1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 2 Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips. 3 “Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses; nor will we say again, ‘Our god,’ to the work of our hands; for in You the orphan finds mercy.”
For those of you who think in pictures the suggestion I’m about to make would be unnecessary. For those of you who do not tend to put mental imagery to the words you hear, I’d ask you to think about what the prophet is calling the people to in the opening verses of this chapter, and visualize what the setting would be.
Here is a nation of people steeped in idolatry. They are guilty of faithlessness and deceit and spiritual adultery. As we have witnessed in earlier chapters, God has declared that He would remove Himself from them until they turn and acknowledge their guilt and acknowledge Him in repentance.
So in this final chapter of his writing the prophet is calling for just that. And using our imaginations we envision an offended king, high up on his throne and looking out over a kingdom of rebels. It is only by his grace and mercy that he has not sent out his army to obliterate his subjects.
But they have seen their evil and have experienced remorse for their wrongdoing, and now they are coming before him to acknowledge their guilt and acknowledge his goodness and seek his forgiveness.
This begs the question, just how should people such as these, approach a king such as this?
As I began to contemplate that it reminded me of the recent visit of the Queen of England to the United States. I was tickled at the obsessive attention that was given by the media to the proper exercise of protocol and the frequent faux pas they were able to detect and get on film during the Queen’s stay.
I tried not to spend too much of my time following these events, but I do remember passing the television one morning and hearing the newscaster chuckle as Mickey Rooney, who was in attendance at one of the functions given to honor her visit, reached out without invitation and shook the Queen’s hand. Apparently this is a ‘no-no’ when greeting or being greeted by royalty. So of course, the media couldn’t let it go by with any show of grace, even though the Queen herself very graciously shook Mr. Rooney’s hand and seemed to take no notice of his lack of attention to these details.
Having remembered that scene, memorable and mentionable only because CNN thought it was more important than anything else going on around the globe at that moment, I went to my computer and ‘Googled’ the words, ‘preparing to go before royalty’, and found this list of instructions published by someone named Baron Modar Neznanich.
I won’t give you the whole thing; just some highlights:
First listed are the reasons you may be going before royalty.
a. You are receiving an award
b. You are an officer and have an official function to perform
c. You have an announcement to make
d. You have a presentation to make
e. You are swearing fealty (loyalty)
f. You are involved in some form of shtick, etc.
Then it goes on; Approach the throne until you are approximately 20 feet away and bow or curtsey to the Royalty. Then walk briskly into Court, which I presume means ‘get closer’, and when you are directly in front of Royalty bow/curtsey once again and kneel on the cushions – and it says in parenthesis – ‘that’s what they’re there for’.
Well, this goes on in small print for three pages so I can’t go on too far, but there are further notes on bowing, how to recede from the presence of Royalty; eg, if there are stairs, turn and walk down, don’t try to back down or you may fall,.. it’s not a good idea to wear a weapon unless you’re General of the Army – presumably, the Army of this particular Royalty – and so on.
Now, this one site I found was specifically addressing the issue of having been invited to Court or having some business to conduct there, and throne room etiquette. I’m sure that somewhere there are pages upon pages of instructions available for every perceived circumstance in which one may find him or her self in the presence of Royalty.
Taking it back to the Bible, some of you may already be thinking of the very well-known story of Esther who, even as Queen, married to King Xerxes, knew that to walk unannounced into her husband’s presence not having been summoned or expected could result in her immediate and unceremonious execution right there on the throne room floor.
And of course this sounds harsh to us, that a man sitting on a gilded chair could simply refrain from extending his scepter in welcome and a nearby soldier would take that as a silent command to use his sword.
But if you think about it, if our President was moving from vehicle to building, or down a White House hallway and one of us who just happened to be in proximity suddenly walked toward him beginning to reach out a hand, we would quickly find ourselves flattened under the bodies of a half a dozen Secret Service Agents, unless one of them was such an inexperienced rookie that he panicked and shot us dead on the spot.
Adding another shade, if you will, to this mental image we’re drawing, that would make it more closely resemble this Biblical picture in Hosea 14, it is not a stranger approaching the king, it is not a citizen finding himself in the position of needing to conduct business or receive an award or make a presentation.
It is more like a man who has publicly denounced the king, threatened his safety, ridiculed his precepts, ignored his decrees, now coming to seek audience with this self same potentate to ask for pardon.
And I would submit for your consideration today, that we are seldom conscious of, and even lack the ability to truly comprehend the gravity of, the utter annihilation we would deserve and undoubtedly receive when stepping into the presence of God were it not for His compassion and His extended scepter of grace.
And I have to seriously doubt the veracity of people who write books or articles or go on the radio or television and make claims to having been brought into the presence of God in a vision, or waking to finding Him standing in their room to give them a message to share or endow them with some special spiritual gift or whatever; and they talk of it as though it was just such a blessing and they were just so lifted up and encouraged and empowered for service and all sorts of other claims that make them appear to be just oh, so spiritual and privileged.
I say I have to wonder at these claims when I think about people in the Bible who found themselves face to face with an appearance of the Lord and couldn’t even stand on their feet – who said, ‘Woe is me for I am undone’, as in the case of Isaiah, or Gideon who cried, ‘Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face’, and the Lord had to reassure him, saying, “Peace to you, do not fear, you shall not die’ and the parents of Samson, who, at the announcement of his impending birth fell on their faces in fear before the Lord.
People, it is true that we are invited to come with confidence to the throne of grace to find mercy to help in time of need.
It is true that having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand…”
It is true that we have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’
But let’s be reminded that the One who has made peace with us; the One we are graciously invited to approach is the One of whom the Psalmist confessed: “My flesh trembles for fear of You; and I am afraid of Your judgments” Ps 119:120, and of whom the prophet declared, “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is His way, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.” Nahum 1:3
APPROACHING ROYALTY IN REPENTANCE
So this is the God that Hosea now invites his kinsmen to approach, but he gives them proper etiquette for doing so and we need to know and understand this proper approach also.
First is the call to return. Return. Don’t miss the implication. He doesn’t just say ‘come’. There’s more to returning than simply coming. You return to something you have left. I’ve never been to Ireland, so I can’t return there. I have been to Thailand. I could return there someday.
A spouse who has gone off and committed adultery with a stranger may later desire in humility and regret to return to their marriage partner. That’s what Hosea is calling for. Because Israel has been adulterous and has left the One who loved her, so in order for there to be a return there must be a turning; a turning from false lovers; a turning from sin and unfaithfulness; a turning to truth and desire for reconciliation. Thus the need for the word return, rather than simply ‘come’. Intrinsic in my admission of a need to return, is a confession of the guilt of first leaving. That’s important.
My iniquity has caused me to stumble, therefore I must return.
That is called ‘acknowledgment of sin’. I have to stress this clearly because I think that in the church of our day the sin issue is largely avoided.
That is not a Biblical approach to coming to God. In fact, the Biblical approach is that we cannot come to God apart from acknowledgement of our sin and our need of a Savior.
I mean that in the sense of coming for salvation to begin, but also as Spirit-filled believers who come to God in prayer with our praise and with our petitions. John said that if we say we have no sin we are liars, but if we confess our sin He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness; and Christians, I do believe that when we come to the Throne of grace on any given day of our lives, the initial approach – the one where we stop 20 feet away and bow before coming nearer – ought to be characterized by a confession of our natural sinfulness, our need for His cleansing, and a joyful acceptance of His forgiveness.
Then, and only then, should we feel free to come closer and enjoy the comfort of the ‘pillows’ as it were, in bringing our praise and petitions to Him.
THE RIGHT WORDS
Ok so first there needs to be recognition of sin and of the need for return, but then Hosea admonishes them to go prepared. “Take words with you”, he says.
That’s also important, wouldn’t you agree? Imagine spending 18 months writing letters to the White House, imploring the President to give you 15 minutes of his time because you want to discuss with him something you perceive as vital to the national welfare.
Finally you get a phone call. The President has heard your requests and has granted you audience. You are to come on such and such a day, at this particular time, you are to wait in this particular room and when he is done with his Cabinet meeting you will be ushered into the Oval office.
Your moment arrives, everything is in place, the Agent leads you to the door and you walk in, step up to the President’s desk, he greets you, you sit down at his invitation, he asks, ‘What do you want to discuss?’, and you say, ‘Oh, um… I dunno. I hadn’t really given it much thought!’
So Hosea is saying, ‘be prepared’. But there is much more to his exhortation than just having something to say.
Their approach is to be very different than what we saw demonstrated in the opening verses of chapter 6, where they presumed upon God’s kindness and assumed that He would rescue them out of trouble quickly because they didn’t want to think that God would actually let them suffer for their iniquity.
No. No glib, thoughtless presumption here. No empty words of flattery or deceitful assurances to one another that God would wink at their iniquity and let them off easy.
Hosea’s admonition is not simply that they should think about what they are going to say, although that is implied, but that their words should be an expression of the truths they have come to realize concerning several things; and we will spend the rest of our time looking at these elements that ought to be addressed in their sincere words.
INIQUITY AND GRACE
The first element is one we have already been discussing so I won’t spend much time here.
They need to come to Him first with confession of their iniquity and an acknowledgement that it is only His grace that grants them access to Him.
“Take away all our iniquity”, that’s a confession of iniquity, is it not?
“Receive us graciously”, that’s acknowledgement that is by His grace they are received; right?
Now this next line has to be looked at in view of what is to come upon them. Because we have to remember here that as a nation they did not listen to the admonitions of Hosea. They did not repent and they did not return to the Lord, and they were taken away.
Nevertheless the prophet’s words would at least instill some hope in the hearts of individuals and give them a pattern to go by when they were indeed repentant and ready to be brought back from exile.
So when it says here, ‘Take words with you’ and ‘Say to Him’, Hosea is mindful that when they finally are ready to repent they aren’t going to be in any position to offer sacrifices because they won’t have a temple and their forms and rituals of worship won’t be in place.
So he’s saying, let your sacrifices be from your lips out of a heart of true worship and praise. “We won’t be able to offer bulls on an altar, Lord, but we can offer you the fruit of our lips, which is a sacrifice of praise”.
Does God hear these words? You bet! Hebrews 13:15
“Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”
REJECTION OF IDOLS
The second element of Hosea’s call is open and deliberate rejection of all the ungodly things in which they have placed their trust and devotion; things they have heretofore given the place of God in their hearts and lives.
They’ve trusted that the Assyrians would defend them against enemies and provide them with horses for battle. We’ve already noted that it is the Assyrians God actually uses to bring Israel down.
Well the application there is pretty straightforward, isn’t it? Hasn’t just the everyday observation of life taught us that the worldly things people place their trust in are often the very things that lead to their destruction?
And can we agree that the empty and ungodly forms of religion that people use to justify themselves and comfort themselves that they have a form of godliness are the very things God will one day present as exhibit A and B and C in pronouncing judgment against them?
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.” 2 Tim 3:1-5
Christians, if the very first thing required in coming before the Throne of the Father is confession and repentance of sin, then the second absolutely has to be the open confession and rejection of anything, anything, that would seek to usurp that Throne before which we endeavor to come.
Cowper had it right!
“The dearest idol I have known,
Whatever that idol be,
Help me to tear it from its throne
And worship only Thee!”
Before the people of a new generation would begin trickling back into the land, there would have to be a careful denunciation and rejection of the idols of their fathers, and an unrestrained admission of the futility of those things.
“Nor will we say again, ‘our god’, to the work of our hands’.
Friends and family, nothing you can make deserves to be venerated; but He who has made YOU!
RECOGNITION OF MERCY UNDESERVED
Well the third element called for by the prophet is recognition of God’s merciful goodness.
This is something only the repentant and subsequently forgiven can know. That is why repentance and declared fealty must be first in order.
While they were steeped in sin and in the midst of their idols they did not care for His mercy; in fact they presumed upon it to their destruction.
But once away in exile and unable to know His presence with them, and after coming to repentance and acknowledgement of who they were and who, by sharp contrast, He is, then they would understand the joy of knowing what the Psalmist knew; “A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, is God in His holy habitation”. Ps 68:5
And you need to be aware, Christian, that in the Old Testament God was often likened to a father, but no one ever referred to Him as “Father” as in a personal relationship. That was what befuddled the Jews who heard Jesus refer to Jehovah as His Father. And all through His ministry and through the gospels we see Him talking of His Father in Heaven.
But after His accomplished work on the cross, and before the empty tomb in the garden, the risen Savior instructed Mary to go tell His disciples “I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God”.
And you who were once without hope and without God in the world, have now, through the precious blood of Christ, received a God who calls you His child; who is your Father. You are no longer illegitimate, but you are sons and daughters of the Living God!
For in Him an orphan finds mercy.
A FINAL CONTRAST
I want to have you look at a final contrast and then we’re done.
Remember the disingenuous lip service they gave Him in chapter 6?
Well look at verses 4 and 5 of that chapter to once more see His response to their false devotion and feigned piety.
“What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud and like the dew which goes away early. 5 Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; and the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.”
In comparison, see the response from God who hears the repentant word:
(Verses 4-7 of our text)
“I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them. 5 I will be like the dew to Israel; He will blossom like the lily, and he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon. 6 His shoots will sprout, and his beauty will be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. 7 Those who live in his shadow will again raise grain, and they will blossom like the vine. His fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.”
God cannot be deceived, friends, and though we deceive ourselves He will only rebuke our folly and carry through with His judgments.
But God hears the repentant word, and He responds to that also, with mercy and renewal through the propitiation purchased by the blood of His Christ.
Don’t ever be afraid to confess openly to God what He already knows well. He will never ridicule or rebuke the returning repentant. For you He only has words like, ‘I will heal’, ‘I will love’, ‘you will be like the dew’, ‘you will blossom’, because ‘a bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish’ Isa 42:3
Remember that Jesus said if you have seen Him you have seen the Father, and then consider what those who deserted Him in His darkest hour must have been seeing when He met them by the empty grave, in the upper room, by the morning sea, on the Mount of Olives – and if you can imagine the look that sealed them to Him forever, then you have seen the Father.
‘Tis that look that melted Peter
‘Tis that face that Stephen saw,
‘Tis that heart that wept with Mary,
Can alone from idols draw.
Draw and win and fill completely,
Till the cup o’erflows the brim;
What have we to do with idols
Who have companied with Him?”
Ora Rowen (1834-1879)
