In this episode, we explore the intriguing story of Hosea, a prophet commanded to marry a harlot, and the enduring lessons his life teaches us about God’s unwavering pursuit of His people. With commentary from Dr. McGee, we delve into the personal trials and divine promise within Hosea’s narrative, relating it to the ancient Israelis’ struggles and victories. We also touch on listener experiences and prayers, highlighting the universal theme of turning back to faith and finding solace in spiritual practices.
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The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
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Welcome to Through the Bible. Early in this study, Dr. J. Vernon McGee shares with us about how to get victory in the spiritual life. He mentions how Joshua’s army got the victory at Jericho because God led the charge. But the next battle was over the small city of Ai, and the army thought they could handle that one on their own without trusting God. But of course they were wrong. Dr. McGee says a great many people think they can live the Christian life in their own strength, which always means defeat. We’re in Hosea 2, where God says, I’ll take the name of Baal out of your vocabulary. And you know, he did. In fact, after 70 years as prisoners of war, the Jews finally broke their addiction to worshiping foreign gods. Where the word of God is not honored, worshiping other gods is a common thread. But spiritual victory is possible. And you know, the book of Hosea has some surprising lessons for us. But as we learn, the most painful lessons are in our relationships, aren’t they? Specifically in our homes. And you know, many of our listeners have recently reached out asking for prayer in their heartbreak, and others are praising him at the same time for bringing them through. So as you find your seat on the Bible bus, I want to share a couple of letters. First, we’re going to hear from a wife in Algeria who writes… My husband is an alcoholic, and most of the time I have no idea where he is. We go long periods of time without seeing him. He does not have a job and pushes us into more debt. I have a daughter to support, and there is no one I can talk to about this situation. Thank you for the program, which is my only friend. Next we hear from Mike. He’s in the U.S. Like so many, I found TTB by accident on the radio, where I first heard a program that seemed to be spending time on a book not often covered in detail, 2 John. Then I heard Steve mention this was a five-year study of each book of the Bible, and I was hooked. I listened for many years until I fell away. A few years later, after about a depression and divorce, I began listening again. Praise God, the Bible bus was still there. Jesus, incredibly patient, yet powerful and loving. He stood by me, and I realized he’s permanently in me and I in him. If he is for me, who can be effective against me? I love you, Jesus, and I praise you for using the many men and women who bring your word throughout the world for your glory. And thank you, Steve, Greg, and all my brothers and sisters all over the world. Well, Mike, thanks for that encouraging letter. Thanks for sharing your story too. Now, our last letter comes from Berenice in Brazil. I wanted to share with you what God has been talking to me about these past few days. I’ve been divorced for two years now. About a year ago, I started listening to your programs. I already knew you since my grandmother listened when I was a child. Through your teaching, God has been transforming my life, my way of thinking, and my character. I returned to the ways of the Lord and put my life in his hands. For a few weeks, I have been talking to my ex-husband again. I ask you to pray for us. I wrote this while crying and asking God to restore my marriage. Well, would you join us as we pray for the families of our fellow Bible bus passengers? And then also that we would praise God for the work that he’s already doing in their lives. You can do that by signing up for our world prayer team in our app or online over at ttb.org. Let’s pray together now. Father, thank you for the gift of studying your word together. We lift up those whose families are hurting and broken. You know the pain, Lord. You know the division. You know the struggles that they face. We would ask that you would bring healing, that you would mend what has been torn apart. Bring comfort to those who are hurting and reconciliation where there is strife and hope where there is despair. May your peace be with all those who need it today, Lord. In Jesus’ name. Here’s Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Hosea 2 on Through the Bible.
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We are in this section of Hosea. That is the personal section. This is that section. That deals with the personal life, the home life of this man who was told to do a rather unusual thing, to say the least. And that is he was to marry a harlot. Apparently a girl, he’d fallen in love with her and she had gone bad. And so we find now that God asked him to go and marry her. And we’ll see she’ll become unfaithful again. And God again insists that he go and take her. Now, we have here, and I’m going to backtrack here to verse 15 of chapter 2. He says to this nation of Israel there to be restored. And as I said last time, and I probably will say it several times, you cannot read this prophecy. That is, take the whole prophecy and come to any other position than God is not through with the nation Israel. I don’t care what your theology is, friends. The Word of God is the important thing. And you might be able to spiritualize this, but I don’t think you can do that. Because when God speaks here, he’s using a great deal of geography. And I think that when God says Israel and Ephraim, He’s talking about a definite people, and He’s not talking about you and me. But there are tremendous lessons here for us, not only as individuals, but I think for the nation, for that matter. And there was a time when this nation would hear the Word of God, but they’ve long since passed that stage. I’m reading verse 15 again, and God says, “…I will give her her vineyards there.” and the valley of Achor were a door of hope. Now, you will recall when the children of Israel came into the land, there were actually three major enemies in the center of that land that had to be eliminated so Joshua could divide the enemy and then concentrate on one section at a time. The first was Jericho. Jericho represents the world. And then he made an attack upon Ai. That represents the flesh. He thought that was easy. And a great many people today think they can live the Christian life in their own strength by means of the flesh. And that always means defeat, by the way. And Joshua was defeated at Ai. But a great lesson was learned there. And God brought them down to the valley of Achor. And Achan was found there to be the one who had sinned at the destruction of Jericho. God told him not to touch any of the unclean things there. And those people were eaten up with venereal disease. And God had a reason for it. But this man disobeyed. And old Joshua, you remember, went down on his face and cried out to God. And he was as pious as I’ve been at times complaining to the Lord. Lord says, get up off your face. Israel hath sinned. You have to deal with sin before you can have a victory. And God says, now you deal with the sin. And they dealt with it in the valley of Achor. And from then on, it was victory for this man, Joshua. When you deal with the sins of the flesh, it’ll mean victory. And therefore, he says here, and the valley of Achor, a door of hope. God says again, I’ll judge your sin. And after I’ve judged your sin, there’ll be a glorious, wonderful hope for you in the future. And she shall sing there as in the days of her youth and in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. So he’s definitely referring to that period. And we’ll read on now. It shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shall call me Ishii, and shall call me no more Baali. And you have in that the word Baal, but it means Lord. You see, they were running around calling God Lord, Lord. And they were worshiping God at the same time, at least they thought they were. And they were worshiping Baal. You can’t do both, by the way. And God says, though the day is coming that thou shall call me Ishi. And that is intimate. Oh, how intimate that is. That speaks of a husband. You will call me my husband. And that speaks of intimacy, speaks of love. Oh, it speaks of that which is on the highest plane that’s imaginable. And even the name of Baal will be forgotten, you see. Now he says, verse 17, “…I’ll take away the names of Balaam out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.” In other words, they’ll turn from idolatry. Now, he says in verse 18, “…and in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, with the fowls of the heaven, with the creeping things of the ground, and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.” Now, even the animals in that land, as in our land today, There’s a danger of many a species becoming extinct. Some already have. God says that the animals have a right to this world. He created them and put them here. And he says in that day, he’s going to make a covenant with the beasts. And that’s when the lion and the lamb are going to lie down together. Now, today they lie down together, but the lamb’s always inside the lion. But in that day, they’ll lie down together. That is something we think very little of today. And all of a sudden in this country, we’ve taken an interest in what is known as ecology. That is the land and the animals that are in the land. And have you ever noticed that all the way through the Word of God, that God is considering the animals and also he’s considering the land itself, blessing to the land? Man, you know, is a polluter. He’s a sinner on the inside and he’s a sinner on the outside. And everything that man touches is nothing in the world but sin. And today they’re trying to get us not to throw things along the highway around, not be a litter bug. And it’s now a fine if you do that. And it’s a good thing it is. I remember driving out from a hunt that a couple of friends of mine had several years ago out on the Mojave Desert. We were coming down the highway and the sun was going down and it was hitting the side of the road, and on both sides there was just a beam, a flash of light. I’ve never seen anything like it. You know what it was? Broken beer bottles and whiskey bottles and I guess a few bottles of soda pop. But man, he’s a polluter everywhere he goes. God says, I’m going to also take care of this earth here. And thank God for that. I don’t think men are going to be able to do it. Now, in verse 19, he goes on to say here, and I will betroth thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in justice and in loving kindness and in mercies. And I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord. Now, we’re coming to something that is very wonderful here. Actually, the word betroth here means to woo a virgin. It means to court a girl. Many of you men can remember your wife when she was a girl, how pretty she was and how you courted her. And by the way, you ought to remember it more often. He said a lot of sweet things then. The other evening, my wife and I were sitting out on the patio. I made this when I was recuperating from my physical trouble. And we were just talking about the fact that we are getting old. And I took a look at her and I have to say she is getting old like I am. But I can remember that girl that I first saw down in Texas with hair as black as a raven’s wing, those flashing brown eyes. She had a sultry look, let me tell you, because she’s dark complexion. And I remembered back there how wonderful those days were. And we got just a little sentimental, by the way, as we thought back over those days, how we used to drive up to Fort Worth and we went to a restaurant up there and We got a stake and you know what you paid for it in that day? 50 cents apiece. And she was a school teacher and I was a poor preacher. And I made her pay for her own, even 50 cents. I tell you, she’s made up for that, those cents. And I can assure you, to woo a virgin. What a beautiful, lovely picture this in. God says that I intend to win you, but how is he going to do this? I’m going to woo you in righteousness and in justice. And in loving kindness and in mercies, you see there was mercy under the Mosaic system too. You will find that there was love in law and there’s law in love also. You just can’t absolutely segregate one from the other. This is lovely. And this again is one of the reasons. that I do not think the present return of Israel to that land is a fulfillment of prophecy. Certainly not this one. God says, when I woo you and bring you back into that land, why, it’ll be in righteousness and in justice and in loving kindness and in mercies. Israel is just like any other nation. Some think they are a little more brutal, but my friend, they’re on the defense over there, you can be sure of that. And they have to exercise a strong defense system. They are not backing that land. in fulfillment of prophecy. They have returned to the land, but they have not yet returned to the Lord. When they return to the Lord, there’ll be blessing. They have not yet done that. I’m going to talk about that just in a few minutes, at least if I get there today. Verse 20 now, chapter 2, I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness. Now, they never were faithful in the past. They’re very much like the church in apostasy today. And thou shall know the Lord, and they sure don’t know him today. Verse 21, it shall come to pass in that day. Now, that expression, in that day, is an expression that I think is a technical expression, and it refers forward to the time of the last days as it pertains to the nation Israel. It refers to the great tribulation period and the coming of Christ to set up his kingdom down here. It shall come to pass in that day. I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth. In other words, heaven and earth will be in tune, and Browning will be right in that day, and he’s sure not right today that heaven and earth are in tune. Verse 22, And the earth shall hear the grain, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel. Now, Jezreel meant God will scatter them. But in that day, God will regather them. Listen to him, verse 23. And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy. Not only will he regather them, but they will no longer be lo, Ruhamah, the unpitted daughter of Hosea and Gomer the harlot. But God will now have mercy upon them, and they will obtain mercy. And I will say unto them who were not my people, thou art my people, and they shall say, thou art my God. They are not saying that today, and today it’s lo ami, not my people, but in that day it will be my people. God will say, you are my people, and they will say, You are my God. Now, that is not true today, friends. They are not turning to God, but they will turn to God in that day. All right, now we come down to chapter 3 here. In chapter 3, Hosea found out that his wife had proved unfaithful, but he’s commanded to go and take Gomer again. Notice what he says. Then said the Lord unto me, Go yet. Love a woman, that is your wife, she’s your woman, love a woman, beloved of her friend, you love her, though she’s been unfaithful, yet she’s an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love cakes of raisins. That is, they loved that which was part of the heathen worship of idols, the cakes of raisins. Actually, they were used in the sacrificial feast of the Canaanites of that day. And the children of Israel have adopted that. You can see God’s making the application. He says to this man, Hosea, now you know how I feel. I want you to go and take Gomer again. She’s been unfaithful to you, but you love her and you take her back. And God says, that’s what I’m going to do with my people. Israel’s been unfaithful to me, but I haven’t cast her overboard. I’m going to punish her, but I have not gotten rid of them by any means. Now, will you notice what he says, verse 2? So I bought her for myself. Now, apparently she had sold herself. to some group of racketeers that were running brothels in that land, and he had to go buy her back. And I bought it for myself. And do you know that you and I have been redeemed? The picture’s not very pretty. That’s the reason it’s not being preached more today. You can hear more today, even in fundamental circles, our conservative circles, about dedication, about commitment, and about the fact that you’re to turn your life over to the Lord and you’re to do this. My friend, the first thing you have to do is to come as a sinner to God He has to redeem you just as this man went and bought this harlot. That’s the way God redeemed you and he redeemed me. And until you and I see that, we haven’t seen anything at all. We haven’t even gotten to first base until we see this. And he says, so I bought it for myself for 15 pieces of silver. and for a homer of barley and a half homer of barley. And she wasn’t worth it. And you and I are not worth the redemption price because we were not redeemed with gold or silver or precious stones, but with a precious blood of Christ. He had to shed his blood. He had to suffer and die that you and I might be redeemed today. Why? Because we were lost sinners, sold under sin, if you please. We better learn to start there, friends. I heard a man, and he’s a friend of mine. I heard him bring a message. I think he’s a great preacher, but he’s got soul. He doesn’t mention the gospel. He didn’t mention the fact that you have to come as a sinner. Oh, he told them, well, they ought to love Jesus. You ought to serve God. You ought to obey him and all that sort of thing. But friends, that’s not where you begin. We are dead in trespasses and sins. And you just well go out the graveyard and say, listen, fellas and girls, Let’s all of us start doing better. Let’s all of us start committing our life to the Lord. We have no life to commit. Everybody out there is dead. They can’t do anything. And you and I are dead in trespasses and sins until that matter is settled. And we are born again. We receive a new nature. We haven’t got anywhere at all. Now, he says, “…and I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days.” Thou shall not play the harlot. Thou shall not be for another man. So will I also be for thee. And a man told me a sad story not too long ago of how he found out that his wife was unfaithful to him and how he actually followed her. And he apparently had a detective. Imagine the feeling of that man. Oh, what a heartbreak it was to him to find out that she was unfaithful to him. Well, my friend, I can’t think of anything worse than that. It broke up a home. It’ll break up a home. But God says to his people, that’s what you’ve been doing. You’ve been playing the harlot. You have gone after other gods and you’ve turned from me and you no longer serve me. Oh, you call me Lord. And the Lord Jesus said, many are going to say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, I’ll say I didn’t know you. Now, I’m going to say now probably the strongest thing that you’ve ever heard. And there’s not one of these rock-ribbed fundamentalists even that criticizes me today. He’s never said anything this strong. Did you know that in a church that has a building that has a steeple on it and a bell in it and a pulpit and a man stands up there who denies the Word of God denies the deity of Christ and denies that he died for sinners. And the people attend there and support that sort of thing. Do you know what you have? You don’t have a church. You have a brothel, a spiritual brothel, my friend. And that’s all in the world it is. And I didn’t say that. God says that right here. This is the strongest language you can imagine. And you can understand why Hosea was not elected the man of the year. in Israel at that particular time. He didn’t win the popularity contest in his hometown. You can be sure of that. Why? Because that’s exactly what he’s telling his people. You have become a brothel as a nation as you’ve turned to idolatry and turned from the living and true God. Now he said as a result, And I sure am going to have to save this until next time. I do want to talk about this. Verse 4 and 5. And I consider we’ve come to probably the most important verses right now for these students of prophecy today that are beginning to set dates. Listen to this. “‘For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king,’ without a prince, without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. Now, will you notice, I’m going to talk about the many days next time, but they’re going to abide many days without a king. Some claim in that land today they can tell you the tribe they belong to. I have my serious doubts about that, but at least they make the claims. But there is not an Israelite living today that can say, I’m in the line of David and I have a right to the throne of David. The only one that can claim that is right this moment, sitting at God’s right hand. That’s the Lord Jesus Christ, who’s King of kings and Lord of lords. They’re going to abide many days without a king. And they don’t have one down here today. They’ve rejected their king and without a prince. That is, one to follow and without a sacrifice. Now, I’m going to have to say this until next time. Did you know that those there back in that land, had it ever struck you as being very strange that they actually do not have a temple and they do not have a sacrifice? Has that ever struck you as being unusual? Well, if it hasn’t, then tune us in next time because we’re going to talk about that, for that’s very important. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
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You know, Dr. McGee pursues that question in our next study. So until then, if you want to dive deeper into your study of God’s Word yourself or to be in touch, you can download our app. And I know that I say it all the time, but it really is an excellent way to stay on the Bible bus. I use it every day. Or visit us at ttb.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’m looking forward to meeting you back here for another great adventure in God’s Word next time.
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All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
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Through the Bible is a five-year study of God’s entire word, and together we discover God’s purposes in history and our lives, found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know him yet?