Monday, July 25, 2022

 

Monday, July 25, 2022


Psalm 62; 63

Hosea 1

Romans 4:1-12


He only is my rock and my salvation: my strong tower, so that I shall not be moved.


The prophecies of Hosea are rich with vivid imagery. Look at these names: firstly, “Hosea” means “salvation”. So too do the names Joshua and Jesus. Then Hosea has three children: “God scatters”, “Not pitied”, and “Not my people”. This is because the children are part of the marriage between Hosea and Gomer, which is an image God is showing to the nation. It is to our profit that God has used real-life events to communicate spiritual imagery and divine truths. We find it very easy to understand our relationship with God as being a faithful wife to a loving husband.


We can reconcile this message with what Paul has to teach us today in Romans. He makes the very important observation that Abraham was given God's righteousness as a result of his faith before, not after, his circumcision. Again, this is God using real-life events to communicate spiritual imagery and divine truths. The relationship goes like this: God first loves us, so we are faithful to Him, therefore God places a seal upon us to confirm this relationship. In a marriage, it is a ring. For Abraham, circumcision, and for us, baptism.


The imagery of a faithful wife to a loving husband is useful for us material creatures. We can take heed of the warnings contained in Hosea to make sure we give birth to spiritual “children” worthy of our loving God (such as the spiritual gifts from our study of Galatians). Salvation and righteousness are given to us as gifts (which is another way of saying grace) purely on the basis of our faithfulness to God. This reverse order (faith resulting in works) is what makes the message of Jesus unique: God first loved us, and wants us to love Him back. Anything “good” we do is a result of, not a means to gain God's love, which is eternal.



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