Hos 6:1-3 | KingComments | STEP | The last verses of the previous chapter tell us that the discipline of the LORD will finally have the effect desired by Him. Every member of the people who acknowledges his guilt will let hear the call with which Hosea 6 begins: “Come, let us return to the LORD” ( ). Then they will be blessed. These individuals are a remnant who have confidence in God. He does not shame that confidence. Unfortunately, the call will not be heeded by the majority of the people. That part is only externally religious, but has no real love for God. The loyalty of the people is compared to a promising cloud, but which dissolves into nothingness ( ). God is not concerned with outer forms, but with a goodness that comes from the heart. That is still true today. When we have left God, we have to go back to where we left Him. There we can find Him back, there He has stayed and is waiting for us. With the call to return to the LORD, Hosea appeals to the conscience of the people. It is also possible that the faithful in the people speak those words to each other. They express acknowledgment and trust. Acknowledgment that the judgments are justified, that they have deserved them, and trust that the LORD heals and bandages. The call also means that they no longer go to the Assyrians for help. Hosea, or the faithful of the people, connects with these words to the words of the LORD Himself in the previous chapter ( ). By adopting in faith the words of the LORD they also acknowledge the truth of them. It speaks of spiritual maturity when things that happen in our lives are accepted from the hand of the Lord, and are not attributed to people or circumstances. Job has accepted all the suffering that has befallen him out of the hand of God: “For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands [also] heal” ( ; ). After the experience of God’s wrath, faith also sees the greatness of His compassion and lovingkindness. They will acknowledge that His judgment is righteous. They will also express their faith as well as their hope for His mercy and the promised blessing of restoration. They will now see that they are sick and that only the LORD can heal them. To Him they go. They go in the confidence that God never ‘strikes’ to alienate His children from Himself, but rather to bring them to Himself. God “tore” and “wound” the ten tribes when the Assyrians took them into scattering, and the two tribes when the king of Babylon took them into exile. The word “torn” is the word used for tearing them apart like a predator does (cf. ).

‏ Hosea 6:1-3

Introduction

The last verses of the previous chapter tell us that the discipline of the LORD will finally have the effect desired by Him. Every member of the people who acknowledges his guilt will let hear the call with which Hosea 6 begins: “Come, let us return to the LORD” (Hos 6:1). Then they will be blessed. These individuals are a remnant who have confidence in God. He does not shame that confidence.

Unfortunately, the call will not be heeded by the majority of the people. That part is only externally religious, but has no real love for God. The loyalty of the people is compared to a promising cloud, but which dissolves into nothingness (Hos 6:4). God is not concerned with outer forms, but with a goodness that comes from the heart. That is still true today.

A Call Full of Confidence

When we have left God, we have to go back to where we left Him. There we can find Him back, there He has stayed and is waiting for us. With the call to return to the LORD, Hosea appeals to the conscience of the people. It is also possible that the faithful in the people speak those words to each other. They express acknowledgment and trust. Acknowledgment that the judgments are justified, that they have deserved them, and trust that the LORD heals and bandages. The call also means that they no longer go to the Assyrians for help.

Hosea, or the faithful of the people, connects with these words to the words of the LORD Himself in the previous chapter (Hos 5:15). By adopting in faith the words of the LORD they also acknowledge the truth of them.

It speaks of spiritual maturity when things that happen in our lives are accepted from the hand of the Lord, and are not attributed to people or circumstances. Job has accepted all the suffering that has befallen him out of the hand of God: “For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands [also] heal” (Job 5:18 ; Job 1:21; 1Sam 2:6).

After the experience of God’s wrath, faith also sees the greatness of His compassion and lovingkindness. They will acknowledge that His judgment is righteous. They will also express their faith as well as their hope for His mercy and the promised blessing of restoration. They will now see that they are sick and that only the LORD can heal them. To Him they go. They go in the confidence that God never ‘strikes’ to alienate His children from Himself, but rather to bring them to Himself.

God “tore” and “wound” the ten tribes when the Assyrians took them into scattering, and the two tribes when the king of Babylon took them into exile. The word “torn” is the word used for tearing them apart like a predator does (cf. Hos 5:14).

Revived, Raised Up, Live

When God’s people have honestly acknowledged that there is no longer any right to blessing because they have forfeited everything, He will go to work. That is why in Hos 6:1-2 it says “He will” four times. He brings life into death. He is God and no one else (Deu 32:39). The third day in the Bible usually speaks of the resurrection from the dead. Just as Jonah is spit out by the fish on the third day (Jn 2:10), so for Israel there comes a third day of life and glory. It is important to also connect this verse with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus (1Cor 15:3-4). He is the true Israel (cf. Hos 11:1; Mt 2:15).

Hos 6:2 holds a promise for the future. God will raise His people from the dead. This will happen in phases. Ezekiel gets to see this in his prophecy. He sees a valley full of dry bones (Eze 37:1-6). This represents Israel in the time of scattering. But he also sees how the bones join together, without any spirit in them (Eze 37:7-8).

This is the situation Israel has been in since May 14, 1948. There is a national existence, but not yet a connection with God. It is a state established by its own effort and maintained in trust on its own military strength and with the help of allies. God is not taken into account. Only when God pours out on them the spirit of grace and supplications and confessions of guilt (Zec 12:10-14) will the relationship with God be restored. Then the people will “live before Him”, i.e. live in His favor.

This can also be applied to the life of the Christian. A Christian only truly lives if he lives from confession of guilt and the certainty of forgiveness. Then there will and may be an awareness that he is living in God’s favor. That life is, so to speak, connected with the third day, with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. His resurrection is the proof that God no longer sees all the sins of those who believe in His Son. They are gone forever. Whoever really experiences this will enjoy real life in God’s favor and will no longer want it any other way. How to enjoy that life is made clear in the following verse.

Knowing and Going Forth

After the resurrection there is new life, a life that fits the resurrection. That new life has only one desire: To get to know Him. But, could one say, once you have new life, you already know Him? That is true. Yet it is only partly true, because in that knowing only one aspect of the Lord Jesus has come to the fore. The people of Israel will be redeemed by the Lord Jesus in the end time. They will get to know Him as Savior. This also applies to everyone who, as a sinner, now gets to know Him.

But the Lord Jesus is so much more than Savior. The richness of His Person is infinite. Well, every person who has come to know Him as Savior will long to discover more and more glories in Him. This longing is a proof of the new life. And the more knowledge we gain of God and His Son, the more the foundation will be laid for a life of faith and obedience.

If there is the desire to know the Lord, there will also come the effort to know Him. Without effort there will be no increase in knowledge. Truth must be ‘bought’ (Pro 23:23). A price must be paid for it. That can be a price in the form of time to study God’s Word. That is why it is added in this verse that they want to press on to know Him.

This is reminiscent of the desire of the apostle Paul. In his letter to the Philippians he also writes about getting to know the Lord Jesus and pressing on to it (Phil 3:8 ; 10 ; 14). We could say: But Paul already knows the Lord very well, doesn’t he? He does. Yet Paul also knows about the infinite glory of his Savior and Lord and he wants to discover more and more of that. He does anything for that. How is that with us?

But there is something additional. Precisely the lack of knowledge is the cause of their downfall (Hos 4:6). If, however, there is a longing for the true knowledge of God, the result will not be downfall and that God withdraws, but just the opposite. Instead of the night that had to come over the people, “the dawn” will come. The desire of the people will be answered by the fact that the Lord Jesus goes forth as the rising Sun at the dawn, which is the dawn of the millennial realm (Mal 4:2; cf. Psa 19:6a).

The result is an abundant rain, through which the land will produce an abundant fruit. A renewed outpouring of the Spirit will take place for the people that ‘came to life’ nationally in 1948 (Joel 2:28-30). Then the stone heart will be taken from the people and instead God will give them a heart of flesh and also His Spirit (Eze 36:26-27). From then on they will live under the blessing and grace of God in Christ Who will reign as King (Pro 16:15).