Hosea 2 Notes - Part 1

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Chapter 1 ends with the house of Israel and the house of Judah reuniting at the end of this age.  This reunion is "the" reunion of the latter-days.  These are the two sticks of Ezekiel 37 being joined together.  Who is the house of Judah?  The Jews of today.  Who is the house of Israel?  The lump of clay in Jeremiah 18 that had to be remade into a different vessel.  As we saw in the first chapter of Hosea, the house of Israel rejected God and God divorced them.  But the Good Shepherd was sent after the lost sheep.  Those he found became the new vessel: the Church.

Verse 1

A continuation of the previous chapter. 

Who are your brothers and sisters, Judah?  Israel is your brother and sister. (Jeremiah 3:7)  The Church and the Jews are siblings.  But wait a minute, I thought everyone has to believe in Yeshua?  Just wait, they will.  When you see your children, O Judah, then your eyes will be opened.(Isaiah 29:23, Zechariah 12:10, Ezekiel 16:61-62) 


"Mercy is shown."  Interesting thing to say.  Why say it?  Because Israel sought mercy from Judah but found none; so the schism began.  But now at the end of the age, Israel (the Church) finds mercy from the Good Shepherd.  Judah, you rejected mercy.  But your brethren found mercy.  Judah, you didn't reject the covenant, the Torah, the law of God, the very nature of God like your treacherous sister, Israel, did.  Judah, some of you still fear and deeply revere God because you have an understanding of God's nature.  Present-day Israel (the Church) doesn't fear God.  But some of Judah still fears God.  But Judah, you missed the mercy of God and instead chose to obtain salvation by the law.  The law wasn't meant to provide salvation...only temporary atonement.  The law points us to our need for mercy.  Judah, you may properly revere the Father, but you don't yet realize the work of Yeshua, the Good Shepherd.  Israel, you understand the work of Yeshua but you don't fear God.  Strangers have entered into his house and have led you astray. (Jeremiah 50:5, Malachi 2:8)  You are so comfortable in America and so detached from reality that you have forgotten the severity of God. You think you can live however you choose and God is fine with it.  He's not fine with it.  He's not at all pleased with you, Israel.(Malachi 1:10)  And Judah, you are no better off.  In fact you are worse off because you rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloh. (Isaiah 8:6)

Verse 2

Flashback...further explanation of the northern kingdom's departure. 10-Israel rejected God.

“Bring charges against your mother; she's not my wife and I'm not her Husband.”  Strong words.  But this is what we're told in other places.  A divorce between 10-Israel and God.(Deuteronomy 31:16-17, Jeremiah 3:8, Isaiah 50:1)   Like a married harlot going after other lovers, 10-Israel went after other gods.  She rejected God and God rejected her.  She forgot God and his law and mingled with the Gentile nations and became Gentile.

Verse 3

10-Israel, a Gentile now, without God.  Like a wilderness; a dry land without life-giving water.

Verse 4

Her children?  These are the generations that came forth out of 10-Israel after she rejected God.  (The movement and history of the 10 northern tribes have been researched and recorded.  They say that Manasseh predominantly ended up in America and thus fulfilled the blessing given by Jacob to become a singular great nation.)  God is saying he won't have mercy on them.  They are no longer special in his eyes.  They are no longer his chosen people.  They don't honor him so he won't honor them as his children.  But what about Judah?  Does Judah find favor in his eyes?  Yes!  Judah has found favor; and that was no more evident than in 1948.  Why?  Because she didn't forget God.  The law of God, the Torah, was passed down generation to generation through Judah.  At the end of the age, when Babylon is destroyed at the beginning of tribulation, we see both Israel (the Church) and Judah (the Jews) being supernaturally rescued from nuclear holocaust in America. (Jeremiah 50:4)

Verse 5

10-Israel loved the things of the world more than the things of God.  She rejected God as her provider and relied on the world to give her food and clothes and nice things.

Verse 6

A case of severe amnesia.

"I will hedge up your way with thorns."  Interesting thing to say.  What are thorns and briers in the Bible.  These are our false mindsets as they manifest themselves in our lives.  These are mindsets that are contrary to the truth of God as revealed in his whole word.  These false mindsets are then acted out in our lives through the decisions we make and our daily behavior as we respond to the things going on around us.  Have you ever walked into someones brier patch?  James discussed this.  You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:2-3)  Are these not thorns and briers manifested?  False mindsets. False ways of thinking that steer us off of the proper course.  I know someone who rejects any kind of Bible teaching that doesn't line up with what the popular televangelists are teaching. Folks, that's a big thorny mess.  Why?  Because cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his strength.(Jeremiah 17:5)  Folks, they don’t come any thornier than me.  Just ask my wife.  She has had to deal with my thorns and briers.  But God has been gracious to me to allow me to see and tear out some of my briers and replace it with pine and myrtle. (Isaiah 41:19, 55:13)

"So you can't find your way."  The blind lead the blind.  Pride has overtaken the Church of our day.(Hosea 5:5)  We think we have everything figured out.  But the truth is we have a severe case of amnesia.  We have forgotten the law, and the good that it brings to our lives: namely the godly fear and reverence (Malachi 1) of the One who is coming to give to each man according to his deeds. (Romans 2:6)  

Remember The Law

Why do think our generation, the generation of the latter-days, was told to remember the law of Moses?  Stop and think about that for a minute.  We were told to remember the law.  Where?  The last chapter of the "Old Testament": Malachi 4.  Look at verse 1: the day is coming.  What day?  The Day of the Lord.  Look at verse 4.  "Remember the law of Moses...which I commanded..."  Why do you think we were told to remember the law?  Hosea 8:12 "I have written for him the great things of My law, but they were considered a strange thing."  Who considers the law a strange thing?  The Church!  Hosea 4:6: "...because you have forgotten the law of your God..."  

"OH, but this was written to the JEWS of our day."  Oh, really?  So only the Jews have to remember the law?  I thought the Jews have to believe in Jesus, the new Covenant, like we do?   Make up your mind; which one is it?!  I tell you the truth: the day is coming when the people of God, the whole house of Jacob (Israel and Judah) will have to re-learn the ways of God. (Isaiah 2:3)  Judah will have to accept the work of grace and mercy through Yeshua and Israel will have to learn to fear God by keeping the things of his law and writing his words upon their hearts. 

Vessel Of Dishonor

Jeremiah 2:23
"How can you say, 'I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals'?  See your way...Know what you have done..."

C'mon, Church, do you really think you are pleasing to God right now in America...Great Britain, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, France...?!  Do you think NOT observing the great things of his law has produced a vessel of honor?  Many of your children don't want to have anything to do with your God.  You have begotten pagan children.(Hosea 5:7)  Your divorce rate is the same as the world.  And then you go off and marry unbelievers.(Malachi 2:11-12) Your teenage daughters are sleeping around and aborting their babies.  Your sons are addicted to drugs.  You yourselves are caught up in affairs with others (or porn) and many of you have been swept away into all kinds of idol worship and materialism.  You may pretend to serve God on Sunday but then you serve all your other gods all week long.  All the while the things that God wants us to do (namely helping those in their time of need) get neglected.  Ezekiel 16 reads just like Hosea 2.  All of the same themes are there.  Mother Sodom was overthrown and completely destroyed in one day by fire coming down from heaven.  Daughter America will soon suffer the same fate.

Ezekiel 16
49  Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
50  And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.

Good Fruit

David said let me hide your words in my heart that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11)  Malachi 1 teaches that God is not at all pleased with the current arrangement.  What's that?  The arrangement that says we can bring to God any old offering we choose.  God deserves the very best; and that's what his law teaches.  When we give God the best it produces in us a right kind of thinking about God.  A holy fear and reverence.  When we rightly fear God our lives begin to produce good fruit.  "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge..." (Proverbs 1:7)  "But his delight is in the law of the Lord...whatever he does shall prosper." (Psalm 1:2-3)

Forgotten History

Folks, when we forget the law of God, we forget the nature of God.  Jesus did not come to abolish the law but he came to fulfill the law. (Matthew 5:17-18)  Why do you think God says over and over again, in reference to the events of the tribulation: "...and then they will know I am the Lord"?  It's like a parent telling a child: "Just wait, you'll find out."  We have become like a bunch of rebellious teenagers.  In Isaiah 5 God calls us wild vines.  "But Lord, we know you."  (Hosea 8:2).  No, we really don't know him.(Jeremiah 4:22)  We don't study the whole word of God.  In fact, it sits on the shelf collecting dust. (Jeremiah 6:10)

And we have even forgotten how we got here.  We don’t even realize that 10-Israel was the marred lump of clay (Jeremiah 18) that had to be remade into what we today call the “Church”.  My people are like lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray. (Jeremiah 50:5).  We think the name Israel means the “Jews” and we think God will punish everyone accept us as all the lovely Christians float up to heaven before the trouble begins.  Don't believe it.

What's Next?

As do many of the prophetic texts, they start with a people who lived thousands of years ago and end up speaking of us today…the generation of the latter-days.  The majority of God's people are walking as blind men, as I myself was up until just recently.  They may know Yeshua as Lord and Savior but they have no idea what’s coming.  Like Isaiah says, keep on hearing but don't understand.  Keep on seeing but don't perceive.  How long should I give them that message?  Until their cities are burned with fire. (Isaiah 6:9-11) They won't have any understanding of these things until they see them happening before their eyes.  They have no idea that God actually still punishes his people for a sinful lifestyle.  And then many will still not get it…choosing instead to rely on their own way of thinking. (Isaiah 9:13, 65:2)  God will have to remove the uber-prideful from our midst. (Zephaniah 3:11)  Two-thirds of those who survive the destruction of America (Zechariah 13:8-9) will curse God and go into darkness. (Isaiah 8:21-22) They may end up in heaven, praising God, (Revelation 7:9) but their reward will not be as great as those who trust God. (The meek inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5.  But those who make flesh their strength, who depart from the Father, they will be written in earth. Jeremiah 17:13)  They experienced a great deliverance from nuclear holocaust but didn’t even consider that maybe God would deliver them from their next trial too.  They don't consider that if God can bring the child to birth that he is also able to deliver that child out of the womb (Isaiah 66:9) and establish his children in the land he promised them so many thousands of years ago.(Ezekiel 37:25)   They didn’t have enough faith to believe God and wait on him for deliverance. (Isaiah 8:13)  Saved from the first fire (America) but consumed by the second fire (Battle of Gog/Magog).  Because they persisted in unfaithfulness. (Ezekiel 15:7-8)

Part 2 >>

Leaving the Church To Become the Church

The following is a letter I recently sent to the pastor of the church my family has been attending.  I want you to understand that this is a huge change for me.  I grew up in church and I've attended a local church all my life.  And I've given a tenth of my gross income to a local church since I was sixteen years old.  I did these things because I thought they pleased the Father.

But recently I've come to a new understanding.  I've been using weekly "church service" as a crutch...an excuse that I used to convince myself that I was pleasing God.  But last year I started really reading my Bible and I found out what pleases God.  And I began taking a real close look at things.

There's a song on the radio today that says "If we are the body, why aren't his arms reaching...his hands healing...his words teaching?"  To be honest I didn't really pay any attention to this song until recently.  But now I know what God wants each one of us who are called by his name to be doing.  We are to be serving those in their times of need.  Is it wrong to meet with other believers?  Not at all.  And we are commanded to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.  Does it have to be in a church building?  Not at all.  In fact, the early church met in homes.  And I'm sure at some point my family will meet on a regular basis with a local gathering of believers.  But first we have to get our priorities straight.  Our top priority has to be serving others.  But somehow we've made gathering together the top priority and have neglected the more important things.

Folks, we're not saved by works.  Works won't get us into heaven or anything like that.  But James makes it clear that our faith is made real by our works.  We are to do those things that please the Father because of our faith.

James 2
17  Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18  But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

------------------------------

Pastor DDDDDDD,
It's with a bittersweet feeling that I must inform you that my family will no longer attend DDDDDDD.  We are grateful for the time we spent with the body of believers at DDDDDDD.  And I thank you for the kindness you and yours have shown us.

An amazing thing happened in 2010.  I actually started reading my Bible.  I think I spent more time last year reading the Word than I have all my previous years combined.  During that time of study I came face to face with the living God.  And my response was "woe is me, for I am undone". I began to understand how he feels about our nation, including believers and even pastors of our day.  And I began to understand what he expects from us and how far we've fallen from his words and from those things that are dear to his heart.  From this study I now realize the days are soon approaching when he will stand up to judge all the people of the earth, beginning with believers in America. With this in mind, I decided I need to stop playing church and start being the church.  I need to start doing those things that please him, as revealed in his Word.  I need to start investing my time and resources into the causes that the Father says he is concerned about.

Last year I saw firsthand how I might please the Father.  I saw my wife walk out before me the very words I was reading.  I saw how she served those in their time of need.  In so doing, she was ministering to Yeshua.  It's her example that my family will now follow; which is really the example Yeshua gave us.  We have decided to seek out and serve alongside those in the community who are strengthening the hands of the widows, orphans and those in desperate need.   And lest we find ourselves on an island, void of fellowship, we will pray that God will surround us with like-minded believers that we can encourage and by whom we can be encouraged in all godly fear and awe of him who comes to give to every man according to his deeds.

We are told to bless whether coming in or going out.  And now on our way out of DDDDDDD, I want to leave a blessing behind:

May the Lord bless you and keep you and cause his face to shine upon you.  May you be the exception and the rare jewel in this generation who shepherds His people according to the heart of the Father as revealed through his whole Word. May you be blessed among men and may his blessings overtake you.  May all the good will and intentions of Father find an open door in your life.  May nothing hinder that which Father desires to work in you and through you.  May all your words and deeds be found according to his Word to be pleasing in his sight.  May you dwell in the mountain of blessing all the days of your life.  May he take you always to new and greater depths in the knowledge and understanding of him as you diligently seek him in his Word.  May you be found pleasing in his sight and may you always be able to glory in that you know and understand the Father as revealed through his whole Word.

May the local body at DDDDDDD prosper in all the good will and intentions of the Father.  May they be filled with the knowledge of the Lord according to all his Word and sent out to be his hands in the community.  May the physical storehouse at DDDDDDD be full every morning and empty every night as they give to those in need.  May they be ready and willing always in season and out of season to do the will of the Father and those things that are pleasing to him.  May they grow ever deeper in the understanding of both the goodness and severity of God and serve him with all their hearts in godly fear and awe of him who comes to give to every man according to his deeds.

Sincerely,
Drew Simmons

Number Crunching the Prophecies

This post is for all the number crunchers out there.  Sometimes it's interesting to look at the numbers.
Here's a brief summary:

Very soon America will be attacked and utterly destroyed by a federation of nations, led by Russia.  Based on my research I believe this will take place in June of 2016.  It will be a day like no other.  Around noon the sun over America will go completely dark. (Amos 8:9, Isaiah 13:10, Joel 2:10, Lamentation 2:1)  I believe this will be due to some sort of cosmic disturbance like the passing of Planet X or something similar.  It's at this time that the federation will leave their station (Murmansk, Russia?) and start heading towards America. (Jeremiah 6:4)  I'm speaking here of fighter jets and bombers carrying a nuclear payload.  This will be the army from the north the Bible mentions time and again in reference to the last days. (Jeremiah 1:14-15, 4:6, 6:1, 6:22, 10:22, 50:3, 50:9, 50:41, 51:48, Zechariah 2:6)

--sidebar: yes, I know about dual prophecies/recurrence/parallelism.  Many times in the Bible God is speaking to two generations of people, separated by a great distance in time. The focus of this blog is on our generation, the generation of the "latter days".--

There will also be subs all around our coasts carrying a nuclear payload. (Jeremiah 4:17, 12:9, 50:14-15, 50:29, 51:2, Amos 3:11)  The destruction of America will take place in the early evening. (Isaiah 21:4, Isaiah 17:14)  We are told God will spare a tenth of the population. (Isaiah 6:13, Amos 5:3)  These will return to the holy land but only one third of them will survive. (Zechariah 13:8-9)


Now let's take a look at some numbers:

Distance from Murmansk, Russia to Chicago, Illinois: 4205 miles or 6768 kilometers

Cruising speed of a Russian Tupolev Tu-95MS Bear-H* bomber: 441.2 mph or 715.3 kph

* This is an older aircraft.  But even so, it is capable of fulfilling the "early evening" prophecy.  There is a report that Russia has a smaller but more modern "Blackjack" supersonic fleet of bombers and that they are looking to upgrade their bombers.

Time from Murmansk to Chicago: 9.5 hours.

So they leave at noon (Jeremiah 6:4) and arrive when?  Early evening.  (Isaiah 21:4, Isaiah 17:14)

7pm to 9:30pm (give or take depending on the bombers used).  We are not told which American time zone is used.  Only that they begin at mid-day  and they arrive in the early evening.

But why not just send ICBM's?  On that particular day the guidance systems won't work.  Whatever that cosmic disturbance is that causes the cloud (G1.9?) which blots out the sun, it will also render our radar defense systems, and missile guidance systems, useless.

--------------------------

Population of America: 307,006,550

Number of people God spares (10 percent): 30,700,655   (Isaiah 6:13, Amos 5:3)

--sidebar: I realize this is a very cold and indifferent way of presenting information.  Please know that I'm not at all indifferent about this.  The Bible tells us what will happen in the near future.  And as I've pondered how that will look, I'm horrified.  I've been like the watchman of Isaiah 21:3...my loins are filled with pain...I was distressed when I heard it...  My heart is broken within me for the those who will be trampled down by the "overflowing scourge" that will soon come to America.  And my heart is especially broken for the believers who will be trampled down as well.  "What do you mean? Not all believers will make it through?"  That's exactly what I'm saying.  We are told there will even be believers who will not make it...namely pastors and end-time teachers who deceive people with a message of peace today; as well as those who are settled into complacency and have slidden back from following God. (Zephaniah 1:5-6, Amos 6:1)--

But who are these 30.7 million people?  Do you think there are 30 million "Jews" in America today?  What will qualify a person to be spared in that day?  "Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness." (Galatians 3:6)

Jeremiah 50:4
"In those days and in that time," says the LORD, "The children of Israel shall come, They and the children of Judah together; With continual weeping they shall come, And seek the LORD their God.

Jeremiah 51:10
The LORD has revealed our righteousness. Come and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.


Israel and Judah are spared.  OK, but who are they?  Can I shatter the myth that says the name "Israel" in the Bible must mean "Jews" of today?  Folks, if you believe that then you are believing a lie.  It's not true.  The northern kingdom, the northern 10 tribes, went out into all the world.  They rejected God and God rejected them.  The lump of clay in Jeremiah 18, namely the "house of Israel", was remade into a different vessel.  However, Judah did not reject God.  Judaism and the Torah were passed down generation to generation through "Judah"...that is to say the southern kingdom which are the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi.  Today, in 2011, Judah has in part returned to Israel beginning in 1947 1946.


Galatians 6:16
And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.


Read Galatians chapter 6.  Who is he talking about?  Who is the Israel of God?


Romans 9
6  But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,
7  nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, "In Isaac your seed shall be called."
8  That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.


How many of these 30 million will survive the wilderness experience after America is destroyed?

One-third: 10 million.   (Zechariah 13:8-9)

And in addition to these, God will then bring ALL his people back to Zion.

Isaiah 11:12
He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.

But will there be room for all of us in the holy land?

Isaiah 49:20
The children you will have, After you have lost the others, Will say again in your ears, 'The place is too small for me; Give me a place where I may dwell.'


Zechariah 2:4
who said to him, "Run, speak to this young man, saying: 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited [as] towns without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it


Zechariah 10:10
I will also bring them back from the land of Egypt, And gather them from Assyria. I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, Until no more room is found for them.

Isaiah 54

2  "Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes.

3  For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited. 

Isaiah 26:15
You have increased the nation, O Lord, You have increased the nation; You are glorified; You have expanded all the borders of the land.