1008. What Hosea and Joel Say About Christ As King

What Hosea and Joel Say About Christ As King

"Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days" (Hos_3:5)

1. Hosea's prophecies are most striking, inasmuch as the Prophet himself, as described in the first two chapters of his Book, becomes a type of Israel.

Hosea marries a woman of the whoredoms. She proves unfaithful, then she is put from him for a season. Afterwards Hosea goes yet, and "loves a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress."

All this is according to the love of God to the children of Israel, "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without a teraphim; afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days."

How true to history is this picture. Saddest of all is the fact that during the centuries Israel has had no sacrifice. Even the orthodox Jews have never been able to offer up sacrifices since the Temple was destroyed by Titus; and yet they know that according to their Levitical code, there is no remission of sins, without the shedding of blood. May the day hasten when they shall see the sacrificial types all fulfilled in the Blood of the Son of God. Praise God, Israel shall yet have her sacrifices and her altar rites restored, after the many days of Hosea's prophecy. Then they will turn to Christ as King.

2. Joel comes next in order, and we turn to chapter 3. "For in those days and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. * * The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain; then shall Jerusalem be holy, * * for the Lord dwelleth in Zion." The light here shines so clearly that words are not necessary. Let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem, they shall prosper that loved her. Let us watch, for her redemption draweth nigh. Surely the Lord will not fail His people in one of His good promises. He has, during the centuries, kept her as the apple of His eye. He that blesses her is blessed, and he who curses her is cursed.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR