Hosea and Micah

1
Hosea and Micah
2
Chronology
3
Why so much attention to other nations?

• Chapter one fire from heaven
• The LORD says, People of Israel, I think as
  much of the people of Ethiopia as I do of you. I
  brought the Philistines from Crete and the
  Syrians from Kir, just as I brought you from
  Egypt. (Amos 97 GN)

4
We are all Gods children

• The Gentiles do not have the Law but whenever
  they do by instinct what the Law commands, they
  are their own law, even though they do not have
  the Law. Their conduct shows that what the Law
  commands is written in their hearts. Their
  consciences also show that this is true, since
  their thoughts sometimes accuse them and
  sometimes defend them.
• And so, according to the Good News I preach, this
  is how it will be on that Day when God through
  Jesus Christ will judge the secret thoughts of
  all. (Romans 214-16 GN)

5
We are all Gods children

• Rahab
• Ruth
• Naaman
• Nebuchadnezzar
• Cyrus
• 3 wise men
• Roman officer
• I tell you, I have never found anyone in Israel
  with faith like this. I assure you that many will
  come from the east and the west and sit down with
  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the
  Kingdom of heaven. But those who should be in the
  Kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness,
  where they will cry and gnash their teeth.
  (Matthew 810-12 GN)
• Canaanite woman
• You are a woman of great faith! (Matthew 1528
  GN)

6
Hosea

• The people of Israel are as stubborn as mules.
  How can I feed them like lambs in a meadow? The
  people of Israel are under the spell of idols.
  (Hosea 416,17 GN)

7
Hosea

• Hosea lived in Israel - a contemporary of Amos.
• Both warned about what was soon to happen
• Samaria fell because the Israelites sinned
  against the LORD their God, who had rescued them
  from the king of Egypt and had led them out of
  Egypt. They worshiped other gods, followed the
  customs of the people whom the LORD had driven
  out as his people advanced, and adopted customs
  introduced by the kings of Israel. The Israelites
  did things that the LORD their God disapproved
  of. They built pagan places of worship in all
  their towns, from the smallest village to the
  largest city. On all the hills and under every
  shady tree they put up stone pillars and images
  of the goddess Asherah, and they burned incense
  on all the pagan altars, following the practice
  of the people whom the LORD had driven out of the
  land. They aroused the LORDs anger with all
  their wicked deeds and disobeyed the LORDs
  command not to worship idols. The LORD had sent
  his messengers and prophets to warn Israel and
  Judah Abandon your evil ways and obey my
  commands, which are contained in the Law I gave
  to your ancestors and which I handed on to you
  through my servants the prophets.

8
Hosea

• But they would not obey they were stubborn like
  their ancestors, who had not trusted in the LORD
  their God. They refused to obey his instructions,
  they did not keep the covenant he had made with
  their ancestors, and they disregarded his
  warnings. They worshiped worthless idols and
  became worthless themselves, and they followed
  the customs of the surrounding nations,
  disobeying the LORDs command not to imitate
  them. They broke all the laws of the LORD their
  God and made two metal bull-calves to worship
  they also made an image of the goddess Asherah,
  worshiped the stars, and served the god Baal.
  They sacrificed their sons and daughters as burnt
  offerings to pagan gods they consulted mediums
  and fortunetellers, and they devoted themselves
  completely to doing what is wrong in the LORDs
  sight, and so aroused his anger. The LORD was
  angry with the Israelites and banished them from
  his sight, leaving only the kingdom of Judah. But
  even the people of Judah did not obey the laws of
  the LORD their God they imitated the customs
  adopted by the people of Israel. The LORD
  rejected all the Israelites, punishing them and
  handing them over to cruel enemies until at last
  he had banished them from his sight. (2 Kings
  177-20 GN)

9
Hosea

• What is the fundamental problem?
• My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
  Because you have rejected knowledge, I also
  reject you as my priests (Hosea 46 NIV)
• Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel!
  The Lord has filed a lawsuit against you, saying
  There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no
  knowledge of God in your landMy people are being
  destroyed because they dont know me. It is all
  your fault, you priests, for you yourselves
  refuse to know me. Now I refuse to recognize you
  as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws
  of your God, I will forget to bless your
  children. The more priests there are, the more
  they sin against me. They have exchanged the
  glory of God for the disgrace of idols. (Hosea
  41,6,7 NLT)
• Go away, I never knew you

10
Hosea

• The people say, Lets return to the LORD! He
  has hurt us, but he will be sure to heal us he
  has wounded us, but he will bandage our wounds,
  wont he? In two or three days he will revive us,
  and we will live in his presence. Let us try to
  know the LORD. He will come to us as surely as
  the day dawns, as surely as the spring rains fall
  upon the earth. But the LORD says, Israel and
  Judah, what am I going to do with you? Your love
  for me disappears as quickly as morning mist it
  is like dew, that vanishes early in the day. That
  is why I have sent my prophets to you with my
  message of judgment and destruction. What I want
  from you is plain and clear I want your constant
  love, not your animal sacrifices. I would rather
  have my people know me than burn offerings to me.
  (Hosea 61-6 GN)
• Constant love - animal sacrifices
• Know me - burn offerings

11
To know God

• What shall I bring to the LORD, the God of
  heaven, when I come to worship him? Shall I bring
  the best calves to burn as offerings to him? Will
  the LORD be pleased if I bring him thousands of
  sheep or endless streams of olive oil? Shall I
  offer him my first-born child to pay for my sins?
  No, the LORD has told us what is good. What he
  requires of us is this to do what is just, to
  show constant love, and to live in humble
  fellowship with our God. (Micah 66-8 GN)

12
To know God

• On Zion, Gods sacred hill, there will be
  nothing harmful or evil. The land will be as full
  of knowledge of the LORD as the seas are full of
  water. (Isaiah 119)
• How precious, O God, is your constant love! We
  find protection under the shadow of your wings.
  We feast on the abundant food you provide you
  let us drink from the river of your goodness. You
  are the source of all life, and because of your
  light we see the light. Continue to love those
  who know you and to do good to those who are
  righteous. (Psalms 367-10 GN)
• And eternal life means to know you, the only
  true God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom you
  sent. (John 173 GN)
• We know that the Son of God has come and has
  given us understanding, so that we know the true
  God. We live in union with the true God---in
  union with his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true
  God, and this is eternal life. (1 John 520
  GODS WORD)

13
To know God

• I reckon everything as complete loss for the
  sake of what is so much more valuable, the
  knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I
  have thrown everything away I consider it all as
  mere garbage, so that I may gain Christ and be
  completely united with him. (Philippians 38,9
  GN)
• I have not stopped giving thanks to God for you.
  I remember you in my prayers and ask the God of
  our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to
  give you the Spirit, who will make you wise and
  reveal God to you, so that you will know him.
  (Ephesians 116,17 GN)

14
What is Gods message to his very disobedient
children?

• When the LORD first spoke to Hosea, the LORD
  told him, Marry a prostitute, and have children
  with that prostitute. The people in this land
  have acted like prostitutes and abandoned the
  LORD. (Hosea 12 GODS WORD)
• After her unfaithfulness
• The LORD said to me, Go again and show your
  love for a woman who is committing adultery with
  a lover. You must love her just as I still love
  the people of Israel, even though they turn to
  other gods and like to take offerings of raisins
  to idols. So I paid fifteen pieces of silver and
  seven bushels of barley to buy her. (Hosea 31-2
  GN)
• We are the prostitute wife
• My children, plead with your mother---though she
  is no longer a wife to me, and I am no longer her
  husband. Plead with her to stop her adultery and
  prostitutionShe would never acknowledge that I
  am the one who gave her the grain, the wine, the
  olive oil, and all the silver and gold that she
  used in the worship of Baal. (Hosea 22, 8 GN)
  
• I will make you my wife forever, showing you
  righteousness and justice, unfailing love and
  compassion. I will be faithful to you and make
  you mine, and you will finally know me as Lord.
  (Hosea 219,20 NLT)

15
What is God doing?

• Do you have contempt for God, who is very kind
  to you, puts up with you, and deals patiently
  with you? Dont you realize that it is Gods
  kindness that is trying to lead you to him and
  change the way you think and act? (Romans 24
  GODS WORD)
• But God has shown us how much he loves usit was
  while we were still sinners that Christ died for
  us! (Romans 58 GN)
• Gods love a constant?
• One of the disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,
  was sitting next to Jesus. (John 1323 GN)
• Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved
  standing there so he said to his mother, He is
  your son. (John 1926 GN)
• Peter turned around and saw behind him that
  other disciple, whom Jesus loved---the one who
  had leaned close to Jesus at the meal (John
  2120 GN)

16
Intimacy with God

• When you were born, no one cut your umbilical
  cord or washed you or rubbed you with salt or
  wrapped you in cloths. No one took enough pity on
  you to do any of these things for you. When you
  were born, no one loved you. You were thrown out
  in an open field. Then I passed by and saw you
  squirming in your own blood. You were covered
  with blood, but I wouldn't let you die. I made
  you grow like a healthy plant. You grew strong
  and tall and became a young woman. Your breasts
  were well-formed, and your hair had grown, but
  you were naked. As I passed by again, I saw that
  the time had come for you to fall in love. I
  covered your naked body with my coat and promised
  to love you. Yes, I made a marriage covenant with
  you, and you became mine. This is what the
  Sovereign LORD says. (Ezekiel 164-8 GN)

17
Intimacy with God

• Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved
  the church and gave his life for it. He did this
  to dedicate the church to God by his word, after
  making it clean by washing it in water, in order
  to present the church to himself in all its
  beauty---pure and faultless, without spot or
  wrinkle or any other imperfection. Men ought to
  love their wives just as they love their own
  bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself.
  (None of us ever hate our own bodies. Instead, we
  feed them, and take care of them, just as Christ
  does the church for we are members of his body.)
  As the scripture says, For this reason a man
  will leave his father and mother and unite with
  his wife, and the two will become one. There is
  a deep secret truth revealed in this scripture,
  which I understand as applying to Christ and the
  church. (Ephesians 525-32 GN)

18
Intimacy with God

• Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The
  first heaven and the first earth disappeared, and
  the sea vanished. And I saw the Holy City, the
  new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from
  God, prepared and ready, like a bride dressed to
  meet her husband. I heard a loud voice speaking
  from the throne Now Gods home is with people!
  He will live with them, and they shall be his
  people. God himself will be with them, and he
  will be their God. He will wipe away all tears
  from their eyes... (Revelation 211-4 GN)

19
Religious, but a false picture of God

• They take their sheep and cattle to offer as
  sacrifices to the LORD, but it does them no good.
  They cannot find him, for he has left them.
  (Hosea 56 GN)
• The LORD says, Sound the alarm! Enemies are
  swooping down on my land like eagles! My people
  have broken the covenant I made with them and
  have rebelled against my teaching. Even though
  they call me their God and claim that they are my
  people and that they know me, they have rejected
  what is good. Because of this their enemies will
  pursue them. (Hosea 81-3 GN)
• The more altars the people of Israel build for
  removing sin, the more places they have for
  sinning! I write down countless teachings for the
  people, but they reject them as strange and
  foreign. They offer sacrifices to me and eat the
  meat of the sacrifices. But I, the LORD, am not
  pleased with them, and now I will remember their
  sin and punish them for it I will send them back
  to Egypt! (Hosea 811-13 GN)

20
We become like the God we worship

• The LORD says, When I first found Israel, it
  was like finding grapes growing in the desert.
  When I first saw your ancestors, it was like
  seeing the first ripe figs of the season. But
  when they came to Mount Peor, they began to
  worship Baal and soon became as disgusting as the
  gods they loved. (Hosea 910 GN)
• They worshiped worthless idols and became
  worthless themselves (2 Kings 1715 GN)

21
We become like the God we worship

• They say they are wise, but they are
  fools instead of worshiping the immortal God,
  they worship images made to look like mortals or
  birds or animals or reptiles. And so God has
  given those people over to do the filthy things
  their hearts desire, and they do shameful things
  with each other. They exchange the truth about
  God for a lie they worship and serve what God
  has created instead of the Creator himself, who
  is to be praised forever! Amen. Because they do
  this, God has given them over to shameful
  passions.Because those people refuse to keep in
  mind the true knowledge about God, he has given
  them over to corrupted minds, so that they do the
  things that they should not do. (Romans
  122-26,28 GN).

22
We become like the God we worship

• The LORD says What accusation did your
  ancestors bring against me? What made them turn
  away from me? They worshiped worthless idols and
  became worthless themselves. The priests did not
  ask, Where is the LORD? My own priests did not
  know me. The rulers rebelled against me the
  prophets spoke in the name of Baal and worshiped
  useless idols. (Jeremiah 25,8 GN)
• May all who made them (idols) and who trust in
  them become like the idols they have made.
  (Psalms 1158 GN)

23
What will God do to rebels?

• When Israel was a child, I loved him as a son,
  and I called my son out of Egypt. But the more I
  called to him, the more he rebelled, offering
  sacrifices to the images of Baal and burning
  incense to idols. It was I who taught Israel how
  to walk, leading him along by the hand. But he
  doesnt know or even care that it was I who took
  care of him. I led Israel along with my ropes of
  kindness and love. I lifted the yoke from his
  neck, and I myself stooped to feed him. But since
  my people refuse to return to me, they will go
  back to Egypt and will be forced to serve
  Assyria. War will swirl through their cities
  their enemies will crash through their gates and
  destroy them, trapping them in their own evil
  plans. For my people are determined to desert me.
  They call me the Most High, but they dont truly
  honor me. Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How
  can I let you go? How can I destroy you like
  Admah and Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me,
  and my compassion overflows. (Hosea 111-8 NLT)

24
But, what if.

• Saul
• Fear, force, manipulation, threatening
• Stephen Lord! Do not remember this sin against
  them! (Acts 760 GN)
• Jesus Forgive them, Father! (Luke 2334)
• Damascus road
• I saw a light much brighter than the sun, coming
  from the sky and shining around me and the men
  traveling with me. All of us fell to the ground,
  and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, Saul,
  Saul Why are you persecuting me? You are hurting
  yourself by hitting back, like an ox kicking
  against its owners stick. Saul replied, Who
  are you, LordAnd the Lord answered, I am Jesus,
  whom you persecute (Acts 2613-15 GN).
• Paul
• Freedom, love
• But even if we or an angel from heaven should
  preach to you a gospel that is different from the
  one we preached to you, may he be condemned to
  hell! (Galatians 19 GN)

25
We become like the God we worship

• Dear friends, let us love one another, because
  love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of
  God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not
  know God, for God is love. And God showed his
  love for us by sending his only Son into the
  world, so that we might have life through himNo
  one has ever seen God, but if we love one
  another, God lives in union with us, and his love
  is made perfect in us. We are sure that we live
  in union with God and that he lives in union with
  us, because he has given us his SpiritLove is
  made perfect in us in order that we may have
  courage on the Judgment Day and we will have it
  because our life in this world is the same as
  Christs (1 John 47-9, 12,13,17 GN).
• Nothing between us and God, our faces shining
  with the brightness of his face. And so we are
  transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives
  gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as
  God enters our lives and we become like him. (2
  Corinthians 317,18 The Message)
• Yes, may you come to know his love---although it
  can never be fully known---and so be completely
  filled with the very nature of God. (Ephesians
  319 GN)

26
The spiritual temple

• Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of
  Gods temple. He was rejected by the people, but
  he is precious to God who chose him. And now God
  is building you, as living stones, into his
  spiritual temple. (1 Peter 3)
• I will make those who are victorious pillars in
  the temple of my God, and they will never leave
  it (Revelation 312).
• You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by
  the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being
  Christ Jesus himself. He is the one who holds the
  whole building together and makes it grow into a
  sacred temple dedicated to the Lord. In union
  with him you too are being built together with
  all the others into a place where God lives
  through his Spirit (Ephesians 220-22).

27
The spiritual temple

• Surely you know that you are Gods temple and
  that Gods Spirit lives in you! God will destroy
  anyone who destroys God's temple. For God's
  temple is holy, and you yourselves are his
  temple (1 Corinthians 317 - GN).
• Dont you know that your body is the temple of
  the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was
  given to you by God? (1 Corinthians 619 - GN)
• For we are the temple of the living God! As God
  himself has said, I will make my home with my
  people and live among them I will be their God,
  and they shall be my people (2 Corinthians 616
  - GN).
• We are his house if we keep up our courage and
  our confidence in what we hope for (Hebrews 36
  - GN).

28
The spiritual temple

• Do not let anyone deceive you in any way. For
  the Day will not come until the final Rebellion
  takes place and the Wicked One appears, who is
  destined to hell. He will oppose every so-called
  god or object of worship and will put himself
  above them all. He will even go in and sit down
  in Gods Temple and claim to be God. (2
  Thessalonians 23-4 GN)

29

• Seal of God to be settled into the truth about
  the kind of Person God is.
• Mark of the beast to be settled into a false
  picture of God.