The Fourth Sunday of Advent (OTA)

Hosea 2:14-23

¹⁴  “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, 

and bring her into the wilderness, 

and speak tenderly to her. 

¹⁵  And there I will give her her vineyards 

and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. 

And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, 

as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. 

¹⁶ “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ ¹⁷ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. ¹⁸ And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. ¹⁹ And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. ²⁰ I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord. 

²¹  “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, 

I will answer the heavens, 

and they shall answer the earth, 

²²  and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, 

and they shall answer Jezreel, 

²³  and I will sow her for myself in the land. 

And I will have mercy on No Mercy, 

and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; 

and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’ ” 

God calls his people out into the wilderness to Marry them.  He will make his people into a Holy Bride.  He will make them one with himself.  So he tells Hosea to marry a prostitute like his people.  Hosea makes her a part of his own life.  He has several children with her.  God has Hosea name them with these names that will remind them who they have become.

The Lord declares something that will remind us that the people put the LORD on the same level with the Baals.  The people place God along side their other gods.  The do not have one Husband but they have five.

The LORD will still remain faithful to these people.  He will continue to send them messengers who will call them out this darkness.  These people who have turned their backs on him, God will still cry out for them to come.  He will call them out and make them his Holy Bride.

"And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people'; and he shall say, 'You are my God.'"  It is the LORD God our Savior who comes to call you his people, and offer you mercy and even desires to be your Husband.