The Hos 6:6

series: Our Living Word 2/3

Unveiling a surprising blind spot

..which is important to Jesus

As we saw in the first part of the "Living Word" series, our possibilities have fundamentally changed and they have become more extensive with the arrival of Jesus Christ. He knows that Hosea 6:6 holds a profound revelation, often overlooked yet crucial to us all.
I'm going to show you some leading, helpful verses from this prophetic context. His mercy and grace will thus be more visible in this way.

I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
^{Hos 6:6}

Jesus quoted these words from the prophet Hosea twice, in two different situations. What for us is often just a "prophetic vindication" of an Old Testament crisis, for the Lord is two areas of crucial importance for the church in every covenant milestone and for every believer. Let us now decode together this timeless warning.

Hos 6:6 – 1Pt 2:9

We have seen in the pre-study, that following Jesus Christ {in real life, that is, in Spirit and deeds} is only possible by following his personality. The apostle Peter defined it this way:

..you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim exhibit the excellencies of Him Who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
1Pt 2:9

The original text is being ruined* by modern theological misconceptions, namely by
A. intellectual approach.
B. the Woozle effect around the word: "exaggelos=exhibit".
C. the XX century and modern misunderstanding of the "teaching".
As for the proclamation.[B] Sadly and very simply, this is a mistake: the proven character {arete} can not be shown when it is preached.
As for the "teaching"[C], it is a bilateral process (time-frame), not proclamation (time-spot).
Paul gave us a warning that "some people will not endure sound doctrine, but will conform to their own desires, which are more pleasing to their ears" (2 Timothy 4:3-4). And this is also true of the form of teaching, true about the intellectual person's comfort zone and 'doctrine', preaching focused mindset. Without practical mercy and compassion.

*Nonetheless some of the well known Bible translations are rightly reproducing the original text: KJ21, AKJV, ASV, BRG, AMPC, Darby, GNV, NMB, RGT, YLT, JUB.

The apostles consciously repeat: "His teaching"Even when signs and wonders accompanied the Lord's work, they said, "The teaching of the Lord." And apparently it is a teaching with power, Authority. {see Mk 1:21-22; Act 13:8-12;}
The original Christian character, the original faith made visible by Jesus and the apostles. But it has been imitated in many ways by the "psychicos" soulish man. Alas, that man can not represent spiritual teachings "in body", for that requires the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Also, we have to admit: many "old self" - qualities must be killed in us for the new character. The formation of a new life is a matter of time as we mentioned this in the pre study.
However, the "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17), also known as "the spiritual man", expresses the Kingdom (Luke 10:9), Gd's mercy (Hos 6:6), because he/she has received love and courage personally from Gd, and brings fruits. The religious mimic cannot bear fruits (Lk 3:7-8). Thus the spiritual one not only struggles with the false spirituality of this fallen world but he/she also suffers from the {often religious} influence of the soulish people, who have no "knowledge of Gd", as Hos 6:6 explains, only rituals. When we study Hoseah we must understand this conflict.
It is important to remark again and again that the apostles did not deal with the restoration of the old self, but rather they called for its "murder". (Col. 3:5)
The apostolic message always proclaims the gospel of the Kingdom of God, explains the believer's new ID and the heritage among the saints (Eph. 1:7-14) The teaching is the spiritual interpretation of the Heavenly Kingdom. The Word of God provides protection and confirmation for this.

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person soulish, {psychikos} personality does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned
1Cor 2:12-14

..certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ
Jud 1:4

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.
2Pt 1:1-3

I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
2Pt 3:1-3

The Hosea door

The life and message of Hosea, the son of Beeri, is a very dark period for Israel. The period of Hosea's ministry extended to some sixty years, and he was the only prophet of Israel of his time who left any written prophecy.
Hosea conducted his prophetic ministries in the northern Kingdom of Israel, of which he was a native*

In Hosea 5:8 ff., there seems to be a reference to the Syro-Ephraimite War which led to the capture of the kingdom by the Assyrians (c. 734–732 BCE). Hosea's long ministry, from the reign of Jeroboam II (787–747) to the reign of King Hoshea (731–722), seems to have ended before the fall of Samaria in 722/721.

The prophetic words of Hosea are the words of the "last warning" just before the destruction of the nation. This is the mark of The deadly fall of Israel, the direct foreshadowing of its uncontrolled nose diving and final annihilation.
The people, an entire nation, is still living out of "momentum," killing their consciences by empty actions and a hypocritically religious self-indulgence. However, the Heaven cannot be deceived.
Gd enters this terrible situation in such a way that he does not thunder, does not command, but reveals the hidden tempers of his heart. He opens the mind of the prophet, opens a spiritual door, exposing his inner world of emotion and thought to man and says:

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes early away.
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgment goes forth as the light.
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Hos 6:4-7

This invocation is originally a rhyme, or form of poetry, called "parallelism". According to this form, the meaning of the first sentence is shown in the second line - and vice versa.

I can illustrate this rhyme with another example:

Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
covering yourself with light as with a garment...
Ps. 104:1-2

But here is also a hymn by Apostle Paul, part of the Epistle to the Romans, which resonates pictorially in Psalm 36:6:

... Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments
and how inscrutable his ways!
Rm 11:33

Our third example is Peter's epistle which corresponded Hosea as well:

Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1Pt 2:10

Although many translations cite it erroneously, Hosea’s words do not express a command or divine will but longing and fierce desire.

I desire mercy — not to fulfill religious obligations.
the knowledge of God {it means intimate cognition} rather than presenting burnt offerings.

In other words, in today's language:

I long for merciful communion with my people, not for their religious rituals. I desire a personal and intimate community, not a relationship of a legal nature based on commandment or doctrine.

The life and age of Hosea teaches us in a talkative way what happens when this intimacy, grace, and compassion depart and the community disintegrates.

Meditation

- Could you cite cold eras from recent history?
- What redemptions did God bring?
- Was there grace and mercy in that change?
- Who acted / what happened in a visible way for change?

Jesus and Hosea

God sent Hosea as His embodied message /incarnation-word. As a prophet, he must have personified the fornication of God's people, identified with the sins of the people, and he had to show God in action as a loving husband.
Therefore, Hosea must have done something unimaginable for a Jew. He must have had to marry a prostitute.

Behold!
The heaven spokes. The heaven initiates.
The Heaven suffers — the people are rejecting.

Then Jesus, who is also Christ, the Messiah, finds himself in just such a situation. The reaction will be the same for his actions and personal message.
Jesus, who is Christ, who has become Our Word in flesh, perfectly represents this Heavenly Desire already articulated in the prophecies: Jesus fully identifies with the sins of the people in every way, desiring mercy, that is, the knowledge of Gd, and not sacred sacrifices, since the Father desires relationships. So the Son embodies this.
However, the Big Wall of Separation between Gd and man must also be demolished.
Jesus also arrives in a vacuum where
- Hearts got cold
- The intimate knowledge of Gd has faded
- Destruction is approaching

No one is prepared

When the Messiah finally arrives, everyone is waiting, but no one is prepared for it. For everyone 'knows' who the Messiah is — yes, they knows him in a sense, or in principle, even in a folk tale — but hearts are tired. The people are ignorant, full of principles and "commandments" created by that principles.
People who have become accustomed in their daily lives to waiting for the Messiah ... and waiting ... and waiting ... can no longer believe that he will arrive in their lifetime ...
And when He arrives, He will push them out of their former comfort zone. {Or from their uncomfortable zone.} Because he is not like The King of Their Dreams! He is not primarily for them, but he first represents the Eternal. Then Israel. Then the nations.
And his contemporaries reject him - just as they did with Hosea at his time.
The difference between an imaginary Messiah and the Real One that Jesus Christ has {possess} salvation. That's the key for us. In this way the one can go up, towards Gd's heart, receiving mercy - or he / she can go down, rejecting the way...
In him, both symbolically and formally, the prophecy is fulfilled. Life and dynamics come in. Light comes in. Grace and Mercy come in. Sins will be seen. The prospect of liberation will be visible. And the decision is available for everyone and always: by force or by grace? The four Gospels are a diary of this.

Meditation

Two classic questions:
    Who wants change?
    Who wants to be changed?

↓

- Jesus enters a waiting, exhausted situation in such a way that he does not command, but sets an example.

- Jesus is the fulfilled Word of God in the flesh.

- Jesus' earthly ministry is the active perceptible Word in society.

- Jesus is building something new - he is the active and creative Word. He confronts the old and formal and does not repair the old covenant.

Christ Focus

I want to focus on some of the characteristics of His personality;
First of all: Jesus = is The Christ. The Messiah King, who comes for his people. He is not sentimental, but Passionate. He is dedicated, so he is consistently working on the work of redemption and mission. He selects twelve, who will educate others. He is Immanuel {God with us}, so He obviously wants a healthy relationship with us. He gives this healthy, merciful, active, and restorative love as the inheritance.

Hosea Duplex

We have reached the core of our teaching. Our question:
How does Jesus, the incarnate Word of God see and serve the way Hoshea has shown?
In his earthly ministry, Jesus quotes the words of Hosea in two cases when He confronted with his enemies.

A.

In Matthew 12:1 we read:

Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”...
He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him..
v.6. ...I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Here the believers, the first disciples, are attacked and they come under the protection of the Messiah. And He quotes Hosea 6:6, the heart of Gd. And he adds: The son of man is Lord of the Sabbath day.

B.

The other case is seen in Matthew 9:10-11

as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

"Go, learn it!" This is a conscious call. It inspires in us an attitude that doesn’t grow up from one moment to the next.

For this is not for the believers, not for the "OKAY people," but for those outside the Covenant, that they may come under the protection of the Messiah.
Brotherly love { "storge" or "filia"} is not enough here. It requires inviting, receptive {agape} love. Requires stepping out of the comfort zone and getting on some inconvenience. This is precluded by the Law, as the Law is a system of a closed culture and operates as a rule, not for internal motives.

I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

This is difficult for even the 12 disciples to accept. For the "go and learn," was not just for the Pharisees!

This is also hard for today's man, for those who consider themself a Christian. It seems as if the son of man is still not the "lord of the Sabbath" ...
Jesus verily adds, that He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Meditation

- To whom is the Messiah's mercy addressed?

- What happened on Saturday? What does the Sabbath symbolize?

- Why doesn't Jesus call the righteous? {Rom 3:21 See below}

Lifestyle means loyalty

Faith: the way of life. Belief in the redemptive recovery is also a way of life. The knowledge of God was written in the hearts and the message of mercy became visible in the flesh.
That's what we're called for. This is the only way to understand Hosea's message.
The historical message of Hosea also belongs to Jesus Christ and thus the history of all church denominations at once. Every trial and fall also belongs to the history of Israel and the history of the Church. Gd, the examiner of hearts, provides redemptive and restorative work, but neither the justice nor the mercy of Gd can be realized by the Law, or based on mere written principles. Even Gd needs a believer {faithful} person. An Incarnation message. Apart from the Sabbath.
The "mercy" spoken by Hosea can also be interpreted as "loyal love." This is a lifestyle dedicated to Gd not based on "filia" love within the community but on the loyalty of the saving love that moves towards the lost. Interestingly: this love is "Hesed" - the relationship between the two sides of the commitment - and not the "Agape" love from the New Testament, which is a new righteousness.

..now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law,.. the righteousness of God through faith{fullness} in Jesus Christ for all who believe
...For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Rm.3:21-24

The prophet speaks – again and again

By the way, the words of Hosea are consistent with the words of other prophets. Could this be a constant problem in the relationship between Gd and man?

“With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Mik 6:6-8

Out of time, longing forever

The prophecy is an out-of-time word: it is always included in the written, ancient Word, and in the message of the Holy Spirit, for our faithful ancestors have always recorded the words of Heaven:
 Peter says this:

we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
2Pt 1:16

Every scripture is also a preview. It is about Jesus Christ and His reign. About His Savior's Plan and Behind It: His Savior's Heart. The darkness is being dismissed, and the New Testament has arrived.
John writes:

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
1Jn 2:7-8

The path shown by the prophet Hosea leads through an opening door. A new perspective. It provides a comprehensive picture of salvation, the hitherto unimaginable depth of a close relationship with God, and God’s inner motivation. He who enters this door will be an active person.

{the Enemy} shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant,
but the people who know their God shall stand firm {or: shall be encouraged} and take action.
Dan.11:32b

Following the Messiah, following Jesus Christ, means following his way of life. Hosea's words explore our personal relationship with the Lord and the condition of our hearts. Only when we understand : "the Word made flesh"(Jn 1) can we reveal and fulfil God's desire in these 2 areas.
In the next part, we can get a great and practical example of the bodily message from modern history.

ESP
HU

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