Jesus, the redeemer of the broken
“The word of the LORD that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.” (Hosea 1:1 NKJV)
The story of Hosea is a splendid symbol of God’s redeeming love for us through Christ. We even find the story of Jesus’ breath-taking sacrifice hidden in the names of verse 1.
Hosea means salvation.
Beeri means illustrious or well-man.
Uzziah means the strength of Jehovah.
Jotham means Jehovah is perfect.
Ahaz means possessor or beholder.
Hezekiah means whom Jehovah has strengthened.
Judah means praise.
Jeroboam means increase of the people.
Joash means whom Jehovah bestowed.
God sent His word (Jesus) to bring salvation to man. Jesus will be honored for His act of strength and perfection. As man beholds His perfection he will be strengthened. As man praises God, God will pour out His increase on His people and bestow His righteousness and free gifts on them.
“When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the LORD.” So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.” (Hosea 1:2-3 (NKJV))
God told Hosea to do the unexpected…to marry a prostitute. A difficult command which probably not many people would have been prepared to do. Hosea remained obedient to God and married Gomer, the prostitute. It was a relationship that was everything but sunshine and roses. Gomer continued in her old habits and still ran away continued to make herself available to other men. Hosea remained faithful and would each time go and bring Gomer back because of the love God bestowed in him for her.
“Then the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans. ” So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. And I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.”” (Hosea 3:1-3, NKJV)
Hosea’s story is a clear resemblance of the calling of Jesus. As Hosea paid the price demanded to redeem a slave to buy back his unfaithful bride, so did Jesus pay the price for our sins on the cross (Ephesians 1:7). The greatest part is that Jesus died for all of us even when we were sinners and we still continue to sin even today. He did not wait or expect us to stop sinning before He will redeem us, because even then, He knew our shortcomings, if we want to stop sinning, we will still come short at times. Jesus was the savior for all of us just like Hosea is considered a savior for Gomer from the life she thought she was destined to have in prostitution.
Like Gomer, we still go astray and do wrong things, however, none of that can separate us from Jesus’ love for us. He is forgiving and continues to reach out to us. He never turns His back on us but is always willing and expectant to receive us when we have come to the end of our own will and efforts and surrender to Him. Gomer means “to come to the end” and Hosea (salvation) was always waiting for her to return and receive His love for her once she has come to the end of herself and ready to receive from him.
A picture of God’s redeeming love for us through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus.