Strange Ways of Love
(No. 2564)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, ARPIL 3, 1898.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
FEBRUARY 8, 1883.
"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the
wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her." Hosea 2:14.
The first part of this chapter is very dark, but the second part is
clear daylight. As we read the first verses, we tremble, for we seem to
stand at the foot of Sinai when it is altogether on a smoke. But when
we reach the second half of the chapter, we can say that, "we have come
unto Mount Zion." We hear no sound of trumpet, but the voice of that
blood "which speaks better things than that of Abel." The reason for
this is not that God has changed, nor that the person who is here
spoken of has changed–up to this point there is no change indicated in
the person–it is the same unchaste, unholy, obstinate, rebellious,
ungrateful creature. Yet there is a wonderful change in the words
spoken and the reason is because there is a change of dispensation–the
sinner is brought from under Law to come under Grace! God no longer
convinces of sin by the terrors of the Law, but He comes to deal with
the poor guilty soul on terms of love and mercy! This is the great
wonder of wonders that ever it should be truly said that, "in due time
Christ died for the ungodly," and that he is saved who believes on Him
that justifies the ungodly! Christ died for us, not as saints, not as
godly persons, but as the ungodly! Our subject is all about the
dealings of Divine Love with guilty sinners, by which God brings them
unto Himself. I shall speak of four things.
I. The first is that in our text, FOR GOD'S DEEDS OF LOVE, THERE IS A
REASON BEYOND ALL REASON.
The text begins with, "therefore." God is very fond of that word, for
He never acts illogically. There is always a good reason for all that
He does. But His ways are not our ways, neither are His thoughts our
thoughts and, sometimes, our logic is altogether baffled and our
reasoning faculties seem as if they could not in any way follow the
working of the mind of God, if such an expression may be used
concerning His wondrous thoughts.
Here, then, is a, "therefore," but what is the argument of which this
is the conclusion? Two of the most eminent writers on Hosea who wrote
in Latin in the olden time–and were both Romanists–think that the
word, "therefore," ought to be expunged, for they cannot see any reason
for its being here. Neither, according to Romanist teaching, is there
any reason for it. It is a Scripture nut which is too hard to be
cracked if salvation is by human merit and by human works. "Therefore"
is a manifest non sequitur in such a place as this if that is the
theory. But he who understands that salvation is notof works, nor in
any degree of human merit, but entirely an act of the free and
Sovereign Grace of God– that it is not of man, nor by man–he has
spied out a method of reasoning, here, which the workaholic will never
be able to discover! There is a reason, though it is beyond all reason.
Note, then, first, that when God is about to save a man, He finds a
reason for Grace where there is none. Where there is no reason in the
man, God, nevertheless, finds one. There never can be any reason in a
man's sin why God should pardon it–at least we cannot see how it can
be so–yet David did when he prayed, "For Your name's sake, O Lord,
pardon my iniquity, for it is great," as if the very greatness of it
was turned into a reason why it should be forgiven! This is a singular
argument. When a man has rebelled against the Lord, is that a reason
why God should publish an act of amnesty and oblivion? When man refuses
to accept forgiveness, is that any reason why the Lord should go out of
His way to change that sinner's obstinacy so as not to let him destroy
his own soul? I fail to see any reason for it, but God finds a reason,
"for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." "He makes His sun
to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on
the unjust."
We think it always wise to enquire whether a person who applies for
alms is a worthy person, for we like to give to deserving people. But
God likes to give to the unworthy and undeserving–and He has a reason
for it, for how could Mercy be so honored as in the forgiveness of the
guilty–and how could Divine Grace get to itself so complete a victory
as in reclaiming those who are utterly lost? God finds a reason where
to us, at any rate, there seems to be none whatever. If, dear Friend,
you are self-condemned and can see no reason why the Lord should have
mercy upon you, yet He spies a reason in the very fact of your being
unable to see any! He finds, in that very brokenness, misery and
helplessness of yours, a reason why His own sweet love and mercy should
come and deal with you, even with you.
Further, God not only finds a reason where we cannot see any, but He
makes a reason which overrides all other reasons. There was a reason
why He should have put Israel away altogether. She had been, as it
were, espoused to Him– that is the parallel that is given to us–and
if it seems, in your judgment, wrong that I should use the parallel, I
cannot help it–it is in the Bible and I am going to follow it. God
compares Israel to a wife who has left her husband, broken her marriage
vow and become unchaste, filthy and polluted. In such a case as that,
there are a thousand reasons why a man says, "I cannot have her as my
wife any longer. How can I dishonor myself by receiving her, again, to
my house and to my heart?" Yes, just so. But God finds a reason for
receiving His banished and guilty ones over and above all reasons why
He should put them away. He looks over the head of the argument for
their destruction and finds grounds for their salvation! These people
had given themselves up to the worship of that abominable idol-god
called Baal, whose very worship was full of filthiness–and you can
conceive the grief of the holy God when He saw them bowing down before
such an obscene deity as this! That was a reason why He should put them
away and have no more to do with them. But He had in His heart a reason
that was stronger than any reason in their guilt and in their crime! He
had also chastened them. He had brought them very low with famine and
fever, yet they had gone on in sin worse than ever! And if they seemed
to return for a little while, they were soon off, again, on their
wanderings. These provocations of theirs cried aloud, "Put them away!
Destroy them! Have no mercy upon them!" Yet God, whose mercy endures
forever, still found a reason for looking favorably on poor Israel. And
He said, "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the
wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her." In like manner, though
you, poor conscience-stricken Sinner, may see ten thousand reasons why
you should be lost, God sees a reason which is stronger than all those
and which, with a louder voice, cries over their heads, "Let them live!
Let them find mercy at Your hands, O God!" Thus He finds a reason that
overrides every other reason.
Yes, and I go further and say that God turns reasons against us into
reasons for us. Every sin is a reason why a sinner should perish. Every
willful transgression is a reason why a man should be given over to
continue in his stubbornness, but God does not reason so. In His
infinite mercy, He treats our sin as though it were a necessity rather
than a crime! You know how you deal with persons who are in great need.
Did you ever hear a beggar who came to your door say, "Sir, I am not
very badly off. I have a nice little income, but I need some relief."
How much will he get out of you? He goes the wrong way to work! But
here comes a man in a most dilapidated state. His garments are all in
rags, his feet are on the ground, his body is emaciated, he tells you
that he has not tasted food for the last two days, that he has to walk
the streets at night and has nowhere to lay his head. And the worse his
story is, the more he prevails with you. Now, the Lord, in His infinite
mercy, taking that tender view of sinning, as if it had bred a
necessity in men, loves to hear them speak with Him–not thus, "God, I
thank You I am not as other men are." You know the rest of it, but the
man who said thatwas notaccepted of God! But the Lord loves to hear a
man say, "God be merciful to me a sinner." That cry touches His heart.
It is the greatness of men's sin which He interprets to be the
greatness of their necessity and, therefore, He deals with them in
mercy.
He also does this when He treats sin as if it were a disease. If a man
were taken into a hospital, or if he were picked up on a battlefield
and carried to the surgeon who has a large number of patients to wait
upon, does the man who is suffering say, "Oh, it is a very slight
affair, just a mere grazing of the skin, that is all"? He knows that if
he talked so, the surgeon would pass him by to attend to the man whose
wound will prove mortal if it is not stanched within a few minutes. The
man who has the attention of the humane surgeon is the one who can
truly say, "Sir, there is not a more severely wounded person in all
this throng. My voice is failing, I am almost choked, I shall die if
you do not relieve me at once."
The surgeon says to the other patients, "My good fellows, you must all
wait awhile. I must see to that poor man." Now, God looks at your sin
as if it were a deadly disease working in you–and the greatness of
your malady becomes a plea with Him. Oh, how strange it is that the
very thing which, as a matter ofjustice, is really against us, turns
out to be for us when it comes to be a matter of pure Grace!
I want you all to put it upon that footing. You know what the woman
said to the great Napoleon when she wanted him to save the life of her
father. Napoleon said to her, "Woman, I have pardoned this man two or
three times before." But she said, "Sir, I pray you pardon him again."
The emperor answered, "I see no reason in justice why I should do so."
"No, Sir," she replied, "and there is not any. But I am appealing to
your mercy. It is a fine opportunity for you to show mercy, for he does
not deserve it." The great man said, "That is well put. Let him live."
And God will let you live when you plead on the ground of pure mercy!
If you talk of justice, you are doomed, for there is nothing in the
justice of God but a sharp, two-edged sword, the very touch of which
will slay you! God's Throne of Justice is a place of fiery wrath which
shoots devouring flames! But if you approach it by the door that is
sprinkled with the precious blood of Christ, and cry to God for mercy,
you shall be received with the kiss of forgiveness! Go, then, to that
mercy of God which, in the very sins of men, spells out arguments for
displaying itself! God does not want your fullness–He wants your
empti-ness–that He may fill it with His fullness. He does not want
your good works, you poor sinners–He wants your bad works–that He may
wash them all away. Paul says that Christ "gave Himself for our sins,"
and Luther's comment on that is, "He never gave Himself for our
righteousness. That would not have been worth His having, but He gave
himself for our sins." "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."
This is the footing on which we must go to God!
They tell us that this preaching of mercy to sinners is against
morality. Well, morality can take care of itself, God will take care of
it. But we know that there is nothing which promotes morality like this
wonderful pardoning love of God. Those who never will be reached by
being told what they ought to do, for they cannotdo it, and will not do
it, are reached by being told what God will do for them and what Christ
has done for them! And when they come and believe that, then they set
about doing what is right–and good works are produced to the glory of
God! But on the other theory, no man living under Heaven will ever
come.
II. Now turn to the second point. In our text, notice that there is A
METHOD OF POWER BEYOND ALL POWER–"I will allure her, and bring her
into the wilderness."
This is a singular kind of power. "I will allure her." Not, "I will
drive her." Not even, "I will draw her." Or, "I will drag her." Or, "I
will force her." No–"I will allure her." It is a very remarkable word
and it teaches us that the allurement of love surpasses in power all
other forces. That is how the devil ruins us–he tempts us with honeyed
words, sweet utterances, with the baits of pleasure and the like. And
the Lord in mercy determines that in all truthfulness, He will outbid
the devil and He will win us to Himself by fascinations, enticements
and allurements which shall be stronger than any force of resistance we
may offer! This is a wonderfully precious word–"I will allure her." I
hardly know how to explain it except by reminding you of how bird
catchers entice the feathered creatures with the allurements of decoys
that sing them into the net, or how a mother allures her little child
who is just beginning to walk. You have seen her hold out an orange, or
an apple, or a sweet, that the little one may leave the chair against
which it is leaning and come to her arms. That is the meaning of the
word, "I will allure her." God is trying this plan with guilty men and
so tries it as to succeed, for there is in it a power beyond all other
power!
Other forms of power had been tried upon Israel. She had been
afflicted–God declared that He would strip her even to nakedness! And
He had done so, yet she did not turn to Him. He said to her, "I will
hedge up your way with thorns," but she went on right over the thorns.
Then He said, "I will make a wall, that she shall not find her paths."
But she broke through the wall. Affliction of itself cannot bring a man
to Christ–you may flog him till he gets more wicked. He may be
chastened, as Ahaz was, and yet, like he, go further astray, the more
he is afflicted, No dear Friends, the power of God's Grace–the power
of His infinite allurements–will be found to be much stronger than the
power of affliction!
Moreover, the Lord had tried upon Israel the effect of instruction. He
says, "She did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil." So He
told her, but instruction did not help her. She sinned in the Light of
God as badly as she had done in the darkness! Then He tried what could
be done by exposure. He said–and it is a strong word–"I will declare
her lewdness in the sight of her lovers." There are some people who are
made to be thoroughly ashamed–they are caught in some secret sin. They
are convicted of something which, even in the eyes of sinners like
themselves, is mean and dirty–and they cannot deny it–yet they do not
turn from sin. They still cling to it.
In addition to all this, the Lord had tried the power of sorrow upon
sorrow, for it is written, "I will also cause all her mirth to cease,
her feast days, her new moons, her Sabbaths and all her solemn feasts.
And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees." Though she found no
mirth in sin and the way of her transgression was hard, yet Israel
would not turn to God! But the sweet allurement of tenderness would
succeed where all else had failed.
This was a power which was greater than those other forms of power
because the allurement of love overcomes the will to resist. Israel
could resist everything else, but she could not resist the allurements
of God's Grace–they won her where nothing else could. If Christ does
but touch the blind man's eyes, so that out of the corners of them he
only gets one glimpse of the Savior's beauty, he must infallibly be so
enamored of the Christ that he will love Him beyond all others! There
are amazing beauties about the Person of Jesus, yet, by their own
unaided power, men cannot see them. But if once Christ enables them to
see Him as He is and they realize the power of His eternal love, then
their hearts are captured and they no longer resist Him. In fetters of
Grace they are led as willing captives to Christ!
Let me tell you one or two things about the Savior that I think one can
never resist. There is, first, His self-denying love–that He loved His
enemies–that He loved such poor creatures as we are, who could do Him
no good. He was infinitely glorious and we were insignificant and, what
was worse, we were opposed to Him! Yet each Believer can say, "He loved
me and gave Himself for me." Out of pure, disinterested affection, He
came to earth to dwell in a stable, to hang upon a woman's breast, a
babe as feeble as any other babe, and then, marvel of marvels, His life
on earth ended on the Cross–the cruel gallows of utmost scorn! There
the Faultless One bears all our fault and because of our transgression,
He is nailed to the tree, His back having first been scourged, His
hands and feet pierced. Yes, and God Himself forsakes Him–not for any
evil that He has done, but because He has been guilty of excess of love
and has dared to put Himself in the poor sinner's place to bear the
wrath of Heaven! Look at Him–can you help loving Him with His face
disdained with spit and His back all gory from the cruel lash? Is He
not more lovely, there, than even up yonder amidst eternal thrones? O
Love, bleeding Love, dying Love! If this does not allure men, what
will? But that is how God allures the sinner to Himself. He says, "I
did all this for you. I lived for you. I died for you." And this wins
the sinner's affections, even though he feels himself the guiltiest of
the guilty.
Then our blessed Master, having risen from the dead, now charms us by
the fact that amidst all His glories He is faithful to His first love.
He has not forgotten you and me, though cherubim and seraphim have been
singing His praises all these years, day without night. See what He is
doing. He makes intercession for the transgressors and he bears upon
His breastplate the names of guilty ones for whom His cry goes up that
they may be forgiven and find mercy through His wondrous merit! I will
not say that you ought to l ove Him, for love does not act that way.
But I will say this–if you truly know Him, you cannot help loving
Him–you must love Him. Thus does He allure men to Himself by His own
personal charms.
The Lord draws men to Himself in different ways. I was allured to
Christ very much by the hope of eternal safety. I was but a lad and I
saw young men, a little older than myself, who had been very promising
youths, go off into drunkenness and into vice of different kinds. And I
thought that I might do the same. But when I read those words of the
Apostle, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day," I was
charmed with Christ as a sort of Preserver of character–an Insurer of
my soul unto eternal bliss! And I came to Him for that reason. I have
known others who have seen the happiness of Christians–their peace in
the midst of turmoil, their joy in times of sorrow, their contentment
in poverty, their calmness in prospect of death–and they have said,
"If all this happiness can be had in Christ, I will come to Him for
it." And in that way He has allured them. Perhaps some of you have
never had any great terrors of conscience, or distress of soul–do not
fret on that account! If you come by allurements, it is a Covenant way
of coming. If you are fascinated by the charms of Christ, it is the
very way that God declares He will draw His erring and His guilty
people. Oh, that you would yield to the fascination! I pray that you
may feel the allurement and say–
"I yield–by mighty love subdued! Who can resist its charms? And throw
myself, by wrath pursued, Into my Savior's arms."
Do any of you feel some soft drawing? Is there a pierced hand touching
you and a loving voice saying, "Seek the Lord"? Have you been very
hard, up till now, but does an unusual gentleness steal over your
spirit as you are sitting in this House of Prayer? Give yourself up to
it–it may be that the time of Divine Grace is now upon you. I hope
that it is so, that your birth-night has come and that you are passing
from death unto life! We have prayed about you. We met for an hour
before service and there was hard pleading for you. And God has given
us the desire of our spirit and you are to come to Christ tonight!
Blessed Lord, if it is so, there will be work for angels in Heaven to
sing Your praises concerning a sinner that repents!
III. But now, thirdly, and with brevity, here is A CONDITION OF COMPANY
BEYOND ALL COMPANY. Kindly read the text again. "Therefore, behold, I
will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness."
If you have ever heard a sermon from this text, you have probably had
it translated to you to mean that God will bring His people in trouble,
but it does not mean that. It means that God would cause Israel to be
alone with Him. I t was usual, after the nuptial ceremony, for the
husband to take his wife away into some lone spot for a while. The same
thing constantly happens among us–when a man is married, away he goes
to the seaside for a time–and he takes his spouse away to be with him
alone. That is the idea in the text, the Lord says of Israel, "I will
allure her to Myself and then, "I will take her into the wilderness.
She shall be in My company and in nobody else's company." That is just
what the Grace of God does–the soul had forgotten Him, before, but now
it thinks only of Him. His sweet love has so won it that it is now full
of God! Instead of not thinking of Him at all, He is in his first
thoughts in the morning, and in his thoughts all day long–and the last
thing at night, till friends who do not sympathize say, "Why, you are
going out of your mind! You are going religiously mad!" I wish that you
would stay in that blessed state into which you were brought when the
Lord's love was revealed to you and His allurements drew your soul to
Him.
The soul in the wilderness, alone with God, does not think of anybody
else, and does not trust in anything else. I t used to trust in good
works, but it feels as if it has not any, now, though really its first
good works are just being produced. Oh, what a clearance of our finery
the love of God makes when it comes into the soul! We are the most
respectable people who ever lived until we know God–and then we abhor
ourselves and repent in dust and ashes!
Now it comes to pass that God is our only joy. Once we had joy in the
theater, or joy in the ballroom, or joy in other worldly things, but
now we find true joy in God! And all other rejoicing seems only the
mirth of fools and idiots. When we have once sat at the feast in our
Father's House, we cannot go back to eat the husks that satisfy swine.
We have something better than that–our Lord has brought us where
everything but Himself is a wilderness and our cry is, "O God, You are
my God! Early will I seek You: my soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs
for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water." Joy in God
eats up all other joy, as Aaron's rod swallowed up the rods of the
impostors! Now we can say of the Lord, "He is all my salvation and all
my desire." Oh, to be wholly His and to enjoy all that we can enjoy of
Him! This is what He means by bringing us into the wilderness. That is,
into the solitary place alone with Him.
It may also be understood–and the connection requires it–that God
brings His people into the same condition into which He brought the
Israelite nation of old. I t was not to afflict them that He brought
them into the wilderness– it was to take them out of affliction that
He led them there–and that is the meaning of our text. When the Lord
allures His people, He takes them away from the old Egyptian bondage.
He leads them through the Red Sea. He makes it roll between them and
their old life and then He treats them just as He treated His people in
the wilderness. That is, He provides their food. They live on manna–no
longer have they their kneading troughs which they brought out of
Egypt. I wonder what they did with those kneading troughs? They never
needed them in the wilderness, certainly, for the manna was all ready
for them when it fell.
Then, next, the Lord becomes the Guard of His people–a wall of fire
round about them. He protects them by a fiery pillar at night and He is
the only Guide and Leader of His people–by cloud or by fire He leads
them both by night and by day. He becomes the healing of His people,
for, in the wilderness, when Israel had sinned and the fiery serpent
had bitten them, they looked to the bronze serpent and they lived. The
Lord was the Champion and Defender of His people. Si-hon, king of the
Amorites, did He smite, "for His mercy endures forever; and Og, the
king of Bashan, for His mercy endures forever." In the wilderness
Israel had nothing but God–did they need anything else? They carried
on no commerce. They had no railways. They kept no shops. Well, really,
if you could go out every morning and gather your bread and if, when
you needed meat, the quails came in any quantity for you to feed upon.
And if your clothes never waxed old, neither did your feet swell–that
would be a grand life to lead!
The Lord bring you and me under the wings of His eternal Providence and
if the world should seem a wilderness to us, yet if God continues to
scatter the manna and faith has but hands with which to gather it, and
a joyful mouth with which to feed upon it, then, blessed be God, the
wilderness is better than anywhere else! "I will allure her and bring
her into the separated place where she shall walk by faith. And I will
dwell with her, and walk with her. And I will be her God and she shall
be Mine forever." That is the meaning of the promise–a condition of
company beyond all company!
IV. Now, fourthly, we have, in our text, A VOICE OF COMFORT BEYOND ALL
COMFORT. "I will speak comfortably unto her." The Hebrew is, "I will
speak to her heart"–a style of speech that can only be adopted by God
who made the heart, searches the heart and tries the reins of the
children of men.
When the Lord gets His people all alone, what words of comfort He has
with them! What words they are when He assures them of their full
forgiveness, when they see all the sins of their former perverse life
gone forever and hear the Lord say, "I have blotted out, as a thick
cloud, your transgressions and, as a cloud, your sins." These are,
indeed, comfortable words when they are spoken home to the heart! And
so they are when the Lord not only tells His people that all evil is
removed, but that all good is theirs–when such words as these come
home to them–"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon
us, that we should be called the sons of God." And, "It does not yet
appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we
shall be like He, for we shall see Him as He is." And, "There is,
therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." And,
"Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption." Those are comfortable words when the
Lord goes on to tell us of our everlasting safety–"They that trust in
the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abides
forever." And when in prayer He foretells our coming glory–"Father, I
will that they, also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am."
I like even better that rendering, "I will speak to her heart." I heard
of one who died many years ago and an old divine, who stood by his
bedside, reported what he said. He had been a great professor, but he
had become an apostate and turned aside. But he used to comfort himself
with the universal mercy of God. And when he lay a-dying, he said to
the minister, "Sir, I have made a plaster for my wound, but it will not
stick." He turned over in the bed and said, "It will not stick! It will
not stick!" And so he died. Ah, and unless God speaks the Gospel to the
heart, it will not stick. You cannot get it to stick to the wound. It
seems pretty enough and you fancy that it will heal–it is a "royal
court plaster"–but, for all that, it will not stick! But when the Lord
speaks His Truth home to the heart and conscience, by the Holy Spirit,
and the poor trembling sinner grips it as for dear life and says, "That
is mine–I will venture my soul on it! Christ has died for sinners–I
am a sinner and I take Christ to be my Savior!" Then that plaster will
stick! What a mercy it is, when God makes it to be so! I can speak to
your ears, but I cannot speak to your hearts and, what is more, even
this blessed Book of Inspiration could only appeal to the ears! Apart
from the Spirit of God, it could not reach your heart. But if the Lord
Himself takes His Truth, oh, how blessedly it goes home!
I tell you, you desponding and despairing ones, you may come out of the
iron cage tonight! You may, this very hour, enter into joyous peace and
liberty if the Spirit of God will but speak home a single text–a
solitary Word–a New-Covenant Word to your spirit! Be of good cheer,
then–things impossible with men are possible with God–and you may yet
be singing instead of sighing, and shouting instead of groaning! Look
to Jesus! All our hope lies in Him. May He save you–yes, may the Lord
allure you even now! I am afraid I have not spoken gently enough to
some of you poor wounded ones. It is very hard for the preacher to
always pick his words to suit all His hearers and, perhaps, someone
will come to me, after the service, and say, "Oh, there was something
you said that tried me so very much." And, usually, the very people who
are most tried by the Word are the very ones that we most want to
comfort! Sometimes, a dear soul comes to me and says, "Oh, Sir, I am
afraid I am a hypocrite!" I answer, "I never met a hypocrite who was
afraid that he was a hypocrite." That could not be, for hypocrites are
quite certain that they are not hypocrites! And he that is so timid and
trembling that he is afraid he may not take these things of which I
have been speaking, is the very person whom we must encourage to lay
hold of every sweet and precious promise that falls from the mouth of
the Lord Jesus Christ!
May God make this promise true to everyone here who does not yet know
Him, "I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak
comfortably unto her"! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: HOSEA 2.6-23.
Verse 6. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and
make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. God will cause sin to
be painful. He will make the way of it difficult. He will do everything
to prevent the sinner running in it–"She shall not find her paths."
7. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake
them. They cannot find satisfaction in sinful pleasure. That which once
they easily obtained, they shall no longer be able to procure.
7. And she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she
say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better
with me than now. Am I addressing a backslider? Has God hedged up your
way? Is there a whisper in your heart which reminds you of better days
and happier times? Oh, stifle not that whisper! Let it be heard within
your spirit–if it is but a gentle voice, listen to it till it
increases in force and sounds like the very voice of God in your soul!
It will be for your present and eternal good if you do so.
8. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and
multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. It is a
sad sin when we take God's mercies and use them in rebellion against
Him. Just think of it–the very gifts which Jehovah gave to these
people, they presented in sacrifice to Baal! And there are men who are
in comfortable circumstances, who spend their wealth for sin. They have
health and strength, and they use them in the service of their own evil
passions. The very gifts with which God has enriched them become
weights to sink them deeper and deeper in the gulf of transgression.
Ah, this is terrible! God has often brought men down to poverty, to
sickness, to death's door, in order that they might be weaned from
their sin. He saw that they were going to Hell full-handed and He
judged it better that they should go to Heaven empty-handed! He knew
that if they had health, they would misuse it, so He stretched them on
the bed of sickness, that they might turn to Him. God has severe
remedies for desperate cases–He will do all that mercy and wisdom can
suggest to prevent men from being their own destroyers.
9-11. Therefore will I return and take away My corn in the time
thereof, and My wine in the season thereof, and will recover My wool
and My flax given to cover her nakedness. And now will I uncover her
lewdness in the sight of her lovers, andnone shall deliver her out
ofMyhand. I willalso cause allher mirth to cease, her feast days, her
newmoons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. There is no more
merriment–the old songs have lost their sweetness and the old games
have lost their charm.
12. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she has
said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me. So I will make
them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. So that the
joys of sin shall become miseries, as if vineyards were suddenly
trained into dense forests wherein lions and wolves might make their
lairs. There are some people who can understand this in a spiritual
sense. Some, perhaps, who have been made to realize it in their own
experience.
13. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned
incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her
jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot Me, says the LORD. It
is terrible when God comes to visit upon men the days of their
sin–when for every night of sin they shall have a night of
anguish–when for every pleasure that they took in sin they shall feel
the scourge of conscience till they have measured out the weary round.
"She went after her lovers, and forgot Me, said the Lord." This was
said by Him who never forgot her, by Him whose love was true and
faithful to her when she thus went away from Him and defiled herself
and dishonored His holy name!
Now read the next verse and be astonished–
14. Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the
wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. You might have thought the
Lord was going to say, "Therefore, behold, I will destroy her!" Nothing
of the kind. "l will fascinate her to myself, I will draw her away from
all her idol lovers and I will speak comfortably unto her."
15. And I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of
Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of
her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
' 'I will pluck this Israel of Mine out of all her sin. I will give her
back the purity and the happiness of her early days. 'She shall sing,
there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up
out of the land of Egypt.'" You must have noticed how often God speaks
of that coming out of Egypt. He says, in another place, "I remember
you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals, when you
went after Me in the wilderness." Here the Lord promises to give back
to Israel the joy she had when she was young and espoused herself to
her God.
16. And it shall be at that day, said the LORD, that you shall call Me
Ishi; and shall call Me no more Baali. ' 'You shall call me, my Man, my
Husband"–a name of sweet endearment. "and shall call me no more,
Baali," that is, "my Lord, my lordly Husband," for the Lord's love
shall not be galling to you, but it shall sweetly and gently rule you.
Oh, what a sweet change this is, when we no longer tremble before God
with slavish fear, but love Him with intense affection and see in Him
our soul's Husband in whom is all our delight!
17. For I will take away the names of Balaam out of her mouth and they
shall no more be remembered by their name. The word, Baalim, had been
profaned–they had applied it to other lords–and when they used it
concerning Jehovah, it sounded harsh, as if He, too, was a tyrant
master!
18. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of
the field, and with the fowls of the air, and with the creeping things
of the ground. Everything is in covenant with me if I am in covenant
with God! There is nothing so high that it can hurt me, there is
nothing so low that it can injure me, there is nothing so great that it
need distress me, there is nothing so little that it shall torment me!
18. Andl will break the bowand the sword ofthe battle out ofthe earth,
and willmake them to lie down safely. Oh, the security of God's people
when they get into their right position towards God!
19. And I will betroth you unto Me forever; yes, I will betroth you
unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and
in mercies. What a glorious promise is this! It is marvelous that our
wayward, wanton, wicked souls should be brought back, by infinite
mercy, and then that God should be so enamored of us as to declare, "I
will betroth you unto Me forever."
20. I will even betroth you unto Me in faithfulness: and you shall know
the LORD. It is said three times that He will betroth us unto Himself,
as if the Lord knew that we would hardly be able to believe it.
21. 22. Andit shall come to pass in that day, I willanswer, said the
LORD, will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth; and the
earth shall answer with corn, and wine, and the oil and they shall
answer Jezreel. So that there shall be no famine to try God's people!
Their prayers shall be abundantly answered and all their needs shall be
supplied.
23. And I will sow her unto Me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon
her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not
My people, You are My people; and they shall say, You are my God. Oh,
blessed Scripture! May the Lord write it on all our hearts! Amen.