The Magnitude of God's Love

Trevor S. Ferguson

January 9, 2011

Hosea 2:14-23 (NKJV)
14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her.
15 I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
16 "And it shall be, in that day," Says the Lord, "That you will call Me 'My Husband,' And no longer call Me 'My Master,'
17 For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, And they shall be remembered by their name no more.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely.
19 "I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy;
20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the Lord.
21 "It shall come to pass in that day That I will answer," says the Lord; "I will answer the heavens, And they shall answer the earth.
22 The earth shall answer With grain, With new wine, And with oil; They shall answer Jezreel.
23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!' "

INTRODUCTION
One of my favorite bible verses is from is Romans 5:7 – 8 “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” This verse illustrates how that God loved us in our sinful state, when we were unlovable and certainly not deserving of his love. It is an expression of the magnitude, the vastness, and the great dimensions of God’s love. Most people, even Christians, do not fully appreciate the extent of God’s love. This can be seen in Ephesians 3:17-19 where Paul writes:

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

It is almost impossible to adequately describe the dimensions of God’s love. One writer puts it: Wide, wide as the ocean, deep, deep as the sea, high high as the heaven’s above, His love to me. Today I want to use the story of Hosea and his wife Gomer to illustrate in a graphic, true to life scenario the magnitude of God’s love.

EXPOSITION
Hosea was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, who prophesied during a period around 755-715 B.C. His prophesies were in the last years before the Northern Kingdom of Israel went into Assyrian captivity in 722 B.C. Hosea prophesied about the destruction and restoration of Israel, but he is best remembered with regards to how God used his life as an allegory to illustrate Israel’s waywardness and idolatry in the face of God’s persistent love.

The story begins in verse 2 of Hosea 1, where God instructs Hosea to take a wife from among the prostitutes, who would bear him illegitimate children, conceived through prostitution. Note however that God cushions his extremely demanding request by declaring to Hosea the purpose for his instruction i.e. the nation had committed spiritual prostitution in departing from the Lord. Hosea obeyed and took Gomer as his wife. She bore him three children, whose names reflected the state of Israel and had prophetic significance:

The first son – Jezreel, meaning God scatters, speaks to the scattering of Israel among the Assyrians
The 2nd, a daughter, Lo-ruhamah, meaning ‘not pitied’ – God would no longer have mercy on Israel
The 3rd Lo-ammi, meaning ‘not my people’ indicating that Israel would be disowned by God

Note though verse 10; the cushion appears again – Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea … in the place where it was said you are not my people, there shall it be said, you are the sons of the living God.

Chapter 2 begins with a solemn warning (read vs. 1-3). God is rebuking Israel to expose her sins and idolatry but at the same time pleading with her to turn from her sinfulness or face dire consequences. The latter verses (14-23) however ends with a message of great hope that shows the magnitude of God’s love for Israel. These are illustrated below:

Vs. 14 – God would ‘allure her’, i.e. persuade by means of attractive benefits; He would ‘speak tenderly to her’

Vs. 15 – God would give ‘The Valley of Achor for a door of Hope’. The Net Bible renders this “turn the ‘Valley of Trouble into an Opportunity for Hope’”

Vs. 16 – at that day you will call me “My Husband” and no longer call me “My Master”

Vs. 19-20 – I will betroth thee unto me forever; in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion, faithfulness, and you will acknowledge that Lord

Vs. 23 … I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy, I will say to them which were called “not my people’” “You are my people” and they will say “You are my God”


APPLICATION
When we reflect on all that Hosea did for Gomer and all that God did for Israel we can begin to grasp the true magnitude of God’s love. How that regardless of how far we may have drifted in sin God still seeks after us.

This is further illustrated in chapter 3 where Gomer again left her husband and ended up being sold as a slave. Hosea however bought her back (chapter 3:2. So I bought her to me for 15 pieces of silver). This is what God did for us as expressed in John 3:16, He gave of himself, laid down his life so that we might have life, he purchased our salvation, redeeming us with his blood on Calvary.

Today he continues to woo us, to speak tenderly to us, and lead us to a place where we can love him in return. Although we fail many times he still continues to love us. These lyrics from Hezekiah Walker’s song are illustrative:

How many times do I go against Your will, then You forgive me, but yet I still turn around and do the things, the things I shouldn't do cuz I belong to You, and I know You will come through, Lord I know I take advantage of Your grace, here in this Christian race, but yet I still hear You calling my name.

Today God is calling out to someone, someone who has drifted far from the love of God, someone who might never have known God, someone who for all practical purposes is spiritually dead, but God is calling your name. He is calling you to come into his love, to experience his abundant grace and mercy, to finally find the joy of our salvation and experience the magnificent love of God.

His love is amazing, marvelous and wonderful. It is the best experience you will ever have!!