilderness where she would learn to rely on and trust in her true husband and have her blessings restored and make a new covenant with her. God will return them to their land and again have mercy upon them, and make them His people, and He will be their God.

Now, when you read things like this, this is one of the things that really amazes me. I don't know how you can read these things and think that God is done with Israel. I don't know how you can draw that conclusion. One of the ways that they try to explain it away is that, well, God is speaking spiritually, that it's a spiritual thing, or that because the church has taken the place of Israel, all of these blessings have been transferred to the church and Israel is left out. I just can't understand how you can wrap your mind around that after reading these things because God is talking to the people of Israel. 

He's not talking to Gentiles here. He's talking to the nation of Israel. The judgments that He's pronouncing are upon the children of Israel. The promises of restoration are given to the very people that He's been giving that judgment to. So to try to push it aside and say that it doesn't mean anything, or that it doesn't apply, that it applies now to the church and not to Israel, is just strange to me. 

But now we come to chapter 3, and that's where we're going to be today. So let's go to Hosea chapter 3, and we'll begin reading at verse 1. 

Then the Lord said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by your husband, yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes." 

So I bought her for myself for 15 shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley. Then I said to her, "You shall not stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man. So I will also be toward you." For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idols. Afterward, the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days.

Well, if I had an outline for you, which I don't. Those of you who have notes, you see it's a blank page, which is kind of reminiscent of my brain. It's kind of blank usually. But we'll try to do this. Go again is the word that he uses, that he gives to Hosea. Go again. In other words, he had taken her the first time in marriage, and they had had the children, one child together for sure. I think the other two were the children of harlotry, but she had left him and gone back to her old ways. Now God is saying, go again. Go again.

Again, this tells me that God's not done. Just because they had fallen into idolatry, just because they had fallen into harlotry and turned to other gods, God wasn't finished with them. He says, “Love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” So God is saying to go get her. God is saying to Hosea, go get your wife. Go get her. Bring her back. 

What a picture of the grace and the mercy of God. I don't think we really fully understand the love of God. It's not something that we can wrap our minds around. He uses two different, unlike English, Hebrew has different meanings for the word love. We have one word, love, and it kind of covers a whole gamut of things. In the Greek language, I believe there's seven different ways to express the word love. In Hebrew, there is another one that doesn't have just one word for love, and He uses two different words in this verse. 

The first word that He uses is, and you'll have to excuse me if I butcher the Hebrew language, because I don't know Hebrew. I'm not an expert on any of that. I want you to know and understand that. I'm not an expert. But those of you who attend the Thursday night study, I love words. I love word studies. I love that sort of thing. So the first word is ahab, which means loving or liking objects like wine, peace, truth, tasty food. It also used to convey love for other people or for God. 

The second word that He uses is the word ahaba. This word conveys a powerful, intimate love for other people or intimate love like that between a man and a woman. It is according to that kind of love, the intense kind of love that God has for His erring people, that Hosea is to love his faithless wife. 

Think about that. I kind of think these things through in my mind sometimes, and I picture Hosea going to his parents' house and saying, “I'm getting married, Mom and Dad.” “Oh, really? Who are you going to marry?” “I'm going to, you know, Gomer?” “Oh, my gosh, you're going to marry a harlot?” You can just see it happening. And he's a glutton for punishment. He's not just going to do it once. He's going to go back and do it a second time. That's just amazing to me. 

But I want us to look at a couple of scriptures. First of all, let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 32. Because something really interesting happens here in Deuteronomy chapter 32. This is a part of the song that Moses taught the children of Israel before he went. He taught them a song. In this song, we have these words beginning at verse number 15. 

It says, “But Jeshurun, which is another word for Israel, grew fat and kicked. You are grown fat, thick, and sleek. Then he forsook God who made him, and scorned the rock of his salvation. They made him jealous with strange gods. With abominations, they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons who were not God, to gods whom they have not known, new gods who came lately, whom your fathers did not dread. You neglected the rock who begot you, and forgot the God who gave you birth. The Lord saw this and spurned them because of the provocation of His sons and daughters. Then He said, I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end shall be. For they are a perverse generation, sons in whom is no faithfulness. They have made me jealous with what is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation, for a fire is kindled in my anger and burns to the lowest parts of Sheol and consumes the earth with its yield and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains." 

So here you have a really interesting twist, as you see here. It starts out with Israel rejecting God, turning away from Him, and provoking God to jealousy and to anger. All right? And so God turns the tables on them, and He says, “I'm going to do the same thing to you. What you have done to me, I'm going to do to you.” I am going to provoke you to jealousy with a strange people, with a people that you don't know. 

How does He word that here? “I will provoke them to anger. I will make them jealous with those who are not a people. I will make them angry with a foolish nation.” So I don't know if you know it or not, but God considers us Gentiles foolish nations. We are foolish in that we have turned from God like all of the other nations on the earth. But God kind of twists things around here. He says, “You've made me jealous and you've made me angry; now I'm going to do the same thing to you.” All right? 

And this is kind of the beginning, I mean, way back before they had even settled in the land or even gotten into the land, God is saying to them that they're going to do this and that they're going to provoke Him to jealousy and anger and that He is going to turn the tables on them and He's going to do the same thing to them. And this also was borne out in Romans chapter 10, and we'll flip over there quick, Romans chapter 10. 

In Romans chapter 10, this is quoted in verse beginning at verse number 19, Romans chapter 10, verse 19. “But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says, I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation. By a nation without understanding, I will anger you. And Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who did not seek me. I became manifest to those who did not ask for me. But as for Israel, he says, all the day long, I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” 

And so here again, he quotes Moses' words back in Deuteronomy chapter 32. He quotes that song that Moses was to teach to the children of Israel. Then in chapter 11 of Romans chapter 11, beginning at verse 11, says this, “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be, but by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles, to what? 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 who are Gentiles. In as much then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.” 

So here you see God's turning what Israel had turned back from and turned away from. God gives to a people who weren't seeking Him, to a people who weren't looking for Him. And I don't know about you, but that fits me to a T. Because when I came to Jesus, I wasn't looking. I didn't care. I had been raised in a religious home, but I had no concern or love for God. In fact, I was angry with God for most of my life. And so I had no inkling after God whatsoever. But aren't you glad that in spite of ourselves, God has mercy and compassion, that He comes and seeks for those who are lost? Amen. And that's what He did for me. 

I've told you this story. My wife came, and we weren't even dating at that time, but she came to visit a friend of hers, and I was there. I was sitting at the bar in the basement of the house there drinking beer while she was talking to Christine about the gospel. And I'd known Wendy. I had hung out with Wendy all through school. I knew Wendy and I knew what a restless spirit she was. And all of a sudden, there is this woman standing before me with a peace that was palpable. And she's sharing the gospel. And it hit me. I was jealous. I wanted what she had. I wanted what she had. And I thank God that she shared the... even though she wasn't sharing it with me, I got the overflow, praise God. Praise God. 

Amen. So God says that, “I am going to make you jealous by that which is not a people. I am going to anger you by a foolish nation.” So anyway, then He says to love them intensely. God's commandment in verse number one there is that they are to love, that Hosea is to love his wife intensely, even though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes. 

Here you see again how God reaches, He doesn't... His mercies are new every morning. They are fresh. They're new. They don't end. They don't cease. Not even when Israel has turned her back completely on God, God doesn't give up. He tells Hosea, “Go, intensely love that woman.” 

I just, you know, that's so contrary to what we in this day and age do or believe. I mean, how many times have we heard... We all know somebody who's gone through a very, very, very bad divorce that there's been cheating on one side or the other, and the wound is deep. It's so deep that people can't get over it. And I can't imagine how deep that wound was in the heart of Hosea when he had loved this woman so much, and she left him and went back to her old ways. 

What a difficult thing. Most would say, “Forget her, I'm done with her. That hurts too much.” That's not how God deals with us. That's not how God dealt with Israel. He was not done, and He continued to love her intensely, even though she had turned to other gods. Mine says raisin cakes; yours may read flagons of wine or something along that line. It doesn't matter; they're both kind of the same thing. 

With idolatry, there's always sensuality, and, you know, a desire to gratify the flesh in some way or shape or form. So this speaks of their love of sensuality, and that always accompanies idolatry. Let's go to Ezekiel, excuse me, Exodus chapter 32. Exodus chapter 32. We'll just give a quick example of it. We won't spend a lot of time on it, but.

In chapter 32, beginning at verse number one, it says, “Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make us a god who will go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ Aaron said to them, ‘Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.’ Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took this from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf. And they said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.’ Now, when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.’ So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” 

There is a picture of what happens in the idolatrous practices of the heathen nations and of Israel as she was playing the harlot with the balls. It's that sensuality that just envelops them. They want this so much. And so there's all kinds of wickedness that goes on in these festivals. They have temple prostitutes, both male and female, and you go into them, and it's just debauchery to the utmost. 

And God is saying to Hosea that in spite of the fact that these people are worshiping other gods and loving the sensuality that goes along with it, love her intensely. Love her deeply. Love her as a man loves his wife. Oh, I just... I can't wrap my mind around that. But God is good. God is good. 

Now, it brings us to verse number two. “So I bought her for myself for 15 shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley.” Hosea, in obedience to the Lord's command, redeems her for himself for the price of 15 shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley. 

Now you'll have to bear with me. Again, I'm not an expert on these things, but I did do some studying, and I think I came up with something here. A homer is a measurement, either dry or liquid, and I believe it's about 412 gallons in a homer, which would be equal to 10 gallons, roughly 10 gallons. And then a half would then be five, right? So you got 10, you got five. 

What Hosea purchased, redeemed his wife with, was 15 shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley. Now, I did some looking at this, and according to my research, this would have cost about another 15 shekels. So that you have 15 shekels of silver and another 15 shekels' worth of barley. Does that bring to your mind anything? Does that trigger anything in your mind? 

I want us to look at something that's very interesting. Let's go to Zechariah chapter 11. Zechariah chapter 11. We'll read verses 12 and 13. 

“I said to them, ‘If it is good in your sight, give me my wages, but if not, never mind.’ So they weighed out 30 shekels of silver as my wages. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.’ So I took the 30 shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord.” 

Okay, well, what does that have to do with anything? Let's go to the book of Matthew, book of Matthew chapter 26. The Gospel of Matthew, verse chapter 26. 

In Matthew chapter 26, beginning at verse number 14, we read this: “Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you willing to give me to betray him to you?’ And they weighed out 30 pieces of silver for him. From then on, he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus.” 

All right? So here are the religious leaders giving to Judas Iscariot 30 shekels of silver to betray Jesus to them. Now if we'll just go over another chapter to verse chapter 27, we'll read verse 1 to 10. 

“Now, when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put him to death. And they bound him and led him away and delivered him to Pilate the governor. Then when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that he had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ But they said, ‘What is that to us? See that yourself.’ And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed. He went away and hanged himself. The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury since it is the price of blood.’ And they conferred together and with the money bought the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason, that field has been called the field of blood to this day.”

So what I'm getting at here is that Hosea went to redeem his wife, to buy her back again, which is what redeemed means, a ransom. If you or somebody you loved was kidnapped, you would get a ransom note. This is what we demand in order to get this person back. It's a ransom. You're purchasing her back. 

That's what he's doing here. The price of our redemption is the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, His blood shed on our behalf. The value of His life in the eyes of the religious leaders of that day was a mere 30 shekels. That's it. That's all that Jesus was worth to them, 30 shekels of silver. But the blood of Jesus, the blood of Jesus that Judas handed over to the religious leaders, that became the ransom for you and for me. 

The shed blood of Jesus Christ, 30 shekels of silver was all that it was worth to the religious leaders. But to you and me, to you and me, the value is inestimable because it's that blood. It's that blood of Christ, His life given for us on Calvary that purchased each and every one of us and not only each and every one of us, but throughout the whole world, wherever Christians are, the millions of them that there are, maybe even billions throughout history, that blood, that mere 30 shekels worth to the world, that was worth more. Amen? 

Amen. Colossians chapter 1, verses 12 to 14. You'd have to turn there; I'll read it for you. 

“Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light; for He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” That word redemption again means to buy back. 

In 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 17 to 19, it says this: “If you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” 

So the world recognizes it's only worth 30 shekels, but to you and I that blood is precious. That blood is precious because it is that which paid the price for our sins and to bring us forgiveness before God and acceptance into His kingdom. Glory to God. 

Now, verse number three: "This is the punishment for her idolatries. Then I said to her, ‘You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man, so I also will be towards you.’” 

So He says here, "You shall stay with me for 40 days." The word ‘stay’ or ‘dwell’ in the original language is a yassab, a verb meaning to sit, to dwell, to inhabit, to endure, to stay. Apparently, to sit is the root idea. You are to wait patiently for me for many days. 

I believe that this is speaking of the exile being a very long time, that this was going to be a long time in which she is to be cut off from all of her harlotries. Her idolatry will be cut off and she is not to be with anyone during this time. She is to wait until her husband returns to her. All right? This is the instruction that Hosea gives to his wife. The penalty for her harlotries is, “Look, you're going to... I want you to sit and to wait until I come. Sit and wait until I come; you wait patiently for me.” 

Then He says, “And I will also be towards you.” In other words, He Himself will not be intimate with her during that time, so Israel is not only going to be cut off from all of her harlotries and all of her idolatries, but she's not to be spending time with other men. She is to be consecrated to God and to God alone, but during this time, God is not going to be intimate with her either. 

That is the picture of the exile. This is where Israel is at at this point in time. Israel is now in apostasy awaiting the coming of Messiah. They did not recognize Him when He came the first time and rejected Him, and they are cut off from all of the covenant blessings. 

Right? To this day, most of the Israeli world, idolatry has been cut off. We don't read about much of idolatry; most of them are atheists, as a matter of fact. The vast majority of Israelis are atheists. They don't believe in God. They don't put their faith in God. Most of them are not looking for a Savior. Most of them are not looking for a Messiah. This has God set them apart and He has not been intimate with them in the places where they're at. 

But He did make some tell them some things that they should do. I remember in Jeremiah, after the southern kingdom was about to be taken, he wrote to the exiles and he said, “Pray for the welfare of the cities where you are at, for in their welfare is your welfare.” So they were instructed to seek the welfare of that which was around them. 

So anyway, so here you have Israel cut off from all of their covenant blessings and from their relationship with God. It seems to have come to a complete stop, doesn't it? Then in verse number four, he gives the reason: “The sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idols.” 

All right? They will remain many days without king or prince. Now remember that Israel, back in 1 Samuel, wanted a king against God's wishes. God's design and His plan and His purpose for Israel was not that they would have an earthly king to sit upon a throne. They had judges to judge, and God would bring deliverance through those judges when Israel needed deliverance. When Israel would turn, then He would raise up a judge and bring them deliverance. 

But they requested a king in spite of God's desires for them, and God said, “Give it to them,” right? And now He's saying, remember, He said to them, “for the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince.” How long has Israel been in exile? It's been for 2,000 years, right? 

Then about that almost 2,000 years, they have been in exile. Talk about a long time without a king, without a prince. They began... They became a nation again in 1948. We all know that. That's when some of them came back to the land, and the nation of Israel was reestablished again. But for many days, they remained without a king and without a prince, and it says without sacrifice. 

Sons of Israel remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice. We know that sacrifice is the means by which they could be restored to right relationship with God. If you sinned, you brought to the temple, you brought an animal and presented it to the priest. It was killed; the blood was sprinkled, and you were... Your blood was covered your transgressions. 

Well, now they are without sacrifice. They don't have anything by which they can be restored to God. It's been for 2,000 years that they have not...and they still do not have anything to commend themselves to God other than the Lord Jesus Christ, right? And then he says, “without a sacred pillar.” 

A pillar is a block of unhewn stone used to commemorate important events in their national lives. When children are asked what the significance of the monument meant, they would explain what God did for them. So they weren't even going to have anything by which they could commemorate or teach their children anymore concerning God. There was nothing there. 

Remember they set up the stones after the crossing of the River of the Jordan. They set up stones as a commemoration and they were to teach. This pillar of stone could also mean idolatry. Remember that they had set up pillars and had bowed down and worshipped the gods, the balls and the Asherah? So they were going to be separated not only from what God had given them, but also from their idolatry, He’s saying here. 

This was going to be for a long time. The other thing he says is they're going to be without an ephod; and an ephod is something that the priests wore, had the Urim and Thummim, so they were not even able to seek God anymore. They would go to the priest when they were seeking God; they'd go to the priest to inquire of the Lord. They'd bring a sacrifice and ask the priest, and the priest would give an answer. 

Well now, they're not even going to have the priests anymore. Right? Not even having a priesthood there. The priesthood has been removed. You know, all of this happened in AD 70, right? When Titus, the son of Vespasian, went to Jerusalem and tore... destroyed Jerusalem, ripped apart the temple: not one stone left upon another, like Jesus had said was going to happen. Not one stone be left upon another, and it's true that happened.

Ever since then, Israel has not had any of the things that they needed in their relationship with God. All of that was taken away. Then the last thing that he mentions here are the household idols or the teraphim. Teraphim refers to that small household idol that people used as aides in worship, but they were always condemned by God. All right? 

I hear that I came from a Catholic background, and there are all kinds of statues around the house when I was growing up. We were supposed to kneel down in front of a statue of Mary every night and say our prayers before we went to bed. They don't say to you that these are aides in worship. But God has never ever ever desired for us to bow down to anything or to pray in front of anything because He's not like anything. 

The reason He didn’t show Himself to the people, and He wanted them to understand, “Look, you didn't see anything on the mountain when I spoke to you. You heard a voice, but you saw nothing,” right? “You saw nothing. That's for a reason because God isn't like anything. He's not like a bull. He's not like any other thing that you could come up with. He's not like that.” 

So God condemned those things all the time. So He says, “for the sons of Israel will remain many days without king or princе, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idol.” We can see now, 2,000 years later, that they are still without these things. 

Oh, there are plans. There are plans for a new temple. They even say that they have found the lineage of the priests and are ready to anoint priests, and they have plans for a temple to be erected. But at this point in time still, they have nothing. So it's been many, many days. 

Then in verse 5: “Afterward...” Oh, I like this. I like this. Praise God. Afterward, God's not done! God's not done! They're in exile. They're gone, but God's not done! How can you look at this and say God's done with Israel? Afterwards, after this long many days, afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. 

Who do you think they're talking about here? Who is the son of David? Remember when Jesus was walking the earth and the blind man cried out and said, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” And they said, “Shut up! Shut up! Quit it!” And he yelled even louder, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!”  Amen? They recognized... The Jews who believed recognized that this was the son of David. 

This was the promised Messiah. Let's look at a couple of scriptures on that. Ezekiel chapter 34. 

And I promise I won't keep you too much longer. So I suppose at this point I should say, “In closing,” that way I can give you that false sense of hope that we're almost done. Ezekiel chapter 34, beginning at verse 20, says this: “Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I even I will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep, because you push with side and with shoulder and thrust at all the weak with your horns until you have scattered them abroad. Therefore I will deliver my flock, and there will no longer be a prey, and I will judge between one sheep and another. Then I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.” 

I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate harmful beasts from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing, and I'll cause showers to come down in their season, and they will be showers of blessing. 

Also, the tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure on their land. Again, how do you miss this? This isn't spiritual. Okay? This is land. He's talking about land, earth, sod. All right? God is going to restore them to that earth, to that sod that they have been taken away from. 

Then they will know that I am the Lord when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslave them. They will no longer be a prey to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them, but they will live securely, and no one will make them afraid. 

I will establish for them a renowned planting place, and they will not again be victims of famine in the land, and they will not endure the insults of the nations anymore. Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them and that they, the house of Israel—again, He makes it a point—the house of Israel are my people, declares the Lord God. As for you, my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, you are men, and I am your God, declares the Lord God. 

Now, if you go over and I wanted you to really notice where He said there, “I’m going to appoint David as a shepherd,” and every rabbi that you talk to recognizes that as speaking of the Messiah, that this is directly related to the Messiah, these things.

Ezekiel chapter 37, just a few pages over, beginning at verse 15: “The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, ‘And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it for Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions. Then take another stick and write on it for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions. Then join them for yourself one another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. When the sons of your people speak to you, saying, “Will you not declare to us what you mean by these?” say to them, thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel…” speaking of the northern 10 tribes, that's what he's referring to there. 

“…and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they'll be one in my hand.” So there's coming a day when God is going to reunite Israel and Judah as one nation. He says, “The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. Say to them, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will be king for all of them, and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. 

They will no longer defile themselves with their idols or with their detestable things or with any of their transgressions, but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them, and they will be my people, and I will be their God. My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd, and they will walk in my ordinances and keep my statutes and observe them. 

They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob, my servant, in which your fathers lived, and they will live on it, they and their sons and their sons forever. And David, my servant, will be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them. It will be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will place them and multiply them and will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling place also will be with them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people, and the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst forever.” 

So here again, the promise of David the king being reestablished, and we know that God made that promise to David back in 1 Samuel, I believe it was, 2 Samuel, that David would never cease to have one of his seed to sit upon the throne of Israel. We know from the genealogies in Matthew and in Luke, one follows the genealogy of Joseph, the other one follows the genealogy of Mary, both of them descendants of David. So there could be no, you know, saying, “Well, Joseph really wasn't his father.” So, well, Mary was still a descendant of David as well. 

God brings to pass this promise of one of His seed, King David, to sit upon His throne, and that king is Jesus, amen? One more, Jeremiah chapter 30. 

Jeremiah chapter 30, beginning in verse one: “The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book. For behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah. The Lord says, I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers, and they shall possess it.” Now these are the words which the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus says the Lord, “I have heard a sound of terror, of dread, and there is no peace. Ask now and see, if a male can give birth, why do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in childbirth? And why have all faces turned pale?” 

Alas, for that day is great; there is none like it. It is a time of Jacob's distress, and he will be saved from it. “It shall come about on that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds, and strangers will no longer make them their slaves. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant,” declares the Lord, “and do not be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease, and no one will make him afraid, for I am with you,” declares the Lord, “to save you, for I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you. Only I will not destroy you completely, but I will chasten you justly and will by no means leave you unpunished.” 

So there are promises, and these are just a couple of the promises that are given to the nation Israel, to the people of Israel. You can't spiritualize this away and say that it means the church. You can't, because the church is free, amen? 

The church is free; the real church, the true believers in Christ Jesus are free. They are not in slavery, they are not in bondage. We have been set free, amen. This coincides, by the way, with everything that Paul says in Romans chapter nine through 11. And I just want to go back there as we close up today. 

Romans chapters nine, 10, and 11, and I'll just pull some of the highlights from it here. All through the book of Romans here, Paul has been talking about how a person is saved. Can anybody tell me how a person is saved? 

Anybody? Grace through faith, thank you. We are saved by grace through faith. Through faith in what? In Jesus Christ, that's right. That is how everybody, Jew or Gentile, is saved, is by faith through Jesus Christ. 

As he's been talking about this, the people of Israel, the Israelis who were amongst the people in Rome, are beginning to question, “Hey, what about us? Don't we have some special place?” 

In Romans chapter nine, Paul says, “I'm telling the truth in Christ, I'm not lying. My conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. Who are Israelites?” Who's he talking about? True Jewish people. “To whom belongs the adoption of sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the temple service and the promises? Whose are their fathers and from whom is the Christ, according to the flesh? Who is overall God blessed forever, amen.” 

So he's responding to these Jewish people that are complaining that the Jews are...excuse me, the Gentiles are all a part of this, and how come all the rest of the Jews are left outside? What's going on? Paul makes that comment. He says, “I could wish that I myself were accursed.” In other words, that I could be sent to hell if it were possible for my kinsmen to be saved. 

I would sacrifice myself in hell for all of eternity. I can't fathom that kind of love. I can't; that's just beyond me. But then he goes on to talk about how God chooses to have mercy on some, and He chooses to harden others. 

The ones that He chooses to have mercy on are those who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are hardened are those who are rejected continually, and he says again in chapter nine towards the end there, talking about that remnant, he says that, “Just as Isaiah foretold, unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity, we would become like Sodom and would have resembled Gomorrah.” 

“What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith, but Israel pursuing a law of righteousness did not arrive at that law? Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it's written, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in him will not be disappointed.’” 

What is that stumbling stone? What is that stumbling block that he's laid in Zion? It's the Lord Jesus Christ, and men still stumble over the stumbling stone to this day. We want to get to God by our own works, by the things that we can do. And the Israelis were no different. They thought that by doing their good works, they could earn their way into the kingdom of God, and such is not the case. 

In chapter 10, again he brings out his heart's desire and his cry, and he says, “Brethren, my heart's desire, my prayer to God for them is for their salvation, for I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” 

All right, so here you have these Jewish people who are seeking not by faith to enter the kingdom of God, but puffing out their chest and saying, “I keep the law, I do good things, I do everything that God desires of me.” 

Paul is saying that they have rejected the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is not a thing; it's a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. That's what He says. They did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God, for Christ is the end of the law for all those who believe. Christ is the end of the law. 

He is the righteousness of God, and the only way that we can attain to God's righteousness is through Jesus Christ. Amen? This is so important for us. 

Then in the beginning of verse 19, he quotes again from what we had in Deuteronomy: “But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First, Moses says, I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation. By a nation without understanding, I will anger you. And Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who did not seek me. I became manifest to those who did not ask for me. But as for Israel, he says, all the day long, I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” 

Then verse 11 of chapter 11. “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall. Who's he speaking of here? He's not speaking about Gentiles; he's speaking about Jews. He's speaking about the Hebrew people. They did not stumble so as to fall, did they? Meganoito, may it never be, God forbid, absolutely not. But by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles.” 

So we see what happens in Hosea is that God takes the children of Israel and He sets them aside. He has taken up dealings with the Gentiles. Because of Israel's failure, now the gospel has come to Gentiles and Gentiles are receiving it, and they're receiving it gladly, amen? 

What a wonderful thing. That’s to make the Jews 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'm speaking to you who are Gentiles. 

In as much then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry; if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen, for if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? There’s coming a day when all of Israel is going to turn to God. 

We see that further on down the further we go. I'm almost done, Wendy, don’t worry. We see this further down; he says, “For I don’t want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” 

And I don't know if there's anybody here or anybody that might be listening to this later on. If you have not—if you're a Gentile and you haven't given your life to Jesus Christ, what are you waiting for? You're holding up the rest of us. Praise God! Because when the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, then all Israel will be saved. 

When the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, Jesus will call us home. Glory to God! I long for that day. So don't wait any longer. Give your life to Jesus. Because when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, so all Israel will be saved, just as it's written: “The deliverer will come from Zion. He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” 

From the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient that because of the mercy shown to you, they also may now be shown mercy. 

For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again? 

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever, amen. So the whole point here is that God isn't done with Israel. I don't know how you can take this and try to spiritualize it away. God is not done; He is going to take them up again, and that's what Jacob's distress is that was talked about in Jeremiah—that time of tribulation when God takes the church out of the way and turns His attention back to Israel. 

When Jesus returns, physically returns to the earth and sets His feet on the Mount of Olives, on that day, the scripture says that the Jews will look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they will mourn and beat their breasts as one mourns for an only son. On that day, all those remaining Jews that are alive at that time in Jerusalem, in Israel, they will look upon Him, and all Israel will be saved at that time because they will believe. They will believe in their Messiah. 

Oh, how blessed are we! We haven't seen, and yet we believe. Isn't that what Jesus said to Thomas? He said, “You see Me and you believe. How blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” We believe that Jesus Christ is Israel's Messiah. We want to bless Israel. We bless them not by giving them money or by giving them weapons—that's not how—because face it, Israel's government is evil, it's wicked. 

It's wicked, just like every other government on the face of this earth, including America’s by the way, is evil. So it’s not by giving the nation money, it’s not by giving them arms, but by supporting them, by preaching the gospel to the Jews, by sharing the word of God, by introducing them to their Messiah and bringing them in alongside so that they too can share in the glory that God has presented for us.

Our lives should be lived in such a way that others are made jealous as they see our nearness to God, that we desire God, that we live for God, that He’s our everything and that we have peace and joy, and that should cause others to become jealous, including those of Israel, amen? 

So I hope we've put to bed this idea that God is done with Israel because He's not. He is going to take them up again, and we have that promise. We've seen it time and time and time again, amen? Isn’t it wonderful, this story of Hosea in Hosea chapter three, “Go again, love a woman of harlotry.” 

Love an unfaithful woman. God is not done in spite of the fact—did Gomer, was Gomer looking to be restored? No. Was she repentant? Doesn’t say she was repentant. But see, the redemption is the first thing that happens. Hosea has a picture of Christ, and his name is very close. Hosea and Yeshua are very close together and they both mean salvation. 

The redemption price is paid, and now that the redemption price is paid, Israel is sent off because of her rejection. She's sent off and at the end then, they will be brought back. Praise God for that. Do you long for that day? Because when that day happens, it's a glorious day for us because it's on that day that Jesus will be the king. He will set up a one world kingdom. 

We have the nations now trying to set up a one world order, and that's going to be a misery. It's going to be misery for the entire world, but when Jesus comes, He is that great despot—that’s what that word means—He is going to be the ruler and the king. And when He is, that is when joy is restored to all the earth. Amen? To the Jews first and then to the Gentiles. That's always been the way God has worked, amen? 

All right, let's have a word of prayer. Father, I thank You that You are not done with the people of Israel. But I want to say first of all, Father, thank You that it is through the Jewish people that You have brought to us the Messiah. That it is through the preaching of Jewish men that the gospel has come to us. That through the apostles, Lord, each one of them Jewish, that the word of God has come to the Gentiles and we now are crafted in. 

We don't deserve this, Lord God. Just like Israel didn't deserve—just like Gomer didn't deserve the love of Hosea, we don't deserve Your love. But yet You were gracious in coming and bringing the gospel to us. And because of their rejection, Lord, grace has been brought to us as well. And Lord, we desire now, our longing now is for Israel, that they would come, that they would be provoked to jealousy and that they would come. 

So Lord, I'm asking that You would bless Israel, that You would let Your word go forth and bring encouragement and strength to them, cause them to see their Messiah. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And we know that there can be no peace in Jerusalem until Messiah has come. So we’re saying, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.” 

We long for You, and we love You. In Jesus' name.