Come, let’s go back to the Lord. He has hurt us, but he will heal us. He has wounded us, but he will bandage our wounds. In two days he will put new life in us; on the third day he will raise us up so that we may live in his presence and know him. Let’s try to learn about the Lord; he will come to us as surely as the dawn comes. He will come to us like rain, like the spring rain that waters the ground.

The Lord says, “Israel, what should I do with you? Judah, what should I do with you? Your faithfulness is like a morning mist, like the dew that goes away early in the day. I have warned you by my prophets that I will kill you and destroy you. My justice comes out like bright light. I want faithful love more than I want animal sacrifices. I want people to know me more than I want burnt offerings. But they have broken the agreement as Adam did; they have been unfaithful to me. Gilead is a city of people who do evil; their footprints are bloody. The priests are like robbers waiting to attack people; they murder people on the road to Shechem and do wicked things. I have seen horrible things in Israel. Look at Israel’s prostitution; Israel has become unclean. Judah, I have set a harvest time for you when I will make the lives of my people good again.” Hosea 6

Let’s dig into the context of Hosea 6. Throughout the book of Hosea, mentions of curses, blessings, and agreement (or covenant) refer to the Mosaic (or Sinai) covenant, which is found in the first five books of the Old Testament. (Deuteronomy 28 is an excellent place to gather an overview of many of the blessings and curses.) It is the agreement between God and Israel. It is what Christians refer to as the old covenant. As with any covenant God makes, it is binding. If the Israelites obey, God will bless them. If the Israelites disobey, God will curse them. Both God and the Israelites are bound to the terms of the agreement. In this way, the covenant is conditional. However, God’s promise of Israel as his chosen people is unconditional. The Mosaic Covenant promised God would bless the world with his Word and Son, Jesus, through the nation of Israel.

Given this context, what do you notice about Hosea 6?

The first several verses focus on hope. Reconciliation with God is always possible. Let’s fast forward to the New Testament and new covenant. It wasn’t “new” to God. He knew exactly what would happen. He didn’t make a mistake through the old covenant and have to create a “do over.” That’s not possible with God. He knew there would be a perfect time for his Son to come to earth and sacrifice himself for the sin of all people, including you and me. We don’t completely understand how God is outside of time and present in all time at the same time, because we’re bound by earthly time and human understanding. The point isn’t about whether or not we understand God’s timing. The point is whether or not we accept his redemption.

The new covenant is first mentioned in Jeremiah:

“Look, the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and the people of Judah. It will not be like the agreement I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt. I was a husband to them, but they broke that agreement,” says the Lord. “This is the agreement I will make with the people of Israel at that time,” says the Lord: “I will put my teachings in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. People will no longer have to teach their neighbors and relatives to know the Lord, because all people will know me, from the least to the most important,” says the Lord. “I will forgive them for the wicked things they did, and I will not remember their sins anymore.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

We now live under the new covenant. We are promised hope, and it comes with a choice.

Soak in Romans 8. Choose wisely and firmly.

So now, those who are in Christ Jesus are not judged guilty. Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made you free from the law that brings sin and death. The law was without power, because the law was made weak by our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son to earth with the same human life that others use for sin. By sending his Son to be an offering for sin, God used a human life to destroy sin. He did this so that we could be the kind of people the law correctly wants us to be. Now we do not live following our sinful selves, but we live following the Spirit.

Those who live following their sinful selves think only about things that their sinful selves want. But those who live following the Spirit are thinking about the things the Spirit wants them to do. If people’s thinking is controlled by the sinful self, there is death. But if their thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace. When people’s thinking is controlled by the sinful self, they are against God, because they refuse to obey God’s law and really are not even able to obey God’s law. Those people who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God.

But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if that Spirit of God really lives in you. But the person who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ. Your body will always be dead because of sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made you right with God. God raised Jesus from the dead, and if God’s Spirit is living in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die. God is the One who raised Christ from the dead, and he will give life through his Spirit that lives in you.

So, my brothers and sisters, we must not be ruled by our sinful selves or live the way our sinful selves want. If you use your lives to do the wrong things your sinful selves want, you will die spiritually. But if you use the Spirit’s help to stop doing the wrong things you do with your body, you will have true life.

The true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them. The Spirit we received does not make us slaves again to fear; it makes us children of God. With that Spirit we cry out, “Father.” And the Spirit himself joins with our spirits to say we are God’s children. If we are God’s children, we will receive blessings from God together with Christ. But we must suffer as Christ suffered so that we will have glory as Christ has glory. The sufferings we have now are nothing compared to the great glory that will be shown to us. (Romans 8:1-18)

How will you respond?

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