Okay, let's please for the last meeting today by the grace of God with our dealing with the prophet Hosea, let's turn please to the last chapter of Hosea, the prophet that wrote to the northern tribes of Israel. He was a final prophet that spoke to the nation of Israel before 722 BC, when the Assyrians came and took the northern tribes away to the dispersion, to the diaspora. This chapter is actually only 9 verses in the English text, in the Hebrew text is actually 10 verses because the last verse of chapter 13 really belonged to chapter 14 in the Hebrew Masoatic text. Even though we have concluded with verse 16 in our last session together, actually the last verse belongs to chapter 14 in the Hebrew Masoatic text.

And so I'm reading actually from verse 16 of chapter 13 through chapter 14 in verse 9, so please follow me. 1. 2. 3. 4. 4. 5. 5. 5. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 7. 7. 8. 8. 8. 9. 9. 10.

God for thou has fallen by thine iniquity take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips a sure shall not save us we will not ride upon horses neither will we say any more to the work of our hands ye are our gods for in thee the fatherless find mercy i will heal their backsliding i will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from him i will be as the dew unto israel he shall grow as the lily and he cast forth his roots as lebanon his branches shall spread and his beauty shall

be as the olive tree and his smell as lebanon they that dwell under his shadow shall return they shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine the scent thereof shall be as the wine of lebanon a fine shall say what have i to do anymore with idols i have heard him and observed him i am like a green fir tree from me is thy fruit found who is who is wise and he shall understand these things who is prudent and he shall know them for the ways of the lord are right and just shall walk in them but the transgressors shall fall therein chapter 14 of the prophet hoshea conclude a series of

judgment that god was promising to place upon his people the beloved nation whom he loves so much the nation of israel and in hosea chapter 14 there is the culmination the conclusion of this ministry of this man the prophet of hosea to the nation of israel and here what we find in this chapter beloved brothers and sisters we find out the ultimate restoration and blessings that god will pour upon a restored nation a nation that confessed before him and repented before him and he will usher them into the messianic kingdom what a beautiful chapter to read chapter 14 after we have read chapter after chapter in the prophet of those there are many of those

chapters the vast majority of the chapters that we have read most of the book dealing with the waywardness of israel the sinfulness of israel the rebellion of israel and as we have even talked about in a prior chapter the lack of repentance of israel and so we have read so much about god's dealing with the nation of israel because of sin but here at the culmination of the chapter we see god's heart is being open towards the beloved nation of israel let me assure you that on a basis of the word of god god is longing to pour upon his people israel the blessing that he has for them but israel must repent and turn

back to god and we know it today that it must be through yeshua the messiah the one who loved the nation and gave himself for the nation the one who loved all the one who loved the whole world and gave himself for the world but here in context we are dealing specifically with the nation of israel so let's see what god what jehovah is saying here the last chapter through the prophet hosea to the nation of israel it is amazing that the division of the book of hosea is important to understand and to bring to the surface because actually as i mentioned earlier verse 16 belongs to chapter 14.

now the writers of course who put for us the english text felt that really verse 16 belongs to chapter 13 but in the masoetic text verse 16 is really part of chapter 14.

now why does it seem to be important to be important to be there is because at that last verse 16 of chapter 13 we see what was going to happen to israel the nation look what it says samaria shall become desolate for she has rebelled against her god they shall fall by the sword their infant shall be dashed in pieces and the women with child shall be ripped up what we really find out in this verse verse 16 the conclusion of what was going to happen now in 722 bc when the assyrian were going to come and what they're going to do they're going to leave the nation desolate it says here samaria shomron this

is the center of israel there between galilee and judea the samarian the area of shomron we call it samaria where the assyrian are going to come in 722 they're going to be taking all the israelis captive what you think they're going to do as it says here the day shall fall by the sword their infants shall be dashed in pieces and the women with child shall be ripped up and history tells us that the assyrian such a wicked nation against israel what they have done to the people of israel or to any other nation that they conquered they treated them in such a bad an evil way and that caused a lot of suffering to

the nation when they came to take them captive to the diaspora to the dispersion and so we read as we have read this already in second king chapter 18 how they have come and they have taken the people of israel and they have dispersed them and they replaced them by others who have come to take over the land it says here and i'm reading in verse 9 of second king chapter 18 it said and it came to pass in the fourth year of king hezekiah which was the seventh year of hoshea and here is the son of elah king of israel that shalmanetzer the king of assuria came up against samaria and he besieged it

and at the end of the three years they took it even in the six years of hezekiah that is the ninth year of oshea the king of israel samaria was taken and the king of assyria did carry away israel unto assyria and they put them in hala in chabor by the river of gozan and in the city of the meds and the reason for that in verse 12 because they obeyed not the voice of the lord their god by the transgress his covenant and all that moses the servant of the lord commended they transgressed against it and would not hear them nor do them in other words disobedience of the nation brought about the judgment

of god through the assyrian that caused them all these suffering and sorrow so now god who gave who allowed this to happen god himself you can see the heart of god here for the nation for the people of israel in the first three verses of our chapter chapter 14 here we see the heart of god towards israel he's calling israel to return to repent and come back because he have intended a blessing for the nation and you know these brothers and sisters they cry of god you can see the heart of god towards this nation he's crying and he's saying notice this in verse one first of all he's saying oh israel return unto the

lord thy god for thou has fallen by thine iniquity verse one god is calling the nation to return he's calling the nation to repent to turn away from their evil way to turn away and they direct themselves now back to the god whom they have left that hebrew word for the word return is the hebrew word shuvu or shuvah the word teshuvah come from the word repentance what he's saying to them israel repent israel god do not find pleasure in the the suffering of the suffering of the nation and so he's beseeching them to return to turn back to him and that word brothers and sisters that we find here in verse one of chapter

14 all israel return unto the lord it really shows us the heart of the lord the heart of jehovah for the nation he's beseeching the heart of the nation he's beseeching them to turn back and that word return is often time is found in the bible both in the hebrew in the tanakh and in the new testament in a greek in the brita hadashah that word repentance you see beloved brothers and sisters it is never possible for anybody to be able to enjoy a relationship with the holy god unless there is repentance a turning away from our own way a turning back to god we god cannot he cannot and he will not he will

not allow sin to be unjudged and therefore he demand a repentance and he will deal with the question of sin and we know he dealt with it through yeshua the lord jesus the messiah but repentance must be otherwise there will not be a restoration of any individual god used this word repentance many times in the scripture and i'm just going to give you a couple of times first of all if you turn with me to the prophet jeremiah for a moment look what god is saying in jeremiah through jeremiah the prophet chapter 3 and verse 12 jeremiah 3 and verse 12 go and proclaim these words towards the north and say return thou backsliding israel

sayeth the lord and i will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for i'm merciful sayeth the lord and i will not keep my anger forever you see the prophet jeremiah was speaking to the nation as well and he was saying listen he says return again the hebrew word is shuvu shuva shuvu shuvu shuvu shuvu turn back you know when a person go in one direction to return mean to lashuvu to turn back 180 degrees back and to go to the place where he had left that's what the thought here that we have in the hebrew word teshuva or shuvu is the necessity of repentance and turning a way back to god so in

chapter 3 in verse 12 of the prophet jeremiah is saying return you back sliding israel says the lord and i will not cause mine anger to fall upon you god delight in confession and repentance and repentance look at chapter 4 of the prophet jeremiah and here he's saying there again he's speaking to israel he says if you will return here's the word shuvu if you will return or israel sayeth the lord return unto me and if you will put away thine abomination out of my sight then shall thou not remove in other words if you want to eliminate a judgment or long period of time in judgment you need to return you need to turn

back you need to come back to the lord and repent and say to the lord lord i have sinned before you i confess it before you and i repent and i want to turn back to you and god will forgive god will cause the nation to be restored to himself so you can see the heart of god beloved brothers and sisters he's calling to the nation he says oh israel shuvu return unto the lord thy god for thou has fallen by thine own iniquity it is the iniquity of the nation that caused them to fall it is our own iniquities when we sin against the lord it calls us to fall and to stumble and

to be away from the lord and so it is necessary to return and to repent before the lord if there will be a restoration of a relationship with the lord let me show you a new testament passage also that is important to see in the book of act turn to act chapter 20 and there in act chapter 20 we see the apostle paul whose hebrew name is also shaul in chapter 20 paul is speaking to the ephesian elders and he's telling them this important statement he says listen he says in verse 21 he says we need to testify both to the jewish people and also to the greeks to jews and gentile look at this

statement repentance towards god and faith toward our lord yeshua the messiah you see the importance of repentance repentance it means that we agree with god against ourselves we take side with what god said about me and god who declared when we have gone wrong when israel has gone wrong we take god's side against ourselves this is repentance turning around shavim shuvu returning back to god and agreeing with him about what he's saying about ourselves turn to romans for a moment just another verse here just that we will see a couple of verses in a new testament in romans chapter 2 also look what it says in the early part of that chapter look at this

the apostle paul is speaking to those who think that they can be justified on a basis of their own works and their own merits and who they are and he's saying to them in verse 4 do you despise the riches of the goodness of god in verse 4 and the forbearance and long-suffering do you despise god's long-suffering do you despise god for bearing with you he says don't you know at the end of verse 4 that the goodness of god should lead you to repentance here's that word again repentance don't you understand he's saying that god's grace god's mercy god's love should lead you to repent and to turn back from your evil way so

god can bless you that's what he's saying paul is saying it in act chapter 20 paul is saying it in romans chapter 2 jeremiah i said it in jeremiah chapter 3 in jeremiah chapter 4 and hosea in our chapter is saying the same thing by the word of the lord oh israel turn unto the lord your god shuvu repent turn from your evil ways to the lord your god because he says look he says you are fallen because of your iniquity that's what happened to you israel sin cause us to stumble cause us to be separated from god cause us to be judged by god but repentance and confession and honestly saying to god god

i have been wronged before you god will embrace us we'll embrace the nation of israel and will forgive them on the basis of the finished work of the messiah of israel the lord yeshua hamashiach so in verse 1 beloved brothers and sisters shuva israel turn back or israel unto the lord your god you have fallen by your own iniquity so now in verse 2 of this chapter god is continuing and he wanted a true repentance see it's not enough just to give words you know sometimes we say oh i'm sorry but we really don't mean it in our hearts and so god does not want israel to just lip word just to say words without

to mean business without to really mean it and because he's such the hearts and he knows our hearts he knew israel's heart he's saying to them listen in verse 2 he says take with you words and turn to the lord say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips now if you don't understand the thought behind it you will miss a lot because here we find out in this verse that god is saying to israel to really speak to him to god and say to god in true repentance they should say take away all our iniquities receive us graciously lord and then he says

so we will render the calves of our lips how can you render the calves this animal the little cow of our lips what does he mean by that well the thought here brothers and sisters is what we see in the calves is the sacrifice of offering to the lord and what we really say when we are offering a true honest sacrifice to the lord it goes along with what we say with our mouth if we praise god if we glorify god and at the same time follow with action god is very pleased with it but if we merely bring lip sacrifice without really that calves those calf this little cow speaks of the sacrifices to

bring to god if we only just give a lip service it's not sufficient god want action to back up what we say in our words and this is a true repentance when a person say i'm sorry but he or she do not really have a real change it's really breaking them and changing them then it's it's merely words but if a person does something about it and here he used this expression the calves of our lips that mean the sacrifice of our lips it's going to be a praises a sacrifice to god not only with words but also in the offering in the offering in which they bring to the lord it will be a

sincere change a sincere confession and a sincere repentance you know the psalmist said in psalm 78 look at this verse and i'll read that verse psalm 78 we read there some of the things that god was not pleased with look psalm 78 and this verse 36 we read this it says in verse 36 nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and they lied unto him with their tongues look god is not pleased with us saying oh god i want to live for you and i want to do these things for you and saying flattering words with our lips but our actions are not backing this up he's saying in verse 37 of this psalm

78 for the heart was not nigh with him neither were they steadfast in his covenant see the psalmist is saying you know they flattered him with their mouth and they lied unto him with their tongues well god does not want that he wanted the praises of the praises of the people of god but he wants our hearts he wanted israel's heart along with it and we know brothers and sisters how easy it is for us to flatter god to praise god and yet not to back it up in a practical walk in obedience to the lord that's what hosea is saying take with you words turn to the lord and say to him take away

all iniquity and receive us graciously so we will render the sacrifices of our lips those sacrifices those calves speaks about the offering the practical offering and the lips goes along with it and together we can praise the lord in a proper way and that's exactly what god is saying to the nation of israel he says i don't need your mere words i wanted in reality a true repentance a repentance that will be pleasing to the lord and we can just turn to so many verses that god had spoken to the nation of israel he says i'm tired of your feasts i'm tired all the lip sacrifice he says i want reality i want to change

in the nation's life so i can give you the blessing that i intended for you and so in verse three we see that israel surely will confess that only in the lord they can trust see that's what god is bringing israel into a final conclusion in their history and that's going to come in a future day when israel will say ashur shall not save us we will not ride upon horses neither will we say any more to the works of our hands ye are gods for in you in jehovah the fatherless will find mercy see that's what god is leading israel to that point when they will recognize that they cannot find any help in

any other nation he's going to bring them to the wits end assyria will not save us they will not ride horses you remember in our studies in the book of joshua when the bible speaks about horses and chariot always it speaks about human ability human power human energy and god says to israel and israel is really saying to god we will not say anymore we will not trust anymore or will ride upon horses we will not trust ourselves anymore we will not trust assyria anymore our help does not come from assyria our help does not come from egypt our help is not coming from the gods that we have made with our own hands but

our help for in jehovah the fatherless will find mercy see here in this verse 3 we are led to the time when israel will turn back to god with a full confession recognizing that they cannot anymore trust not in themselves not in human power not in countries around them not in idols that they have made by themselves in nothing around except in the lord jesus the messiah himself in jehovah himself and so in day's mercy with the lord the fatherless those that i need have mercy because god is a merciful god and so here in the first three verses we see god is calling israel to return to him to turn around to him from

their ways and to repent and come back to him and acknowledge what he have done for them and you know that israel will do it israel is coming a day brothers and sisters when israel as a nation will turn to the lord and they will repent before him and as a nation they are going to be restored a verse that i'm going to read just for a moment just listen to this verse in zekariah chapter 12 and verse 10 the prophet zekariah said and i will pour upon the house of david and upon the the inhabitants of jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced

speaking about the messiah and they shall mourn for him as one that mourneth for his only son and they shall be in bitterness for him and as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn firstborn zekariah 12 and verse 10 and then in verse 11 it says in that day there should be a great morning in jerusalem as the morning of hadad rimon in the valley of megiddo and the land shall mourn every family apart and every house apart the house of david apart and the wives apart the family of the house of natan apart and the wives apart the family of the house of levi apart and their wives apart the family of shimi

apart and the wives apart all the families that remain every family and their wives apart you notice in the end of this chapter it says every family that remain remain from what remain from the judgment of the tribulation period where god will judge this world and god will refine his nation israel and whoever will remain they will confess before the lord and they will mourn when they look at the history of the rebellion and disobedience and they will ultimately come to faith in yeshua the messiah when they're gonna look upon him whom israel as a nation have rejected as it says here whom they have pierced and they will repent and it says here in

chapter 13 and verse 1 in that day there shall be a fountain open unto the house of david and to the inhabitants of jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness that fountain is the fountain of god's mercy and grace that will be open to provide the nation of israel with a new relationship with him with a new life as a nation and so in the first three verses of hoshea chapter 14 we have the call of god to israel and the call is israel turn back israel repent and israel will repent and israel will repent and israel will turn back to the lord so in the next verses in verses 4 5 6 7 and 8

there are three promises that god gives this nation look at the beautiful promises and we can just enjoy it in our hearts when we think about the promises of god every promise of god will surely come to pass because his promises are yea and amen through yeshua the messiah so look at this the first promise is found in verse 4a this promise we find here we read and i will heal their backsliding that's the first promise the promise of god to the nation of israel that they will never anymore will backslide any longer i will heal their backsliding you see up to this point throughout history of this nation the nation of israel there is

constant backsliding constant backsliding there is a return and there is a backsliding there is a return and backsliding we can see it throughout the history of israel you read the book of joshua you read the book of judges there is a return and backsliding return to god and backsliding look throughout the whole history of of the kings there is a measure of the kings there is a measure of return and backsliding again but beloved brothers and sisters here god gives a promise to the nation i will heal their backsliding meaning that israel will never anymore will backslide from god will never turn back from the lord never that takes us obviously not to these present

days yet because israel as a nation are still not restored in a way that god intended it for the nation it takes us forward to the millennial age in a millennial age beloved brothers and sisters israel will never any longer backslide on their god there are two verses that i would like you to look with me in the old testament to show this to us the first one is in ezekiel just go couple of books back in ezekiel chapter 36 and verse 26 here's a national regeneration and restoration of the nation israel is going to be restored and ezekiel is speaking about it in chapter 36 and verse 26 and he says and god of

course is speaking a new heart also will i give you and a new spirit will i put within you and i will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and i will give you a heart of flesh and i will put my spirit within you and i will cause you to walk in my statues and you shall keep my judgment and you shall do them you see ezekiel was told to say to israel about the future restoration and this is why it is so important to understand that when israel nationally is going to be restored god is not only going to bring them to the land but god is going to revive this

land and give this nation and he's going to give the nation a new heart in other words a divine work in the heart of every individual and a total national restoration that's why he says a new heart will i give you and a new spirit will i put within you here beloved brothers and sisters the importance truth that yeshua said to nicodemus in john chapter 3 except a man be born again he shall not enter into the kingdom of god here's the national new birth of the whole nation yes every individual is going to have the holy spirit of god been given to them but you see a national restoration a new heart will i

give you a new spirit to put within you i will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and i will give you a heart of flesh and i will put my spirit within you and i will cause you to walk in my statures you see if god is promising to restore israel from their backsliding he has to give them the holy spirit of god to enable them to do that that's what he did for you and i but because you and i still have the old nature within us that's why many times we go astray we wander we backslide we are not losing our salvation but we are losing the enjoyment of that

salvation but here we see a promise of god to to the nation of israel to give them a new heart a new spirit his spirit will cause them to walk in his statues in his way this is one verse if you go a little bit further we have read the prophet isaiah today look at another verse in isaiah that will put it firm here isaiah 59 one of the last verses of the prophets isaiah 59 verse 20 and 21 god again speaking to israelis say to them and the redeemer shall come to zion and unto them that turn from transgression in jacob sayeth the lord and now look at the last verse here verse 21

and as for me this is my covenant with them sayeth the lord my spirit that is upon thee and my words which i have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seed seed saith the lord from henceforth and forever you know verse 21 is really amazing verse because he takes us into four generations when he's speaking about the restoration of israel in a messianic age in a beginning of the millennial age the messianic kingdom he says look my spirit that is upon you israel will not depart out of your mouth out of the mouth of your

seed out of the mouth of your seed seed and forever to the fourth generation he says from here now on and forever israel israel will never anymore depart from god god will heal israel's backsliding as he promised it through hosea chapter 14 and verse 4a it's beautiful can you imagine to have the millennial age when israel the nation will no longer depart from the lord can you imagine what a wonderful state that will be of course it's not yet the eternal state because in the eternal state there will be no sin at all in a millennial age there will be sin and the lord yeshua will judge sin but still the nation as a nation

god says that they will no longer depart from the will of the lord he will heal their backsliding it's just like a father that his children backslide the father never stopped to be their father but his heart is aching for these children and every time they go astray the heart is yearning for the restoration of the restoration of the nation the restoration of the son and daughter but when that son returned back like that prodigal son in luke 15 the father embraced him brought him back and killed the fattest calf give him ring on his finger shoes on his feet garment upon his body and began to celebrate that my son was lost and now

he is found my son was blind and now he can see he is brought back into that relationship no longer to backslide away from the lord according to isaiah chapter 59 that's the first promise and that's beautiful the second promise is also found in verse 4 and the second promise that god gives the nation of israel that god will love israel freely this beautiful expression freely there will not be barriers anymore this expression in verse 4b the loving of israel freely freely in other words there would be total mercy and grace is being provided for the nation of israel this expression of the love of god of the love of god towards the nation freely

suggests that there will be healthy relationship at all time god's love never stops in john 3 16 for god so loved the world in ephesians chapter 5 for the messiah loved the church in jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 3 god loved the nation i have loved you with an everlasting love the love for the world the love for the church the assembly the love for the nation of israel god's love is always there but the point is suggested here when it says i will love you i will love them freely speaks of the fact that there will no longer be that which will hinder of this love to be enjoyed you know we love someone

and when we love someone we don't stop to love them whether they're good or bad but how different it is when there is no break in the relationship so the love can flow without any barrier in between that's what we learn it speaks here of the mercy and the grace of god extended to the nation freely means without anything that will hinder this to be appreciated by the nation and enjoyed by the nation do you know brothers and sisters that you and i according to the scripture you and i also have been justified freely without any works that we have done we have freely god have extended to us his grace and his mercy and

his love and we have been declared just without anything that we needed to do god is simply extended his love and grace towards us paul is mentioned this in the book of romans when he said that we have been justified freely romans chapter 3 and verse 24 we read being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in the messiah yeshua we also have been justified freely through the finished work of yeshua the messiah israel israel as a nation will receive and enjoy freely the love of god through the finished work as well of the lord yeshua the messiah so here's the promises of god i will heal their backsliding israel never anymore

will backslide from god never anymore number two i will love them freely for mine anger is towards them is turned away from him in other words from the nation of israel he is no longer going to be angry with them in judgment and he will freely will show and express his love to the nation of israel how wonderful that will be in the coming day allow me please just to give you one more verse in the prophet cephaniah if you turn to cephaniah chapter 3 look what god think of his nation israel cephaniah chapter 3 this is the last chapter of the prophet cephaniah and he's speaking about israel he's speaking about zion he's speaking

about the city of jerusalem the city of jerusalem and he says in verse 16 and 17 of cephaniah he says in that day it shall be said to jerusalem fear thou not and to zion let not thine hand be slack verse 17 the lord thy god is in the midst of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoice over thee with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over thee with singing cephaniah is saying to israel and to jerusalem and to judah and to the whole nation he says you know what israel you know what judah you know what israel jerusalem he says god is in the midst of you god

will save you he will rejoice over you you know we sometimes say oh i rejoice of what god have done for me it's one thing for us to rejoice over god it's another thing for god to rejoice over us can you imagine he's saying to the nation said i will rejoice over you i will have joy when i think of you israel and then he says i will rest in my love for you israel you know god want to find for his love a place to rest he found it now he's finding it he lavishes us the church the body of messiah but in the future when israel is going to be restored we read

that god will rest in his love over the nation of israel and he says at the end of verse 17 he will joy over you with singing have you thought you know we gather stuff together every shabbat every sunday and we sing to god but can you imagine the opposite where god singing about the people that he has god's singing as he says here i will joy over you israel with singing i'm going to be the singer i'm going to be singing over you israel when i'm going to restore you unto myself so here's the second promise brothers and sisters as god is promising now to the nation of israel so in verse 4a he

will heal israel's backsliding in verse 4b he will love israel freely and then in verses 5 all the way to verse 8 here is the promise of god of a full restoration for israel look at this this is the third promise so if promise number one will be restoring their backsliding no longer to backslide and promise number two is that he will love them and express it freely promise number three from verse 5 to 8 is there will be a full restoration to israel and also the blessings to the rest of the world because of israel restoration look there are so many points that we can dwell here and i'm not going to make it

long here because there's so much that can be said but look i'm going to point out to at least seven points here in these verses the first one verse 5b israel growth verse 5c israel will be rooted then notice verse 6 israel will spread and then again in verse 6b israel beauty will be seen again in verse 6c israel's smell will be evident the aroma of the relationship with god will be evident by the nations of this world and finally in the last verses 6 and 7 the nations that was once following israel and left israel they will return and be blessed through israel look at this let me read these verses again so we

can just heal them again notice in verse 5 he shall grow as the lily secondly he cast forth his roots as the lebanon verse 6 his branches shall spread first verse 6b his beauty shall be as the olive tree and verse 6c his smell will be as the lebanon verse 7 they this is the gentile nation that dwell under his shadow shall return they shall revive as the vine they shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine the scent thereof shall be as the wine of lebanon you see when israel is going to be restored to the lord not only israel going to benefit from that but the benefit will be for the

whole nations of the world the whole nation of the world will benefit from that the first thing we find that israel will grow as the lily you know with a beautiful flower israel as a nation will flourish israel will grow we're talking about some growth in the negev today it will be nothing in comparison to what's going to happen in the millennial age when israel the nation spiritually and practically and nationally will grow as the lily he continue and he says he shall cast forth his roots like the lebanon that means that israel the cedar of lebanon the roots are sinking down and staying down that's what he tells us about israel in the future

they will be back in the land and rooted in the promises that god has for the nation then in in verse 6 again his branches shall spread it speaks about the tree like the olive tree that his branches will spread and will spread all over the world the nation's going to benefit from the spreading of the nation of israel then it says in verse 6 his beauty shall be as the olive tree israel will have a beauty that will be so unique because of the relationship with god the beauty of the nation you can look at the nation you can see how attractive this nation will be in a future day when they are right

with god you know a believer that walk with the lord there is certain beauty in him or there is certain beauty in here when they are walking with the lord we are attracted to them there is a beauty that attracts us to those that walk with yeshua the messiah that's what's going to happen to israel in a future day and even as it says here in verse 6c his smell as the lebanon you know smell when the smell something that we enjoy to smell if there's a nice smell we enjoy to smell it and the smell speak of the aroma of that which will affect the nation because of the relationship with god the smell

going to be something that will be attractive you know all of us when we let's say put on ourselves some kind of a spray with a nice aroma ah the smell is so beautiful we want to smell a little bit more that is exactly what's going to happen it will attract people to the nation and to yeshua and to the god of abraham isaac and jacob and what is going to do those nations that have left israel and despise israel in verse 7 they that dwell under his shadow will return why they will return because they have left israel in the past and now they're going to dwell under the shadow of the nation of

israel and they're going to return back to the nation and to return back to the god who have chosen this nation the nation of israel so in these verses brothers and sisters we have a national restoration of the people of israel back to god and here at verse 8 it says a prime shall say what have i to do anymore with idols i have heard him i have heard him and i observed him i am like a green fir tree from me is thy fruit found in verse 8 it's really the lord speaking on behalf of the nation when it says ephraim shall say the word shall say in the hebrew text is not there

the words really should be ephraim what am i to do anymore with idols god is speaking on behalf of the nation and he says to ephraim you will not have anything anymore to do with idols that's it you are returning back to me and you are no longer have to do anything with idols and god continues i am like the green fir tree and from me is thy fruit found in other words for israel god will be the source of every blessing to the nation of israel at the final restoration of israel now why those verses are important brothers and sisters as a believer in yeshua the messiah over the years i oftentimes feel that

my responsibility is not only to tell about jesus to the jewish people but also to tell about god's promises to israel to the christian professing church why it is so important because unless israel is going to be restored to god there will never be peace in this world there will never be security in this world it is important to understand that in order that this world will be right and restored to god first of all israel the nation must be restored to god that means that israel the nation must repent israel the nation must confess their wrong israel the nation must accept yeshua the messiah and then blessing will flow to the rest of the

nations of the world this is important for us to understand now before we're going to close i just want us to turn to romans 11 this will be a final text that i'm reading today in connection with hosea look at this text romans 11 paul said before he was concluding his theme about the nation about israel and he said romans 11 exactly what hosea is saying at the end of his book in verse 11 paul is saying i say had then they stumbled the day should fall god forbid he said but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the the gentile to provoke them to jealousy verse 12 if the fall of them be

richest to the world and the diminishing of them was the richest to the gentiles how much even more their fullness or their full restoration go down to the gentile restoration go down to verse 15 for if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world what shall be the receiving of them but life from the dead see paul put it straightforward he exactly was saying to us to the romans believers what we find out in the prophets oseah and many other prophets israel restoration to god will bring a blessing to a lost world that's why we are exhorted to pray for the peace of jerusalem that's why we are exhorted to seek the

restoration of the nation back to god because only when israel turning back to god there will be peace here in this world branches will spread blessing will flow to the nations of the world but only after israel will return to the lord in true repentance and confession of their sin and the rejection of the messiah well the conclusion then is in verse 9 back to hosea chapter 14 and god's final words and he really challenging you and i as well today as he challenged those to whom he wrote he says who is wise are you wise look what he's saying who is wise and he shall have understanding of those things for the ways of

the lord are right and just the just one shall walk in his ways but the transgressors shall fall therein the conclusion of the book of oseah is really with a question that god is asking anyone individual israelis at that time and all of us who are reading this passage today and he asking listen are you wise you say that you are wise look if you are wise and you have an understanding of those things if you are prudent you shall know those things that god has said why because the ways of the lord are always right if we turn away from the lord we end up to go in a wrong direction the ways of

the lord are right and the just one this is the believer this is the one who wants to walk with god the just shall walk in the ways of the lord that's what we are called to do that's what those individuals at that time are called to do if you think that you are wise are going to lead us into judgment and destruction you have to recognize that god's ways are always right really if we learn anything from these verses is that may the lord approach us and reach us and deal with us and draw us to himself so we will see lord your ways are always right help me to walk in your path

so i will give you the glory that you deserve and others will be blessed through it so this is the conclusion of the prophet hosea judgment after judgment of the judgment but the culmination is the ultimate restoration of the jewish people of the nation of israel back to god may god hasten this day and in the meanwhile may the lord help us to pray for the peace of jerusalem to pray for the restoration of israel and also to seek to walk with him can you say amen to that amen