We are approaching a part of the Bible nestled conveniently in the middle and yet it is one that many of us might not be familiar with, the minor prophets. While they may be minor in name, they certainly are not minor in content or truthfulness! We can learn much about God, his people, and our lives as Christians today. The first of these is the prophet Hosea. 

Allow me to paint a picture in history to set the context. After King David ruled, his son Solomon assumed the throne. Solomon started off well, but his heart was turned away from God, and he began to worship the other idols and false gods of the cultures around him. As such, Solomon was warned that the country would eventually be torn into two separate ones, Israel in the north (10 tribes) and Judah in the south (2 tribes). Remember, these tribes were distant family to each other and the purpose of Israel existing as a country was to be a kingdom of priests, showing God’s glory to the world. Imagine the horror finding out that a unified holy nation would now be split into two! Yet, God was not finished with His people and His grace extended to both Israel and Judah, and this is surprising given Israel’s history. Ever since the first king of the northern kingdom, King Jeroboam, Israel did not have one righteous king that feared God, not one! So God had to send a prophet to his people in the north and remind them of His great love for them and call them to turn away from their wickedness, and this is where we meet Hosea.

God told Hosea to marry a woman named Gomer who would be characterized by her infidelity. Whether this was unfaithfulness to Hosea or disloyalty to God, the text does not quite make specific. However, the point is still the same. Hosea represents God, the unwavering husband, devoted to his wife, Israel, and Gomer represents Israel the promiscuous spouse who has chased after other lovers and scorned her marriage to her beloved rescuer, the Lord. This may seem like just another biblical metaphor, and yet when God warns Israel of her idolatry (in Hosea and other books) he usually puts it in terms of relational unfaithfulness. God’s love of his people runs so deep it is comparable to a groom’s love for his bride, and the reason why idolatry infuriates Him so much is because it is the equivalent of Israel giving herself to other men. Not only is this disloyal, but God is heartbroken because He is the only one who can provide Israel (and all of humanity) the life that is good, true, and beautiful. All that these other false idols can promise is death. God is continually “falling all over himself” to try to woo Israel back into His arms by using Hosea to remind them of His power and love by ransoming them from Egyptian slavery and the Exodus. 

The warnings are great to heed even today. For what we worship, what we live for, affects everything else in our lives, and worship of those idols that bring only death will spread poison to every area of life. Jesus Christ acted like a “Hosea” to Israel and to the entire world, beckoning with God’s power and love to draw near to Him and be saved. He shows us on the cross that He has ransomed us from slavery to sin and death and has given us an Exodus into eternal life. When the church is called “the bride of Christ” that means that Jesus our husband loves us with the same passionate fire that a groom is filled with upon seeing his bride on their wedding day. This love is not only good and powerful, but compels us and speaks to our souls by its goodness and power to forsake every other loyalty to anything that is not of Him. Christ celebrates us as a groom celebrates his beloved, and we as his bride in turn, ought to always strive to show Him the same loyalty and devotion He showed us first. 

Hosea’s warnings to the idolatrous and disobedient, and promises of creation-wide restoration by God’s grace is relevant to our time today. Read of His goodness shown to Israel, and then remember of His goodness shown to you. Every breath you take, every movement you make, you breathe and make in Him. He is life, and it is that life, shown in His Son, that “took on flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory”. Use that wonderful truth to turn away from all others and pursue loving the Lord with all your heart. 

Your Brother,

Craig

Daniel is a book so rich, beautiful, and full of truth, that one could write many books focusing on each facet of this short, twelve-chapter long work of Scripture. The best that I can do is present some highlights that I pray would help you as you study God’s holy word, but do not let some of the fascinating and descriptive stories stop you from delving head-first and pulling blessings from it. 

Daniel was a young man who practically grew up as an exile in a foreign land. Israel by this time had fallen and been destroyed by King Nebuchaddezar of Babylon. God’s people had refused to turn from their sin and therefore was taken captive by their conquerors into a strange country. Yet, although they had neither land nor temple nor human king ruling them, God never left them. He watched over them in their plight because as we will see below, God is always in control of everything. Let me say one more time with conviction: God is always in control of everything! 

We may hear that basic statement and give a hearty “amen!” while at worship or in Bible study, but are we bold enough to hold to it when it seems like everything else is in power and control in today’s world except God? Well, let us turn to Daniel to not only discover God’s sovereign actions being revealed in history, but also how we can live confidently knowing He is just as much in control of today’s events. 

Daniel had to struggle with thinking, “If God is truly in control, why is it that so many arrogant earthly rulers appear to be the ones in charge?” Eventually God showed Daniel dreams and visions to reveal exactly what would occur to these so-called “all-powerful” rulers who set themselves up against Him. One vision produced a great statue with four sections: a head of gold, shoulders and chest of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, and feet of iron mixed with clay. In this, Daniel eventually saw a boulder that was not cut by human hands, and it smashed the statue, showing this kingdom and its King will be forever! Another vision unveiled four beasts that were similar to the four sections of the previous statue and then a great ruler called “the Son of Man” brought judgment against them, and His kingdom will have no end! Not only would this divine Ruler reign supreme, but furthermore in Dan. 9 while Daniel is in prayer, acting like a priest and confessing the sins of his people, God shows him that one day in the future, there will be an end of sins, reconciliation, and a new era. Finally, in Dan. 12 there is a final vision in which the dead will live again, some to everlasting life and others to everlasting contempt. All of this points to one person: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. On the cross, all of the forces of evil and death threw everything at Him, and yet He conquered and now “all authority in heaven and on earth” has been given to Him. He is the forever King, the Judge, the one who makes makes forgiveness of sins possible by being the atonement. He is the Victor, by dying on the cross and rising again, He has trampled down death forever and we can have new life! We need not fear boastful, arrogant, or evil human rulers no matter how powerful they may seem, for there is a King among kings who is our Lord, Savior, and best friend. 

This had to carry Daniel and his three friends through hardship as they had to learn to live as strangers in a strange land, and it can carry us too. Look at how God protected these men for their faithfulness. We know of the stories of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo and how they survived the fiery furnace when they would not bow down to an idol. Yet, do we remember the fourth figure with “the appearance of a god” that was there in the furnace with the men? Do we not see this pointing to Jesus Christ, God-in-the-flesh delivering us in his love and protection from the fires of judgment and hardship? We know the story of Daniel in the lion’s den but do we not see how the noble “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” is our protector against “prowling lion”, the devil who seeks our destruction? Even in exile in a foreign world, Daniel and the other faithful members of God’s people take their place, bear witness to Him, and make a difference in their situations. In other words, they are “salt and light”. Today, we as Christians are called to be “in the world, but not of it”, not identical to it, but not cowering in fear because of it either. Instead, we must follow the Lord, the King of kings, Jesus Christ as He leads us and speak the good news of His authority, God’s authority, over all of creation. We must remain faithful to the truth, just as Daniel did, and show the world that there is one true Ruler, who grants freedom from sin, hope, joy, happiness, community, love, and so much more. He is Jesus Christ, always and forever, amen!

Your Brother,

Craig