#DailyDevotion Going From No-Mercy & Not My People To Mercy & Children Of The Living God
Hos. 1 8When she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she became pregnant again and had a son. 9Call him Lo-Ammi [Not-My-People),” He said, “because you are not My people, and I am not your God. 10“And yet the Israelites will be many like the sand by the sea that can’t be measured or counted, and where they are told, ‘You are not My people,’they will be told, ‘You are the children of the living God.’ 11And the people of both Judah and Israel will be gathered together to appoint one leader over themselves and go out of that country, because the day of Jezreel will be great.
With this final child born of adultery, a son named Lo-Ammi (not my people), the prophecy is set. I wonder if the people as these children were being born and named knew of the prophecy. Certainly Hosea must have proclaimed it to the people. For a year or so he proclaimed Jezreel, because the house of Jehu would fall there. For another year or so he proclaimed, Lo-Ruhamah, because the LORD proclaimed He would no longer have mercy on Israel. Now the son, Lo-Ammi would proclaim for the rest of his life, these Israelites were not the LORD’s people.
It is a terrible, horrific thing for the LORD to tell the Israelites they are not His people and He is not their God. This is not what God wanted. Let that sink in for a bit. Remember that when the things you want to happen are not turning out as you planned. Of course, this isn’t coming out of the blue. The LORD is simply pronouncing what the Israelites had been doing and being practically since they left Egypt. They had been a. not worshiping the LORD as He told them to in the Law and b. they had started worshiping other gods before Him. Seriously, they were attributing to other gods all the LORD had done for them. They were seeking from other gods all the LORD had promised them. God is now confirming their choice.
The LORD though ends this prophecy of doom with a promise. The Israelites will be as many as the sand by the sea. Those who were not my people will be called children of the Living God. Judah and Israel will be united by their leader and go out of that country. This is fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus is the leader who unites His people. He just doesn’t do it in the way that the unbelieving Jews have planned.
The Israel here is of the spirit not of the flesh. Paul in Romans 9 says, “7Not all who are descended from Israel are the real Israel, 8and not all who are descended from Abraham are for that reason his real children. No, “Isaac’s children will be called your descendants.” 9This means children born in a natural way are not God’s children. 10Only the children he had because God promised them are counted his descendants.” Then further he says, “25So He says in Hosea: ‘Those who are not My people I will call My people, and those who are not loved I will call My loved ones, 26and where they were told, ‘You are not My people, they will be called sons of the living God.’” Peter affirms this in 1 Pet. 2:10. The Church was, is and will be God’s Israel. All who have the faith of Abraham, the faith in the blessed seed in whom all the world is blessed, are Israel, God’s people, God’s children and children of Abraham. The blessed seed is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. In Jesus Christ we find the mercy of God as He sacrifices Himself upon the altar of the cross. In Christ Jesus God’s vengeance is fulfilled. Through faith in Christ we who were not His people of His people and not only that His children.
Merciful God and Father, though in our unbelief we did not know Your mercy and were not Your people, You revealed Jesus Christ to us and gave us faith so we could receive Your mercy and Your son ship. Keep us in this faith always so we may enter into Your kingdom. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.