Great and Unsearchable Things

Things the Lord gives me, and then I write them.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Love Covers a Multitude of Sins

     Sometimes whenever I read the Bible, it seems that God is so mad and it scares me. Today I opened up to the book of Hosea, and God was talking about how His people are always "prostituting" themselves, and how He is going to punish them. These proclaimed punishments included "wombs that miscarry and breasts that are dry," "I will drive them out of my house," "I will slay their cherished offspring," "Ephraim will be disgraced," "nations will be gathered against them," "all your fortresses will be destroyed," and  the most fearful and terrifying ones, "my God will reject them," "I will no longer love them," and "I hated them there." (Gilgal)
     Of course, all of this is a result of the people's choices of turning from God, the one who led them, healed them and  loved them, to other god's instead of Him, time after time.
     But then, as I am reading further, all of a sudden, it seems God's heart of love for His people can not be contained no matter what they have done. In Hosea 11:8-11, He says, "My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man-the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath." The desire of His heart is suggested in Hosea 4:16. He wants to pasture them like lambs in a meadow, but because of their stubborness, He cannot.
     It suggests in other parts of Hosea and other Scriptures, that they will return to Him, but it will be in "the last days," not now. God says, "For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days."
     I don't know if He carried out what He had threatened or not at the time, as I haven't studied this, but ultimately it is His love for them (and for us, His own) that prevails.
     I'm still not sure if God is saying, prophetically, that His original chosen people,  will someday turn to Christ, and thereby be saved, and that is yet to come. But, what else could He mean, as "there is no other name under heaven by which men can be saved"? (Acts 4:12)
     Love, through the sacrifice of God's perfect Lamb in Christ, has been offered to all of mankind, the Jews and the Gentiles. Anyone who will turn to Him, can receive His blessings of being reconciled to Him, and not have to suffer His wrath. So,  yes, His wrath is scary because our God is a consuming fire, (Heb. 12:29) but He provides a way for all to not have to suffer it, when they accept His sacrifice. Love never fails.
    

    

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