“The Cost of His Love”
Hosea 3:1-3
Steve Hanchett, pastor
March 4, 2001
Then the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.”
So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley.
And I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man - so too, will I be toward you.”
Joshua couldn’t have been more proud when his son was born. He named him Adam. During Adam’s childhood, Joshua would often play with him and teach him about life and love. Joshua was a proud daddy. To Adam he was a hero to be mimicked.
When Adam turned sixteen things began to change. His clothes, his hair, and his music were all new, strange and somewhat frightening to Joshua. Without warning their warm and loving relationship turned cold and bitter. Arguments filled the air that was once charmed with laughter.
By the summer of Adam’s seventeen birthday he had decided he had enough of his father’s rules, so he left. It wasn’t a well planned exit. There was a quarrel, threats, a few things thrown into a backpack and a hasty departure for parts unknown.
Joshua kept up with his son, even though Adam thought his father had no idea where he was or what he was doing. Joshua knew a lot of people and they were always ready to tell what they knew about Adam’s doings. The things Joshua heard about Adam broke his heart, but never diminished his love.
One evening the phone rang at Joshua’s home. “Joshua, I’ve got some bad news for you,” the voice on the line said.
“What’s wrong? It’s Adam, isn’t it?” Joshua replied.
“Yes, it is. I just heard that he has been arrested and he is in jail. I’m sorry Joshua. I didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but I thought you would want to know.”
“Thanks Mike. I appreciate you telling me.”
After hanging up, Joshua stood frozen, eyes fixed on the floor, but seeing nothing. “What should I do,” he wondered allowed. “Where did I go wrong?”
A few hours later as Adam sat in the corner of a holding cell, he heard a familiar voice. “Adam would you like to come home now?”
Looking up he could hardly believe he saw his father standing on the other side of the steel bars. Hot tears began to stream down Adam’s face. “I’m sorry dad. I guess I’ve really messed things up. Why are you here?”
“I’m here to take you home, if you want to go.”
“But dad I don’t have any money and I can’t pay the bail or the fine to get out of this mess.”
“I know, son. I’ve already paid the fine. All I want to know is are you ready to come home?”
We are, each one of us, the followers of Adam. We have rebelled against our father, we’ve left our home and wandered about in this world. We declared our independence from our Father and as a result we have ended up becoming slaves to sin and Satan. We find ourselves locked in a prison of our own selfishness with no spiritual currency with which could buy our way out. We need someone to come and pay our penalty so that we can be set free. That is what Jesus Christ has done. That is what the story of Hosea and Gomer is about.
We have already seen that this story contains a picture of what it means to be lost. Lostness can be described as distance, slavery, wickedness and peril. We have already seen that this is a story of love. God’s love involves a dilemma, it inspired His deeds and is infused with His devotion. In this Gospel According to Hosea we have already seen the “Condition of the Lost,” and the “Compassion of the Lord.” Today we turn to the next aspect of the Gospel According to Hosea: “The Cost of His Love.”
What price did Christ pay to love us? What does it mean for Him to love us? How did He express His love? If His love caused Him to act, what does it mean for us personally?
In this story we are portrayed by Gomer. Her wicked choices and unfaithfulness toward Hosea are a picture of our sin and unfaithfulness toward God. Her perilous position and her slavery are a parable of our peril and our spiritual slavery to sin.
Hosea (a name which is a derivative of Joshua and means salvation) is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse two describes Hosea’s actions on behalf of Gomer. They are relatively simple words. While we may not relate to what was happening on a cultural level, we can’t help but relate to Hosea on an emotional level. The depth of his love and the magnitude of his sacrifice cannot be missed. Surely, Hosea is an example of human grace, forgiveness, dedication and commitment. No doubt married couples who are experiencing pain in their relationship can learn a lot from Hosea. He teaches us that there is more you can do than just “your duty.” You can give your all for the sake of restoring the romance and the relationship.
But Hosea is more than just a story about a broken home and a broken marriage. Hosea is a story about spiritual things. It is a story about our broken relationship with God and how it can be restored.
I want to break verse two down into three phrases and consider what those three phrases mean to us and our relationship to God.
The first phrase I want to consider is “I bought her.” This phrase points us to Christ’s Plan of Redemption. Consider for a moment each of these words and what they mean.
First, the word “bought.” We don’t usually think in terms of buying or selling people, but we understand that slavery and servitude has and is a part of human history. In Hosea’s day it was not an uncommon occurrence for a person to be sold as a slave. We already mentioned that there were three ways you could end up a slave. You could become a slave by being born to parents who were slaves. You could be made a slave by a conquering army. Finally, you could become a slave through indebtedness to a creditor.
It is likely that Gomer’s situation came about as a result of indebtedness. But we are in spiritual bondage and are slaves for all three reasons. We have been born with a sin nature that controls and dominates our lives. We have been conquered by Satan and taken captive to his evil plans. Further, we have incurred a debt of sin that we will never be able to repay.
When a person became a slave they could be bought and sold. You remember that Joseph was sold by his brothers and taken to Egypt as a servant or a slave. We also find in the Scriptures the account of the widow with two sons who were about to be sold as slaves because of the family debt they were unable to satisfy.
The word “bought” reminds us of our spiritual slavery. There is something more in this word though. This word points us to the fact that there is a redeemer. Hosea fulfilled the meaning of his name when he went to the market and purchased (redeemed) Gomer.
The idea of redemption is a rich Biblical concept. The Old and New Testaments have a number of words surrounding the idea of redemption that will help us to understand the concept of redemption. Let me give you a few of those words.
1. lyo = This word was used to refer to loosening clothes or a soldier removing his armor. It came to mean the loosing of bonds so that, for example, a prisoner might be set free.
2. lutron - This word grew out of the first. It came to refer to the price that had to be paid for the release of a prisoner.
3. lutrosis - This word came from the previous word and meant simply to liberate or redeem.
4. apolutorsis - Freeing a slave.
5. agorazo - This word means “to buy” in a market place.
6. exagorazo - The same word as #4, but with the prefix ex. It had the added meaning of buying something out of the market. The idea was that the thing purchased would be taken away from the market, never to return there again.
7. goel - Referred to a kinsman redeemer, who would buy back the family property or a family member and restore the family name.
8. padah - to ransom by paying a price.
9. kopher - This was the ransom price itself. It was a price that would stand in the place of the forfeiture of life.
As you can tell, there are a myriad of ways in the Scriptures that the idea of redemption is expressed and explained. Each word carries its own nuance of meaning that adds to a fuller understanding of what it means for us to be redeemed. Let me take a moment and point out some of the ideas we have presented to us in this rich biblical concept.
The first thing I hope you will notice is that this biblical concept of redemption has the goal of freedom. When Hosea went to the slave market to buy Gomer he was not buying her with the same purposes that other people might buy her. Anyone else would have bought her only for the purpose of using her and enslaving her. He was buying her for the sole purpose of setting her free.
Don’t miss this! This world, Satan, sin, and all that draws you away from Christ is not an offer of freedom. It is a trap that will lead to bondage. We think we are free because we live in the United States. Dosteoevsky, the Russian author, was right when he said our understanding of freedom in the West is only an absence of constraint or the ability to do anything we want. He went on to say that this kind of freedom turns out to be nothing but a slavery to one’s every passing whim and caprice.
Jesus said that He came to set us free. “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed!” His earthly mission was defined by Isaiah’s prophecy: “The spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD” (Luke 4:18-19).
This Christ bought freedom is the freedom to be what God created us to be. That is the true understanding of what it means to be free. Freedom is not obeying the wicked temptations that tug at my flesh. Freedom is living the way I was designed to live.
One Easter Dr. Gordon, a pastor from days gone by, brought an old beat-up rusty birdcage and set it next to the pulpit. As the message that morning progressed, Dr. Gordon picked up the birdcage and held it up saying, “You might be wondering why this is here. Several days ago I noticed a little boy in tattered and torn blue jeans and a dirty T-shirt and cap walking down an alley swinging this birdcage. Clinging to the bottom of the cage were several little sparrows he had captured.
So I stopped him and asked him where he was going with the birds. He said he was going to mess around with them and tease them. I asked him what he would do with them then. He said he had a couple of cats and he would just give them to the cats. I asked the boy what he would take for them and he said they weren’t worth anything at all. Nevertheless, I asked what he would sell them to me for. He finally said two bucks. So I gave him two bucks.
When the boy left Dr. Gordon walked a distance and opened the cage and let the sparrows go free. This is what Christ has done for us. he not only paid for us, He has set us free.
We were created to live in fellowship with God. We were made for a relationship with Him. We have allowed ourselves to be deceived into believing that freedom is running around doing whatever we want apart from God. That is not freedom but slavery. True freedom is living in fellowship and relationship with God. That is the freedom Christ has come to give us.
A third idea is involved here. This redemption that Christ brings is a permanent possession. The word exagarazo makes that especially clear. It means not only “to buy,” but also to “buy out of with no intention of return.” So when Christ comes to redeem us, He sets us free from our slavery with no intention of ever letting us return to that position again.
So the first thing we see in this phrase “I bought her” is the idea of redemption. That redemption that we have in Christ has the goal of freedom and is a permanent possession. These things are wrapped up in the word “bought.”
The second word we can glean from is the word “I.” This word emphasizes our need of a redeemer. Can I remind you again that lostness means that we can do nothing to accomplish our own deliverance. We need someone else to save us. We cannot save ourselves. Who can redeem us? There are certain things that must be true before a person could qualify as a redeemer.
First, a redeemer must have a relationship to the redeemed. Thus, the idea of a kinsman redeemer came into effect in the Old Testament economy. Jesus Christ became our kinsman redeemer when he picked up the mantle of human flesh and became the Son of Man. He qualifies on the first count because he is man.
Second, the redeemer must have the resources with which to carry out the redemption. Again, Christ is qualified to be our redeemer. He had the resources necessary to purchase us and redeem us. He had these resources based upon the fact that he is not only man, he is God. As God is life had infinite value and worth. His blood had infinite significance. As God Christ holds the resources to redeem us.
It is also true, though, that while a person might have the relationship and the resources, they must also have the resolve. We recently went through the book of Ruth on Sunday evening. You recall that in that story Ruth needed a kinsman redeemer. One person was a relative and had the resources, but still refused to redeem her. Boaz not only was a relative and had the resources, he also had the resolve to act as her redeemer.
Jesus Christ is a relative, based upon the fact that He became a man. He has the resources because His deity gives infinite value to His life and His blood. But if Christ did not have the resolve to redeem us we would still be lost forever. Thank God, Jesus Christ chose to save us. He had the resolve. You can hear this resolve echoed in this little phrase “I bought her.”
“Bought” speaks of redemption. “I” speaks of a redeemer. Now, “her” speaks of the redeemed. And who is it that is redeemed? Gomer, unfaithful, bankrupt and unworthy.
There are three kinds of sinners. There are those whose sins are so visible and so obvious that they recognize their wickedness and so does everyone else. There are sinners whose sins are not so readily seen by the human eye. People look at them and see good people. But these good people know their own souls. They see the hidden sins and wickedness and while others praise them they know their true state. A third group of sinners exist. These live in the most perilous position. They too are seen as good people, not only by others but by themselves as well. While they might acknowledge a slight imperfection, they do not see themselves as being sinful people in need of redemption.
The truth is all of us need a to be saved. All of us need the forgiveness of God. Some of you know you are sinners and so does everyone else. Your sin is visible to all. Christ will save you if you will trust Him. Others of you know the wickedness of your own heart. The guilt gnaws at you constantly. Even though you are considered a good person by most, you know the truth. Christ will save you if you will trust Him.
You who think yourself to be good need to hear this as much as anyone else. You need to be saved as much as the street prostitute, the drug addict, the alcoholic, and the adulterer. You cannot save yourself
In January of 1985, a large suitcase, unmarked and unclaimed, was discovered at the customs office at Los Angles International Airport. When U.S. customs officials opened the suitcase the found the curled up body of a young woman. She had been dead only for a few days. The investigation found that the woman was a wife of a young Iranian man who was in the U.S. She had been unsuccessful in her attempts to obtain a Visa to enter the states so she took matters into her own hands and attempted to smuggle herself into the country in planes cargo bay. While her plan seemed simple enough custom officials said it was doomed from the beginning.
Some people think they will make it into heaven because “they are good enough, smart enough and dog gone it, people like them.” The truth is we are all like Gomer. We need our Hosea to extricate us from the impossible situation our sin has put us into. Jesus Christ is our Hosea. “He bought us!”
So the first thing we see in verse two is Christ’s Plan of Redemption. “I” speaks of our redeemer. “Bought” speaks of our redemption. “Her” speaks of us, the redeemed.
Not only do we find Christ’s plan of redemption here, we also see that Christ’s Pursuit of Reconciliation. This is found in the next phrase “for myself.” I was driving by a church in Norman the other day and I noticed their marquee read, “Christianity is a relationship not a religion.” While that phrase has been used so much that it has become somewhat of a worn out cliché, we need to remember the truth that it contains.
So often we think of the gospel as only a solution to whatever problem troubles us. We see it only as a means to happiness, peace of mind, release from guilt, or fullness of life. The gospel does bring us these blessings, but it does so by first meeting the deepest of all human problems, the problem of our broken relationship with our Creator. The gospel does something deeper and more lasting, it reconciles us to God.
Hosea went to Gomer, not just to redeemer her, but to restore the relationship that had been broken by sin. A story has been told of a young prince who ran away from home. His father, the king, was heartbroken. The elder son saw his father wasting away in sorrow over the loss of the younger son. To ease his grief he offered to begin a personal search in an effort to find the young prince. The father protested at first and then approved the plan.
Month after month the elder son searched, hoping to see his brother’s face in every crowd and on every street. Finally, one day as he entered a village, he found everyone rushing to the village square. Arriving there with the crowd he discovered an execution was about to take place. He overheard the people in the crowd tell of a young man who had killed another man in a drunken fight. When he looked at the condemned man he was shocked to see that it was his brother. After all this time, and all this grief, would it end like this?
Then, to his surprize, an official on the platform made an appeal to the crowd. “Be it known that any man may step forward to accept in his behalf the punishment about executed upon the prisoner.” The elder brother quickly learned from those around him that there was a law in this village allowing any man to accept punishment on behalf of another man.
The elder brother pushed his way to the platform. “I will do it sir,” he shouted. A murmur of astonishment swept over the crowd.
On the platform the young man recognized his brother. “Go home,” the elder brother said. “Tell our father that I have found you and sent you to him.”
The rebellious young man’s heart was crushed over his sins. He returned home a free man because of the one who honored his father and loved him enough to die for him.
Christ has come as our redeemer to send us home to the Father. He has come that we might be reconciled to God.
So, we have seen Christ’s plan of redemption, His pursuit of reconciliation, and now The Price of Redemption. Hosea, it tells us, paid fifteen shekels of silver and one and one-half homers of barley. The total monetary value is thirty pieces of silver.
That in itself means little to us. We calculate with dollars and cents, not shekels and barley. So to put it into perspective consider that according to Judges chapter seventeen, Micah’s priest was paid 10 shekels a year plus clothing and upkeep. I think we can accurately conclude that the price that was paid by Hosea was an enormous sum of money for him to pay. This is also evident when we see that he paid for her not only in cash but in crops. He most likely did this because the cash he paid was all the money he had. One could say that Hosea bankrupted himself to redeem Gomer.
What does that tell us about our redemption in Christ? I believe it points us to the enormous price that was paid for our redemption by Jesus Christ. And what was that price? His very blood.
“You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation” Revelation 5:9.
“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)” Galatians 3:13.
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” Ephesians 1:7.
“Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from you aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” 1 Peter 1:17,18.
Dr. Truman Davis, MD, in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary writes:
What is crucifixion? A medical doctor provides a physical description: The cross is placed on the ground and the exhausted man is quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex and movement.
The cross is then lifted into place. The left foot is pressed against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees flexed. The victim is now crucified.
As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain, the nails in the wrists putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid stretching torment, he places the full weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of the feet.
As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath.
Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen. Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against the rough timber.
Then another agony begins: a deep crushing pain in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids reached a critical level. The compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues. The tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. He can feel the chill of death creeping through his tissues. . .Finally, he can allow his body to die. All this the Bible records with the simple words, “And they crucified him.”
But there was even more to the cost of redemption than the physical suffering. In order to redeem us, Christ bore our sins on the cross. There was the immense spiritual suffering that he endured there as the crushing weight of man’s guilt was placed on Him. Darkness covered the land and it was as if Jesus were forsaken by God.
As His blood poured forth, and as He gave Himself for our sins Christ was paying the price or our redemption. He didn’t give some thing, He gave Himself for us.
Nothing else need be done. Nothing else could be done. Jesus paid it all. The only thing for me to do is to receive by faith what He has done. My friend, Jesus has come with a plan to redeem men, women and boys and girls. Jesus has come to pursue your reconciliation with God. Jesus has come to pay the price of our redemption. Won’t you receive Him today?
