BLOG

The meat of the word, part 16

All of the prophets were types of Christ, each in their own way. By studying these in combination, along with their actual prophecies, we can piece together a mosaic of Christ and thereby gain a greater understanding of the Person and mission(s) of Christ. But we must also have the ability to look at Old Testament terminology and practice through New Covenant eyes. In other words, we must be able to understand the fundamental truth that there were changes in the law as we shifted from one covenant to another.

The Prophet Hosea

One important prophet was Hosea, a type of Christ, whose marriage to Gomer was meant to picture God’s marriage to Israel. Hosea was thus called to experience personally what God was experiencing. This was not based on the saying that misery loves company. It was required of the prophet in order to instruct us as to the feelings of God Himself, as well as to show the ultimate goal of redemption.

Hosea’s name is the same as Joshua or Hoshea (Numbers 13:8). Hoshea is the same as Hosea. Joshua is also spelled Yeshua, which was Jesus’ Hebrew name.

We read in Hosea 1:2,

² When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry, for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.”

This strange command was given in order to draw a real-life picture of Israel’s “harlotry.” God had married Israel at Mount Sinai, where Moses was the officiating priest. It was, therefore, an Old Covenant marriage, where Israel was the bride. Paul tells us that Mount Sinai was in Arabia, the inheritance of Ishmael, and that his mother, Hagar, was a bondwoman (Galatians 4:24, 25). Ishmael was thus a child of the flesh (born naturally), and so all who consider the earthly Jerusalem to be the “mother” of the church/kingdom are likewise the children of the flesh.

God’s Old Covenant marriage to Israel could not bring forth the sons of God, because Mount Sinai represents Hagar. To say, therefore, that the biological Israelites themselves are the chosen people is to say that Hagar could bring forth the promised seed. Paul makes it clear that we who have been begotten by the Spirit are the children of Sarah, the heavenly Jerusalem and the New Covenant representative (Galatians 4:26)

This truth is vital for Christians to understand today in order to avoid Christian Zionism. Many are in confusion, claiming to be of the New Covenant and yet advocating for biological Jews and Israelites who were begotten by the Old Covenant. One cannot have it both ways.

Children of Harlotry

Hosea’s children were named to prophesy of greater things to come, even though they were the “children of harlotry.” Because Gomer was an adulteress and a harlot, her children’s actual father was always somewhat in doubt. How could Hosea really know if his children were his or someone else’s? The prophecy in Lo-ammi is given in Hosea 1:9,

⁹ And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God.”

We should understand this to mean that God looked at this son and said, “You are definitely not my son; I’m not your father; you look nothing like Me.” God’s outright repudiation of the Israelites suggests that Hosea’s children were not his either.

Nonetheless, the prophet’s physical son was a type and shadow of the spiritual sons that were to come, for we read in Hosea 1:10,

¹⁰ Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered; and in the place where it is said to them, “You are not My people,” it will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.”

How was this to be fulfilled? It would require a second begetting (and birth) by the Holy Spirit that would bring forth sons that are in the image of their heavenly Father. Earthly ethnicity would not change, of course, but our identity—who we are—would shift to a new creature, as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17,

¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away [died]; behold, new things have come.

In other words, the “old man” (Romans 6:6 KJV) must die and be replaced by the “new man” that has been begotten by the Spirit. Those who are in Christ are no longer identified by their fleshly ethnicity which our biological fathers brought forth. Having been begotten by the Spirit, we have transferred our identity to the new self.

Begotten and Born

By the way, in the New Testament Greek, the term gennao has a double meaning. In Matthew 1:1-17 we are given the “begats.” For instance, “Abraham begat Isaac” (Matthew 1:2 KJV). The Greek word used is gennao. But when this word is applied to a woman, it means “to give birth.” Men beget; women give birth. Dr. Bullinger tells us in his notes on Matthew 1:2,

Begat. Gr. gennao. When used of the father = to beget or engender; and when used of the mother it means to bring forth into the world…

Unfortunately, many translators fail to comprehend this at times. We read, for instance, in 1 Peter 1:22, “being born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruption.” When speaking of “seed,” whether it is corruptible or incorruptible, it speaks of that which a father imparts. Therefore, it should read, “being begotten, not of corruptible seed but of incorruption.”

Without this knowledge, many evangelicals speak of being “born again,” when in fact they have been begotten from above—if indeed they have been begotten by the Spirit. Their actual “birth” comes later, either at the resurrection on the feast of Trumpets or when they are changed at the feast of Tabernacles. The point is that we ought to see this as a two-step process, as it is in the natural. First the father begets, and later the mother gives birth.

Redemption and Restoration

The promise of God given through Hosea is seen in Hosea 2:23,

²³ I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, and I will say to those who were not My people, “You are My people!” And they will say, “You are my God!”

Hosea’s first child was named Jezreel, “God scatters” as one scatters seed that is sown to bring forth a greater harvest. Hosea’s daughter, born next, was named Lo-ruhamah, “No compassion.” The third, of course, was Lo-ammi, “Not My people.” All of these disastrous prophecies were to be reversed in the end. However, the prophet does not tell us how this will happen. This question is answered in the New Testament, where we see that the flesh must die in order to bring to life the spiritual self (identity).

God calls fleshly people and gives them the gospel, so that by faith they may be begotten by the Spirit. As new creatures in Christ, they no longer consider their earthly parentage to define who they are. Neither does the corruption of their flesh characterize them any longer. Paul tells us in Romans 7:17, 20,

¹⁷ So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me…. ²⁰ But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

It is hardly possible to understand Paul’s meaning unless we know that he was speaking of the two “selves,” fleshly and spiritual. If I may paraphrase the above verses…

¹⁷ So now, no longer is my spiritual self doing evil things, but sin which dwells in my flesh…. ²⁰ But if my fleshly self is doing the very thing that my spiritual self does not want to do, my true self (identity) is no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in my flesh.

The question boils down to this: Who are you? Who is the real YOU? Are you a child of the flesh or a child of the Spirit? Who do you identify with?

This is the path of redemption and restoration. God is not in the business of saving the flesh man. The flesh man was sentenced to death when Adam sinned (Genesis 2:17). His death (mortality) was passed down through his seed to all of his fleshly descendants. This cannot be reversed. To escape this sentence of death requires us to be begotten a second time, this time by the Holy Spirit, so that we can become new (different) people who resemble their heavenly Father.

The prophet Hosea gives us hope of redemption, even while calling Israel a harlot and her children illegitimate. Hosea’s message is a message of Yeshua speaking through the prophet. It is a partial message of Sonship, showing the final result but leaving it to the apostles in the New Testament to explain the path to redemption and restoration. This path is not merely for Jews and Israelites but for all mankind, for the path is open to all.