The Rock that God has chosen.
This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: in the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord (Isaiah 2:1-5).
When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people enquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of day. Distressed and hungry they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upwards, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look towards the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness. Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan (Isaiah 8:19-23).
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this (Isaiah 9:1-6).
Jesus is the King of Kings.
Isaiah 9:1-6 is one of the more popular prophesies of God’s promise to bring his chosen king to earth to save and to reign. This king that God has chosen will remove distress from people who were in utter hopelessness and gloom (Isaiah 8:23). It will be a day of new beginnings like light removing darkness, his glory will remove the ‘deep darkness’ of sorrow (Isaiah 9:1). He will bring joy to the earth and people will rejoice as one does when they receive a return from something they’ve invested in and looked forward to (Isaiah 9:2). He will remove the burdens that their old kings and oppressors put on his people (Isaiah 9:3). He will remove the need to wage wars and bring will bring peace (Isaiah 9:4). This gift from God will be of God but familiar with humanity like the heir of heaven and earth and God will give him all authority to govern his people and his people will not be oppressed under his reign but refer to him as an advocate, a mighty God, a God who has strength, the father where we have an inheritance of; a king from the lineage of peace (Isaiah 9:5). His kingdom will be great and never end, unlike great kingdoms of the past this great kingdom will be everlasting and its renown will be like David’s a king whose heart is after the things of God; this king will uphold justice and righteousness (Isaiah 9:6) and God will be the one to make sure that his word is fulfilled (Isaiah 9:6).
Jesus is the new covenant planted by God.
Hosea was a prophet according to Hosea 1:1 during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah kings of Judah and during the reign of Jeroboam (son of Joash) king of Israel.
God told Hosea ‘go marry a promiscuous woman’ and he married Gomar (Hosea 1:2-3) and had children with her. God said to Hosea that his marriage would be an example of God’s marriage to Israel who has been to him like an adulterous wife, guilty of unfaithfulness (Hosea 1:2).
Gomar, Hosea’s wife was what we would call a ho, a person with many lovers. God says to Hosea, your wife is like Israel, a ho to me, a people with many lovers and she, Israel, like Gomar, goes to her lovers and not her husband (Hosea) (God) “for food, for water, for ‘my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink’ (Hosea 2:5) meaning she and Israel, the ho, has looked to her love of wealth to satisfy her desire to have an abundance of things. They have looked to their investments, in this case, in agriculture, olive groves and mercantilism to bring them wealth and not to me their husband (God) who gives Israel (his people) power and strength (Psalms 68:35).
Hosea 2:8 says Israel, like a woman with many lovers, “has not acknowledges that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold—which they used to offer praises and thanksgivings offerings to Baal (other gods).”
God tells Hosea the woman that he loves and has been faithful to is unfaithful to him (Hosea 1:2). This woman is Israel, God’s chosen people. God says to Hosea that even though he knew that she was a promiscuous woman with many lovers that God in his love has chosen to marry her and for Hosea to also love and choose to be faithful to an unfaithful woman so that he can understand the heartache.
God tells Hosea to call a daughter that he has by his wife ‘not-loved’ (Lo-ruhamah) because Israel’s unfaithfulness has made the heart of God not want to love, or claim or forgive her, but God says, ‘yet, I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle or by horses and horsemen, but I the Lord their God, will save them (Hosea 1:7).
God is speaking about Jesus, the salvation prophesied about throughout the old testament and referred to in Hosea as Jezreel. God tells Hosea to name his first born Jezreel which means ‘planted by God’ (Hosea 2:4-5, 22) and that his salvation will be like a well planted field that will produce the intended harvest: salvation and that this salvation is God’s plan to turn the heart of his people back to him.
This vine (Jesus) will block her path to her lovers and will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. God’s vineyard is planted around his wife so that she, Israel, the people of God, are surrounded by his love and cannot find their way back to their old lovers until they acknowledge that their husband, their God, is the one who lavishes them with wealth (Hosea 2:6-8).
The vineyard, through Jesus, that God plants, will take away the value of all other means of producing wealth (corn, wine, wool, linen, etc.) so that his promiscuous wife will see how incapable her lovers are to clothe her like God is able. God’s vineyard, Jezreel, the place he plants will expose how uncovered her lovers leave her (Hosea 2:9-10) as opposed to how no one is able to take out of God’s hand what he has covered (Hosea 2:9-11). The vineyard that God plants will ruin all other reasons for celebration, yearly festivals will have no meaning in comparison to the joy of the vineyard that what God plants in Jesus will produce (Hosea 2:11). The vineyard that God plants will devour the usefulness and value of all Israel’s lover’s vines and fig trees that she said were gifts from her lovers that made her wealthy (Hosea 2:12). The vineyard that God plants will allure his wife Israel (Gomer) the promiscuous wife with many lovers, back to him, through the exposure of the vineyards that she has chosen as being like being in the wilderness. They will not feed her, clothe her or nourish her like God will show her he is able to. God says to Hosea (Hosea 2:15) my vineyards, the one that I will plant will remove all trouble from around my wife Israel and bring her hope and make her sing and want to celebrate and be faithful to me alone and none of the people and ideas and things she loved.
The one that God plants (Jesus) will be like the covenant of a new husband (Hosea 2:16-18) and the entire world will testify of his great name that will remove “bow and sword and battle from the land” and bring peace and will bind forever to God, his people with righteousness and justice and faithfulness (Hosea 2:19). This new husband that God plants will create a marriage whose foundation is an escape route to justice, peace, hope, righteousness and faithfulness (Hosea 2:19) for people who were once called “not my loved ones” this new husband will show love to them and forgive them and for people who were once called “not my people” this new husband will make a way for them to be included as “my people” so that “I can be their God” (Hosea 2:23) and the promises of my union and inheritance and connection to me will bring a type of wealth that makes the entire earth respond and produce a new kind of “wine” wealth that flows from Jezreel (Jesus) the one that is planted by God (Hosea 2:21-22).
Jesus is the one who rescues.
Psalms 50 says that “God himself is judge” (Psalms 50:6) he brings ultimate charges against wickedness (Psalms 50:16-22) and rescues people who honor him (Psalms 50:23).
When Israel turned its back against God and forgot him and chose to worship other gods, Judges 6 says God took his hand of protection away from them and allowed their neighboring nations, Midianites to “tear them to pieces” “with no one to rescue them” (Psalms 50:22).
God as their shelter and hiding place was completely removed so that all of Israel was hiding in caves for shelter from their enemies. The Midianites not only took Israel’s sense of security from them, God allowed Israel’s sense of security to vanish when he stopped sheltering them, but they also took their means of survival, food security and physical well being. Judges 6:4 says the Midianites would camp all throughout the Israelites’ territories and destroy every crop Israel tried to plant and take all of the livestock they were hiding in the mountains with them (Judges 6:4-5).
Judges 6 says that when God removed his shelter from Israel he allowed the Midianites to impoverish them, because God himself is the ultimate Judge and what he required from Israel was the he would always keep his word and shelter them if they were faithful and kept their vow and covenant to love, honor and serve him. God accused Israel of not listening to him (Judges 6:10) and worshipping the gods of the neighboring nations “in whose land you live”.
When the people of Israel cried out to God for help from their enemies God replied with this accusation saying, “I am the Lord your God (Judges 6:10) “I am God, your God” (Psalms 50:7) not whatever the Amorites have convinced you to believe in, “the world is mine, and all that is in it” (Psalms 50:12).
Because God is the ultimate judge what the people of Israel thought was right or sufficient was not enough. So God in his mercy testifies against them to remind them who he is and why they are in the situation that they are in before rescuing them.
He reminds then that he is God, your God, not those other gods. He is God your shelter, not those other gods. I am the God who rescues people who honor me and delivers them from all of their oppressors (Judges 6:8-10) and I am the God, your God who takes the treasures out of the hands of your oppressors and gives it to people who honor me, not those other gods. “But you have not listened to me and you have forgotten that I am God, your God” (Judges 6:10, Psalms 50:7).
But because the people of Israel cried out to God, their God for help and not those other gods, God had mercy to honor those who honor him and to rescue and deliver people who cry out to him for help. God himself is the ultimate judge. He accuses and he pardons who he pleases.
Israel forgot God and was living in caves and the moment they cried out to him for help he made plans to bring about his justice through accusing the enemies of the people who were turning to him for help.
In Judges 6:11 the angel of the Lord appears to a man named Gideon who was hiding food from the Midianites and says, “the Lord is with you, mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12). Gideon was confused because he was not a warrior, he and all of Israel was in hiding, everyone was starving and he was using the shelter of a winepress to disguise that he was harvesting and storing food. So he said to the angel of the Lord, accusing the angle of the Lord and testifing against God saying, if the God of our ancestors was with us, he would perform wonders for us like he did for our ancestors, but instead he has neglected us and given us to our enemies, how can you say the Lord is with us and how can you say that I am a mighty warrior when, “my clan is the weakest and I am the least in my family” you don’t even know who you are speaking to (Judges 6:13-15).
Because Gideon accused God, but believed in the God of his ancestors who was able to deliver by wonders, the angel said to him, believe me, the Lord is with you, the I AM is with you and will use you to bring my judgement on all who oppress my people (Judges 6:16).
Gideon could not see how God would deliver him and the people of Israel but he believed and God counted it as righteousness. Gideon gave a thanksgiving offering to God in advance for the word that God had promised to do and God accepted it in the form of a consuming fire (Judges 6:20-21).
So Gideon built an altar to the Lord and called it the Lord our God, he is a God of peace in times of trouble and he is the one who will give us peace from all of our enemies (Judges 6:24).
When God saw that Gideon believed and Gideon began worshipping him he told Gideon to tear down his father’s altars to other gods and although he was afraid, Gideon obeyed this as well.
God responds to belief and obedience. Gideon believed even though he was still in the cave and worshipped God as the one who fulfills his promises to bring peace to his people’s situation. Then Gideon obeyed God when he said get rid of the symbols and altars of other gods so I know you mean it, that it is me and only me who brings peace, safety, prosperity, security. I am the only one who rescues. Gideon obeyed and spread the word that the God of their ancestors who is faithful and keeps his promises and who saves has heard their cry and is now willing to rescue them if they also turn and believe (Judges 6:34).
God says to the body of Christ, like he said to Israel:
“Return to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take (these) words with you and return to the Lord, say to him (the Lord) ‘Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. Assyria (strong nations) cannot save us, we will not mount war-horses. We will never again say, ‘our gods’ to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.”
“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.
I will be like the dew to (my people) Israel: (Israel) he will blossom like a lily, like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. People will dwell again in his shade, they will flourish like the corn, they will blossom like the vine—Israel’s (my people’s) fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
What more has Ephraim (my people) to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from me. Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them” (Hosea 14:1-9).
Jesus is God’s promise to save God’s people from their sins. Meaning sins have power over people that they cannot save themselves from, only God in Jesus can. God speaks through Hosea and says the sin of greed of Israel’s increase made Israel unfaithful and want to build more altars to the gods of wealth and turned them away from God (Hosea 10:1). Their worship of idols and the strength of nations overpowered them, and they came under the authority of what they worshiped and could only believe in the power of their idols and not the power of God.
Their idols took their hearts from looking to God for protection and provision and turned their hearts into hearts that deceive, they conned one another and their own belief in idols deceived them into thinking that they were greater than God, so God allowed his people to become shackled to their rebellious ways so that only he could save them and remove their chains (Hosea 10:2,10).
But because God is faithful God says that he will deliver his people who return to him and his deliverance will look like people who had once rejoiced over the splendor of their idols will be put to shame, they will be embarrassed for putting their faith in anything but God. God says that through the gift of his new covenant in Jesus he will completely destroy sin from his people that no one will return to it, you will see what was previously thought of as worthy of worship with thorns and thistles growing over it (Hosea 10:8).
Through Jesus, God promises to save his people from sin that deceives and sin that binds (Hosea 10:12). When God says, “I will demolish their altars and destroy their sacred stones” (Hosea 10:2) he is saying I will show you that what you worship is not more powerful than me, because there is no power too great that God cannot deliver his people from, because of his love and faithfulness (Hosea 10:12).
Judgement for people who reject Jesus as King.
Oholah and Oholibah
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother. They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed. The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
“Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, and mounted horsemen. She gave herself as a prostitute to all the elite of the Assyrians and defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after.She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her.
“Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she lusted. They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women, and punishment was inflicted on her.
“Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister. She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men. I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same way.
“But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans portrayed in red, with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea. As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust. When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her naked body, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister. Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt.There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.
“Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will stir up your lovers against you, those you turned away from in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side—the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, all of them governors and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all mounted on horses. They will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons and with a throng of people; they will take up positions against you on every side with large and small shields and with helmets. I will turn you over to them for punishment, and they will punish you according to their standards. I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters, and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire. They will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry. So I will put a stop to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt anymore.
“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to deliver you into the hands of those you hate, to those you turned away from in disgust. They will deal with you in hatred and take away everything you have worked for. They will leave you stark naked, and the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your lewdness and promiscuityhave brought this on you, because you lusted after the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. You have gone the way of your sister; so I will put her cup into your hand.
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“You will drink your sister’s cup,
a cup large and deep;
it will bring scorn and derision,
for it holds so much.
You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow,
the cup of ruin and desolation,
the cup of your sister Samaria.
You will drink it and drain it dry
and chew on its pieces—
and you will tear your breasts.
I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.
“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you have forgotten me and turned your back on me, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution.”
The Lord said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then confront them with their detestable practices,for they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They committed adultery with their idols; they even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to me, as food for them. They have also done this to me: At that same time they defiled my sanctuary and desecrated my Sabbaths. On the very day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my sanctuary and desecrated it. That is what they did in my house. “They even sent messengers for men who came from far away, and when they arrived you bathed yourself for them, applied eye makeup and put on your jewelry. You sat on an elegant couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed the incense and olive oil that belonged to me.
“The noise of a carefree crowd was around her; drunkards were brought from the desert along with men from the rabble, and they put bracelets on the wrists of the woman and her sister and beautiful crowns on their heads. Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is.’And they slept with her. As men sleep with a prostitute, so they slept with those lewd women, Oholah and Oholibah. But righteous judges will sentence them to the punishment of women who commit adultery and shed blood, because they are adulterous and blood is on their hands.
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Bring a mob against them and give them over to terror and plunder. The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.
“So I will put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not imitate you.You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.” (Ezekiel 23:1-49)
What kings accept when they reject Jesus as their king: God’s Sword of Judgement.
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuary. Prophesy against the land of Israel and say to her: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. Because I am going to cut off the righteous and the wicked, my sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north. Then all people will know that I the Lord have drawn my sword from its sheath; it will not return again.’
“Therefore groan, son of man! Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief. And when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every leg will be wet with urine.’ It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“‘A sword, a sword,
sharpened and polished—
sharpened for the slaughter,
polished to flash like lightning!
“‘Shall we rejoice in the scepter of my royal son? The sword despises every such stick.
“‘The sword is appointed to be polished,
to be grasped with the hand;
it is sharpened and polished,
made ready for the hand of the slayer.
Cry out and wail, son of man,
for it is against my people;
it is against all the princes of Israel.
They are thrown to the sword
along with my people.
Therefore beat your breast.
“‘Testing will surely come. And what if even the scepter, which the sword despises, does not continue? declares the Sovereign Lord.’
“So then, son of man, prophesy
and strike your hands together.
Let the sword strike twice,
even three times.
It is a sword for slaughter—
a sword for great slaughter,
closing in on them from every side.
So that hearts may melt with fear
and the fallen be many,
I have stationed the sword for slaughter[b]
at all their gates.
Look! It is forged to strike like lightning,
it is grasped for slaughter.
Slash to the right, you sword,
then to the left,
wherever your blade is turned.
I too will strike my hands together,
and my wrath will subside.
I the Lord have spoken.”
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to take, both starting from the same country. Make a signpost where the road branches off to the city. Mark out one road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites and another against Judah and fortified Jerusalem. For the king of Babylon will stop at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He will cast lots with arrows, he will consult his idols, he will examine the liver. Into his right hand will come the lot for Jerusalem, where he is to set up battering rams, to give the command to slaughter, to sound the battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to build a ramp and to erect siege works. It will seem like a false omen to those who have sworn allegiance to him, but he will remind them of their guilt and take them captive.
“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you people have brought to mind your guilt by your open rebellion, revealing your sins in all that you do—because you have done this, you will be taken captive.
“‘You profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose time of punishment has reached its climax, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Take off the turban, remove the crown. It will not be as it was: The lowly will be exalted and the exalted will be brought low. A ruin! A ruin! I will make it a ruin! The crown will not be restored until he to whom it rightfully belongs shall come; to him I will give it.’
“And you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says about the Ammonites and their insults:
“‘A sword, a sword,
drawn for the slaughter,
polished to consume
and to flash like lightning!
Despite false visions concerning you
and lying divinations about you,
it will be laid on the necks
of the wicked who are to be slain,
whose day has come,
whose time of punishment has reached its climax.
“‘Let the sword return to its sheath.
In the place where you were created,
in the land of your ancestry,
I will judge you.
I will pour out my wrath on you
and breathe out my fiery anger against you;
I will deliver you into the hands of brutal men,
men skilled in destruction.
You will be fuel for the fire,
your blood will be shed in your land,
you will be remembered no more;
for I the Lord have spoken.’” (Ezekiel 21)
My Seed Faith 