DIGGING DEEP NO 983 May 2, 2023 SIN’S APPALLING CONSEQUENCES AND GOD’S REDEMPTION

Betrayal inflicts a uniquely sharp and painful wound. A sadly common experience, betrayal takes on many forms in this life. Abandoned friendships, shattered family relationships, and manipulative workplace dynamics often involve betrayal. Perhaps the heartbreaking experience of adultery within marriage represents the most intimate betrayal of all. The forsaken spouse faces crippling grief and deep anger, and they long for a safe place to flee. God used this all-too-familiar pain to illustrate His relationship with His covenant people, Israel. The prophet Hosea remained faithful as he faced the agonizing pain inflicted by his adulterous wife, Gomer. Like Hosea, God is no stranger to betrayal. The Israelites repeatedly turned from God to idols, though He loved and chose them as His own people. Jesus experienced betrayal by His disciple Judas. Sadly, we are much like the Israelites and Hosea’s unfaithful wife – prone to wander into sin. Times of grief, turmoil, or temptation can cause our eyes and hearts to turn away from God. Yet God remains faithful despite our waywardness. God relentlessly pursues wayward people. He stubbornly holds fast to His children — always seeking to bring them back to Himself.

The Wages of Sin –Hosea 2:2-23

Sin’s Barrenness – 2:2-5 Hosea revealed the stark reality experienced by those who abandon God. Hosea’s astonishingly descriptive words described the excruciating pain experienced by a forsaken spouse. “Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.” Sin’s piercing consequences fell on Gomer, who found herself stripped naked, parched, and thirsty. Her unrelenting sin also brought suffering to her children. Hosea refused to extend his love to these children conceived in disgrace. Hosea’s appalling story mirrors God’s story. Israel turned away from God and suffered deserved punishment. God’s intimate love for His people elevates the painful reality of unfaithfulness to Him. God knows the number of hairs on our heads. He knit us together in our mother’s womb. However easily we can criticize Israel and Gomer, reflecting on the waywardness in our own hearts seems wiser. Like Gomer and Israel, we are also prone to wander from God. Our sin also brings consequences, even as we experience God’s mercy. Unfaithfulness to God ignores His grace and ultimately leads to emptiness, barrenness, and pain.

Sin’s Futility –Hosea 2:6-8 God relentlessly pursues sinners to change their course and move them toward repentance. Gomer not only gave herself to adulterous relationships with men, but she also prostituted herself to other gods. She foolishly offered Hosea lavish gifts and provisions in Baal worship. Gomer’s futile pursuit of sin resulted in God walling her in – blocking her path with thornbushes. The fulfillment she chased with her lovers escaped her. Gomer’s pursuit of sin left her hollow and empty-handed with nowhere to turn, another reflection of Israel’s peril.

Gomer would realize her desperation and confess her desire to return to her husband, but not actually do so. Why? Sin’s fierce grip entraps and blinds people in confounding ways. Despite her profession, Gomer refused to give up her sin, repent, and return to her husband. She continued to reject Hosea, failing to recognize him as her generous provider. In the very same way, Israel failed to acknowledge God as their provider. The nation committed the same sins of adultery and prostitution against God by worshiping other gods. Sin’s bitter consequences await those who reject God.

Sin’s Ruin –Hosea 2:9-13 Sin brings barrenness and futility and leads to ruin. Gomer’s punishment foreshadows Israel’s judgment. God took away Gomer’s ripened grain and new wine along with the wool and linen intended to cover her naked body. The lewdness her lovers perceived led them to reject her. Gomer’s celebrations ceased as she suffered the desolation and ruin of sin. She found herself alone and rejected. Her fig trees and vines turned into a thicket devoured by wild animals. Sin never delivers what it promises.

Sin’s Remedy –Hosea 2:14-23 God seeks to restore broken people caught in their sin. God shined hope into Israel’s desperate situation as Hosea’s prophecy turned to Israel. God promised to speak tenderly to Israel, lead her into the wilderness, and restore her purity as His people. Israel would again turn to God and call Him “my husband,” and Baal’s name would be removed from her lips. Israel would find herself forever betrothed to God, whose redeeming love gleams forth. Restored in the land, Israel would experience God’s unconditional love as He declares, “You are my people.” These promises highlight the compassion, righteousness, justice, and faithfulness of God. God alone so loves His people and provides a needed remedy for their sins.

The Way of Redemption –

Redeeming Love Illustrated – Hosea 3:1

Redeeming Love Applied.

Gomer’s descent into adultery landed her on a slave’s auction block. In a shocking example of unconditional love, God sent Hosea to buy her back. – 3:2-5 Hosea obeyed God’s command. He found Gomer on an auction block for slaves and bought her back for 15 shekels of silver along with nearly a bushel and a half of barley. Hosea invited Gomer to forsake her adulterous ways and live properly as his wife. With tender mercy, Hosea pledged his own faithfulness to Gomer. In this amazing expression of redemptive love, Hosea restored Gomer as his wife.

This stunning picture beautifully depicts God’s redeeming love. Like Gomer, God’s redeemed were once helplessly held captive by sin. On their own, wayward sinners bear the weight of their guilt and shame and cannot escape sin’s eternal consequence – death. God’s faithful love offers hope to sinners. God sent His Son to fully pay the purchase price to redeem and rescue desperate people. Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, paid for sin with His precious blood.9 Through faith in Christ, God delivers believers from a wasted life and into a glorious eternity. Jesus, our Redeemer, deserves resounding thanks, praise, devotion, and honor for His sacrifice on behalf of the undeserving. We are more like Gomer than we care to admit. Sin’s wanderlust leads us away from the only true source of soul satisfaction – intimate fellowship with God. When we fail to understand our need for redemption, we wrongly overestimate our own goodness. We can characterize our sin as merely wrong choices or bad decisions, rather than rebellion against God. We foolishly choose lesser loves that can never truly meet our deepest needs. In rebellion and pride, we commit spiritual adultery against our Creator, who loves and seeks us as His own. We are sinners in need of the Savior. Do you recognize both your persistent waywardness and God’s relentless pursuit of your heart? God loves you too much to let you wander into desolation and emptiness. In boundless love and at the cost of His own Son, God invites you to find life and hope in Christ. God loves you in the greatest possible way. Those who believe that Jesus suffered, died, and rose again on their behalf experience undeserved redemption and overwhelming joy. God rescues us from our “Gomerness” because Jesus paid the price to buy us back from sin’s bondage. Job 19:25 says, “I know that my redeemer lives and that in the end, he will stand on the earth.” God enables us to live a redeemed life now and anticipate the day when we will see our Redeemer face-to-face!