Title Judas in Jabbok / Hosea 12:1-14
Content: “I am the Lord God of hosts, and the Lord is his remembrance title. Then turn to your God, keep justice, and always look to your God” (12:5-6).
While the prophet Hosea was carrying out the ministry of the Word to Israel as a servant of God for over 50 years, Judah in the south and Israel in the north went their separate ways.
After King Solomon's death, his son Rehoboam pushed too hard against the people of the north, resulting in their backlash.
The northerners asked for some relief, but his answer made it more burdensome, resulting in the disastrous historical event of the division of the 10 northern tribes and the southern two tribes.
North and South Korea were divided for nearly 200 years until the northern kingdom was overthrown by Assyria in 721 BC.
1. The common denominator of North and South Korea
“The Lord will contend with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to what he has done, and recompense him according to what he has done” (12:2).
The common denominator of both kingdoms before God is that they have forgotten God.
So Hosea starts talking about Judah in the south from 12:2.
Until now, he had only prophesied about Israel in the north, but suddenly he began to prophesy about Judah in the south.
The sins of Judah are very similar to those of Israel.
When speaking of Judah's transgression, Hosea spoke by saying that the LORD contends with Judah.
In verse 4, verse 1, we are talking about God who argues with Israel.
You can see that Judah in the south is now reenacting the sin that was lawful in Israel in the north.
Therefore, the message of chapter 12 is that, just as the northern Israel perished due to their sins of leaving God, the southern Judah, if they do not return to God, will have no other punishment than destruction.
This is a very stark truth, and it is a terrifying prophecy that the whole Bible tells us.
What kind of person was Ephraim, who showed God's mercy?
He was a man who surrounded God with hypocrisy and deceit.
‘Wind’ refers to an empty thing.
Eating to be full is not eating what is necessary for health, but only flatulence.
The ‘East Wind’ is a dry, hot and barren wind blowing from the desert east of Palestine.
It symbolizes Assyria.
Ephraim pursued vanity.
Ephraim made an alliance with Assyria and Egypt for a balance of power.
A method that has always been used in political games to earn fishermanship by having one faction fight against another faction.
Today, there are fewer and fewer prophecies saying that judgment will come from the church of God.
We need to know what this prophecy was when Paul told the Corinthians to prefer to prophesy rather than speak in tongues.
Just as Buddhism became a degenerate religion because Buddhists fused with shaminism, there are people who misrepresent prophecies in a shaminist way like Buddhism.
But Paul's words are not like that.
The Old Testament is said to be a book of prophecy and the law.
These books are all prophecies about Jesus Christ.
From Genesis to Malachi, the focus is on Jesus coming to Bethlehem, dying on the cross, resurrecting, ascending into heaven, and coming again.
All the words of the Old Testament about Jesus have been fulfilled, but there are still parts that have not been fulfilled.
It is the Second Coming of Jesus.
That day is Judgment Day.
What Paul meant to prophesy rather than speak in tongues means to diligently testify to the words of the Second Coming that were not fulfilled while prophesying about Jesus.
It is a message to diligently preach the event of the judgment of Jesus and the event of the second coming.
If the message of the church about the second coming of Jesus is blurred, the church cannot fulfill its mission.
When the joyful anticipation for the second coming of Jesus from the saints and eagerly disappear, the church is shaken.
If we study Paul's theology, we will be able to live ethically clean today and make corrections and repent in order to live righteously before God because all of Paul's ethics are aligned with the future of Jesus, that is, the second coming of Jesus.
Not because my personality is clean, but because Jesus returns and there is judgment.
The Buddhist philosophy is, in a word, a circle.
There is no end to round and round.
The Buddhist philosophy is to pass endless eons without end, but the Christian view of history is a linear view of history with a beginning and an end.
Christianity must have a beginning and must have an end.
Alpha and Omega.
First and last, there are those who started and those who finished.
It's not the end of living just thinking it's going to pass.
The history of the Bible that the Bible teaches us clearly has an end.
Because there is judgment, we live in fear and trembling before God.
2. Hosea's Counsel
The prophet Hosea is crying out for judgment and urging the people of Judah to come back because they can no longer see them turning away from God.
1).Judas like Jacob
“He made a dispute with Judah, and punished Jacob according to what he had done” (12: ).
Hosea here identifies Judah with Jacob.
Jacob, one of the twin brothers born to Isaac and Rebekah, was named Jacob because he came out holding his brother's heel from birth.
This means hitting the back of the head.
To harm others is ultimately to deceive others.
That was the character of Jacob.
If you deceive your father and deceive your older brother, as you say today, you are the number one cheater.
In the end, he runs away to his maternal uncle's house and takes two daughters as wives in return for working for 20 years.
However, today's text recalls the scene where he hears God's voice telling him to return to his hometown and fights with God while returning to his brother's hometown.
In Romans 9:13, quoting the book of Malachi, it is written that God loved Jacob and hated Esau.
God loved Jacob not because of his righteous deeds, but because of the good will of God.
Jesus loved us while we were still sinners (Romans 5).
Therefore, even if there are acts of deceit, deceit, and harm among us like Jacob, God loves us, so we should not lose heart, do not be lonely, do not be distressed, and have gratitude, peace, and joy.
When Jacob ran away, he built an altar to God with the stones he had made in Bethel, and promised to pay tithes if he made him return to his hometown.
The prayer of vows is made in the Bethel Court.
He sanctified the whole family, and immediately repented.
Through this man who had broken Hwando's bones while fighting with God, he was able to confirm that he could not walk with God without being humble.
We are a chosen people.
Although we may be good at fraud, God loves us because He has chosen us.
But that doesn't mean our flight is acceptable.
God will punish us.
Only when you repent and turn back, you will receive boundless grace.
Let's live always remembering that our end is coming.
Let's put away the character of Jacob.
Let us put on the character of Jesus Christ.
Let's become holy saints who sing the hymn of mango love instead of falling into a sinner after committing a fraud.
Because we all remember how lowly we were like Jacob.
Because they experienced God's salvation from slavery to sin.
“Return, therefore, to your God, and keep kindness and justice, and always look to your God” (12:6).
This is the attitude Judas should have taken.
Since God saved you like Jacob and showed you love, you too should return to love God and keep your will.
Jeremiah was quick to go back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, looking for a man who did justice, but he could not find a single love, so it is recorded that Jerusalem was destroyed (Jeremiah 5:1-2).
In this age when justice flows like water, we must return to God and practice righteousness, truth, and love, and keep kindness and justice.
Throughout human history, attitudes toward God have determined attitudes toward humans.
Judas renews his attitude toward his neighbor, so he must draw near to God.
“Jehovah” is a title of remembrance of God, a title that distinguishes it from all worthless believers in the world.
Therefore, they are exhorted to return to God in remembrance of God's attitude and grace toward their great ancestors, to show kindness and justice to their neighbors and to fulfill their duties toward God.
Judas, who must turn to God, is “a deceitful man,” says Hosea (verse 7).
He describes Judah as Ephraim.
Ephraim is not used in a good sense here.
Ephraim was represented as unclean.
I try hard to express that I am guilty.
The Canaanites were not honest in their business.
They were an ethically corrupt people, religiously and morally corrupt, so they were paralyzed in their consciences and were immoral in their commerce.
Hosea is passionate about how Ephraim became like this
Just as Jacob had no choice but to make a decision before God at the Jabbok River ferry, Judah was now in a time of decision.
Northern Israel has passed the period of restoration, and the sword of God's judgment has already been laid.
Hypocrisy and deceit still rule life today.
Remember that we are sitting on the judgment seat of God.
If there is no hope for the fish on the chopping board, what hope does the sinner have on the judgment seat? However, if you repent and turn back, you will be transferred from the judgment seat to the bosom of God.
3).Have a dream
“I have spoken to many prophets, and have given many visions, and have given parables by the prophets” (12:10).
The work of a prophet is always to remind us of the Word of God.
What you say is to always remind you that God has spoken.
And it is showing a vision before God.
We must hear what God is saying through the church every day and have a dream that God shows us.
A vision is a gift from God.
In Acts 16, Paul had a vision of Macedonia, which he did not invent.
It is from God.
When we accept God's word, a vision arises, and it cannot be a fantasy to express our own thoughts.
Before God, we should consider whether we are in a moment of decision like Judas.
Even now, God is not satisfied with what saved us in the past, but wants to renew our lives in the present.
He wants to give up his old self and become a devoted person from his lazy life. He wants to change his heart and become a new person. Now is such a time.
I hope that it will be a time when new visions are beautifully unfolded by hearing God's voice.