The Gut Punch Power of God's Love

This verse has to be the biggest gut punch for knowing God's love in the Bible. 

Hosea 3:1 (ESV) 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.”

Could you imagine this ask of the Lord? He wants Hosea to remarry his wife, purchasing her out of slavery while she is the property of another man. And God says plainly, this is how the LORD loves the children of Israel. 

Hosea actually has to purchase her. 

Hosea 3:2 (ESV) So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.

We see in this passage a picture of two things. The insidious nature of sin and the indescribable love of God. Hosea's name is close to the name of Jesus in Hebrew. This is on purpose for Jesus is the true Hosea who does not give up on wayward people. He loves us even when we are ensnared in our sin. Moreover, He PAYS for us to be free. 

Titus 2:14 (ESV) (He) gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

You want to know what else? In the ancient world, slaves were sold naked. So all the men in the marketplace would have seen Gomer completely exposed and shamed. And Hosea had to bear the shame of repurchasing her, even though she was his wife. 

On the Cross, Jesus bears the shame of our sins in Himself. He goes one step further than Hosea. He is the one stripped for us. He is the one shamed for us. He is the one who people stared at and mocked so that we might be covered and forgiven! What grace!

The next step in the process is to isolate the woman with Hosea.

Hosea 3:3 (ESV) 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.”

As God described in chapter 2, the people will be brought out of their land and enter a wilderness season again, where they will be brought to the Father's heart and learn to trust Him again. They will lose what they trust in so much as Hosea tells us in the next verse:

Hosea 3:4 (ESV) For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.

What will they lose? Everything they thought made them untouchable. No king or royal family. No sacrifices and offerings, no temple, no priest, and no personal idols. God will strip them bare in Babylon, and when they get to that place, they will realize they needed only Him. 

Hosea 3:5 (ESV) 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.

Let us not miss this promise that has yet to find fulfillment in Israel. They are still without their King. The nation is still scattered, although many are moving back to the land. God has a purpose for the nation of Israel in the last days, and as we watch the news, it gets more and more clear that this nation should be on our mind.

Finally, when we speak of the Lord's love, we have to define it scripturally, not culturally. Culture puts God's love in the hallmark section of the local pharmacy. It will say sweet nothings to you in prose but it has no power to change your life. God's love is going to damage your heart in a good way. It's going to remove the things that should not be there so that you come to a place where all you want is what He can give you.

Culture believes God is up in heaven trying to help us out. The Bible reveals a love from God that hollows us out.