Title: The Line of God's Love
Contents
The whole lesson of the book of Hosea is that even if they are filthy and ugly sinners who betray God and engage in sexual immorality, uncleanness, and lust in partnership with the world and the devil, God will not abandon His chosen people to the end, but will hold them back with the bond of love This is a touching parable. This is a lesson to let you know that people say they are dirty and throw them away, but God is not like that. Verse 4 says, “I drew them with human cords, that is, with cords of love, and I became like those who took off the yoke from their necks to them, and I put food before them.” “The love of God is eternal love.” .
The words “I am with human cords, that is, with cords of love” means that God guided the people of Israel, that is, our chosen people, as tenderly as a man guided his flock. The word “man’s cord” means that when guiding one’s flock or other livestock, God will guide the chosen people, just as one sheep, one ox, and one goat has a rope or reins around their neck to lead. It means the detailed and delicate love of God who guides each person according to their circumstances and situation. A rope attached to the neck of a livestock to be pulled by the owner is not a bondage cord. Just as the cord of love that leads the livestock to a safe place, so we must understand that the cord of God's guidance is not a cord of bondage, but a cord of love that leads us on the path of eternal life.
When I was a child there was a ditch running in front of our house. One time it was raining heavily and the ditch was in danger of overflowing. When I saw the ocher-colored muddy water that came down so much, I often found that furniture, refrigerators, washing machines, desks, and even animals in the house were washed away. Once in the muddy water, a piglet was coming down a ditch. I can still vividly remember the owner taking the risk, tying a string to a long wooden pole and hanging it around the piglet's neck to save the piglet. My heart was moved when I thought that the piglet would have drowned and died if it had not been for the protection and guidance of its owner.
Everyone! We must realize that God's love is an eternal love that cannot be compared to this love. Please believe that God will never forsake us and protect our saints who are more precious than the world, just as they do not abandon the piglets as their own and protect them even in the midst of danger.
Verse 8 says, “How can I let you go, O Ephraim? How can I forsake you, O Israel? How can I let you go like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboim? It's like sticking." Here, you must know that "God's love is fervent love," as it is said, "My compassion is completely ignited." It's not the kind of love that lovers fall in love with. Passionate love and unchanging love are the characteristics of God's love.
In the middle of verse 8, “How can I let you go like Ahmad, or how can I make you like Zeboim?” These words are the names of cities, and in Deuteronomy 29:23, these cities will be destroyed by Sodom and Gomorrah. Neighboring cities of Sodom and Gomorrah that were destroyed together. He said that the chosen saints, even though they were stained with transgressions and sins, would not cast them away like Ahmad and Boseim as long as they repent and return. In this way, we must realize that God's love is not a God who repays us according to our deeds.
Also in verse 10, “They will follow the Lord, who roars like a lion; when the Lord utters his voice, his descendants come trembling from the west.” In this way, the voice of God's love is resounding far and wide so that even people who are far away from God can hear it. It means that there is no place where this voice of love cannot be heard. Therefore, I cannot make an excuse that I did not believe in God because no one heard the voice of love. So, “Jehovah who roars like a lion” is an expression of God’s earnest love.
Now, we want to see how this love of God works for our chosen people.
He called us out of Egypt through this line of love. Look closely at verse 1, it says, "When Israel was a child, I loved him and called my son out of Egypt." Here, “I called my son out of Egypt” refers to the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. In this way, you and I must realize that we have been rescued from a sinful world like Egypt. We were people who fell into the flood of sin and drifted aimlessly into the sea of death. Those who drown and die helplessly do not shout for money or food. They will scream and beg, saying, "Please help me." Even when the situation is too urgent to even shout, I will cry out in my heart, mournfully, "I am about to die! Is there anyone who can save me?" This is a normal person.
However, those who drown and die and do not know that they are dying are unbelievers. They do not know that they will soon fall to hell and die, and they just keep pursuing only the worldly things. Before we knew Jesus, we were also drowning in the sea of death and struggling in a state of despair. At that time, the Lord appeared and said to us, "Swim out in your own strength," but instead threw a strong rope of salvation right in front of my troubled eyes. That rope is Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! I hope you will realize that the blood of Golgotha, which Jesus shed on the cross for me, is the rope of salvation. You must realize that the rope of salvation is Jesus Christ Himself. I believe that if anyone holds onto that rope, the cross of Jesus Christ, he will not miss a single one and rescue them all and receive the wonderful blessings of heaven. So this rope is the rope of salvation, the rope of life, and the rope of eternal life. I believe that it is faith that holds on to this rope.
Also, with what kind of love did God's love work for us?
Look closely at verse 9 of the text. “I will not provoke my fierce wrath, nor will I destroy Aphraim any more, for I am not a man, but God; I am the Holy One who dwells among you, and I will not come against you in wrath.” Here, “I will not provoke my fierce wrath…. I will never again destroy my mother-in-law…” means “not a capricious love like a man, but with God’s unchanging love that loves us forever.” Therefore, God is unchanging as He said, “I am not a man, but God.” Therefore, you should understand that the line of God's love is an infinite line that has no end, forever and ever.
If you read Jeremiah 31:1, it says, "...I have loved you with an infinite love, so I have led you with kindness." God's endless line of love is an endless line of love. If you read Hosea 1, the good man of God, the prophet Hosea, followed God's word, took a prostitute named "Gomer" and took her as a wife. Even so, Gomer forsook her husband's position and counsel and still could not give up her role as a prostitute. Gomer married the prophet Hosea and had two sons and a daughter. But the sons and daughters were all children of other men. Still, Hosea took pity on Gomer and forgave and loved him. However, in Hosea 3, “Gomer” followed another man and committed fornication for a long time. The prophet Hosea also went to Gomer and brought him home, giving him fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley.
God told the prophet Hosea to do it, and he said that Hosea did well. Yet another woman said, "You must love Gomer." Gomer is ourselves, and the prophet Hosea is the word that symbolizes God. Today we too must realize that there is nothing more begotten than Gomer. I need to realize that God loves me, more like a harlot than Gomer, and loves me hundreds of millions of times more than the prophet Hosea forgave Gomer and forgives me even more. I hope you know that love is eternal love. At the end of that line of love, He binds me, who has sinned, and at the end of the other line, He holds me in the right hand of the Lord's power and leads me. We need to know that we are all connected by the chain of the Lord's love. No matter how far I run away from the Lord, the line of His love is long and long, so please believe that He is truly grateful to you, who follows you to the end of the world and rescues me from the place of destruction.
There is no one in this universe who will escape the hand of the Lord's omnipotence. Looking at the words of Psalm 139:7-10, David realized this wonderful line of God's love and sang. “Where shall I go from Your Spirit, where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Hades, You are there. Even if I flap my wings at the dawn and go to dwell at the ends of the sea, even there Your hand is guiding me. Your right hand upholds me." You and I must believe David's confession without any doubt and have our confession of faith. In this way, the cord of the Lord's love is infinitely long and eternal. Thank you a thousand or ten thousand times for guiding me through that line so that I do not sin.
And how has God's love worked for us?
Look at verse 11. “They came from Egypt, trembling like birds, from Assyria, like doves, and I will make them stay in every house, says the LORD.” Here, "coming like a bird from Egypt, like a dove from Assyria" means to come quickly without delay from the seat of sin, and "to come trembling" means that no one can resist God's love and fear it and obey it. is. Therefore, we need to know that the bond of God's love is infinitely strong and is an unbreakable bond of absolute power.
In Romans 8:35, Paul proved how strong the cord of God's love is. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ, tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” It's not because I believe in it. Because the line of the Lord's love is strong, my faith will not be broken. It's not that I'm very loyal. The Lord's love is strong, so the blessings do not stop. Paul also testifies in Romans 8:38-39. "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor authorities, neither height nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Hallelujah!
Dear all! Love today and change tomorrow, love that is different on the outside and inside, this is today's love. But the cord of God's love is the cord of salvation that moves from death to life. It is a strong, long, strong cord that no one in this world can break. In these last days when love is getting colder and drying up, I pray that you will become saints who live a victorious life wherever you go, thanks to the unbreakable line of God's love.