The passage that we are going to read today is very short. It is in the prophet Hosea, but this time it is the third chapter of Hosea. It is a very short chapter. For some reason, those who divided the book of Hosea got to chapter 3 or got to this portion of the prophet Hosea and really have given it this short division of five verses. Very interesting verses because these verses are so profound. These verses giving us a larger picture of the prophetic message concerning God's dealing with his beloved nation, the nation of Israel. It had been said by some that one of the most clear passages in the word of God concerning God's dealing with Israel and God's everlasting covenant with the nation of Israel is Hosea chapter 3.

I'm going to read this chapter, those five verses, and I would like to devote this message today to these verses alone. And I connect with them some other verses in other areas of the Word of God. So listen to this. Then said the Lord unto me, go yet love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord towards the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagrons of wine. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an omer of barley, and half an omer of barley. And I said unto her, thou shalt abide for me many days, thou shalt not play the harlot, And thou shalt not be for another man, so will I also be for thee.

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an effort, and without terafim. Afterwards shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their king, And shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days. And this is the end of Hosea chapter 3. When we get to Hosea chapter 3, we are really getting to the second message that God had given to Hosea. You remember what we have read in the first two chapters, this amazing requirement of the Lord from Hosea. When he asked him in the beginning of the book, right from the beginning, and he said to him, Hosea, verse 2 of chapter 1, "You go, Hosea, you take for yourself a wife of Hudam and children of Hudam." Amazing request that God had requested from Hosea.

You take not only a person who is from the nations of the world, or wherever this person has been, but you are going to take to yourself a woman whose lifestyle is being characterized by prostitution. And not only that you are to take her to be a wife, but also take the children that are a result of her prostitution. You take them, you bring them in, and you unite with her, you marry her, and she will give you three children. And he gave us the name of the children. By the way, the name of the woman was Gomer. And the name of the children that she gave him is Yisrael, Lohuchama, and Lohami.

And so, Hosea did so. In obedience to the word of the Lord, he took this woman, brought her into his home, adopted her children, and then had three children from her. And what those three children will do, they will characterize the condition and the state of the people of Israel, the northern tribes of Israel. So he took her in, and God described to us in chapter 1 and chapter 2 the condition that Israel would be, and how Israel as a nation would go out. Israel as a nation will worship other idols, and will be the kind of a nation who is the wife of Jehovah, who has such a beautiful relationship that they should enjoy.

But instead of enjoying it, they end up going after other gods. Well, by the time we get to chapter 3, we find out it's the second message that God is giving to Hosea. And in this message, beloved brothers and sisters, he is speaking to him now that he is to do something that is a step forward. In other words, an additional requirement from God, not only that you will take a woman that had been outside in prostitution and marry her, and bring her into your house. But now, Hosea, after she became your wife, and after she brought your children, now she would leave you, and she would go again back into prostitution.

And so, by the time we get to chapter 3, beloved brothers and sisters, it is the second message of the Lord to Hosea to do something that is again seemed to be incredible. So, how can God expect from Hosea to do a thing like that? And so, in this first verse, we have God's command to Hosea. And listen to this. It's really the same thing, like what he said to him in chapter 1, verse 2. He said to him, "You go, take unto you a wife of Hudam." Chapter 1, verse 2. And then chapter 3 and verse 1 said, "The Lord said unto me, Hosea, go yet." "Go yet." In Hebrew, the word for yet is od.

In other words, go again, Hosea. Go another mile forward, Hosea. Go do something that is really uncommon. It is unusual. Hosea, you go yet a second time. And now, not only that you are going to take Gomer, a woman that was a prostitute. Now, you go to the very own wife of yours, that have gone so far astray, who have gone back into prostitution. And you notice it says here, it says, "Go yet and love, love a woman beloved of her friend." Now, I want to pause here for a moment, because the Hebrew word for friend is rea. Rea means, in other passages, much more than just a friend.

In context here, it really simply means, "Go and love a woman who is loved by her husband." In other words, the word for a friend here should really be applied to Hosea himself. He is the one that is still to love his own wife, whom he already brought out from prostitution and brought her in. Now she had left him and have gone away from him, and he is going to continue, according to the word of the Lord, to love her anyway, in spite of what she is doing. It is interesting, if you go back to the book of Jeremiah for a moment, if you go back to Jeremiah chapter 3, and you notice what God is saying.

In verse 1, we read this, "Then say, if a man put away his wife, and she go from him and become another man, shall he return unto her again? Shall not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played harlot," God is saying to his people, "with many lovers, yet return again to me, sayeth the Lord." He said to his beloved nation, "You have played harlot, yet return unto me," he said, "Shall a man go back or take back the wives that have left him?" Notice a little bit further in this chapter, in verse 20, "Surely, as a wife treacherously departed from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord." And the word, by the way, for her husband, in verse 20, of Jeremiah 3, is the very same word, reah, which the translator in English has translated into husband.

Understanding that it is really applied to Hosea the husband. Now, God is saying to Hosea here, in chapter 3 and verse 1, he said, "You go again, in spite of what she has done to you, in spite of her unfaithfulness, in spite of the fact that she has violated and broke every relationship that she has had, every commitment that she has had with you, in spite of her unfaithfulness, in spite of the fact that she has violated and broke every relationship that she has had, every commitment that she has had with you, in spite of her unfaithfulness, in spite of the fact that she has violated and broke every relationship that she has had, every commitment that she has had with you, in spite of her unfaithfulness, in spite of her unfaithfulness, in spite of the fact that she has violated and broke every relationship that she has had, every commitment that she has had, every commitment that she has had with you, in spite of it, Hosea, you go and love a woman beloved of her husband." And so, beloved brothers and sisters, Hosea was called to do something that is so unusual.

It's so unusual because of the whole state of Gomer. of the whole condition that is being described in this book of Hosea, of the unfaithfulness, of the fact that she was worshipping other gods, of the fact that she was not enjoying, have no relationship, enjoyment with the Lord's things, and have gone astray. And can you imagine what it meant to Hosea in his life? So, he says, "Go yet again." It says in the Hebrew, "Lech od ve'ehav isha'ah ahuvat re'ah u'mena'efet." "You go, you love this woman that is loved by her husband, but yet, living in this kind of condition." You notice it says here, in verse 1b, that she is loved of her husband, yet an adulteress.

You notice that adultery is no longer only a prostitution, but an adulteress is a woman that is married, and is going now outside of her husband, a relationship with her husband. And she is living this kind of life. And apparently, beloved brothers and sisters, this woman by the name of Gomer, have sold herself. That she literally became a slave. A slave without hope, without joy, without any ability to help herself. She became helpless. She became empty and lost. She became downcast and naked. That's what happened to Gomer. And so you notice that verse 1 is the challenge that God gave to Hosea, to still love her in spite of what she had done to him.

She must have messed up his life totally. The neighbors, perhaps, were looking at Hosea and said, "What kind of a life? What kind of a family?" The children maybe were saying, "Oh, here we go again. Look at mommy where she's gone." The whole messed up situation that existed in the home of Hosea. Hosea, perhaps, had to put his head down every time people passing by, with shame, because of what his wife is doing. And yet we find out that God told him, "You go love her in spite of the fact that she has done this unto you." And now notice that in the very same verse, God shows us that the love that Hosea is to lavish on his unfaithful wife is according to the love of God for the nation of Israel.

It is amazing. Look at verse 1b, it says, "According to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel who look to other gods and love flagons of wine." Who can fathom the love of God? Who can grasp? Who can understand? Who can measure the love of God? The love of God for the nation of Israel. The love of God for the world. The love of God for the assembly, for the church, for the ecclesia. Who can measure the love of God? You see, love, beloved brothers and sisters, is not only feeling. Love is not only to say, "Well, I love you, and to love somebody emotionally, or even physically and sexually." That's not the love that he's spoken about right here.

It's an unconditional love of God towards the ones whom he has chosen. I want you to see that in a moment in those three aspects in which we have been speaking about. First of all, I want you to see that in relationship to the nation of Israel. If you go back to the book of Deuteronomy for a moment, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 7, and you will notice there what God is saying about the nation of Israel. He said to them in verse 6, "You are holy people. And to the Lord your God has chosen thee to be a special people. And to himself, above all people that are upon the face of this earth, the Lord did not set up his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people," he said to the nation of Israel.

"But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep his oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, has the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage from the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt." It is the Lord's love towards his chosen people whom he had chosen. It is an unconditional love of God towards the nation of Israel. Undeserving. Not producing the fruit that he would love them to bring for him, and yet his love is unconditional love towards the nation of Israel. He continued in chapter 10 of the same book of Deuteronomy, in verse 12, and he is saying, "Now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep his commandments, the commandments of the Lord and his statutes which I commended thee this day for thy good.

Behold the heavens and the heavens of heavens is the Lord thy God, and the earth also with all that therein. Only the Lord had delight in thy fathers, to love them, and to choose their seed after them, even you above all the people as it is this day." Well, God's love is unconditional. God's love towards the nation of Israel was not because they were greater in number. It was not because they obeyed the word of the Lord. It was not because they were faithful to him, but his love towards the nation of Israel is unconditional. It is elective love. He has chosen to set his love upon such a people as the nation of Israel.

And if you notice, it says in the same book of Jeremiah, which we have quoted already once, in Jeremiah chapter 31, and I want to read this verse also, Jeremiah chapter 31, the same time says the Lord, verse 1, "I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. Thus says the Lord, the people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest," and we read in verse 3, "The Lord has appeared of all unto me saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love." Sometimes we wonder, and when we look at the nation of Israel, and we wonder and we say, "God, why in the world have you loved the nation so much?

God, why have you chosen this nation to be yours?" And here we find out that it is elective love. It's not love because we produce something for God. It's not love because Israel is a greater nation than other nations of the world. It's not love that God have elected and chosen to set upon this nation. And he's saying to Hosea, Hosea, "You go and you love a woman that is loved by her husband. You go, Hosea, and love her, even though she was an adulteress, even though she had left you, Hosea, and gone back to prostitution, became an adulteress. Hosea, you go love her. And it is according to the love of the Lord towards the nation of Israel, who look to other gods, and who love flagons and wine." In Hebrew, it's "ashishe anavim," "Wine you make out of grapes." And "ashishe anavim" is like a cake that you make out of those grapes, and they usually eat it in connection with worship of idols.

If you look in history, you'll find how many times these flagons of wine are being prepared and used in a time of this celebration and worship of idols. And it's kind of, even the fact that it is a flagon of wine, it has to do perhaps with influence of the mind because of the alcohol that perhaps may be coming out of it and so on. And you can just imagine that it's the people of Israel who look to other gods and love flagons of wine. Now that's the love of the Lord toward the nation of Israel. And beloved brothers and sisters, I want to apply this here for a moment to the world in which we live in.

You know that the love of the Lord, the love of God towards the whole world is amazing when you think of the most famous verse that many of us can quote it from John chapter 3 and verse 16. In the Brit HaChadasha, in the New Testament where we read, "For God so loved the world." What kind of a world it is? Is it a good world who responds to God? Is it a world that says, "God, we want you to rule over us?" It is a world that says, "That loves darkness rather than light." It is a world that says, "We will not have you, God, in our life." And God's love towards this world is so unique.

It's amazing to think about this when we read that God gave His only begotten Son. His only begotten Son. He did something about the need of this sinful world and He gave the dulling of His bosom. He gave His only begotten Son. And this is so precious. The Bible tells us in connection with the world in the epistle of Romans chapter 5, which we have already studied for a long time. It says in Romans chapter 5 and verse 8, "But God commended His love towards us, that while we were yet sinners, the Messiah died for us." Do you think that God had waited for this world to get improved a little bit?

And then this world will come to Him? God waited for us to get some kind of decency in our life and then He will send the Messiah? No, the Bible teaches us that while we were yet sinners, the Messiah died for us. And sinners are those that practicing and living in sin and have a sin nature that need to be dealt with and they need forgiveness. And that's why the Messiah had to die for us while we were yet in our sad condition to bring us to Himself. And so we see here that the love that Hosea is to show Gomer, his own wife who have gone astray, is according to the love of God towards the nation of Israel.

What a wonderful, elevated love. Unconditional. That does not justify what Israel have done. That does not justify what we do in our life in sin and disobedience. God will deal with that. God will judge sin at any time, every time. But nevertheless, behold what manner of love the Father had bestowed upon us, we read in the epistle of John, that we should be called the children of God. We read in the book of Ephesians about the church, the assembly, the ecclesia. You remember what Paul said to the husbands, to us? He says, "Husbands, love your wife." How should you love your wife? As the Messiah loved the church, the assembly, and gave Himself for her.

The love of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, towards us was so unique in that He was willing to lay down His life on the tree. And that He was willing, in order to purchase a bride for Himself, He was willing to give His life on the altar. So He took the penalty. He took the judgment that we deserve. And that is exactly how far-reaching is the love of God towards Israel, towards the world, and towards the assembly, the church. It is far-reaching love. We cannot comprehend this, beloved brothers and sisters. In fact, I want to mention one more verse verse that is very precious in the same book of Ephesians that the Apostle Paul said to the believers at Ephesus.

He said in chapter 3 of Ephesians, he is saying to them, he is encouraging them to learn about that love of God. He is saying to them in chapter 3 and verse 17, He said that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love, that you may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and the length and the depth and the height, and to know the love of the Messiah, which passes knowledge. That is what he is saying to the believers at Ephesus. He is saying to them, listen, I want you to enjoy the Messiah, that the Messiah will fill your heart, that you will know so much more of the breadth and the length and the depth and the height, and that you will know the love of the Mashiach, of the Christ, of the Messiah, which passes knowledge.

How can you know the love of the Messiah, which passes knowledge? You can only know in some small measure when you realize the price that he paid for us when he died for us on the cross, on the tree. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, you can see the similarity when we read Hosea chapter 3 and verse 1. Hosea was called to do something so unusual, so uncommon, he is to love a woman that has left him back to prostitution, to adultery, and sold herself, literally sold herself, and he is to go, and he is to bring her back to himself. And so here in the second part of verse 1, it is according to the love of the Lord towards the children of Israel.

And don't make any mistake, don't let anybody tell you, that because of Israel's unfaithfulness, which is never going to be justified, God will deal with his people, and he has been dealing with them. Yet his promises towards the nation will surely come to pass. Yet his love towards the nation is secure. Yet anyone who would seek to harm this nation, God will have to deal with them, because the love towards the nation of Israel is solid, is eternal. And so, in the second verse, we see the obedience of Hosea. You would see how Hosea, submissiveness, you notice, he says, go in verse 1, and we read, so he went in verse 2.

It says actually, in chapter 1 of Hosea, in verse 2, in verse 2, so he went in verse 3. You can see the beautiful obedience of Hosea. God told him to do something, and he did go in obedience to the word of the Lord. So we read, so I bought her. I bought her to me in verse 2, for 15 pieces of silver, and for an omer of barley, and half an omer of barley. Now this is very interesting. If you will notice, the amount of money that he had to pay for this wife of his, is really a price of a slave. In fact, it is a price of a dead slave.

Not only a slave, but a dead slave. In other words, can you imagine? Here is this woman, by the name of Gomer, who once was a prostitute, who had been brought into a home of a man of God, who bore him three children, who had had everything, the enjoyment that she could have had, and yet she went back into prostitution. And literally, became owed. In other words, the value of this Gomer, became worse, and worse, and worse. You know how it is, when a woman is young, and healthy, and in good shape. Today, in the world in which we live in, you're going to go, and you can see how they deal with this woman.

Maybe she was attractive, and in the beginning, they gave for her a high price. But as time went on, the value of Gomer was lessened, and lessened, and lessened, and she didn't realize that, so in a sense, she sold herself. And can you imagine now, she's standing there, in the slave market. And the one who possessed her, was often saying, "Who is going to give me? How much will you give me? Here, look at her. You can give me whatever you want. Just take her." She became with her no value. You know, that is exactly what happened. Sin, take us so far, and end up to leave us, without any value.

It reminds me of the men, who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, in Luke chapter 10. And he was caught by thieves. And what did they do to him? They stripped him. They took everything away from him, and left him there, half dead, on the ground. This is exactly what happened with Gomer. They used her, and used her, and left her, literally, without any value anymore. So here come, Hosea, in obedience to God. And he goes to this slave market, and what does he see? He see the wife that he loved. the very wife that he brought out of prostitution in the first place. And he sees her for sale, in the markets, in the slave markets.

And he went, in love for her. He loved her, as we read here that he is to love her, according to the love of God towards the nation of Israel. He loved her, and he went and he paid the price. And he bought her back. And you notice that the price, according to here, is fifteen pieces of silver, and one and a half omer of barley. Now, if you look carefully, in Exodus chapter 21, and I'm going to go there for a moment. In Exodus chapter 21, you will notice that the price, of a slave, that dies. The payment is thirty pieces of silver. Exodus chapter 21, and verse 32, we read, "If the ox have pushed, a manservant, or a maiden servant, a slave, whether it is a feminine or masculine, that he shall give unto their master, the one with, master of those slaves, thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned." So can you just imagine, here's an ox that have pushed this servant, and killed that servant.

So that servant's value, according to what the law gives us in chapter 21, of the book of Exodus, is thirty pieces of silver. Apparently it looks like, that from this verse that we have in Hosea chapter 3 and verse 2, that he bought her for half the price, and he make up the rest of it, with the, omer and a half of barley, and he paid it, and he bought, Gomer, back, to himself. But she was a slave. She had no value anymore, in the hands of her own master, that abused her, and used her, for whatever he had the pleasure for. He was a slave, and that's what sin does, beloved brothers and sisters.

And this is exactly what happened to the nation of Israel, when Israel had gone away from the living God, from the true and living God, the God of Abraham, the God of Yitzchak, and the God of Yaakov. Israel as a nation, had been scattered, and no longer in the same value that they have had, because of their relationship with God, they became in a sense, like Gomer, the slave, sold, with very little value by the eyes of man, and yet a high value by the eyes of God. And so we read in the Bible, and you remember what the Lord Jesus said, Yeshua said to the leaders of Israel, who did not yet want to accept in John, he said to them in John chapter 8, you remember he said to them in that verse 34, when he was speaking to them, he said to them, only I say unto you, whosoever commits sin is a slave to sin.

That's what Yeshua said. Gomer wanted to live her life, to love her pleasures, and to enjoy that, and she had to realize that sin makes you a slave to sin. And that would happen. Hosea had to go and buy her back, and pay the price of a dead slave, which was the value right now, in the marketplace of all the slaves of this woman, by the name of Gomer. The price was the price of a slave. Gomer as a slave in a marketplace, is a picture of Israel away from God. And I would like to suggest to you, beloved brothers and sisters today, that Gomer is also a picture, of man that is sold under sin.

Man that is for people who have gone away from the Lord, people who do not turn to the Lord. Sin have led them into slavery. It was the Apostle Paul in chapter 6, who said in the book of Romans chapter 6, who said in verse 16, you remember what he said when he was teaching the believers at Romans, verse 16, he said, know you not that to whom ye yield yourselves, you are servants to them to obey. Then he said, whether you are to sin and to death, obedience unto righteousness, that what sin does, it leads us into slavery. But God be thanks, he said in verse 17, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you, being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded your members servants or slaves unto uncleanness, to iniquity unto iniquity, he says, yield your members as servants to righteousness and to holiness. For when ye were servants of sin, at that time he says, and you were at that time not doing any righteousness, but now he's saying, you are no longer servants to sin. And so beloved brothers and sisters, he had to buy her. He had to pay a price for her. And the price, of course, that he paid, shows not what he thinks about her, but the value that the world is thinking about her.

Her value was 30 pieces of silver, in this case was 15 silver, and a barley and a half. Omer of a barley and a half, that's all. Perhaps the other, the barley and a half makes it, the Omer of the barley and a half makes it another 15, and together it's 30 pieces of silver. A price of a dead slave. So he went, and he bought her. And so we can see that his price that he paid is a picture of a dead slave, which is lost, and empty, and helpless, and naked, and has no value. And yet we know, beloved brothers and sisters, that in order to the value of Gomer, or the value of Israel before the eyes of the Lord, is so much greater than the value of men.

In other words, what someone thought of Gomer, is was different than what Hosea thought of his own wife, Gomer. He loved her. He was perhaps willing to pay any price just to bring her back to be with him. And that is exactly what God is willing to do, is to pay the highest price in order to bring man back to himself. The price that God had to pay to redeem mankind is high. You remember what Peter said to the first Hebrew believers? In first Peter chapter one, he said, For ye were bought, he said to them, not with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Messiah.

As of a lamb without blemish. The price was the death of the Messiah on the tree. The price was very high that God had paid in order to purchase, to forgive the nation of Israel, to forgive sinners, to purchase us with such a high price. So precious to know this truth. First Peter chapter one 18 shows us that price. First Corinthians chapter six and verse 20. You remember what Paul said, He had been bought with a price. And the price was the precious, precious blood of our blessed Lord Jesus the Messiah. So God said to him, You go, you love a woman according to the love of God towards the nation of Israel.

And Hosea in obedience to God, he went and he purchased her with a price. And the price showed the value of Gomer, a price of a dead slave. And so now beloved in the next verse, in verse three, Hosea now speaking to Gomer. And he's telling Gomer, Gomer, listen, look at this verse three. And I said unto her, this is to Gomer. He said, you shall abide many days. You shall abide for me many days. You shall not play the harlot. And you shall not be for another man. And I will be for you as well in the same way. Now interesting verse is verse three is because in verse three, we really see what Gomer heard from her husband, Hosea.

And it is really shows us in the next verses how God relate himself in this present dispensation to the nation of Israel. It says in verse three, three things that Gomer was told. Number one, Gomer is to sit and wait for many, many days. Now it doesn't give us the number of days, but it tells us many days. It says in verse three, he said unto her, you shall abide for me many days. No number. How many? We do not know. It just say many days. In Hebrew, Yamim Rabbim Teshvili. You're going to sit in a house for many days. I do not know how long, but you are not going to do two things.

Same verse, verse three. Number one, Gomer will not play the harlot anymore. It says in verse three B, for thou shall not play the harlot. Gomer, now I have bought you. I have brought you back into the home. You are going to sit in the house for many days, Gomer, and you are not going to play this harlot anymore. Secondly, he's telling her here in verse three, that she shall not belong to another man. So shall I be for you as well. In other words, the other side of this, that not only that she's going to lose or she's going to stop being in prostitution on the one hand, but she's also not to enjoy the place of a wife of Hosea.

For that period of time, whatever the length of time, we do not know, because he says here, many days. You notice he says in the end of verse three, you shall not be for another man, so also will I be for you. In other words, I will not marry another woman, but you also not going to enjoy the place of a wife or the enjoyment of that relationship as the wife of Hosea. She will not go out to play the harlot while she is staying at home, but on the other hand, she will not enjoy the place in the house that she should have with her husband, Hosea.

It's going to be for many days. Hosea will do the same. Hosea will not, as you remember at the end of verse three, so will I be for you. In other words, I'm not going to take another woman, to marry another woman. We are going to wait for that length of time. It's going to be a standstill. While we are married, you are my wife and I am your husband, but the enjoyment of that relationship and the place that you're supposed to have as my wife, you will not enjoy for many, many days. And then we have, in the next verses, verses four and five, the application, the application to the nation of Israel that Jehovah is making here.

And so, beloved, look at this. What a precious truth we learn here about God's relationship with the nation of Israel. He says in verse four and five now, four, see, the verse continue from verse three, for the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king and without a prince and without a sacrifice and without an image and without an effort and without teraphim. Notice that, how interesting? The children of Israel will abide for many days without a king, without a prince, without a sacrifice, without an image, without an effort and without teraphim. This verse four, very interesting verse, because this verse takes us from the time that God had to judge the nation of Israel, the northern tribes, because of their disobedience, even unto the present day, and it goes beyond this present day, all the way to the tribulation time and beyond the tribulation time, leading us all the way to the time of the restoration of Israel.

These six expressions here, without king, without prince, without sacrifice, without image, without effort and without teraphim, shows us something that applied to the nation of Israel. You know, the words, a king and a prince, shows us that Israel for many days, again, beloved brothers and sisters, we do not know the length of time. We cannot say 2,000 years. We cannot say 2,500 years. We do not know because God did not give us the time when he is yet going to restore the nation of Israel. But he gave us the promise. And Israel for many days, for many days, will have no king and no prince. You remember when Israel was taking, the northern tribes were taken away by the Assyrians.

And then even later on, the southern tribes were taken to Babylon. And we never read in the history of Israel that Israel had any authority as a nation on its own. They always have been under the authority of another nation. Even today, by the way, when some people say, well, look at Israel. Israel is back in the land, and therefore now we know that Israel is on its own. Well, beloved, even though Israel politically today is a nation, it still does not lead us to the time of Israel full restoration, because the vast majority of the nation of Israel today, though have a nation, and though live in the land, are still in unbelief.

And at least about 50% of the rest of the Jewish community is still in the world at large. Without a king, without a prince for many days, without any authority, without any place, in other words, no king, no prince to lead the nation under God for many days. Now, I want to remind you that God at least three times in the Bible promised Israel scattering. He has told Abraham one time that Israel will be taken away, and they're going to be for 400 years away from the land. I'll read this verse, actually, in Genesis chapter 15. Look, God said to Abraham, in verse 13 of Genesis chapter 15, He said this to Abraham.

I'm reading from verse 13. And God said unto Abraham, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in the land that is not theirs, and they shall serve them, and they shall afflict them for 400 years. Notice, here God gave the length of time, 400 years or so. It says in verse 14, And also, that nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterwards shall they come out with great substance, and thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, and thou shalt be buried in a good old age, but in the fourth generation, they shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

And you see, God promised that Israel will be scattered, that Israel will be taken away, and they will be for over 400 years, they are going to be slaves, and after, in the fourth generation, they are going to come back, and that is exactly what happened. In Exodus chapter 12, if you read those verses, you will notice that God, after 430 years, took Israel back out of Egypt, and broke them back into the promised land. That's the first time that God promised, and He gave them the length of time. Also, through the prophet Jeremiah, because of the disobedience of the Jewish people, God have also said that they will be taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, and they are going to be in Babylon for 70 years.

He make clear, in the prophet Jeremiah chapter 31, to give us the length of time. 70 years, Israel will be in Babylon. Well, surely enough, Israel had been 70 years in Babylon. By the time we get to the book of Ezra, we find out that God raised this man, by the name of Cyrus. And Cyrus gave a command to the Jewish people, in accordance with the word of the Lord, after 70 years had finished, that the Jewish people can return back to the land. But beloved, here in Hosea, in chapter 3, in verse 3 and 4, we have many days without the number. How long? We do not know. Someone may speculate, and they are going to say, well, on this year, and on this year, Israel is going to be restored, and back to the Lord.

But we do not know, because the Bible says, for many, many days, they are going to be without a king, without a prince. but not only that, they are also going to be without a sacrifice. Where do you offer sacrifice? You offer it in the temple. That suggests to us that Israel will have no temple to offer sacrifice on the altar for many, many, many days. And you notice that since 70 A.D., when the second temple was destroyed by Titus, Titus, the Jewish people, our own people, are without a sacrifice for many, many days already. Since 70 A.D., till today, it's nearly 2,000 years that Israel have no sacrifice.

But not only no sacrifice. Yeah, I will jump a little bit after the fourth one into the word afford. You notice it says, without an afford. And the afford is that which the priest would wear. In other words, not only that there will be no sacrificial system, but there will be no priesthood to offer the sacrifices. There will be no functioning in a temple. There will be simply no temple and no priesthood for many, many, many days. And you notice the next ones that we have here, they will have no image without image. The word for image is the Hebrew word for matzeva. It's like an image.

It's like a pillar that you put. And it's like when they were worshipping those idols, many of them simply was like a statue. They were like pillars. In other words, that the Jewish people, the people of Israel, will also not be in the same way worshipping idols like they have worshipped in the past. And you know, this is very interesting. For the last 2,000 years, even though Jewish people are getting involved with many, many things which are not biblical, but as a nation, we don't find the nation of Israel collectively worshipping idols like they have done so prior to the time when they have been dispersed.

We don't read of this anymore as a nation. Maybe individuals do so, but as a nation, the children of Israel will remain without image, without matzeva, without pillar, without that which is external, public worship of an idol. And finally, in this verse 4, is they will remain for many days without teraphim. And the word for teraphim is simply an idol that is individuals will take at home and worship those little idols. In fact, the first time we find this in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 31, that word teraphim. Genesis chapter 31, you remember, we read Rachel in verse 14, the wife of Jacob who fled from her father Laban, they were idol worshipers.

And it says, Rachel and Leah answered unto him and they said, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not counted of him as strangers? For he has sold us and has quite devoured also our money. for all the riches which God has taken from our father that is ours and our children, now then, whatsoever God has said unto you, do. Then Jacob rose up and he set his sons and his wives upon camels and he carried them away, all the cattle and all the goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Paddan Aram for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

But now notice verse 19. And Laban went to shear his sheep and Rachel had stolen the images that were belonged to her father. This word for images is the same word, teraphim, that is mentioned in verse 4 of chapter 3 of Hosea. This is house gods. It's like little idols that one would keep in a home to worship. And so it is interesting that nationally speaking, Israel not only is not going to be worshipping pillars and big idols as a nation, but they also for many days will remain without home or house idols. And it is true, beloved brothers and sisters, if there is anything that Israel have learned over the years as a nation, and it's still kept until today in some small measure, is that idolatry led them nowhere.

And so for many days they will have no king, no priest, no sacrifice, no image, no effort, and not teraphim. And that leads us then to the final verse of this chapter. And that is the climax. Afterwards, in other words, after the many, many, many days, and we do not know when it will happen, but we do know that it's going to be stretching including the seven years of the tribulation period. These many days really stretched from the time that they were taken away captive. It is even called in the New Testament to the times of the Gentiles. This long period of time, the times of the Gentiles which became with the scattering of the nation of Israel, up till the time when they will be gathered back to the Lord.

And they will recognize the Messiah. And they will acknowledge their sin. And they are fully going to be restored back to the Lord. And so it says in verse 5 that afterward, it is after the many, many days, shall the children of Israel return. And they will seek the Lord their God. And they will seek David their king. And they shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days. After the long process of history, of scattering and trouble, and all kind of sorrows and trials that will fall upon the nation as a nation. After that, they will return. Israel will return, the Bible teaches us.

The children of Israel, verse 5 said, will return and they will seek Jehovah. They will seek the Lord. And here, when it's come to that Jehovah their God, it specifically had to do with the Messiah. Because when we read in the Bible, in the prophet Zechariah, they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and they will mourn, they will confess their sins, they will come to him, they will return to him, and they will seek him, and they will find him. But then it also says, and they will also seek David, their king. you will notice from other passages like Ezekiel, in chapter 34 and chapter 37, that David in the messianic age, David in the resurrection, David will be as a prince under the king Messiah, and David himself as the king of the Jews, the king of Israel, will be under the king Messiah as a prince, and they will also seek David, and they will be returning back to the place that God have intended for them.

So how precious, beloved brothers and sisters, to see in those five verses, it's really a picture of the whole history of the nation of Israel. There is a restoration for the nation of Israel. There is a promise that we have here in the Bible, and the love of God is so unmeasurable that he told Hosea to love his wife even after she had left him and sold herself back into prostitution that he is to go to buy her and to bring her back unto himself according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel. God's love is so unique, he's so precious, and may we, beloved brothers and sisters, will appreciate that his love to you and I is unmeasurable.

May we will enjoy it and thank him for that. Can you say amen to that? Amen.