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God's Loyal Love

Hosea 3

No Old Testament prophet was given a harder assignment than Hosea: Be a living example of the loyal-love of God for his spiritually adulterous nation. If God's New Covenant love is characterized by its unconditional nature, His Old Covenant love was characterized by its loyalty.

Spiritual adultery is the best way to define the sins of Israel. The kings and people bound themselves to the idols of their neighbors; Israel played the harlot with foreign gods. And God directed Hosea to be a living demonstration of what loyal love looks like. Hosea was to marry a woman named Gomer who was an adulteress in her marriage to Hosea. Their three children, the result of Gomer's adultery, were given names that represented God's actions and attitude toward Israel (Hosea 1:4-9). Gomer was driven from Hosea's house because of her sin, but not forever. As God desired for Israel, He wanted Gomer to be redeemed and made pure by never-ending love.

So Hosea was commanded by God, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans" (Hosea 3:1). So Hosea purchased Gomer out of the marketplace and embraced her as his wife. The purpose of this difficult assignment was to say to Israel, "There is nothing you can do to negate the love of God. You may be disciplined and sent away, but I will bring you back to Myself."

God's love is not dependent on the behavior of the objects of His love. God's love is self-determined and self-caused. Because it is not based on human goodness it cannot be terminated because of human sin. The prophet Jeremiah said that God's commitment to Israel will last as long as the universe (Jeremiah 31:35-37); the apostle Paul said nothing can separate us from God's love (Romans 8:35-39).

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