Hosea 14: Come On Home

Have you ever felt too far gone for God's love? The conclusion of Hosea powerfully shatters that myth. 

Throughout our journey through this prophetic book, we've witnessed the tumultuous relationship between God and Israel, symbolized through Hosea's marriage to the unfaithful Gomer. What appears as harsh judgment when read out of context reveals itself as the passionate pursuit of a loving God when understood properly.

Chapter 14 delivers the beautiful finale to this divine love story. God extends yet another invitation: "Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God." Despite all the betrayal, all the spiritual adultery, all the broken promises, God's arms remain wide open. His promise resonates across centuries: "Then I will heal you of your faithlessness, my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever."

This concluding message reminds us that the Bible isn't a collection of arbitrary rules or disconnected judgments—it's the documentation of God's rescue mission throughout human history. Even when judgment is deserved, God longs for reconciliation. As Pastor Brandon explains, "When we put the prophecies back in proper context, we don't see a God of vengeance and anger. We see a God of justice, but a God who leans toward and wants mercy so very bad."

Two powerful takeaways emerge: First, God's reckless love remains available regardless of our failures or wanderings. Second, having experienced this extraordinary love, we're called to share it with others who may not understand God's true nature. Many reject God because they've encountered judgment without context.

Ready to experience the God who pursues you with boundless love? Join us for this final exploration of Hosea, and discover a divine love that never gives up, never gives in, and always calls you back home. Subscribe, share your thoughts, and join our community as we continue breaking down God's word together.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Hosea Chapter 14
• 1:54 Reading Scripture: The Final Call
• 5:04 Understanding God's Reckless Love
• 6:44 Two Key Takeaways
• 8:00 Closing Prayer and Reflection

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, hosea, chapter 14, and today's title is Come on Home, come on Home. We're going to have this great finale, as God continually and forever calls his people back to him again. His reckless love is on display today. So, if you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to Hosea, chapter 14. While you're doing that, as always, take just a moment like share and subscribe. If you're watching on YouTube, if you're watching or, excuse me, watch if you're listening on the podcast, make sure you leave us a five-star review. It really does help. Comment on there and let us know how you're connecting with God's work, because it really helps for other people who are searching for them to look down. I do this every time when I'm looking at a podcast. I will look down at those who have rated it and know what was it about the podcast that drew them in. So let people know the way you're interacting with God's word and also make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. It's an amazing group of people every single day writing devotions, and we want to interact with you and, as always, the more we dig, the more we find, and we want to interact with you and, as always, the more we dig, the more we find. Well, I hope you have enjoyed this walk through the book of Hosea with me, as the overall goal of Hosea is to talk to us about God's reckless love. And I love this idea because many times in the Old Testament, when we don't really read the Old Testament like this, where we're going through it one chapter at a time, we miss why these prophecies are the way they are. When you just take I mean imagine you take one of these prophecy chapters we've read over the past few days, you just take it completely out of context and you read it and go my goodness, god sure is mean. You know he's this, he's that. But you kind of shove it back into context and you see that God is begging them. I don't want these things to happen that, even though they have earned it by the evil that they have done, god is constantly calling out to them and he's saying please come back to me, come back to me over and over and over again. And I love that. I love that when we put the prophecies back in proper context, we don't see a God of vengeance and anger. We see a God of vengeance and anger. We see a god of justice, but a god who leans toward and wants mercy. So very bad. And I love that. That's how he ends chapter 14, because after all of this stuff he still has that reckless love where he is saying man, come on back home, come on back home. It reminds me of the very beginning when gomer ran back into her prostitution and, uh, hosea goes and gets her and brings her back again. And I see that happening in this, where it's like come on back home over and over again. So if you're ready, let's read this together.

Speaker 1: 3:01

Hosea, chapter 14, verse 1, says this return, o israel, to the, your God, for your sins have brought you down. Bring your confessions and return to the Lord. Say to him forgive all our sins and graciously receive us so that we may offer you our praises. Assyria cannot save us, nor can our war horses. Syria cannot save us, nor can our war horses. Never again will we say to the idols that we have made you are our gods. No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy.

Speaker 1: 3:37

The Lord says. Then I will heal you of your faithlessness, my love will know no bounds for my anger will be gone forever. I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. Israel will blossom like a lily and it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars of Lebanon. Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon. My people will again live under my shade. They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon. O Israel, stay away from idols. I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you. I am like a tree that is always green. All your fruit comes from me. Let those who are wise understand these things. Let those with discernment listen carefully. The path of the Lord are true and right. The righteous people live and walk in them, but those past sinners stumble and fall. Wow, what an ending to an amazing book. I love how, in verse four, he says then I will heal you of your faithlessness and my love will know no bounds. That's what God wants for us. All of this is the story of God trying to get us back into fellowship with him. That's what the Bible is. The Bible is the words of God, showing us the rescue mission that God has been on throughout history to get us back to the Garden of Eden in that fellowship relationship with him. And, as we have read through the book of Hosea, one of the things we have seen over and over and over again is that God is longing for us to have this relationship and this fellowship, and we hear his heart going out to us over and over again as he's calling us back to him.

Speaker 1: 5:36

And so I want to maybe leave us with two thoughts today as we get ready to end this amazing book of the Old Testament, the soap opera of the Old Testament. Number one is this never forget that the reckless love of God is available. No matter what you do, no matter how far you walk away, no matter what happens in your life, god never gives up on us. He loves us more than we can imagine. Number two is when we realize that we are loved that much, let us then take that love and share it with other people.

Speaker 1: 6:10

Share what we have found with others, because there are some people who the reason why they don't follow God is because they don't know about his love. They've heard of these chapters in the Old Testament and they just think well, god's just mean, or whatever. No, no, no, you don't understand. I know if you shove it out of context and you read it randomly, it sounds like it. But if you shove it back into context, it's about God's reckless love for all of us and that he cares for us deeply. And one of the greatest things in life is to experience the love of God ourself. And then, just like it is when we share God's love with others, and then just like it is when we share God's love with others, let's pray together right now.

Speaker 1: 6:47

God, thank you so much for your love. Thank you that you are with us even now. Lord, I pray for maybe somebody who has read through Hosea and they're trying to figure it out. They're trying to figure out how to do life with you. I pray, god, that you will continue to draw them to yourself. You open their eyes to see you more clearly. Help them to know you like they never have before. Maybe somebody else is listening to this and while they're listening, you're putting on their heart somebody else who needs to hear this message. I pray you'll give them the courage to go to them today and to tell them about your reckless love.

Speaker 1: 7:23

We celebrate you now In Jesus' name. We pray, amen, amen. But God's word says one more about your reckless love. We celebrate you now In Jesus' name. We pray Amen, amen. But God's word says one more time Hosea 6.6,. He says I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings. God's desire for us is to experience his reckless love every day. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for the next part of the Bible Breakdown Podcast.