Hosea 1 provides an amazing picture of the Gospel of
Jesus. How can this be? It was written over 700 years before Christ
was born. Indeed it was, but remember
Jesus said that the entire Old Testament is about Him (see Luke 24:44).
Here is how the Gospel of Jesus is seen in Hosea 1. We are all sinful (Romans 3:23) in that we
commit spiritual whoredom “by forsaking the Lord” (Hosea 1:2). The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and
this judgment for sin came upon the children born to Gomer. They were called “no mercy” and “not my
people” (Hosea 1:6, 9). We deserve no
mercy and to NOT be God’s children because of our sin.
However, God is quick to come with grace by declaring that “no
mercy” will “receive mercy” and “not my people” will become “children of the living
God” (Hosea 2:1, 23). This mercy is
possible because there is “one head” (Hosea 1:11), and His name is Jesus, the
Head of the Church (Eph. 1:22). It is
because we have a living God that all of this mercy is possible. It is because Jesus is alive that we can be
forgiven (1 Cor. 15).
Finally, once someone comes to faith in Christ and receives
His mercy, they are declared a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). Our new identity in Christ is spoken of in
Romans 9:25 and 1 Peter 2:10, where both Peter and Paul quote from Hosea
1. How cool is that!!! Of all the places in the Old Testament to
support salvation by grace through faith, and to speak of how we receive a new
nature when we receive His mercy, they both go to Hosea.
For more on how mercy triumphs over judgment, you can listen
to my sermon at: http://www.livinghopeathens.org/grace-triumphs-over-judgment/
