THE NEVER-ENDING LOVE OF HOSEA ( 8 ) – GOD’S LOVE NEVER CHANGES
“For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore, you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob” (Mal 3:6). “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (Jam 2:17). “God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?” (Nu 23:19). God does not change. He is immutable, incapable of being changed, altered, or modified over time. The immutability of God is a central Biblical doctrine and a great source of comfort and assurance for believers. It says that God’s character, His Love and His Promises remain constant. God’s character is fixed; He is today exactly who He has always been. His covenant faithfulness stands independent of man’s behaviour. Both Judgment and Mercy are administered from a steady, righteous core, and not from shifting emotions. Isreal was often rebellious, but God’s love, patience, mercy and grace stayed constant and sustained them. Our security for the future lies not in our own strength but in God’s unchanging nature. This revelation leads to repentance and a renewed commitment to live according to His will.

God’s Word does not change. “The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever” (Isa 40:8). The knowledge that God does not change helps us especially during times of trial. It gives us stability in Chaos. Circumstances may be wild, but God does not shake. Trials may feel like earthquakes, but God is the Unmovable Rock of Ages and the Ancient of Days! God’s promise is solid even when we do not see immediate good. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28). God’s Love never gets tired. “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end. they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lam 3:22,23; ESV). God loved you yesterday, loves you today and will love you tomorrow, exactly in the same way. He cannot love you more because His love is perfect. God’s purpose outlives your pain. What He planned for you still holds; your suffering cannot change His design. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer 29:11; NIV)! “Love never fails” (1 Cor 13:8). Amen!

God Himself does not change. But He reveals different aspects of His character at different moments in His redemptive plan. In the Old Testament, by His law, God establishes His holiness and justice to Isreal. In the New Testament, He fulfills His Law revealing His mercy in redemption through the person of Christ. From Genesis to Revelation, we are watching one unified story unfold, and through it all, we encounter the same God that has the same heart. From the very beginning, God was forming a people to reflect His character in a violent, idolatrous world. Because God is perfectly holy, He did not—and could not—ignore evil. He confronted it with righteous judgment. We read of the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the fall of Jericho. This is not divine erratic anger, but expressions of God’s unshakable justice. It reveals the pain of God, the terrible cost of sin and why men desperately need a Savior to reconcile them with God.

When we turn to the New Testament, we meet Jesus—God in the flesh (John 1:14). Jesus is full of compassion. He welcomes the outcast, touches the unclean, feeds the hungry, heals the sick, and forgives the guilty. He moves toward sinners, not away from them. We may think that Jesus is more kind than God the Father. But that is not true. God is the same. This same Jesus also confronts sin. He rebukes the self-righteous, clears the temple with His righteous anger and often speaks about judgment, hell, and the urgency of repentance. He weeps over Jerusalem even as He warns of its coming judgment. Then we come to the Cross, the place where God’s justice and mercy collide in breathtaking harmony. At the cross, God does not overlook sin. He deals with it fully. But instead of placing His judgment on us, He places it on Christ. Jesus absorbs the wrath we deserve so we can receive the mercy we don’t deserve. That is Love! It is the only way a holy God can save sinful people without compromising who He is. It is the climax of the one-story the Bible has always been telling. God is Love!

The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New. He has always been just and always been merciful. In the Old Testament, we see God’s mercy in the ark that spares Noah’s family, in His forgiveness of David after adultery and murder, in His long-suffering patience with Israel’s rebellion. Likewise, we see His Justice in the New Testament when Ananias and Sapphira are struck down and when Revelation ends with the final judgment and the renewal of all things. The Bible is not the story of two gods. We meet the same God, uncompromising in holiness, unstoppable in love, one consistent, covenant-keeping God whose justice and mercy are perfectly united in Christ. Glory to God!
What about God is unchanging? His Essential Attributes, Character, Sovereign Will by which He rules the universe, His Word, His Revelation Truth, and His covenant faithfulness. In these ways, God always remains the same. Creatures change, but God does not. God does not increase in knowledge or power. He is supremely perfect in all His attributes and utterly trustworthy in all that He promises. Immutability refers to everything that God fully is. That means if God is love, God is fully love. If God is holy, He is fully holy. If God is good, He is the fullness of goodness. And if He’s the fullness of those things, any change in Him would be to reduce Him. God cannot change His character but in relations to men, because men change, He changes His response to them. God says: If you obey me, I will bless you! If you disobey me, I will punish you. “With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd” (Ps 18:25,26). Therefore, God changes His response to men according to the way men behave. But God’s character is always the same. God is forever faithful to Himself. Halleluiah!

Why God’s Immutability matters to us? It increases our faith in God! When we pray, we trust the God of the whole Bible. The God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament. Jehovah God and Jesus are one! The same God who answered Elijah listens to us. All the promises and moral standards of the Bible remain constant. Because God does not change, we have the assurance of salvation. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb 13:8). For example, the promise Jesus gave 2000 years ago, stands unchanged up till now and forever. “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one” (Jn 10:28,29). God’s immutability turns fear of judgment into hope and assurance for mercy. We encourage others with God’s historic faithfulness. We share testimonies of past provision as evidence of future reliability. We maintain long-term commitments (marriage, church, integrity at work) as reflections of the Lord’s steadfast nature. Because He cannot drift, His people are not “consumed”. They are preserved forever and carried by Him to fulfill destiny! This is an amazing assurance for us! Glory to God!

HOSEA, THE BROKEN-HEARTED PROPHET OF GOD
As we read the story of Hosea (Hosea 1-3) we feel his pain. He obeyed God and married Gomer. But his heart was broken because of his adulterous wife. Strangely, that was what God wanted. He felt God’s pain when His people, Isreal, abandoned Him and went to serve idols. Because of his pain, Hosea understood the deep things of God. Gomer left her husband to follow lovers. At a time, Gomer, felt some guilt about her sinful ways. She wanted to go back to her husband “as at first” but she did not go. She had remorse but did not repent!

True repentance is not just some feeling of regret. In the Bible, the word repent means “to change your mind” resulting in a change of actions. You totally turn away from sin and turn towards God! Paul declares, “I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:20). Concerning salvation, repentance means to change your mind regarding sin and Jesus Christ. It involves recognizing that you have thought wrongly in the past and now, you chose to think rightly in the future. The repentant person has “second thoughts” about the mindset he formerly embraced. There is a new way of thinking about God, about sin, about holiness, and about doing God’s will. True repentance is prompted by “godly sorrow,” and it “leads to salvation” (2 Cor 7:10). Selah!

Love is an action word. It is a Verb. Love responds not only with words, but with actions. The word “therefore” appears 3 times in chapter 2 (Hosea 2:6,9,14). “Therefore”, how does a loving holy God reacts to Isreal’s sin? By showing Mercy in Judgement!

1-Love judges and punishes rebellious Isreal. Sin always takes you farther than you want to go; it keeps you longer than you want to stay and will charge you higher than you want to pay.
2-Love shows mercy and starts doing good to Isreal again. Love gives Isreal another chance. “At that time, you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:12,13). As sinners, we were without hope. Now, in the valley of Achor (trouble) God opens a Door of Hope. Jesus is that Door of Hope. Jesus said: “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep” (Jn 10:7). As the good Shepherd, Jesus sleeps in the Door of the sheepfold to block the way so that wild animals do not enter to kill the sheep. Jesus lay down His life and shared His Blood to save us from sin, eternal death and hell. He is our only door of Hope! God alone changes Trouble into Testimony!
God gives Isreal another chance, by declaring “I will marry you forever”! God wants to renew His vows to His people. He wants to say again: “I love you!” “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me, In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; 20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the Lord” (Hos 2:19,20). God pours on Isreal new blessings. He changes the meaning of the name Jezreel, from “scattered” to Blessings! God promises Isreal His Protection, Provision and His Presence. What manner of Man is Jesus? Halleluiah! You can defy the Love of God, but you can’t defeat the Love of God! Glory to God!

Hosea was turned between two loves: the Love for righteousness and the love for his wife. She is wicked, unfaithful but Hosea still loves her. God commanded Hosea: Go and LOVE that woman again!!! Love responds! Love pays the price. Love Redeems! God tells Hosea to go and buy Gomer for 15 shekels of silver and 1,5 homers of barely (the food she ate while she was a slave). Love pays the price to Love! Hosea bought Gomer with money. Jesus redeemed us from the slavery of sin and death with His Blood. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1Cor 6:19,20). Christ paid the highest conceivable price for you. Every heartbeat, breath, and movement can echo gratitude when deliberately directed to glorify the One who owns you. Honor Him today in your mind, emotions, deeds and words, by allowing Christ to shine thru you, a living proof of His redeeming love.

“And I said to her, “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the prostitute nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you [until you have proved your faithfulness]” (Hos 3:3; AMP). Hosea speaks clearly, as a man of God, not just emotionally. He tells Gomer that from now on, there shall be no other man between them. They belong to one another. They must stay faithful to one another. This commitment to faithfulness will last “for many days”. In other words, marriage faithfulness is “until death do us part”. Faithfulness in marriage is Single-hearted devotion to one partner. No physical, emotional or spiritual adultery allowed. Reject all rival thrones. Love restores to a position of purity. Hosea said you live with me, but you do not sleep with any man, not even with me, for now. This is so that you learn how to be pure, how to love again. This is a probation period for Gomer to prove her true repentance and faithfulness to Hosea. Despite Israel’s unfaithfulness, God remains committed to His covenant, just as Hosea remains committed to Gomer. See the depth of God’s love and His willingness to restore us. God’s desires a faithful relationship with His people. This discipline is the place of grace. Grace not only but saves trains unto sanctification. Grace can save anyone, no matter how sinful. But you must repent of sin! Gomer, Israel, you must see meditate at how much God has wasted and sacrificed because of you, the price He paid for you to be redeemed!!!

Lastly, God restores completely! “Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days” (Hosea 3:5). In Christ, our future is better than our past. By His Word and the Holy Spirit, God gives us all that we need to stay faithful and have godly, happy and successful marriages. No matter how great our sins, God’s grace is greater, and He is ready to forgive and cleanse us when we come to Him in repentance. Religion says: we can change the God who loves us. The Gospel says: God’s Love changes us, forever! What a Love!!! Worship the Lord!!!