Reading Isaiah 1 & Hosea 2
Today my reading starts in Isaiah 1. It amazes me that even though God establishes all the laws and sacrificial system with Moses; we see in Isaiah 1 God declares in verse 11, “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats.” In verse 13 He continues, “Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me.” He goes on to say, “The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies –I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and Your appointed feasts; My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.” These are deep words spoken especially considering all of these things were established by the Lord himself.
God is telling them; I established these festivals and sacrificial system; however, He was done. He was done with the way they were going thru the motions, but many did not know him. Sadly, even today we have people that are walking in religion instead of walking in relationship. Jesus came to break down the barriers between us and God. We no longer need to do all these rituals in order to be made right. Not only that but we no longer need to go to a man of God to hear from God. We have access to him directly because of our faith in Jesus. He has given us His word and in addition to that we have access to the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us. I am so grateful that today we have a better covenant in which we do not have to follow these laws and rituals. We can have a relationship with the Lord ,which is what He had originally had with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.
Further on in verse 16-17 he tells us how to live: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.” When we accept Jesus into our hearts and are baptized in water, we have been made clean. Furthermore, we can be baptized with the Holy Spirit which gives us power and authority. We, as believers, have a choice each day are we going to walk by the Spirit inside of us or by the flesh. When we are able to walk by the Spirit, we do good, we seek what is right, we are able to rebuke the enemy’s evil schemes, come to the aid of the fatherless and be there for the widows. Yes, we are to have the compassion that Jesus showed us and anger for things that are unjust. We are commanded to do good and not evil.
Continuing on in my reading I was taken to Hosea 2. The imagery in this is stunning and I encourage you to read so you can see for yourself. God is a master at imagery, which can be seen in all He has created. In this chapter, God tells of the things He will take away but also what we will have. Instead of calling God, Master, we will call Him husband (vs. 16). Going on He describes the betrothal between those of us that believe and Himself. This wedding is spoken of in Revelations as well. Read these prophetic words spoken by Hosea out loud. They seem to wash over me and I hope they do the same for you. Such words as, “I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.” We belong to a God that loves us not only as a Father loves a child, but we were chosen as a husband decides whom he will wed and love forever. We are chosen! I hope that speaks to you as it does to my heart.
Hosea 2 ends talking about us, as Gentiles, and the promise that we have, “Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!” Amen. Yes, He is our God and we are His people. He loves us and invites us into the wedding feast because we are chosen by Him.