Walking Through the Bible: Hosea 11-14

Though the people had been unfaithful, God was still faithful to them (Hosea 11). God was a good Father, teaching them to walk, yet they sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to carved images.

However, God didn’t force them to love Him, but gently drew them to Himself with bands of love, taking the yoke from their necks and stopped and fed them. Though they worshipped Him with their lips, none of them exalted Him (V7).

God had many reasons to deal harshly with them, but determined that they would walk with Him (V9-10). God also had a charge against Judah (Hosea 12), but was set on bringing the two sides together (V9) and saving them (Hosea 13:14).  

Israel had stumbled and fallen and put their trust in pagan nations, but God called them to return (Hosea 14) and promised to heal them and love them (V4). When they returned they would be revived and grow and reject their idols (V7-8).

Let all who have wisdom understand that the ways of the Lord are right and the righteous walk in them, but transgressors stumble (V9). 

Walking Through the Bible: Hosea 4-10

In Hosea 4 God brings His charges against Israel. There was no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. People had become apathetic and had forgotten about God.

Ignoring God and His Word brings problems to the world. God says, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (V6). We see much the same in the world today. Paul warns us similarly in 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

Their choice to ignore God in disobedience resulted in idolatry and brought impending judgment on them (Hosea 5) because they walked by human precept (V11), the word of man and the wisdom of man. But Paul suggests in 1 Corinthians 3:19 that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

Instead of turning to God they sought out the pagan nations around them for help (V13). They mixed idolatrous acts in worship of God and thought they were right in doing so. But they sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7) and were unproductive.

And so, God was going to cast them away because of their disobedience and make them wanderers among the nations (Hosea 9:17). 

Walking Through the Bible: Hosea 3

A short chapter but one filled with redemption. Hosea is commanded to love His adulterous wife again. Such is the love of God for His children Israel and such is His love for us in spite of our many sins. Hosea buys his wife back and God was going to purchase Israel for Himself though they were without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim.

Romans 5:8 says God demonstrates His own love for us through Christ’s death while we were still sinners. Gomer was a prostitute. We too have prostituted ourselves to sin in every sense of the word. But God loves us and takes us back to Himself to shower love on us. If we can see that we will gladly seek Him as God and King over us, fear Him and see His goodness and install Him on the throne over our lives. 

Walking Through the Bible: Hosea 1-2

Hosea was a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. Through his life and through what God showed him and asked of him, he represented the pain that we bring God through rejection and disobedience. But Hosea also modeled the grace God has given each of us through his relationship with his adulterous wife living out the gospel because  for people because it’s not what we can do for God but what God does for us in spite of our sin. God asked Hosea to marry a prostitute (Hosea 1:2) and she was unfaithful to him continuing to prostitute herself.

When we reject Jesus we act like an unfaithful wife bringing sorrow and heartache to our loving husband, the Lord.

The wife of Hosea conceived and bore Hosea a son and named him Jezreel which means “God will sow”, an indication that God would soon sow wrath on them and bring an end to the house of Israel (V4).

Soon after she bore a daughter and God told him to name her Lo-Ruhamah, meaning, “No mercy”. She conceived again and bore another son and God said, “Name him Lo-Ammi, “Not My people”. It is likely these two children were not Hosea’s but the result of her adultery.

For a time, God would have mercy on Judah (V7). In love He promised to restore both Israel and Judah (V10-11). God wants to call them His people and show them His mercy (Hosea 2), but not while they remain unfaithful and children of harlotry (V4). Everything He had provided for them they gave to Baal (V8). So He punished her (V13), but in His mercy He will allure her and speak comfort to her (V14).

God’s plan for His people is temporary abandonment, but eternal redemption when He makes a new covenant with them (V18) and betroths them to Him forever (V19) and makes them His people. God is a god of relationship. 

Walking Through the Bible: Daniel 10-12

The final chapters are an account of the last recorded vision Daniel had. So difficult was the prophecy that Daniel mourned a full three weeks (Daniel 10:2). Only Daniel saw the vision while great terror fell on those who were with him (V7).

The Angel who brought the message first had to assure Daniel he would be okay (V11-12). In bringing the message the Angel had suffered trial as the prince of the kingdom of Persia (either Satan himself, or one of his demonic helpers) withstood him for three weeks until Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help him.

Daniel 11 gives us a timeline of three successive Persian kings until Alexander the Great overcame the last one. But Alexander’s kingdom was divided among four of his own generals at his death (V2-4). One of these generals (king of the south) becomes powerful and fights against the king of the North until they join forces.

The timeline shifts to the last days as a king arises who exalts and magnifies himself above every god and speaks blasphemies against the God of gods (V36). Other nations will come against him (V44) and he will come to his end and no will help him (V45).

This will usher in a time of trouble such as there has never been (Daniel 12). But Daniel’s people will be delivered when Jesus comes with the armies of heaven to fight against the Antichrist.

Daniel was then told to shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end (V4). Daniel was to trust in the Lord and rest and he was given the promise that he would arise to his inheritance at the end of days. This is the promise to all who believe God and follow Jesus. 

Walking Through the Bible: Daniel 7-9

The remaining chapters of the book detail the prophecies which Daniel was given by the Lord. The four beasts of Daniel 7 are four empires with the lion having eagle’s wings representing Babylon and the bear being the Medo-Persian empire that came after. The winged leopard was Greece and the terrible fourth beast is Rome. Finally, a power arose out of the others with a little horn speaking pompous words. This is the final world ruler, the Antichrist who is stopped by the coming of the Lord (V25) when He sets up His millennial kingdom.

The future is both dreadful and glorious, but Daniel was greatly troubled by what he saw and the interpretation he received. Another vision Daniel received (Daniel 8) reveals the Greek empire taking over from the Medo-Persian empire and itself being broken into four smaller empires after the death of Alexander the Great. Again, from out of them comes a little horn which came against the glorious land (Israel), who exalts himself and stops the daily sacrifices (V11). Daniel is told, in the interpretation of the vision, that this would take place many days in the future (V26).

In Daniel 9 God sends His angelic Messenger, Gabriel to tell Daniel He has set a period of time aside to bring things to a conclusion. God lays out a prophecy concerning Israel’s future and the coming of Messiah (V25). Sixty-nine weeks of years, or 483 years would follow the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. After 62 weeks the Messiah would be cut off  This corresponds to Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and His death by crucifixion a week later.

A week of years remains in which the prince who is to come (Antichrist), makes a covenant with Israel, but in the middle (3.5 years), brings an end to sacrifice during the tribulation spoken of in Revelation, before the return of Christ to set up His millennial Kingdom. 

Walking Through the Bible: Daniel 1-6

Jesus says the author of this book is Daniel (Matthew 24:15). Daniel was among the first captives of Israel taken to Babylon (Daniel 1). As a prophet of God many of his prophecies have come to pass, the rest will follow.

Daniel 2 describes the Lord as the “stone cut out without hands” filling the earth striking the kingdoms of the earth (V34-35) and setting up a kingdom that will never be destroyed and stand forever (V44).

In the prophecies of Daniel we find the key of interpretation for other prophecies especially concerning the first coming of Jesus and the tribulation which will come in the last days just before His second coming.

God used Daniel to keep His people on track by raising him up as a prophet but also a confidant of the Babylonian king (Daniel 3). Through the faithfulness of Daniel’s companions, God showed His Majesty, and the king praised God (V28).

But Nebuchadnezzar’s pride once more got the better of him (Daniel 4) so God taught him a lesson that as great a king as he was, God was going to drive him to live as an animal for seven years (V25) till he learned God was God and he wasn’t. Daniel called on the king to repent (V27). But he didn’t and suffered the humiliation his dream predicted. In the end, after he came to his senses, Nebuchadnezzar learned the lesson and praised God (V34-37).

But pride ran in the family and Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson, Belshazzar, lifted himself up against the Lord (Daniel 5:23) and saw the writing on the wall that God had numbered his days because he had been weighed and found wanting, and his kingdom would be divided (V25). That very night Belshazzar was slain and Darius the Mede received the kingdom (V30-31).

The officials in Darius’ kingdom didn’t like Daniel and conspired against him by having Darius make a decree that if anyone petitioned any god except the king that he should be thrown into the lions den (Daniel 6). Without thinking it through the king signed the order and Daniel was found to be praying to the God of heaven as was his habit and was cast into the lions den.

Displeased but unable to do anything about it, Darius hoped God would deliver Daniel. The next morning Darius found Daniel still alive and took him out of the den, cast the conspirators and their families into the den instead (V24) and made a decree that men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. And Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus (V28). 

Walking Through the Bible: Ezekiel 40-48

Ezekiel is now given a vision of a rebuilt temple (Ezekiel 40). The existing temple was still standing and would be destroyed by the Babylonians a few years later. Another  temple built by Herod would be destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

There is now no temple in Jerusalem. All that remains is some rubble and a flat area where the temple once stood. But this vision tells us a temple will once again stand on the Temple Mount and Israel will come to worship at this temple during the millennial reign of Christ. A River will flow out of it into the Dead Sea and bring abundant life to it (Ezekiel 47).

After the 1000 year reign of Christ on the earth God will create a new heaven and new earth and the new Jerusalem will be its capital (Revelation 21:1-2). But the city will not have a temple because the Lord Almighty and Lamb are its temple (Revelation 21:22) and the restoration of God’s people, Israel, will be complete. 

Walking Through the Bible: Ezekiel 33-39

God now turns Ezekiel’s attention to Israel for the rest of the book. Ezekiel’s role as a watchman is even more critical now (Ezekiel 33) whether the people listen to him or not. As watchmen it is paramount we stay true to God.

When what God showed Ezekiel comes to pass the people will know that a prophet was among them (V33). He was to prophesy against the false shepherds of Israel, those that fed themselves and not the flocks (Ezekiel 34). God would send them a True Shepherd (V11) who would feed them (V23). He will also regather them to their land (Ezekiel 36:24) and give them a new heart and a new spirit. God’s Spirit would be in them who would cause them to walk in His statutes and keep His judgments and He will be their God (V26-28).

God was true to His promise as He restored them after their seventy year exile. But during the Roman occupation centuries later they would be dispersed again and wouldn’t return till 1948 when Israel was reformed.

But the promise of a new heart and spirit won’t take place until Jesus comes to reign on the earth during His millennial reign still some time off and only after a Great War as described in Ezekiel 38-39 occurs.  

Walking Through the Bible: Ezekiel 25-32

As God punished His people, other nations rejoiced at their misfortune (Ezekiel 25:6). Jeremiah and Isaiah also reported God stretching out His hand against Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistines to teach them that He was the Lord (V7). Ezekiel also foretold the destruction of the city of Tyre (Ezekiel 26) with Nebuchadnezzar coming against them (V7). A

word from God was pronounced against the Prince of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:2) who was filled with pride and fancied himself a god. But in verse 12 the words seem to be against more than just an earthly prince, perhaps the spiritual power behind that earthly throne. “You were in Eden”, says the Lord (V13). “You were the anointed cherub” (V14).

It is unlikely the Prince of Tyre could be like a cherub, one of the living creatures described in chapter 1. Yet, this earthly prince was filled with pride like Satan was when he said he would exalt his throne  above the stars of God (Isaiah 14:13). If the power behind these nations was Satan then God’s judgment on them was right.