Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries |
Prophecy of the restoration of Israel in the Millennium and a call out to believe now.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Hosea had been called upon by God to perform one of the most difficult tasks ever committed to one of the prophets—He was to marry a harlot in order to act out a pageant of love linked to unfaithfulness and adultery.
Hosea would represent God and his harlot wife would represent Israel, the faithless and adulterous one.
The first child was named Jezreel - to grasp an object and throw it away. It was in the valley of Jezreel that Jehu exterminated the family of Ahab to take power over Israel.
To name this child Jezreel was the announcement by God that He would scatter the children of Israel as a man takes a handful of litter and throws it to the wind.
The second child was named Lo-Ruhamah which means pitied with the negative Lo it means to “not be pitied.” It was the announcement by God that the day would come when the children of Israel would have no pity from Him.
The third child was named Lo-Ammi which means simply “not-my-people.”
If someone had written a three-volume history of the Jews, it would have been impossible to find titles more exactly describing these last three thousand years of their history: Jezreel, Lo-Ruhamah, Lo-Ammi—scattered, not pitied, and not my people.
God will restore Israel just like, whenever you and I need recovery from reversionism and apostasy, God will restore us when we rebound and recover.
The prophecy continues and God announces that the names of the children shall yet be changed.
Just as Jezreel is the Hebrew word that describes the action when the human hand grasps an object and throws it away, even so the same word is that which describes the action when the sower takes a handful of grain and plants it for the new harvest.
Thus, the name of the first child was changed by God from Scattered to Planted, and that of the second child from Not Pitied to Pitied, and that of the third child from Not-My-People to My People.
This grace was made possible by God’s coming in the Christ to die and to provide redemption for lost men. This is the defeat of Satan and also the just grounds for his condemnation.
Any anti-Semitism which exists today is not only a sin against man; it is a sin against Deity.
Therefore, if you have been with us through this whole study of Romans 9, the main theme is not the eventual blessing of Israel but the present blessing of Israel and Gentile alike, as individuals are called out of both groups to form the body of believers that is the true Church.
But God is never thwarted by man’s failures. God continued the client nation concept through the Gentiles as well as incorporating born again Jews under one body, the Church.
Once we were bearers of other names, names of horror. We were goyim, Gentiles, who were called dogs, we were “the uncircumcision,” and when the name is used of Gentiles in the New Testament, there is the lash of scorn to be found in it. (EPH 2:11)
Before Christ came, we were Christless, hopeless, and Godless!
Then Christ dies and grace is seen overflowing. Those who were once outside as unclean dogs are now “the sons of the living God.”