Hosea 1:1-3:5, 1 John 5:1-21, Psalm 124:1-8, Proverbs 29:5-8
Today is the fifth day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you today as we step into this brand-new shiny, sparkly week and understand that things are all being made new. This day is out in front of us, as well as every other day this week. It’s in our future and we get to pick how we’re going to live these days. We don’t have too many more of these left, three more times we will come to the beginning of a new week and then this year will come to an end. Today is also the second Sunday in the season of Advent and Advent always has four Sunday’s, the four Sundays before Christmas day. This is the second Sunday in Advent, a season, a season of longing, a season of waiting, a season to ponder and to put our hearts in the proper position as we approach Christmas. And so often our hearts posture is last-minute shopping, wrapping, cooking, the excitement and joy of family gifts. All these things and that’s wonderful. It’s beautiful. The season of Advent leads us to that day and it is intended to give us a sense of longing, we put ourselves in the position of those, who long ago were waiting for a Redeemer, waiting for a deliver, expecting a Messiah, waiting for the Savior to come, so that when Christmas does arrive, and the arrival of the Savior is something that we’ve been waiting for and longing for and this gives our hearts the opportunity to consider what it was like before he came, longing for him to come but we also put ourselves in a position along with our ancestor brothers and sisters who were waiting, understanding that we are waiting, we are waiting for the second Advent. Advent means arrival and so we too are longing and waiting for the arrival of the Savior, and so this is why, these seasons of the year in the Christian calendar are here and they’re very, very meaningful if we want to participate. So, this is the second Sunday of Advent and the irony is I feel like I just said this but it was a year ago and here we have gone through another year and I have found ourselves in another Christmas season and a beautiful one it is. And in terms of our journey through the Scriptures we concluded the book of Daniel yesterday and so we begin this brand-new week, moving into some new territory and we will be moving fairly rapidly, especially in the Old Testament as we move toward the end of the year. We have come to the final grouping of books that is in the Old Testament known as the minor prophets and there are 12 books in the minor prophets, so we have 12 books to go before the end of this year. Beginning today with a Hosea and then of course ending with Malachi. And as I said, we’ll be moving through them rather quickly. There…there quite short, so if we have 12 books to cover before the end of the year than they would need to be quite short and they are, so some of them we’ll encounter over the, over the course of a couple of days. Some will read in one sitting and one day.
Introduction to the Book of Hosea:
Today, we are diving into Hosea who lived about eight centuries before Jesus and was able to witness the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel. He was from the northern kingdom of Israel and if we remember our stories that we passed through, it was the northern kingdom of Israel that was conquered first and they were conquered by the Assyrian Empire and those 10 tribes in the northern kingdom were deported and taken into exile and then disappeared. Literally disappeared from history, they have never been a cohesive group of tribes ever again. So that is the period that we are moving back into, Hosea was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel and bore witness to the destruction of the northern kingdom. Many biblical scholars believe that these prophecies, the prophecies of Hosea were gathered together and collected in the southern kingdom of Judah after the destruction of the northern kingdom. One of the things that we will notice moving through Hosea is this…this marital language. This theme of the covenant of marriage. And that being used to reveal God’s heart for his people, and this book really does bring it front and center in the language that we can understand. We have watched God’s people in the Scriptures chase after other gods and we have seen many, many times through the prophets how God feels about that. That…that is like adultery, that is like cheating, giving yourself to another when you are in covenant with someone and when this marital language begins to enter the equation, we really should begin to get an understanding. We can read many things in the Old Testament and go this is a vengeful, angry God who is just so mad all the time but anyone who’s ever experienced adultery, and even if you haven’t experienced adultery and I don’t mean like participated in adultery, I mean anyone who’s been cheated on, will be able to tell you that that brings about some of the most erratic emotions that that are possible within a human being. And yes, anger can be part of that. But, sadness, betrayal, brokenness, God articulates more clearly what this spiritual adultery is like and we’ll see that Hosea was instructed essentially to use his own life as a living prophecy. He was…he was told to marry a prostitute. Her name is Gomer. This act represents the idolatry, the adultery, the whoredom, the harlotry of Israel and then Hosea and Gomer had children together and at God’s instruction, each was given a name that was to be prophetic and spoke directly to Israel and then eventually Gomer is unfaithful to Hosea and he divorces her which represents God’s casting away of the adulterous Israel. And then in an about-face, Hosea was sent to get Gomer back again and as it turns out he had to buy his former wife back again and she’s the one who would that been a harlot and then went back to harlotry and had committed adultery, and he went and bought her back, which represents the length God is willing to go to in order to be reunited with his love, which is us. So, on the one hand, we can marvel at the depth of God’s love, unspeakable in in nature. It’s so in comprehendible, we will never experience a love like the love of God, but it also gives us a chance to examine our own lives and wonder in what ways we are betraying that love and in what ways we’re…we’re willing to be the adulterer in the scenario. So, let’s dive in, we’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. Hosea chapters 1, 2 and 3.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word, we thank You for a brand-new shiny sparkly week, we thank You for this season, the holiday season, certainly with the season of Advent that allows us to ponder and contemplate, and get quiet and consider what Your arrival meant and how it has changed everything and how we continue to long for Your arrival or Your return but also how Your presence is here upon this earth in us, in our lives. And so, as we move into this week and continue this journey through the year may we spread light and love from Your heart through us to those around us. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Greetings from a wintery Coke Island. This is Mandy and I have been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for two years now. This is my first year being a double DABer and I’ve really enjoyed it. Thank you Jill and I look forward to continuing as a double DABer next year and having China and Jill share the responsibility. And Brian, thank you very much for the Daily Audio Bible, I’ve enjoyed going through the bible for a second time this year. And to all those who call, thank you for the praise reports, thank you for the prayer requests, it’s always lovely to hear people being honest and vulnerable and please know that I do pray for you, even though I don’t always phone in, you are in my thoughts and my prayers. Wishing you all a Happy end of the year and that you would enjoy time with your family and that it wouldn’t be too stressful. And that you would embrace the new year as it comes around, these have been difficult two years but that 2022 would be a good new year and that we will all be blessed. God Bless and I love you, and Brian I love hearing you say I love you; it does warm my heart every time I hear you say, I love you. God Bless and I love you.
Good morning, this is Debbie. Debbie from Washington and I’m just gonna call, I’m calling to pray for the man who just called in on December 3rd, was weak and got COVID, has a toddler at home who is not feeling well and his wife is pregnant with another child and he fears that she may get it. So, I’m lifting you up in prayer because my daughter just called and she and her husband both are diagnosed with COVID and she is very sick and she also is six months pregnant with their child and they have twin, twin babies, twin one-year-olds at home as well. And they are starting to get a fever so I’m praying, I’m praying for you and I’m asking the community to please, please pray for my daughter and her family to have a quick and swift recovery from this horrible virus. A complete recovery. And I’m praying for you sir, for a complete recovery, a swift recovery, in the name of Jesus. And that your wife would be enveloped in the protective covering of the blood of Jesus against this virus. And that your baby toddler, your toddler would, would be instantly healed, in the name of Jesus, I pray and I decree this be done. In Jesus name. And I thank you for your prayers for my daughter, Melanie and her husband and her family. In Jesus name.
Good morning DAB family. This is Longing to be God’s Delight in Pennsylvania. And I’m calling in this morning for, to pray for the father who has been diagnosed with COVID and his two-year-old is not feeling well and is throwing up and his wife is pregnant and he’s praying that she doesn’t contract the disease. And I’m praying Lord, that You would pass Your hand over this family and preserve and safe and heal him and his little toddler child completely, quickly and smoothly. And protect his wife and unborn child. And for all of those who are suffering with affliction, with COVID, with disabilities and problems and can’t breathe; O Lord, I ask for Your healing. I ask for Your hope and protection and I pray Lord, I thank Brian this morning for his story, his illustration. Let me not be a Dead Sea but rather a Sea of Galilee. Lord, today while I hear Your voice, let me not harden my heart, let afflictions not choke me and prevent unfruitfulness. Holy Spirit, pour Your power into me and any who are praying and just struggling with problems that don’t seem to end. And let Your love flow through us, make us fruitful, let your light shine. In Jesus name.
Hi, this is Radiant Rachel and I just listened to December 2nd and I want to thank Brian for his message and just the willingness to speak what the Holy Spirit is, putting on his heart. I just really loved how you went through and you know, brought it back to if we’re not believing then that’s anti-Christ and our doubts can bring us to, bring us to a place where we’re anti-Christ and I just thank you for just, just speaking that out to us. Because I think some of us, I think need to hear that and maybe I, you know, I love God and maybe I do need to hear it for myself but maybe I needed those words to be able to send them out to the next people I’m talking to. So, just thank you for that. I want to lift up all the callers who called in on the 2nd. A couple girls called in for their friends and I’m really bad with names especially when I’m driving so, I didn’t write them down but Lord, I just pray that You would surround these girls who called in for their friends and their friends Lord. I pray that You would give them wisdom and guidance and that they will have veils lifted and that they will make good choices Lord. And I pray for those who called in who are just lonely and leaning on You Lord. I just thank you for the blessings in their life and just thank You for showing them to them. And I pray that You will give them just, let them feel Your love. In Jesus name. Amen.