The Mind of Christ

Hosea 13:4 But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior.

The book of Hosea is an interesting one. At the opening of the book we see Hosea who is told to marry a woman named Gomer. Gomar is known to be very promiscuous and unfaithful. Gomer and Hosea have three children but Gomer doesn’t remain faithful in the marriage. Hosea shows grace and pays for her so she can return home. What a crazy story but also what a response.

This event was to show God’s chosen people who they are, in relation, to God. Then, in turn, who God is, in relation, to His people. We are told in Jeremiah 3:14-15 Return, O faithless children,declare the Lord; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. Also in Hosea 2:19-20 I will betroth you to me forever, I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.
I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.What we see here is Israel, God’s chosen people, are called both unfaithful children and the language of an unfaithful wife. In both cases it shows us who we are in our natural state! We are unfaithful and we need the faithful one to come and bring us back to Zion (God’s dwelling place), fill us with His righteousness, love, compassion, and justice. God tells us when we fail then He steps in with His Divine attributes and gifts us with all we need in Him.

Now we get to the focus verse and God tells us how exactly He will accomplish this. He reminds His people of their freedom from slavery that He brought about. If you had gone through the Exodus you would surely remember the 10 plaques that God put upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians. During the last plaque God destroyed the first born unless the blood was put over the door. Also they would have still been celebrating the Passover meal. This was all recalled and the people were told to remember who did all the work to get them out of the bandage of slavery. This is the work of the  Savior that our verse speaks about.

So what does this all mean for us??? God is the same back then as today. God sent His only son to release us from our bondage of sin. Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Just as the Israelites were set free from slavery that was a picture, for us, to how Jesus death, burial and resurrection has set us free from sin and death. We can look backwards to the cross and what a glorious savior we have…just as the Israelites looked forward to the promises of God to bring them to the cross. How cool is it that God is never changing and ALWAYS makes good on His promises. Take heart in times of unfaithfulness and remember the true and faithful God who loves you so much.