Devotional for April 11, 2025 | Friday: The Promise of Hope

Joshua 7:1-8:29 This week’s lessons show the consequences of Achan’s sin upon the nation of Israel, and how in the midst of God’s judgment, grace and blessing are offered.

Theme

The Promise of Hope

Up to this point, we have dealt largely with sin and judgment. Judgment is a grim note. It is not something that we want when we see it unfolding, especially unfolding on a member of the people of God. We are drawn up short because we recognize that we, too, sin. And judgment is something that must be reckoned with in our own lives. But the note on which I’d like to end is not a note of judgment but of hope. And the reason I want to end on the note of hope is that this is the way God Himself handles this story at a later portion of the Word of God. This valley where they stoned Achan was named the Valley of Achor as a pun on Achan’s name. You can understand easily that Achor is just a slight variation of the word, “Achan,” The reason for this is that “Achor” means “trouble” or “disaster.” It’s why Joshua said, “Why have you brought this disaster on us? The Lord will bring disaster, Achor, upon you.” Thus, the place where he’s stoned is named the “Valley of Achor.”

The reason I mention this is that this valley is mentioned in the book of Hosea, where it is used in a most interesting way. You find that phrase in Hosea 2, which is also a chapter of God’s judgment. It’s a story of Hosea the prophet and Gomer, the unfaithful wife who has run away. This second chapter describes how God is going to deal with this woman in her disobedience. Her disobedience is a pageant of Israel’s disobedience. And God’s dealing with her is a pageant of God’s dealings with Israel and with us.

The outline of this chapter is found in a three-fold repetition of the word, “therefore” (seen in vv. 6, 9, and 14). Because Gomer has sinned and run away, “Therefore,” says God, “I’m going to do something.” In verse 6, God says this: “Therefore I will block her path with thorn bushes. I will wall her in so she cannot find her way.” What God is saying there is that when we go our way—rather than God’s way—God makes sure that we never get where were going. He walls us in. He keeps us from finding what we want. A young person who says, “Well, I don’t want to go the Lord’s way. I want to go my way. Then, maybe later I’ll come back and serve God.” Well, when a young person does that, God makes sure they never get their heart’s desire. God keeps them from it. He lets them get close enough to taste it but never really to seize it. God says, “I’m going to do that first of all with Gomer because of her disobedience.”

And then secondly in verse 9, God says, “Therefore, I will take away my grain when it ripens and my new wine when it is ready.” What God is saying there is that He’s going to deprive her of necessities. She won’t heed the still, small voice of the Lord, so He’s going to speak loudly. The fluttering of the moth doesn’t get through, so God is going to bring the lion. He’s going to take away what she needs. She’s going to be hungry. Life is not going to go well.

We come then to God’s third use of the word “therefore” in verse 14. It’s in this context that the phrase, “the Valley of Achor,” occurs. Remembering this valley back in Joshua 7, when we first come across it here in Hosea 2, we’re really overpowered with fear because we say, “Look, the Valley of Achor was a place of death.” And here Hosea God is saying, “Because my people disobey me, first of all, I’m going to keep them from getting what they want. Secondly, I’m going to take away life’s necessities.” At this point we wonder what God is going to do. It must be death, given what we know about the Valley of Achor from Joshua. But then what God says next surprises us. God comes in grace and says, “Therefore, I am now going to allure her. I will lead her into the desert, and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards. And I will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope” (vv. 14-15).

You read those verses and you say, “Who could possibly make a place of death and judgment a door of hope?” Certainly not us. But God is able to do it. God makes our Valley of Achor a door of hope by taking the trouble of Achor upon Himself. Jesus was troubled for us. Jesus went down into that valley. Jesus endured that judgment in order that by His death, a door of hope might be opened for us into glory. You know, if that’s the case, if that’s the way God deals with us, using even judgment as a vehicle of cleansing and a means by which that door of hope is open, then you and I must turn from sin and serve Him wholeheartedly. And in doing this, we must speak to others of that hope which is found in Jesus Christ.

We must not think that God has blessed us because we are somehow better than others. But we must say, rather, that all of that sin that we find in these characters of the Old Testament, all of that dissatisfaction, all of that coveting, all of that outright disobedience, and theft, and lying is in us. That’s what we’re like. But God has taken our judgment upon Himself. And because He’s done that, He has opened up a glorious new day for us and set before us a door of hope which is not only hope for this life, but hope for all eternity. And that’s the God I make known to you, a God who will make your valley a door of hope as well. If we’re faithful in that, God will use us. God will speak even from the position of our own cleansing from sin to bring others to the knowledge of that same glorious Savior.

Study Questions

1. Why was the valley given the name “Achor”? What does it mean, and how does it connect with Achan?
2. Where else does this valley appear in Scripture? How is it used there, and what is it meant to teach us?

Application

Application: Probably all of us know people who are experiencing some kind of divine troubling because of their sin. Ask God to give you wisdom and opportunity to show them the door of hope that can only be found in Christ.

Key Point: We must not think that God has blessed us because we are somehow better than others. But we must say, rather, that all of that sin that we find in these characters of the Old Testament, all of that dissatisfaction, all of that coveting, all of that outright disobedience, and theft, and lying is in us. That’s what we’re like. But God has taken our judgment upon Himself.

For Further Study: Download for free and listen to James Boice’s message, “Sin against Man, Sin against God.” (Discount will be applied at checkout.)

https://www.thinkandactbiblically.org/friday-the-promise-of-hope/

Hosea: The Drama of Salvation | The Master’s Seminary Blog

Imagine the courtroom. Imagine the joy. A wicked and guilty sinner is declared innocent by a righteous judge. How is this possible? By faith, we the guilty are declared righteous through the substitutionary death of the Lamb. What a glorious thought. We are saved from God’s wrath!

Yet however great that might sound, the book of Hosea demonstrates that salvation is far greater than this courtroom scene. Biblical salvation is not just a past spiritual declaration that makes a sinner righteous—it is an all-encompassing salvation, spiritual and physical, in which God makes sinners the objects of His everlasting affection.

Hosea illustrates this salvation story.

The ten northern tribes of Israel had utterly prostituted themselves in the worship of foreign gods, building golden calves, erecting high places on every hill, and trusting in the strength of men. They had forsaken God’s covenant. Thus, God sent the prophet Hosea to declare His righteous sentence against them.

Yet instead of beginning with a spoken word, God commands Hosea to do something quite odd. Hosea is to marry a “wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom” (Hos 1:2). And though the exact timing of Gomer’s promiscuity is debated, God’s point is obvious: Hosea is going to have to live through what God is experiencing—being covenanted with a wife who is committing adultery.

After proving Israel’s adultery, God does what anyone would expect a husband to do: He explains to Israel that He no longer loves them or considers them His people. Hosea also has to live out this reality, naming his first daughter “No-Mercy” and his second daughter “Not-My-People,” daily illustrating to the people of Israel the message, “You are not my people, and I am not your God” (Hos 1:9).

In fact, in the book of Hosea, God consistently inverts the message of the Mosaic covenant, communicating to the Northern Tribes that through their disobedience, they have annulled their relationship with Him. Thus, God is removing the blessings of the covenant and returning them to the state in which He found them.

The Lion of Judah promises to tear them apart, instead of their enemies (Hos 5:14), adding that “He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt” (Hos 8:13). From Egypt God had called them, and so to slavery they would return (Hosea later explains that returning to Egypt is symbolic for returning to slavery and that their place of captivity would actually be Assyria, Hos 11:5).

The point: the people of Israel had ceased to be God’s people and God had promised to punish them.

You say, “Hey, I thought this was a message about salvation! This is dark!” Yes, but that’s the beauty of God’s salvation. The more we understand the depths of our depravity, the more we appreciate the power of God that rescued us from our damnation.

God cannot remain angry with the descendants of Abraham forever because His compassionate heart cannot withstand it and His very nature demands that He keep His promises. Thus, after rejecting Israel God says, “My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst” (Hos 11:8–9).

He promises that though He had cast them off, someday, “in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ it shall be said to them, ‘Children of the living God’” (Hos 1:10).

This too, Hosea was to live out in his relationship to his adulterous wife, Gomer.

After Gomer leaves Hosea to live with another man, God tells Hosea to do the unthinkable. Hosea must seek out Gomer and love her again. God commands, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins” (Hos 3:1).

So this action was also symbolic, this time not of God’s wrath, but of the future restoration of all things (Hos 3:4–5). Though Israel had forsaken the Mosaic covenant, God still remembered the Abrahamic covenant and promised that someday He would regenerate and restore His people to Himself after their disobedience (Deut 30:6).

God was using Hosea to explain this future reality to Israel. One day He would “allure her,” “speak tenderly to her,” and “remove the name of Baal from her mouth” (Hos 2:14, 17). Why? So that He could say: “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. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord” (Hos 2:19–20).

God had judged His people, but He had not forgotten His promises. He promised that one day He would forgive Israel’s sins, cure her of her harlotry, and lavish His love upon her forever.

So you see, God’s picture of salvation is not merely of a judge declaring that the adulteress is innocent. Because a judge could acquit an adulteress, yet want nothing to do with her. Rather, God’s picture of salvation is of a judge changing the heart of an adulteress so that He could step down from His bench and propose marriage to her, lavishing His love upon her for all eternity. This is the gospel of the kingdom, the restoration of all things.

So when you think and teach about salvation, don’t truncate the message by limiting salvation to justification alone—include also the future realities of glorification. It is true that Christ’s cross reconciled us to God, and that is wonderful. But God is even more wonderful.

Now that He has justified us, He actually desires to spend eternity with us. News can’t get any better than that! One day God will fulfill all His promises, when we, together with Israel, reign with Christ in the New Jerusalem.

[Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2016 and has been updated.]

https://blog.tms.edu/hosea-the-drama-of-salvation

JANUARY 15 | The Lover of Your Soul

SCRIPTURE READING: Hosea 11:1–9
KEY VERSES: Lamentations 3:22–23

       Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,
       Because His compassions fail not.
       They are new every morning;
       Great is Your faithfulness.

The nation of Israel grieved God’s heart continually by chasing after other gods and withholding their devotion and adoration from Him. To provide the errant nation with a living illustration of His righteous grief and anger, God gave the prophet Hosea an unusual command.
He told him to wed a harlot and begin a family with her. Without questioning, Hosea obeyed and took the prostitute Gomer to be his wife. Though she wandered and continued in an unfaithful lifestyle, Hosea obeyed the Lord and did not cast her away. The book of Hosea contains God’s words to the people of Israel as revealed through Hosea’s dramatic example of steadfast love.
The moving poetry of this book also reveals the longing of God for uninterrupted intimacy with His people. Can you feel the agony of separation in these words?

  How can I give you up, Ephraim?
  How can I hand you over, Israel?…
  My heart churns within Me,
  My sympathy is stirred.
  I will not execute the fierceness of My anger. (Hos. 11:8–9)

God longs for the same intimate relationship with you. He would do anything to get your love—and He did. In the most radical display of all time, He provided His Son, Jesus Christ, as the means to make such fellowship possible. God is the passionate and faithful Lover of your soul.

Dear God, thank You for displaying Your love by giving Your Son, Jesus Christ, to restore my fellowship with You.

Stanley, C. F. (2000). Into His presence (p. 16). Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Out Of Egypt I Called My Son | Evangelical Magazine

The birth of Jesus as fulfilment of Scripture

‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil,’ says Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:17). Part of that fulfilment, as the Gospel of Matthew eloquently shows, is the ways in which the birth of Jesus fulfils Scripture.
It is impossible to review all the prophetic words relating to this extraordinary event in this article, but one example is enough to demonstrate the richness of Jesus’ claim to fulfil the law and the prophets.
When King Herod plots to destroy the holy family, an angel appears to Joseph and tells him to flee to safety in Egypt. This, Matthew tells us, ‘was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son”’ (Matt. 2:15). The quotation comes from Hosea 11:1 and its use in Matthew has caused a lot of confusion. The verse in its original context in the book of Hosea simply does not read as a messianic prediction. It goes: ‘When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.’
Problems with prophecy
There are three problems. First, in mentioning the son of God, Hosea is not talking about the second person of the Trinity. He means the nation of Israel, which in Exodus 4:22 is called God’s ‘firstborn son’. Second, this is not a prediction about the future. Hosea refers to a past event, the exodus from Egypt under Moses which demonstrated God’s love for Israel. Third, Matthew’s geography is odd. Hosea is thinking of Israel’s movement from Egypt into the Promised Land. In Matthew’s story Jesus, the Son of God, moves in the opposite direction – from Judea into Egypt.
What is Matthew doing here? Was he sloppy and imprecise in his use of Hosea’s prophecy? Or was he trying to deceive his readers into thinking that there was this spectacular prediction about the Messiah’s escape into Egypt? Neither of those explanations is likely. The Gospel of Matthew is the most Jewish gospel, relying more than any of the other New Testament gospels on the readers’ knowledge and understanding of the Jewish Scriptures. Matthew quotes the Old Testament more than most other New Testament writers precisely because he writes for an audience that cares about Scripture.
Theological fulfilment
Rather, by using Hosea, Matthew wants to make an important theological point. Jesus fulfils this prophecy because he fulfils God’s call to Israel. Israel was rescued by God to become a light to the nations and a witness to God’s saving power. Israel’s slavery in Egypt also exposed the oppressive cruelty of Pharaoh and his people. It culminated in the confrontation between God and Pharaoh, the Egyptian plagues and the rout of the Egyptian army at the Red Sea. With the redemption of Israel also comes God’s judgement on Egypt.
In the same way, Jesus’ coming into the world exposes its sinfulness and depravity. Much like Pharaoh (Ex. 1:15-22), King Herod orders the slaughter of innocent children because he fears the challenge that the kingdom of God poses to his own power. As the Judean king hears the news of the Messiah’s birth, his heart hardens. He does not submit to the will of God but seeks to thwart his purposes by killing his son.
Jesus is saved from Herod’s clutches, as Moses was saved from death in the Nile (Ex. 2:1-10), and as Israel was saved through the waters of the Red Sea. This is why Jesus’ flight from Judea is placed in parallel to Israel’s departure from Egypt. Judea has become a spiritually dark place, so much so that it has taken the place of Egypt.
By rescuing his son from persecution and death, God affirms two things. One, he will judge human sin. The king of Egypt cannot stand when he refuses to heed the word of God, and neither can the king of Judah. Two, God’s saving purposes will prevail even in the face of human opposition. Pharaoh tried to kill the children of Israel but could not prevent the redemption of God’s people. Herod tried to kill the children of Bethlehem but could not stop the advance of the kingdom of God.
Thus, when Jesus fulfils the prophetic word of the Old Testament, he does not simply act out events that have been foreseen in advance. He does much more. He reveals the true meaning of what God has done in the past and what God is doing in the present. The whole gospel is contained in the fulfilment of Hosea 11:1, as Matthew sees it. The Son of God is called out of Egypt to bring judgement and salvation to the world.

https://www.evangelicalmagazine.com/article/out-of-egypt-i-called-my-son/

December 8 – What on Earth Is Admah and Zeboim? | VCY

December 8 – What on Earth Is Admah and Zeboim?

TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
  Hosea 10:1-14:9
  Jude 1:1-25
  Psalm 127:1-5
  Proverbs 29:15-17

Hosea 10:12 — This chapter has been difficult to read, but this verse is clear. “Break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD.” A.W. Tozer preached a message on this verse. Also, from the Steve Pettit Team:

Hosea 10:13 — 15% of people pray that something bad they did will not be discovered.

Hosea 11:1 — Notice that God retells the story of Israel. They were ransomed from Egypt through the Passover, but they immediately began sacrificing to Baal (Hosea 11:2). Clearly, they were bent on backsliding (Hosea 11:7).

Hosea 11:8 — What on earth is Admah and Zeboim? They are allies of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 14:2-3) that were likewise destroyed (Deuteronomy 29:23). Will God destroy Israel like Sodom & Gomorrah? No (Hosea 11:9)! He will make them walk after Him (Hosea 11:10).

Hosea 12:6 — In spite of all the judgment God is bringing, He pleads, “turn thou to thy God.”

Hosea 13:4 — Notice the comparison to the First Commandment (Exodus 20:2-3).

Hosea 13:14 — God is more powerful than death and the grave (1 Corinthians 15:55)!

Hosea 13:16 — How could God be so cruel? GotQuestions.org compares this passage to Nahum 3:10:

The immediate context speaks of the defeat of the Egyptian city of Thebes by Assyria, of which Nineveh was the capital. When Thebes was defeated by Assyria in 663 B.C., the detestable acts of Nahum 3:10 took place. The Assyrians sold people into captivity and killed infants (cf. Hosea 13:16). The infants were likely killed by the Assyrians as a gratuitous act of cruelty and because the infants could not be easily exiled.

It’s important to note that God did not condone this horrific action. In fact, Nahum mentions this account as justification for God’s condemnation of Assyria.

https://www.gotquestions.org/infants-dashed-to-pieces.html

Hosea 14:1 — Calling out again to Israel: “Return unto the LORD thy God.” Aren’t you thankful for His patience with us? How do we return? Repent (Hosea 14:2), turn (Hosea 14:3), and be healed (Hosea 14:4).

Jude 1 — According to Insight.org and J. Vernon McGee, Jude is the half-brother of Jesus, yet introduces himself as “the servant of Jesus Christ.” McGee makes an interesting point:

Neither James nor Jude believed in the messianic claims of Jesus until after His resurrection. It was the Resurrection that convicted them and confirmed to them that Jesus was who He claimed to be. Up until that time they thought He had just gone “off” on religion, that He was, as the Scripture puts it, beside Himself. But after His resurrection they became believers. You see, it was possible to grow up in a home with Jesus in the days of His flesh and not recognize Him.

https://www.ttb.org/resources/study-guides/jude-study-guide

Jude 4 — Again, heresy in the early church! What does Jude show? Doctrinal error (Jude 4) and promised destruction (Jude 5 – effective destruction, Jude 6 – everlasting chains, Jude 7 – eternal fire).

Jude 14 — No, Jude isn’t endorsing the extrabiblical alleged Book of Enoch. He is, however, showing that for hundreds of years before Noah, the Preacher of Righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), God did not leave Himself without a remnant prophet.

Jude 17-18 — Two observations: 1) The brother of Jesus is submitting to his brother’s disciples, and 2) Jude 18 is a good description of today.

Jude 22-23 — Great verses today! “Of some have compassion, making a difference” (Jude 22), and “save with fear, pulling them out of the fire.” Let’s remember that hell is real, and as someone once said, “The most sobering reality in the world is that people are dying and going to hell today.”

Psalm 127:1 — A great reminder to those of us who like to build projects! Ask God what He thinks first!

Proverbs 29:16 — Thankfully, the wicked don’t reign forever!

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

The Amazing Comfort, Concern and Care of God | CultureWatch

The Amazing Comfort, Concern and Care of God

God’s parental love for his children is a real tonic:

Here are some basic biblical truths we believers must always keep in mind: One, we have been created in God’s image as male and female. Two, God himself is beyond gender. Three, God has overwhelmingly revealed himself using male imagery and pronouns. Four, sometimes however feminine imagery and pronouns are used of God in Scripture.

Thus masculine traits, images, characteristics and terminology are in the main used of God, but not always. Most of these points I have looked at in more detail in earlier articles, such as this one: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2015/10/29/god-and-gender/

Here I want to look at three texts which do run with feminine terms or pictures. I have discussed all three before, but here I want to discuss them further, and draw upon some expert commentary in the process. And I do this for a few reasons.

First, we all hurt, grieve, know betrayal and feel rejection. Having a God that we can relate to – usually depicted as a strong supportive father, but at times as a caring, compassionate mother – can help us all as we deal with these painful experiences in our life.

Second, I have a friend who just recently posted on the social media about her sad upbringing. In addition to all the health problems and other issues she is now dealing with, she revealed that as a child she had known abuse, betrayal and rejection from her own mother.

Third, I was contemplating all this last night, and as I fell asleep, I had a very brief dream in which my mother was bending over and comforting and caring for me in my sleep. However, I was a full-grown adult in my dream, and not a young child when she would have done such things many decades ago. It made me think of God’s continuous loving care and attention of me and of his children everywhere.

Here then are the three key texts which portray God and his deep passion for us using images of family, of a caring parent, and of a loving, committed and devoted mother attending to her children:

Isaiah 49:15-16

Can a woman forget her nursing child,
    that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
    yet I will not forget you.
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls are continually before me.

The context of this text is how God will restore Israel, even though it seems that he has abandoned them as they languish in Babylonian captivity. Paul Wegner puts it this way:

The Israelites exiled in Babylon wondered whether God had forgotten them and would ever again act on their behalf (see 40:27). The LORD immediately reassures them that this is not the case; that his love for his nation is much too strong for him to abandon them: Can a mother forget the baby at her breast… God affirms that even if a mother could forget her baby (something highly unlikely), he could never forget Israel. God’s love far exceeds every form of human love.

The dramatic imagery of verse 16 underscores God’s love for Jerusalem and how personally invested he is… In this context ‘engraving’ implies cutting with a sharp object. Even though Israel was forbidden from tattooing and self-mutilating by cutting (see Lev. 19:28), God uses this image to reinforce how permanent is his love for them. His engraved hands and Israel’s walls serve as a constant reminder to God of Israel – he could never forget them.

And Tim Keller reminds us of the New Testament application: “When Isaiah writes those words, they’re simply a graphic image of God’s commitment to his people—like people who write reminders to themselves on their hands in pen. It’s as if God has tattooed our names on his hands. But these words have added power for us because God’s commitment to us is written in the scars on the palms of Jesus. He can never forget his people.”

Hosea 11:1-4, 8

When Israel was a child, I loved him,
    and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more they were called,
    the more they went away;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals
    and burning offerings to idols.

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
    I took them up by their arms,
    but they did not know that I healed them.

I led them with cords of kindness,
    with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,
    and I bent down to them and fed them….

How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
    How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
    How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
    my compassion grows warm and tender.

Hosea by Phillips, Richard D. (Author)

Explicit language of mother care may not be used here, but the picture presented certainly leads one to think in those terms, given the high level of emotion being shared here. The parental pathos of God is on full display here. Says Richard Phillips:

Hosea 11 is a little-known Old Testament gem, clearly depicting the gospel message that arrived in the New Testament through Jesus Christ. Israel’s betrayal prompts an emotional conflict within God that would not find its answer until Jesus prayed to his Father in the garden of Gethsemane and cried out in anguish from the cross. Derek Kidner comments: “This chapter is one of the boldest in the Old Testament – indeed in the whole Bible – in exposing to us the mind and heart of God in human terms. . . . God as a father rebuffed, torn between agonising alternatives, may seem too human altogether; But this is the price of bringing home to us the fact that divine love is more, not less, ardent and vulnerable than ours.

The New Testament counterpart of Hosea 11, of course, is Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, in which the height and depth of God’s love is reviewed precisely because of the sin that he is already to forgive. One key difference is that, according to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is actually present in this Old Testament story, since the loving claim of Hosea 11:1 is fulfilled in the coming of Jesus: “This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’” (Matt. 2:15).

He goes on to comment on the divine attributes of justice and grace:

Given his Holiness, we would expect that God’s justice would win over grace, rather than the other way around. Yet instead of justice triumphing over grace, the opposite occurred. If we wonder why God’s holiness results here in mercy, we should remember that holiness extends beyond the attribute of moral perfection, encompassing to the entire transcendence of God’s being. God is infinitely above all manner of human conception, feeling, and action. Stuart writes that “his holiness embodies all that makes him different from humans, and especially the qualities that elevate his thinking and moral behaviour above their usually petty standards.” The holiness of God includes his love, which is a holy love, and for this reason Israel was not underly consumed. John Newton wrote that “the patience of man, or of any mere creature, would have been overcome long ago by the perverseness of Israel; but he who made them, and he only, was able to bear with them still.”

Matthew 23:37

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

These words of Jesus to a wayward Jerusalem clearly lay out the imagery of motherhood and a deep love of one’s offspring. Leon Morris comments:

There is compassion in his words, and it is very moving to find him likening his desire for the city’s inhabitants to that of a hen gathering her chickens. There are the thoughts of the helplessness of the chickens, of the care of the mother hen for them, and for their safety under her wings. All this applies to Jerusalem. Jesus is saying that he had had a deep affection for the inhabitants of this holy city and that he had wanted them to commit themselves to his care. Under his wings they would have found safety. But the final condemnation is put in the simple words, “you would not.” The words mean “you were not willing”; the will of the inhabitants was directed elsewhere. They could join with the Galilean pilgrims in welcoming Jesus at the triumphal entry, but this was no more than a passing enthusiasm. When matters got serious they did not will to seek the shelter that he offered them. They preferred to send him to the cross.

And Craig Blomberg puts it this way:

“Jerusalem” is a metonymy (the use of one name or object to refer to a closely related item) for the corrupt leadership of the people. Jesus’ words betray great tenderness and employ maternal imagery. God transcends gender and displays attributes that humans often associate with women, as well as those commonly associated with men. Here Jesus wishes he could gather all the recalcitrant “children” of Israel, to love, protect, and nurture them like a mother hen does with her baby chickens. Similar imagery recurs frequently in Jewish literature (e.g., Deut 32:4; Ps 36:7; Ruth 2:12; Isa 31:5)

These biblical truths should powerfully and wonderfully comfort and provide succour to those who grieve, who hurt, who suffer, and especially to those who feel betrayed and rejected. What a wonderful God we serve.

[1622 words]

The post The Amazing Comfort, Concern and Care of God appeared first on CultureWatch.