“^1:10 Yet thenumber of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannotbe measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where itwas said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Yeare the sons of the living God.  ¹¹Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gatheredtogether, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of theland: for great shall be the day of Jezreel. ^2:1 Say ye unto yourbrethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah” (Hosea 1:10-2:1)

The prophet Hosea ministeredduring a period of time in the history of the Old Testament church known as theDivided Kingdom. The kingdom of Israelwas one body during the days of David and Solomon. But after Solomon, thekingdom was divided into two. The Southern Kingdom, known as the Kingdom of Judah, was ruled by Rehoboam. The peoplein the south became known as the Jews. The Northern Kingdom, known as the Kingdom of Israel, was ruled by Jeroboam I. And thepeople were known as Israelites. Jeroboam, in order to make sure that theIsraelites would not return to Jerusalemto worship, set up two places of worship with golden calves to representJehovah.

This was a direct violation ofthe 2^nd Commandment, which teaches us that God may not be worshippedin any way not ordained in His word. The Northern Kingdomnever recovered from her apostasy.

The Prophet Hosea’s ministrywas directed to the Israelites in the Northern Kingdom.But notice how he dates the period of his ministry first in reference to thekings of the South (Hos 1:1). He does so, perhaps, because he recognised thatit was in the South that the legitimate kingship of the church of old wasfound.

Heministered during the days of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. It was during the reign of Uzziah, thatJeroboam II, the son of Joash, became king in the Northern Kingdom. Hosea would preach during Jeroboam’s reign, and duringthe tumultuous 25 years that followed. Those 25 years would see 6 differentkings on the throne (Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekiah, Pekah and Hoshea).The period would end with disaster when the Kingdom was destroyed by theAssyrians in 722 BC.

What was Hosea’s message? Hismessage was that the people in the north had broken their covenant relationshipwith God. They had mixed the pure worship of God with idolatry and thereligions of the people in surrounding lands. Hosea warned them of judgement tocome. But his message of doom was tempered with a message of God’s love for Hispeople.

In fact, this book isbeautifully divided into 5 cycles, with each cycle beginning with Condemnation,and ending with Consolation.[1]

Thisevening, the Lord helping us, as part of our series on the great and preciouspromises of God, we want to consider the promise that concludes the first cycle(1:1-2:1). This promise begins with the word ‘yet…”:

^1:10Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of thesea...

Now,the word ‘yet’, invites us to consider the background condemnation that makesthis promise all the more precious. So let’s look briefly at the condemnationand then consider the promise.

1. The Condemnation

Hosea began his ministry in amost unique way. He was to begin his ministry with marriage. But it was noordinary marriage. He was to marry a wife of whoredoms and to have childrenwith her (v. 2). Now a whore is a prostitute! We can imagine how Hosea musthave been shocked by the Lord’s instruction. But why? Why did the Lord givethis instruction? God’s answer is: “forthe land [i.e. Israel]hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD” (v. 2b).

Hosea’s marriage and love forhis wayward wife is intended to be a vivid picture of God’s relationship with Israel.Israelwas the bride of God, but she had become a whore,—and a great whore at that,—inforsaking her husband and going after strange gods.

Thelove of God for his people is always amazing because throughout the ages hispeople never reciprocated his love—no, not in the Old Testament, and neither inthe New Testament. No child of God has ever loved God and served Him with thelove He deserves. But what is worse is that God’s people have a tendency tostray from the Lord. “My people are bent to backsliding from me” says the LORDthrough Hosea in chapter 11 (Hos 11:7).

At the time when Hosea beganhis ministry, the people of Israelhad not only backslidden, they had already gone a whoring after false gods withvehemence.

Now, Hosea had 3 childrenthrough his wife Gomer; and it is interesting to see how God named all three ofthem to indicate the judgement that he was meting out to Israel for her unfaithfulness.

The first child was nameJezreel (v. 4). Jezreel comes from two Hebrew words זרע (zara)which means scatter or sow. A farmer scatters the seed in order to sow. Thesecond word is אל (el) means God. So Jezreel means “God scatters” or “God sows.”

Hoseawas to name his first son Jezreel, in the first instance, for a rather complexreason, which we will not go into tonight. But we will see how the name willhelp us to understand God’s blessing when we look at the promise.

Now, Gomer’s second child was adaughter. God instructed Hosea to call her Lo-Ruhamah. ‘Lo’ is Hebrew for ‘no’;‘Ruhamah’ comes from the Hebrew rachamwhich describes a tender feeling of compassion, mercy or love. So Lo-Ruhamahmeans ‘she has received no compassion’ or ‘she is not loved’.

Hosea was to name his daughter Lo-Ruhamah forthe LORD says: “I will no more have mercyupon the house of Israel;but I will utterly take them away” (v. 6). God would no more showcompassion, pity, love or mercy to the house of Israel. He will take them away, andhe will carry them into exile.

God is patient, but Hispatience does not violate His justice. His patience for the wicked will notlast forever. Israelhad exhausted His patience. He would now visit her iniquity and show nocompassion or mercy.

Gomer’sthird child was a son. God instructed Hosea to name him Lo-Ammi. ‘Lo’ is Hebrewfor ‘no’. ‘Ammi’ means ‘my people’. Lo-Ammi means ‘not my people.’ Hosea was tocall his son Lo-Ammi because God would say to Israel: “ye are not my people, and I will not be your God” (v. 9). Thisstatement is a very significant one. It is a negation of something that God hassaid to his people on many occasions, namely: “I will be your God and you willbe my people” (Lev 26:12; Ex 6:7; Dt 26:17-18).

But now Israel in the North would no longerbe God’s people, God was abandoning them. He was severing his covenant tieswith them.

In a sense, He is saying thatHe is cutting them off. Israelwould no longer be part of His covenant people. The candlestick was beingremoved. The branch of the olive tree was being lobed off. The elect would nolonger be found in her though they will continue to be found amongst the Jews.

It was a sad day for Israel.It was a day of warning for God’s visible covenant people throughout the ages.God can and does cut off whole congregations when they apostatise from Him.

Butthank God that He never forsakes His Church. He may cut off entire congregations,but the Church as a whole will never be destroyed. This was true in the days ofthe Old Testament, and it is true today. Our Confession of Faith highlightsthis doctrine in these words:

WCF 25.5 The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error; and some haveso degenerated as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless,there shall be always a Church on earth to worship God according to His will.

That is to say: though churchesmay be cut off, and cease to be the legitimate branches of the church ofChrist, yet God will always have His people on earth, and they will gather intrue churches.

This truth, I believe, is thepromise of our text beginning with the word ‘Yet.’

2. The Promise

^1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall beas the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shallcome to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not mypeople, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the livingGod.  ¹¹ Then shall thechildren of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appointthemselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall bethe day of Jezreel. ^2:1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to yoursisters, Ruhamah.

Now,when you read these verses, you may think that the Lord is saying that thoughhe would disown the Northern Kingdom, yet Hewill bless them with many children, and then one day He will gather them backto Jezreel, and He will receive them back, to be His people. And then thechildren of Judah will alsocome to them and they will appoint one king—so Israeland Judahwill be reunited and they will both be one as God’s people and will bothexperience God’s mercy.

Well, this seems to be what the text says literally;and there are some commentators who say this will actually happen. This willhappen after the battle of Armageddon in Valley of Jezreelrecorded in Revelation 16:16, they say. After this battle, there will be onethousand years of peace… Judahand Israelwould have been re-gathered back to the land and will dwell in peace for 1000years. So they say.

Iwould submit to you however, that this is a wrong interpretation of theScriptures. These commentators are right that the one head in verse 11 refersto the Lord Jesus Christ; but they are wrong to think that there will be 1000years of peace only, or that there will be a literal throne in Jerusalem. And I am quiteconvinced that there will be no battle of Armageddon  in Jezreel.

Whydo I say that? Well, because the New Testament has given an interpretation ofthe text. Turn with me to Romans 9:24—

“²⁴ Even us,whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? ²⁵As he saith also in Osee [i.e. Hosea], I will call them my people, which werenot my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. ²⁶ And itshall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are notmy people; there shall they be called the children of the living God” (Rom 9:24-26).

Theapostle Paul, we can have no doubt, is quoting from Hosea 1:10. Did the apostle Paul make a mistake? Didhe misuse the Scripture? Wasn’t Hosea referring to the Israelites in the Northern Kingdom? Were not the words of the Lord directedto the Israelites in the Northern kingdom? Didthe apostle quote the verses out of context?

No, I do not think so; theScripture cannot be broken, for the apostle Paul wrote under inspiration. I believeHosea 1:10 is to beinterpreted exactly as the apostle Paul has given us in Romans 9:24-26.

When literal Israel apostatized, they were cutoff. They became no more the people of God. The people of Israel, at that point, ceased to be Israel.“For they are not all Israel,which are of Israel”says the apostle Paul in the same chapter (Romans 9:6). The Israelites in theNorthern Kingdom, having been cut off, were no longer of Israel. They were no longer God’speople. God’s promises were no longer for them.

Theterm ‘Israel’in the prophecy from v. 10 onwards no longer refers to them. In fact, today, itwould be near impossible to find a people who could trace their ancestry backto the people in the Northern Kingdom. Thefact is: the people in the Northern Kingdom,unlike the people in the south, did not maintain their integrity as a people.They were dispersed everywhere, and inter-married with other races. No, theterm ‘Israel’in v. 10-11 refers rather to the elect Gentile or the children of Abraham scatteredaround the world that God would ingraft into the same olive tree as the Jewswho remained true to him.

Inverse 10 of our text, the Lord alludes to the Abrahamic Promise in the word “the number of the children of Israelshall be as the sand of the sea.” But you must remember that the AbrahamicPromise is not so much about physical descendants, as it is about spiritualdescendants. The Lord Jesus Christ told the Jews who did not believe in Him,that they were children of the devil, and not ultimately the children ofAbraham (Jn 8). Likewise, the apostle Paul says: “And if ye be Christ’s, thenare ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal 3:29).

Let me put it this way: TheAbrahamic covenant is not about physical descendants, but about those who arein Christ. Paul stresses this fact when he says: “Now to Abraham and his seedwere the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one,And to thy seed, which is Christ” (Gal 3:16).

Underthe Old Testament, it appears that the promise has to do with physicaldescendants because God does promise to save the children of believers, andtherefore true believers were generally found within the nation of Israel.But the nation of Israel as a whole were known as the people of God not becauseevery member without exception was united with God, but because they wereorganically united to those who were true children of God.

Thinkof a wheat field. A wheat field is known as a wheat field because wheat iscultivated in it. But a wheat field has tares or weed growing in it too, yet wecall the field a wheat field becauseof the wheat. Now we would still call it a wheat field even if the field has alot of tare growing in it. But comes a day when the whole field comprisesgenerally tare, and only a few stalks of wheat, then what do we call the field?We call it a tare field, and no more a wheat field.

Or let me put it this way:God’s covenant mercy and love was notfor the Kingdom of Israel as a whole.This is why when there were effectively no more believers left in the Kingdom,God could pronounce to them “Lo-Ruhamah” and “Lo-Ammi.” God’s covenant mercyand love was for the wheat, for such as truly belong to Him, not for the tare.When there is no more wheat left, He disowns the field.

Butone day, he would plant his field again, for he would raise Israel from amongst the Gentiles.Jezreel means “God scatters” but it also means “God sows.” God scattered tosow. God would scatter Israeland at the same time sow again. He would cultivate a wheat field again. The“Israel of God” (Gal 6:16)would arise again, but this time comprising largely of Gentiles as well as aremnant of the Jews. “Great shall be theday of Jezreel” says Hosea.

Inthat day, the Jews and the Gentiles will be one in Christ Jesus, for Christ “isour peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall ofpartition between us” says the apostle Paul (Eph 2:13-15).

Praise God for granting ussalvation in Christ! Praise God for giving us the privilege of sharing in Hiscovenant blessing with his saints of the Old Testament!

Conclusion

What do we say to these things?

Beloved brethren and children,we are here today because God is fulfilling his own promise in Christ. “For allthe promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God byus” (2 Cor 1:20).

Because of Christ, we who were Lo-Ammi, is now Ammi. We were not a people, but we are now “God’s people’. We were Lo-Ruhamah, but we are not Ruhamah—being recipients of God’s loveand compassion Christ.

Butlet us take warning. We saw that God will cut off such as remain inunrepentance even if they are outwardly His covenant people. God would even cutoff a whole kingdom, not to mention local congregations and individuals whoremain unrepentant. Oh will you not take heed to your life and seek first Hiskingdom and His righteousness to the end that you and your my enjoy theblessings of being God’s people until the day of Christ our King. Amen. Ω