Well, we do thank you again for coming, and thank you for the interest that you show in the study of the Word of God. I hope every one of you have an outline of the book that we are going to follow. In the will of the Lord, we have been led, and there's been not only the guidance of the Lord in my own heart, but I appreciate at least two of the ladies in the class voluntarily asking, if we could have some interesting studies in the prophecies of the Old Testament. And it was upon my heart, and thank God for the leading. And so we're going to study not the major prophets, such as Isaiah through Daniel, but the minor prophets, and beginning with Hosea, and going on as the Lord may lead us. Now may I give, before we look to our lesson sheet, may I give first of all, For great reason, and they are important, why we should study the prophetic books of the Old Testament. First of all, there is one characteristic that you will find prevailing in the Old Testament prophecies, the revelation of God himself, the revelation of his character, the redeeming of his attributes, who he is and what he is. They come out very strongly, and we shall see it in our study of Isaiah even. They come out very strongly in these Old Testament prophetic writings, who and what God is, because it was God who was dealing through His prophets with these earthly people, Israel, as we well know in the writings of those books. Then there's the second great reason and important reason for studying them. Through these prophecies of the Old Testament, we have more information given to us regarding the purposes of God in relation to his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and particularly in relation to his glory when he will be the king over all the earth. Now, this may seem strange, but I hope it isn't. There are more Old Testament prophecies about the second coming of Christ than even the New Testament. The Old Testament is filled particularly with not only the sufferings of Christ, which the Jews overlook, but with the glories of Christ as they shall be when he will be reigning on and over the earth. And every prophetic book has something to say about the Lord Jesus. and particularly his coming rain upon the earth, so that the second coming of Christ to the earth in power and in glory we shall find within the pages of the prophetic book. A third important factor is this, and particularly relating to the study of these prophetic books in the Old Testament, God reveals his purposes for Israel, the one nation that he has chosen to be the promised seed of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, to be above all the nations of the earth in power and in glory and in honor. Now that has not taken places yet. We shall see how much they have failed him and why they failed him when we studied the book of even Ozea and others too. But the day is coming. when they will be the most glorious nation upon the earth. And as Paul said in Romans nine, God, eleven rather, God has not forsaken his people. Now the fourth great reason that we can find for studying this precious book, so they can make us realize that there are precious truths even in relation to us. And God shows his purpose within these prophecies not only for his son, not only for Israel, but for the nations. Now when you think of the present conditions in the world today of nations, we know from the Old Testament prophecies more than any other part of the Bible, what is going to happen to them? That sometimes the age of Gentile power and Gentile authority that is upon the earth today will start. and it will be subjugated and Israel will be elevated to be exalted for the glory of the Lord. Now let me repeat. Here are four great reasons for studying the prophecies. First, and this is the essential main reason, God himself is revealed to us in his character and the attributes of his being. Somebody as well said, To know this mighty being, as far as he may be known, is the noblest aim of human understanding. And I covet earnestly that you and I will not only be interested to see what the Lord Jesus is going to be, what Israel is going to be, and what the nation shall be at the coming of the Lord Jesus, but also to realize God himself is revealed in his person and character. in the Old Testament prophecy. And so may we look at them carefully in that respect. Now look at your page number one, if you please, on your lesson sheet. For we have an outline we'd like to particularly mention before we begin the detailed study of the prophecy. And on page number one, let me read what we have in the introduction. In fact, I would like to follow this page through. to give an outline of the book as we shall study it in the will of the Lord. Now you particularly may note in the introductory paragraph we have these words regarding the minor prophets. The minor prophets begin with the book of Hosea. There are twelve books comprising them, and they are called minor prophets not for reason of less importance or authority than but because of their size. It's not because of their importance, but rather the size of the prophecy. You well know Isaiah, sixty-six chapters. Jeremiah, fifty-two. Ezekiel, another fifty or so. And Daniel, of course, only twelve. But they are often called the major prophets because of the contents being so much. But the minor prophets are left. In fact, What we have before, as we know, Zaire is one of the longest prophecies, not the only one, but one of them. Now, we read on, if you please. Their discourses are brief in comparison to the greater prophecies of Isaiah and so on. Their arrangement is not chronological, for historically, Joel precedes Hosea. Now, let me repeat that. You don't find them in chronological sequence. but they're undoubtedly placed that way by the will of God, and the introduction of every book enters into the question of its date. And the last three prophecies, Hagiae, Zechariah, Malachi, they are called the post-Exilic prophecies, meaning they were written after the Babylonian captivity. Now take the next paragraph. And this we will find particularly refers, if I may, you look in chapter one of Ozea. Let me read verse one, please. And the paragraph before us will explain the first verse of chapter one. And this is what we find. The word of the Lord that came unto Ozea, the son of Beirai, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Will you please know something special? There are four kings mentioned, and they succeeded one another in the kingdom of Judah. Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah. They were kings of Judah. But also, Hosea wrote in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. Now let me give a word of explanation, which I think is quite needful to realize. You please note in this verse one, the kings of Judah are mentioned, and the one king of Israel. Holmes there in his times, as we shall see, lived during the reigns of these kings. But please remember something. We'll have to re-emphasize it as we go through the book on more than one occasion. If you remember the history of the book of Kings, going back to the reign of Solomon, do you recall following Solomon's reign, his son Rhea Bowen, thought to assert his authority as if he was a greater king than his father, Solomon. And in so doing, his action divided the kingdom of Israel. Ten tribes under Jeroboam I, ten tribes seceded from the kingdom and formed the northern kingdom of Israel. And those ten tribes were called often, as you heard in this one verse, they're called Israel. Sometimes they're called Ephraim. And the tribe of Judah, with Benjamin, was the only tribe that maintained the worship of the Lord at Jerusalem in the priestly work. And so the division came. Now here you'll find, let me read if I may, the paragraph we have concerning the times of Ozea. He prophesied during the reign of King Uzziah over Judah, as well as during the time when Jophan, Ahaz, and Ezekiah were kings over Judah, and also during the reign of Jeroboam II in Israel. Now let me repeat, Jeroboam II. Jeroboam the first was the first king of Israel, as history records. But in the days of Hosea, another descendant of Jeroboam, who took the name of Jeroboam II, became king of Israel, of the northern kingdom of the ten tribes. And then we recall they seceded from Judah in the time of Rehoboam. Yet most of Hosea's prophecies, they are directed more exclusively to the house of Israel, which had degenerated in a short time. Now may I repeat, though there is the mention of three kings of Judah, we shall not find much in the prophecy of Ozea, we shall find a little, referring to the kingdom of Judah. But the specific prophecy of Ozea will refer mainly, chiefly, directly to the kingdom of Israel, the ten tribes of Israel, that had preceded. Now we find, as we go on with the paragraphs, Hosea lived during these terrible years when the religious conditions were still worse, and the land was in a state of anarchy prevailing in the whole place, and the king, now note the next sentence, the kings and the priests and the prophets were all steeped in debauchery, corruption was everywhere. And these conditions, both religious and moral and even politically, must be understood to fully apprehend the message of Ozea. Beloved, let me say very lovingly and earnestly, as we approach the study of these prophetic books, and Ozea particularly, we're going to learn of some of the most unfortunate, degenerate conditions that were sometimes even worse amongst the people of Israel, among the ten tribes, than even amongst the heathen nations around them. Third to state, we shall find it. Don't be surprised. And may I make a little addition to that comment? Don't you be surprised at what's happening in the world today, morally. Beloved, may I say, you know sometimes I often say, Lord, if I say it every day, Lord, when are you coming? Not only for personal reasons, though many others have them, I know, we long to see him come. But when you look at the cross-section of the world, what do you have? You find, you are going to find some of the similar conditions that prevailed just in the land of Israel. They are prevailing in the whole world. I was thinking the other day, I'm going to give you the thought, worthy to pass on. When is the Lord Jesus coming? Oh, we long for him to come. Thank God he is coming again. Blessed is the hope. There's not a night. There's not a morning. But what that blessed hope gives encouragement to the heart. But when is he coming? Now let me give you a clue as to when he's coming. You read the seventeenth of the Gospel of Luke. And you have the Lord Jesus telling what would be upon the earth when he comes back again. As it was in the days of what? Noah. So shall it also be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. And to sum it all up, there was nothing but violence, corruption, and evil. And then you go a little further in that same chapter. The Lord Jesus speaks of the days of Lot. When Lot was taken out of Sodom and Sodom was destroyed. Now let me ask you one thing. Now listen carefully. I mean it from my heart. What was the prevailing sin in Sodom? To his homosexuality. One of the most prevailing moral sins of today. Which the book of the Revelation in chapter nine foretells. And may I say, when you and I see these things, let's look up. Thank God the Lord Jesus is coming. And I believe with all my heart, there needs to be the emphasis. We are near the coming of the Lord Jesus. And before he comes back to the earth to cleanse it from all of its unrighteousness, thank God he's coming for the saints to meet them in the air. And we shall be forever with the Lord. Now please let me say, we're going to read things that you perhaps will be amazed to realize existed amongst God's earthly people. But today they prevail on a worldwide scale. Beloved, let me just say this. May you and I be looking for the Lord. Try to tell my friends oftentimes when writing to many, do two things. Look unto Jesus. And second, look for him. Thank God he's coming. And what a joy it will be to see in. Now look at the third paragraph, please. The message of Hosea, we've mentioned some of it, but we take it more in its context fully here. Like the message of other prophets, his message is one of judgment and future mercy. Now let me give another, perhaps another thought unto you. When you consider all of these minor prophets, as well as the major prophets, from Isaiah down to the end of the Old Testament. There are two great themes running through the whole book of Prophets. One is judgment, and the other is mercy. Please let me state, you cannot read one prophecy, whether Isaiah and down through Malachi, without reading a judgment. Judgment that was to come upon Israel. Judgment that is to come upon the whole world. But you cannot read a prophecy either without finding God's mercy. Judgment. And may I put it in this twofold way. And you can apply it to the days we are living in. When the Lord Jesus comes again. And Jude wrote that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied saying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment. And when he comes, judgment will be part of his work. But second, there will be blessing. But that blessing will only be upon those who will find his mercy, who have repented in that coming day and turned to the Lord and the objects of his mercy they become. Judgment, mercy. Now let me say this. The world is facing two things. Judgment and mercy. Judgment for the majority. Mercy for the small nucleus and the remnant that will be repentant in that day of his return. And judgment and mercy, you'll find in every prophetic book. But let me read the paragraph right on, please. He announced the coming judgment, did I? Oh, there was certain and inevitable. But there is found in his book the message of mercy, even at its beginning. We shall learn from this book what is so largely written in all the prophets, that there is a glorious future for the nation of Israel. Judah and Israel will receive the promised blessings and glory when their King, Christ the Messiah, comes back and the spared remnant will be restored. Now very quickly look at the end of the page. I wanted to see the outline as we have presented it, and as we shall follow it in the will of the Lord. First of all, we could properly say the divisions of the book, mainly, are really two. The first three chapters form one division, and the rest of the chapters, the second chiefly. But we've broken them up into more divisions for convenience sake. But the first three chapters, note the first division, the rejection of Israel as an adulterous wife symbolized by the prophet's marital experiences, And the future restoration of Israel is also recorded. Now, let me pause for a moment. As we go to the next page, we shall see more in detail regarding this first section. I hope you've read it. But I hope you will read the whole book through. That you will find the first division of the book covers some... Now, there are some Bible teachers, with whom I disagree... would call the first three chapters an allegory. But the first three chapters are actual experience that Jose the Prophet went through to experience in his own heart the grief, the suffering, the disappointment, the heartache. that even God was going through in a far greater way because of Israel's moral and spiritual condition and unthankfulness. That we'll see as we go further. Now that covers the first three chapters. And then follows different addresses the Prophet makes. Chapters four to seven. I want you to notice something. As we look at this division... Israel's sin is intolerable in the light of this one fact. And now here is where in chapters four through seven we shall learn something of the holiness of God. Now you've got the thought in these chapters particularly how God becomes intolerant because of the sin of his people. For God is holy. God is holy. And there is a five-fold indictment in chapters four and five. There is a professing, but there is an unreal return to the Lord in chapter six. And there is an impossible healing declared by God in chapter seven. Now, I want you to note something. Look, we made this statement. We repeat it. One thing we shall find in the book is the character of God. And when God deals with the... unfaithfulness and sinfulness of his own people, he must do it because he is the holy God. God is holy. Oh, beloved, how we need to emphasize that. And may I say very frankly, it's an attribute of his being that we very little realize as we are. And to recognize the holiness of God. You know, it's amazing what God puts out with, isn't it? Even in view of his holiness. Now, in the next section, as you follow, we'll find in chapters eight, rather through ten, that Israel will be punished. For God is not only holy, God is just. God is just. God is just. Now, may I say, and I would like to emphasize this, This quality of God's being is justice. Don't forget. You may not always understand His dealings, but His dealings are just. And according to the justice of His character, He deals not only with the world, but even with His own people. God is just. But beloved, if God wasn't just, you never would be saved. Neither would I. Did you never notice in Romans chapter three that God is just when he justifies a sinner who does no more than believe in Jesus and his atoning blood. And why can God justly forgive a sinner? Because the Lord Jesus met the justice of God at Calvary for your sins and for mine. Oh, beloved, may I say, believe in the justice of God. No matter what may be happening in the world, many times people complain why God permits this and that. Many times during World War II people would say to me, why does God permit the war? I said, may I ask you a question? Why doesn't the world quit sinning? My beloved, It brings up the dealing of God in relation to sin. And he has to deal with it, and he does deal with it justly, even in his punitive judgments that he may inflict upon mankind. I go even a little further. Let me just go back a week. You take a hurricane. Go back to the week before you take an earthquake. Look, it's going to get worse along those lines as I see my Bible. And when you see the mounting wave of sin in this world, you think God's going to let it go on forever? No. Read Matthew twenty-four as well as Luke twenty-one. Before the Lord Jesus left, how he told us the things that were coming to pass. You read about the earth. Did you ever know this something as we studied the book of Revelation last year? That at the end time? There will be so many earthquakes that the cities of the nations are going to fall. I wrote to a friend the other day, whom I know is looking for the Lord to come and longing for him. I said, when he comes, there's going to be an awful lot of concrete going down to people putting up today. Now I'm below the law. You know, it's trained. The attitude of the human heart by nature is the disregard and supposedly without with bravery, disregard the visitation of God's judgment. If you read the prophecy of Ezekiel, you'll find an expression repeated, for these things I will punish. For these things I will punish. For these things I'll send my judgment testimences, famine, earthquakes, fraud. My beloved, I think of a statement I often make, the man or the woman, the boy or the girl or even the nation, who think they can cheat a moral God in a moral universe is a moral imbecile. God is just. God is just. The last of all, now here's really the greatest message of the book of Hosea, and look at the last section. on your lesson sheet from eleven to nine to now that should be chapter fourteen eleven to fourteen Israel shall be restored for why God is love God is love look if you want to write really what the message of Hosea is in its greatest application it would be God is love his love for Israel We're going to find words that reveal the heart of God regarding his people Israel. Ephraim, Israel, how can I give thee up? How can I give thee up, O Ephraim? And my beloved, let me say this. When men and women, not only the people of God's earthly choice, So when men and women sin against God, they not only break his law, they break his heart. Now I hope you recognize, as we go right into chapter one now and get on your second page, I hope you recognize that just exactly what happened to Mosea, he had to go through an experience that broke his heart. And if I humbly would say that I think it would be conclusive a conclusive fact that if there's anything that can break a faithful man's heart would be to have the experience of having an unfaithful wife which Hosea had to break his heart. Can I say something very carefully? We little realize what a servant of God must go through to become God's Vethel. To give out the truth of God. Now I want to give you some other examples quickly. You go to Isaiah. You go to Jeremiah. You go to Ezekiel. You read those three prophecies. And especially Jeremiah. And especially Ezekiel. You can be amazed what you read that literally God says do this. Do that. Do this. Do that. Jeremiah was commanded to walk, practically naked, just to give a message that his condition was illustrating the mess that Judah was in. Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet, rightly so, and that particularly to Judah before the Babylonian captivity. Hosea could be called the weeping prophet of Israel. His own marital conditions broke his heart. And yet he was faithful in love to this woman who became an adulteress. And ultimately he brought her back there. All right. Now shall we look in chapter one then? I'd like to read verses two through five as you've got it on your lesson sheet under the second. Now please let me read the heading it, we added the chapter, the page rather. Division number one, symbolic prologue, the prophet's message to an unfaithful wife, illustrative of Israel's unfaithfulness to Jehovah. Or may I say again, how we can realize, let me please express it again. Here is those there. going through the experience of having an unfaithful wife, a faithful husband, and an unfaithful wife. Now carry the truth of it, which it illustrates, which it symbolizes to Jehovah. Israel, Israel is the unfaithful wife. Jehovah is a faithful husband. And the heart of Jehovah has to go through it. What has it not gone through? And is yet going through him in view of his earthly people. And yet he's never given them up. Well now let's read verses two through five please. Now you note the word says in beginning verse two, the beginning of the word of the Lord by Ozea. The Lord said to Ozea, Go take unto thee a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom. For the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. So he went, he took Goma, the daughter of Deblane, which conceived and bear him a son. The Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel, for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jezreel, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass that that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. Now let me go to your comment, please, on your lesson sheet. And we'll try to follow the interpretation of this section that we've just read. Here we have the prophet's marriage, and we have the birth of the first son by the name of Jezreel. The prophet, now know what we have written. There may be some question in the minds of others regarding what might be written here. The prophet loved Goma with a tender love, and at the time of the marriage, she was not unchaste. Now, as you read, as you have read, and I suppose you know this in verse two, he was told to take a wife of whoredom. Now, I don't believe, and I know the ground of it, as we shall see, I don't believe that Goma was an adulterer, adulterant when he married her. But God foreknew that she would be. And she did become. Now let me read on in the paragraph we have. I'll finish it. The prophet loved Goma with a tender love at the time of the marriage when she was not unshaped but became so after a marriage otherwise the parallelism to Jehovah's love for Israel before their unfaithfulness would be destroyed. In other words, if the symbol meant that she was an adulteress before he married her, then the symbol also would mean Israel was in adultery before Jehovah chose the nation back in the book of Exodus, in the days of the nation's birth. So let's finish the reading of the prophecy, of the paragraph. And the expression the wife of Hordam's and children of Hordam simply intimated to Ozea what the woman he married was going to be. So she was so called a wife of Hordam by the omniscient God in anticipation of her future conduct. She was a symbol of Israel, married unto the Lord, but afterwards became the unfaithful wife. Now let me repeat. Forget, chiefly, as far as the important fact, forget Gomer and their cowardice, that realize the symbol which is greater to grasp. Israel, like Gomer, became an unfaithful wife to God. Now let me transfer the application, if you please, right down to our present day. I wonder if you remember some of the studies in Revelation, chapters two and three, the latest of the seven churches of Asia, the prophetic and the spiritual history of the church. Don't blame Israel for what she has been. I hope you and I have some conscience and concern of her. What is the church's condition in the sight of God and the sight of the Lord Jesus? Our beloved has the church been faithful? Are the believers in the Lord Jesus faithful? Our beloved, may I say, and you can find it prophetically found in the Word of God, the unfaithfulness of even God. May I go bluntly to state, I don't know what you think about church condition, but I tell you, finally, they're a mess. And I say that on the ground of Scripture. And I say it also from observation and feeling, as I see it worldwide. The professing church. You have a hard time finding the real church. And whenever you find a believer in the Lord Jesus that's born again, you've got the member of the real church. You can find a lot of professing folks claiming to be the members of the church that are not born again. And in the midst of that whole profession, read those seven letters from Ephesus down the layer this year where the Lord had to say at the end of the church age to that professing church you're blind you're naked and expose them you don't even want me and I'll steal you out of my mouth beloved please let me say look please you've got the parallel with Israel When we go into the book, we'll find, and you well know, perhaps without going into this book, that when God dealt with Israel as a nation, he scattered them. We'll see that as we go right on. And many of them were not saved. They were not his people. And we shall see. There was only a little remnant that what really is. Paul writing in Romans chapter nine, ten, and eleven relative to Israel in the present age, made the remark, he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, but who is one inwardly. And may I say, just as in the church today, so in Israel, there were those that were outwardly reprocessing to the East people, but inwardly they were rotten. And he judged them and he punished them. But he had a little remnant. And then he reminds you, let's go back to Elijah, one of the prophets, one of the prophets. When Elijah said, Lord, let me die, only I am left. God said, wait a minute. You have got seven thousand in Israel who've never bowed beneath a veil. Seven thousand out of hundreds of thousands. Only seven thousand. They hadn't bowed beneath. And when God looked at his people, there were those that were real and there were those that were false. And when God looks at the church today upon the earth as it is, there are those that are real and there are those that are false. And I hope you're one of the real ones. Actually born again. Because the Lord Jesus will steal the false profession out of his mouth as we saw in our study of the book of the Revelation. Okay, now please note, look into the next paragraph. Go back with me please to verse four in verse three. Three and four. We read, So he went and took Goma, the daughter of Deblane. She conceived. She bare him a son. And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel. Now look, let me give you, don't pass over this name. Don't pass over any name in the book. There's a message in this name. Hosea didn't have the privilege of naming his child. Neither did his wife Goma. God says, call and call his name Jezreel. And please note your paragraph. Let me read it quickly. The Son is born whose name means, God shall scatter, and God, or God shall sow. His name Jezreel. Thus Israel was to be scattered among the nations. Jezreel was the valley where Jezreel executed his bloody deeds. The speedy end of Israel would come. cattering them among the nations for their whoredom. Now let me give you a little resume about Jezreel. If you know your Bible from the Book of Kings, second Book of Kings particularly, this is Jezreel was the place where wicked King Ahab and Jezreel abode. That was their abiding place in the land of Israel. Jezreel. And that place, Jezreel, under the judgment of God, became the place of judgment. You may remember well that Jehu, whom God raised up, though I doubted he was a real believer in the Lord, as he conducted the... But he was the type of man that God could use to fulfill his judgment upon Ahab as well as upon Jezreel. And you may remember the wicked Jezreel. It was Jesus that commanded the eunuchs to cast him out of the window, throw him out the window and fulfill the prophecy of Elisha that the blood of Jezebel, the dogs would lick. And that you would be slain there. In fact, they ate up. There were no remains to bury. It was the place of judgment. Later on, Jesu wasn't too good a king either, as he took the throne. And following him, you read the account of the kings that followed. They kept murdering each other. One fellow murdered the other to get the kingdom until at last the end came. And God brought judgment upon Jesus' house, and he brought it at Jezreel. That locality. Sometimes it's called the Valley of Jezreel, for it overlooked that great valley where even King Josiah nearly lost his life, where near Megiddo, right next to the valley. I remember years ago in nineteen seventy, I think it was, in Israel. On the side of Megiddo, a lovely sight, looking over the valley of Jezreel. And you could see, with the naked eye, you could look across that valley forty miles, one of the most productive valleys in Israel for production of fruit and so on, vegetation. and possibly the valley of Armageddon, where the last great battle will be fought. And one can realize his name was Jezreel, because God says, I'm going to judge, and I'm going to throw judgment, and I'm going to scatter my people. Now as you read, if you may please read verse five, it shall come to pass in that day, I shall break the bow of Israel. in the Valley of Jezreel. And it was the Assyrian invasion that came to pass to break the strength of Israel. And it was in the Valley of Jezreel. Let me repeat again. Look, this expression, the Valley of Jezreel, you can carry it, in my humble opinion, you can carry it into the interpretation of the last great battle. when the Lord Jesus and who will fight against the nations and the nations shall be surrounding Judea and Jerusalem in that great day of the battle or the campaign of God Almighty. And God will vindicate his judgments upon not only the nations but upon his own earthly people in that day and deliver the remnant. How one can realize it. Now let's go on. Let me read in verse six, if you please. Six and seven we can read. She conceived again and bear a daughter. Now may I say, there's no sign that this child belonged to Hosea. It doesn't say by whom the child was conceived. And I sometimes believe as we shall go on, This is one of the children of her adultery, as we shall see. Well, let me go on and read. She conceived again and bear his son, and God said unto him, call her name, or her daughter, rather, call her name, Lord Ruhama, for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. Look at your paragraph on your lesson sheet, please, first. Next the daughter is born. The prophet receives this name for her, which means not having obtained mercy. Love and mercy were to be withdrawn from Israel. They were to be taken completely away. Now, beloved, one can recognize. Here again we say, here's the name. Lo, as you have it here in the text. Lo, Ruhama. was her name given to her. Meaning, I will not show mercy. I will show no more mercy to my people, Israel. Now, you've got the quotation. Look in your New Testament, if you please. I'd like you to notice, as we have it referred to, I believe, here. Romans chapter nine. Romans chapter nine, please. The Apostle Paul quotes Hosea, in the book of Romans, chapter nine. And let me look with you, please, at verse twenty-five. I want you to see these. Let me look. We'll be back to this later on, God willing. In verse eight, let me begin reading, chapter nine. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. But the children of the promise accounted for the seed. For this is the word of promise. At this time, will I... Oh, I'm reading verse nine. Go way down the chapter, please. Verse twenty-five. Verse twenty-four. Many read verse twenty-three. Get the connection with the Gentiles. And that God might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared unto glory. Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only. but also of the Gentiles, as he says also in Ozea. Now this is the Greek word for Ozea. I will call them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which was not beloved. Now look with me in First Peter, please. Chapter two and verse ten. First Peter, chapter two. And in verse ten, you have the Apostle Peter using the expression, And I hope that you'll recognize the meaning of it for your heart as well as for mine as a believer in the Lord Jesus today. Reading, if I may, in verse ten, at the end of verse nine, it speaks about showing forth the praises of God who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. In other words, one can recognize God in the New Testament is showing us, even through the language of Hosea, that even to the Gentiles, when he set Israel aside, then he showed mercy to the Gentiles. And beloved fellow believer, let me say, for you and for me, relative to this truth, when the girl was born and called Lo, Rose, Rose, Hama, when she was thus born, God says, I want to take mercy away. And beloved, you know, it's a sad thing when God takes his mercy away. But you and I have the joy of knowing when he removed his mercy from Israel. That's what the chapter nine of Romans consists of. When he removed his mercy from Israel and laid them aside, he turned to all, whether Jew or whether Gentile, who would believe on his son, to show them mercy and make them his children. And Peter writes of it, you Gentiles who at one time did not obtain mercy, you've obtained mercy. And one can well realize that the very meaning of that name long ago is implied even in your New Testament and our relationship with God. So let me read in verse seven, if you please. Now when you look at verse seven, God does not refer to Israel, the ten tribes, but to Judah. but I will have mercy upon the house of Judah. We'll save them by the Lord their God. We'll not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. Now let me read the paragraph quickly. The house of Judah is mentioned in verse seven. They were to be saved by the Lord their God, because he had mercy upon them up to that time. and this was fulfilled later during the reign of Ezekiah. Will you please note something? I want you to note it clearly in verse seven. I will save them, but not by bow, nor sword, nor battle, nor horses, nor horsemen. And here is God, now may I say, the tribe of Judah, the kingdom of Judah probably went on another fifty and a hundred and so more years. after the dispersion of Israel. But there came a time they were in danger. For the enemy that took Israel into captivity were the Assyrians. And the Assyrians were the greatest enemy of the people. And when you read, we'll not turn to it, but you've got it in Second Kings, as we have a reference there, in Second Kings chapter nineteen in the days of Hezekiah. Let me give you the thought. God fulfill this prophecy that Hosea mentioned about Judah. For in the days of Hezekiah, and please remember now, look, Hosea lived during the reign of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and possibly fifty years during the reign of Hezekiah, later on. And it was in the days of Hezekiah when the Assyrians came against Jerusalem. to capture it. And God delivered them, not by battle, but by his own power. What happened with them? He smoked the Assyrian army, and you can read the account, he smoked the Assyrian army and flew one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in one night. Now that's a pretty big kill, isn't that? He did not do it by bow. He did not do it by battle. He did not do it by horse. He did not do it by the might and power of human effort. But the angel of the Lord moved, one hundred and eighty-five thousand, and they were dead men in their camp. And God delivered Judah. Now God had mercy upon the house of Judah, for they had not degenerated as far as Israel, the ten tribes. And God offers that mercy to them here. And now, as we go, if we may, well, we don't have too much time to go very, very much further on. But let me read verse eight and nine. And then we'll come in and perhaps close soon. Now when she had ween, Mo Ru Hamas, she conceived and bear a son. Then said God, call his name, Lo am I, for ye are not my people. And I will not be your God. Now read your paragraph. Now the Son is born, and God said, Call His name low am I, meaning not my people. Now I very frankly believe what Hosea could say, that's not my boy. You've got that boy in adultery. And may I go further? I want you to think of two things. I want you to think of them too. The heartache of Hosea. to have an unfaithful wife, and then have to call that child, lo, am I, not mine, the heartache of God. To have to say to his earthly people, not mine, not mine. Oh, beloved, what a travesty and what a tragedy. But let me read the paragraph, if we may, go right on quickly. Lo, Ruhama and Lo, Am I, are symbolical of Israel's rejection and the withdrawal of God's mercy, and that this is not to be permanent. The next verses make very clear. Let me read verse ten and eleven, and we'll close. Now, please note. Now, here again, we find that in the prophecies, no matter the judgment, God sets before them a day of hope and a day of promise. Yes! the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbered it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them ye are not my people there it shall be said unto them ye are the sons of the living God then shall the children of Judah now note all the kingdom the northern as well as the southern Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head They shall come up out of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel. Let me just close by commenting briefly. You've got the expression at the end. Here's the prophecy of Jezreel. Isn't that great day of the Lord God Almighty, mighty, and His battle in Armageddon? God is going to deliver a remnant of His people from Judah and Judah and Israel, and they'll be together under one. And the heads got to be known that the Lord Jesus Christ, their blessed, coming, glorious Messiah. Please, may I say again, you've got some of the most tragic references to the state of Israel, morally and spiritually and politically to that God had to come in and sweep it away in judgment. And yet, you see, the bright hope of a coming day. when their Messiah will come. Oh, beloved, here again you and I can realize in that day of the great battle of God Almighty in the Valley of Jezreel, God will then be able when thus the judgments are finished and the blessings are shown to say to his people, you are my people. Shall we pray? Blessed Father, we thank you for thy precious words. All within our hearts, it encourages the longing, the desire, and the blessed hope of our Lord's return. When Christ shall reign on and over the earth in all of his glory, when under his blessed reign his earthly people, the godly remnant that will be spared shall be enjoying the blessing of that millennial day. Do, oh, Father, how we thank thee. It warms the heart of a believer today. We look not for him to come for us as the king of all the earth. We look for him to come as the bridegroom of the church. And say, even so come, Lord Jesus. Even so come today. Even so come, Lord Jesus, taking thy bride away. Oh, how my heart is yearning, longing for thy returning. Even so come, Lord Jesus. even so come today. In thy precious name we ask it giving thanks. Amen. Thank you again for coming. Let me encourage you. Read the word, read the book through over and over again, and meet with us God willing next week, and we'll continue.