Jesus in Hosea
January 01, 2025
Relentless Love
In the hill country of Ephraim in northern Israel, there lived two young people who were madly in love. Hosea loved a girl named Gomer and she loved him back—just like other wonderful love stories repeated across the generations.
But after they were engaged, Gomer went bad. She resorted not only to adultery, but to the oldest profession, prostitution. Hosea was brokenhearted and shame filled his soul. He had legal recourse under the Mosaic Law as a fiancée to have Gomer stoned to death. Instead, God tells him to marry her.
So, despite the gossip and the shame, Hosea obeys God. He marries Gomer and gives her his name. But that’s not the end to our sad story. After having three children together, Gomer leaves Hosea for her former life. She runs away. What does God tell Hosea to do now? You might hope He said, “Well, Hosea, you’ve done all you can. You tried to help her, but that didn’t do any good. Just take the kids and leave her.”
But God says, “Go get her!” So, Hosea searches and finds her. He pays her debts. He tells her he loves her. But still she won’t come back.
What a picture of a Savior today! He created us and we belong to Him, and then we’re guilty of going off and giving our love, our affection, and our time to the sin of the world. And in the midst of that, when we were yet sinners, He came down and bought us back with a price in our ugly condition that He might make us His legitimate children. What love!
The story doesn’t end here—the conclusion will make you weep with joy.
