Hosea 14: Come On Home

Have you ever felt too far gone for God's love? The conclusion of Hosea powerfully shatters that myth. 

Throughout our journey through this prophetic book, we've witnessed the tumultuous relationship between God and Israel, symbolized through Hosea's marriage to the unfaithful Gomer. What appears as harsh judgment when read out of context reveals itself as the passionate pursuit of a loving God when understood properly.

Chapter 14 delivers the beautiful finale to this divine love story. God extends yet another invitation: "Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God." Despite all the betrayal, all the spiritual adultery, all the broken promises, God's arms remain wide open. His promise resonates across centuries: "Then I will heal you of your faithlessness, my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever."

This concluding message reminds us that the Bible isn't a collection of arbitrary rules or disconnected judgments—it's the documentation of God's rescue mission throughout human history. Even when judgment is deserved, God longs for reconciliation. As Pastor Brandon explains, "When we put the prophecies back in proper context, we don't see a God of vengeance and anger. We see a God of justice, but a God who leans toward and wants mercy so very bad."

Two powerful takeaways emerge: First, God's reckless love remains available regardless of our failures or wanderings. Second, having experienced this extraordinary love, we're called to share it with others who may not understand God's true nature. Many reject God because they've encountered judgment without context.

Ready to experience the God who pursues you with boundless love? Join us for this final exploration of Hosea, and discover a divine love that never gives up, never gives in, and always calls you back home. Subscribe, share your thoughts, and join our community as we continue breaking down God's word together.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible
Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, hosea,
chapter 14, and today's title isCome on Home, come on Home.
We're going to have this greatfinale, as God continually and
forever calls his people back tohim again.
His reckless love is on displaytoday.

(00:20):
So, if you have your Bibles,want to open up with me to Hosea
, chapter 14.
While you're doing that, asalways, take just a moment like
share and subscribe.
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It really does help.
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searching for them to look down.

(00:41):
I do this every time when I'mlooking at a podcast.
I will look down at those whohave rated it and know what was
it about the podcast that drewthem in.
So let people know the wayyou're interacting with God's
word and also make sure you'regoing to the Bible Breakdown
Discussion on Facebook.
It's an amazing group of peopleevery single day writing
devotions, and we want tointeract with you and, as always

(01:02):
, the more we dig, the more wefind, and we want to interact
with you and, as always, themore we dig, the more we find.
Well, I hope you have enjoyedthis walk through the book of
Hosea with me, as the overallgoal of Hosea is to talk to us
about God's reckless love.
And I love this idea becausemany times in the Old Testament,
when we don't really read theOld Testament like this, where
we're going through it onechapter at a time, we miss why

(01:25):
these prophecies are the waythey are.
When you just take I meanimagine you take one of these
prophecy chapters we've readover the past few days, you just
take it completely out ofcontext and you read it and go
my goodness, god sure is mean.
You know he's this, he's that.
But you kind of shove it backinto context and you see that
God is begging them.
I don't want these things tohappen that, even though they

(01:47):
have earned it by the evil thatthey have done, god is
constantly calling out to themand he's saying please come back
to me, come back to me over andover and over again.
And I love that.
I love that when we put theprophecies back in proper
context, we don't see a God ofvengeance and anger.
We see a God of vengeance andanger.
We see a god of justice, but agod who leans toward and wants

(02:08):
mercy.
So very bad.
And I love that.
That's how he ends chapter 14,because after all of this stuff
he still has that reckless lovewhere he is saying man, come on
back home, come on back home.
It reminds me of the verybeginning when gomer ran back
into her prostitution and, uh,hosea goes and gets her and

(02:30):
brings her back again.
And I see that happening inthis, where it's like come on
back home over and over again.
So if you're ready, let's readthis together.
Hosea, chapter 14, verse 1, saysthis return, o israel, to the,
your God, for your sins havebrought you down.
Bring your confessions andreturn to the Lord.

(02:50):
Say to him forgive all our sinsand graciously receive us so
that we may offer you ourpraises.
Assyria cannot save us, nor canour war horses.
Syria cannot save us, nor canour war horses.
Never again will we say to theidols that we have made you are
our gods.
No, in you alone do the orphansfind mercy.

(03:13):
The Lord says.
Then I will heal you of yourfaithlessness, my love will know
no bounds for my anger will begone forever.
I will be to Israel like arefreshing dew from heaven.
Israel will blossom like a lilyand it will send roots deep
into the soil like the cedars ofLebanon.

(03:33):
Its branches will spread outlike beautiful olive trees as
fragrant as the cedars ofLebanon.
My people will again live undermy shade.
They will flourish like grainand blossom like grapevines.
They will be as fragrant as thewines of Lebanon.
O Israel, stay away from idols.
I am the one who answers yourprayers and cares for you.

(03:55):
I am like a tree that is alwaysgreen.
All your fruit comes from me.
Let those who are wiseunderstand these things.
Let those with discernmentlisten carefully.
The path of the Lord are trueand right.
The righteous people live andwalk in them, but those past

(04:16):
sinners stumble and fall.
Wow, what an ending to anamazing book.
I love how, in verse four, hesays then I will heal you of
your faithlessness and my lovewill know no bounds.
That's what God wants for us.
All of this is the story of Godtrying to get us back into

(04:41):
fellowship with him.
That's what the Bible is.
The Bible is the words of God,showing us the rescue mission
that God has been on throughouthistory to get us back to the
Garden of Eden in thatfellowship relationship with him
.
And, as we have read throughthe book of Hosea, one of the
things we have seen over andover and over again is that God

(05:03):
is longing for us to have thisrelationship and this fellowship
, and we hear his heart goingout to us over and over again as
he's calling us back to him.
And so I want to maybe leave uswith two thoughts today as we
get ready to end this amazingbook of the Old Testament, the
soap opera of the Old Testament.
Number one is this never forgetthat the reckless love of God

(05:25):
is available.
No matter what you do, nomatter how far you walk away, no
matter what happens in yourlife, god never gives up on us.
He loves us more than we canimagine.
Number two is when we realizethat we are loved that much, let
us then take that love andshare it with other people.

(05:46):
Share what we have found withothers, because there are some
people who the reason why theydon't follow God is because they
don't know about his love.
They've heard of these chaptersin the Old Testament and they
just think well, god's just mean, or whatever.
No, no, no, you don'tunderstand.
I know if you shove it out ofcontext and you read it randomly
, it sounds like it.
But if you shove it back intocontext, it's about God's

(06:09):
reckless love for all of us andthat he cares for us deeply.
And one of the greatest thingsin life is to experience the
love of God ourself.
And then, just like it is whenwe share God's love with others,
and then just like it is whenwe share God's love with others,
let's pray together right now.
God, thank you so much for yourlove.
Thank you that you are with useven now.

(06:29):
Lord, I pray for maybe somebodywho has read through Hosea and
they're trying to figure it out.
They're trying to figure outhow to do life with you.
I pray, god, that you willcontinue to draw them to
yourself.
You open their eyes to see youmore clearly.
Help them to know you like theynever have before.
Maybe somebody else islistening to this and while

(06:50):
they're listening, you'reputting on their heart somebody
else who needs to hear thismessage.
I pray you'll give them thecourage to go to them today and
to tell them about your recklesslove.
We celebrate you now In Jesus'name.
We pray, amen, amen.
But God's word says one moreabout your reckless love.
We celebrate you now In Jesus'name.
We pray Amen, amen.
But God's word says one moretime Hosea 6.6,.
He says I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me more thanI want burnt offerings.

(07:13):
God's desire for us is toexperience his reckless love
every day.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for thenext part of the Bible Breakdown
Podcast.