December 3

HOSEA 3

And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” ² So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. ³ And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” ⁴ For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. ⁵ Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days. – Hosea 3:1-5

HOSEA 3 THE COMMAND TO LOVE AGAIN

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

As we serve the Lord Jesus Christ we are instructed to love

This command includes forgiving those who have betrayed us

When we show mercy to those whom we vowed to love ‘til eternity

We are exercising the same love that God has given us unconditionally

God will do anything to pursue us back into relationship with him

Shouldn’t we respond to that pursuit by turning away from all sins?

Why would God instruct Hosea to forgive his wife after her adultery and buy her back again? What was God showing to Israel when he commanded Hosea to forgive and love again his wife? God is manifesting his great mercy for his beloved wife, Israel when he asked Hosea to redeem Gomer. God was illustrating the unconditional love he has for his people despite their unfaithfulness to him. He loves them despite what they have done. He is always looking after her welfare and wouldn’t want her to perish.

The world system will never comprehend forgiveness. In such a system when a spouse has an affair, the other spouse will automatically give up on them and just contemplate divorce. But in God’s economy, we do differently. We forgive those who have sinned against us just as God forgave our sins and did not punish us with what we deserve punishment for. Instead, he gave his only begotten Son to free us from his wrath. This is unconditional love at its core.

REFLECTION

• What do you think forgiveness does to a sinful person who has received it?

December 1

HOSEA 2

¹⁴ “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. ¹⁵ And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁶ “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ ¹⁷ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. ¹⁸ And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.

                                                                     – Hosea 2:14-18

HOSEA 2 GOD’S MERCY ON ISRAEL

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

If God chose you to be his bride, he will never break his promise

Even if that wife is unfaithful, God stays uncompromised

He is a God of mercy, he will pardon the deceitfulness

He will do everything to lure back his wife to their declarations

He will never give up because he is steadfast in his love

Even if she betrays him, he can never stop loving her.

In the beginning of this chapter, we hear how God rebuked Israel when she was unfaithful to Him by worshiping Baal and using all the resources God gave to them to serve this pagan god. We learned God’s discipline on those whom he loves. He will never let them be endangered by their ignorance and he reminded them of those consequences that resulted in their infidelity to him.

In these following verses, we see a shift from God’s rebuke to his alluring them back to him. He does this by gently making them see how much he could forgive them for being weak not to see the enticement of the world. Just like how parents would do anything to ensure their children are not perishing with the choices they make, God does the same unconditional love for his people. This account focuses more on the relationship between a husband and wife. God is the husband and the Israelites are his wife. Many marriages where one spouse has been unfaithful can still be restored if it’s based on true love.

REFLECTION

• What’s the difference between the world and God’s view on adultery?

November 30

HOSEA 2

⁸ And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. ⁹ Therefore I will take back
my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness. ¹⁰ Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand. ¹¹ And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts. ¹² And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, ‘These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.’ I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them.¹³ And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the Lord. – Hosea 2:8-13

HOSEA 2 AFTERMATH OF IDOLATRY

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When the people of God begin to worship other gods

They will be unable to recognize God’s provision and love

They are blinded by their idols and they become lifeless

Idolatry strips them of the fulfillment of their covenant promise

Unfaithfulness to your beloved one is going to bring ruin

It will create chaos and confusion between the two parties.

In this account, God lays down the aftermath of Israel’s idolatry. In verse 8, the Israelites forgot that everything they have was from God. They became blind to see that even their gold and silver and all their riches came from their Lord. Instead, they used it to worship Baal. In verse 9, God retrieves back all that he had provided for them and in verse 10 God will expose her adultery to shame her. In verse 11, he will hinder them from celebrating their festivals and in verse 12, God won’t provide a good harvest for them and they will be punished for a burnt offering given to Baal instead of to Him.

We can see how such a big deal it was for God when his wife (the Israelites) became unfaithful and served other gods. Let us remember that the Lord won’t take lightly any competition against him. There is no one like him. He is the One true living God.

REFLECTION

• Share insights how the aftermath of adultery affects the unfaithful believer.

November 29

HOSEA 2

Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”² “Plead with your mother, plead— for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband—that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts; ³ lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst. ⁴ Upon her children also I will have no mercy, because they are children of whoredom.⁵ For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’ ⁶ Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. ⁷ She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’

                                                                     – Hosea 2:1-7

HOSEA 2 THE SIN OF ADULTERY

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When you commit to someone, you are in a covenant

Keeping your promise to this person is part of your contract

If one does not fulfill the promise they partook

That person has breached that pact  

Unfaithfulness is the sin of adultery

It wreaks havoc in any relationship.

In this account, God punishes Israel for turning their backs to God and worshipping Baal instead. God’s people broke their covenant with God by serving another god. In this chapter, God speaks through Hosea the spiritual adultery by the clear declaration of the consequences of Gomer’s unfaithfulness to Hosea. Because she wouldn’t stop her harlotry, her children are also bearing the sin of adultery. Verse 4 may sound harsh to us when children bear their parent’s sins, but God cannot change. He hates sin and he has to punish the sin itself. In verse 6-7, God shows Gomer what she’s losing by pursuing men who cannot provide for him as He can.

REFLECTION

• How can spiritual adultery manifest in a marriage?

November 28

HOSEA 1

⁶ She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will have no more mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. ⁷ But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”⁸ When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. ⁹ And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.” ¹⁰ Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” ¹¹ And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

                                                                        – Hosea 1:6-11

HOSEA 1 ISRAEL’S FATE BECAUSE OF THEIR ADULTERY

The prophets were mouthpieces of God. Every word in the book of Hosea is God’s message for his people. Hosea repeated every word that God spoke to him. The name ‘Hosea’ is like ‘Joshua’. It means ‘God is our Saviour’. In those times, names have special meaning. Sources say that the names of the children of Hosea are a way for God to speak to Israel. It was God who gave these names to Gomer’s children. These names will show what will happen to Judah and Israel in the future. It is a prediction that another nation will ruin Israel.  

Gomer’s children are part of a bad nation. Some commentaries say that Jezreel, who was born first, was Hosea’s son. But it is possible that Hosea was not the father of the next two children. We cannot be sure because the book does not mention him as the father. The name Lo-Ruhamah means ‘Not Pitied’ or ‘Not Loved’. This means that he will not meet the Israelites’ needs anymore since they have pledged allegiance to their idols. The name Lo-Ammi means ‘Not My people’. God says that his covenant with Israel is over. In the future, he will destroy Israel. The name Jezreel means ‘God sows’. The name Lo-Ammi shows that there is no mistake about what God thinks about Israel. The nation of Israel ended because God gave a judgement on the people. This was because of their sin. Hosea explains this again later in the book. But God will have mercy on Judah because they were still God’s covenant people. The last verse of these verses sounds that God will reunite Judah and Israel and will multiply as much as the sand of the sea which is immeasurable.

REFLECTION

• What character of God is revealed in this account?

November 25

DANIEL 12

 “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. ² And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. ³ And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. ⁴ But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” ⁵ Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. ⁶ And someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, “How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?” ⁷ And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished. – Daniel 12:1-7

DANIEL 12 THE PROMISE TO THE ELECT

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

If you serve the Jesus Christ there is much reason for hope

For the Lord has promised the elect a new heaven and new earth

Only those who are perishing will have to worry about the end times

For they will account for the way they have rejected Christ himself.

According to Coffman’s commentaries on the book of Daniel, the phrase in verse 1 “at that time” refers to Messianic times. He further comments “In understanding this prophecy it is imperative to understand that Daniel 10-12 are all one prophecy, not two or three. The chapter divisions here have been deplored by scholars ever since Cardinal Hugo butchered the job of dividing them in the 13th century.” The first few verses of this chapter according to Young’s summary states that “When these events take place, those who are found written in the book will be delivered. The reference is to the elect, those destined to receive eternal life.” 

REFLECTION

• How do you think believers and unbelievers vary in their perspective regarding the  prophecies given by Daniel here and in the book of Revelation?

November 24

DANIEL 11

⁴⁰ “At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. ⁴¹ He shall come into the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. ⁴² He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. ⁴³ He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. ⁴⁴ But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. ⁴⁵ And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him.

                                                                                 – Daniel 11:40-45

DANIEL 11 THE ANTICHRIST WILL BE DEFEATED

According to commentaries, the ruler mentioned in Daniel 11:36-39 who is the Antichrist will come. He will conquer many nations, overpower them, and pass on to defeat others. Dr. Constable comments “The Nazis were able to do this early in World War II.” Archer describes the warfare being participated by armored vehicles and missiles such as are used in modern warfare, but to make it fit Daniel’s time, the ancient counterparts of such weapons are used. Archer further described that the ancient names of the countries or states occupying the region where the final conflict will be carried on are used in the prediction, though most of those political units will no longer bear these names in the last days.” In Ezekiel 38-39, he described a great military force descending on Israel from the far north in the future.

Ezekiel did not mention a power from the South. The Antichrist will also enter Palestine (Daniel 8:9), and many there will fall before his forces. He will also defeat other countries in addition to Israel. He will probably enter Palestine after he breaks his covenant with Israel, which would confirm that these events will happen in the last half of the Tribulation, that is according to Baldwin’s comments. Dr. Constable comments further “This ruler will then press his attack and invade other countries, particularly Egypt. It will fall to his control. He will plunder the treasures of Egypt and will bring those living in the ancient territories of Libya and Ethiopia under his control. Libya lay to the west of Egypt and Ethiopia to its south.

Campbell comments “The Antichrist will succeed for a limited period of time. He will also place confidence in military might but his military might will be challenged and he will be initially victorious in battle. However, he will face renewed conflict, will establish his headquarters in Jerusalem, and will finally come to an end.”

REFLECTION

• Why do you think God allowed the Antichrist to conquer many nations?