The DNA of the nation Israel began with the call of their first patriarch.
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
“I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12.1-3).
The call for Israel to be a blessing to the nations is similar to Jesus’s mandate to his followers in the Great Commission.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
“And teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28.19-20).
What Happened?
Somewhere along the way, Israel lost sight of its calling to bless the nations. Instead of spreading God’s principles to neighboring areas, they adopted the principles of their neighbors.
Israel is swallowed up;
now they are among the nations
as a useless vessel. (Hosea 8.8)
Jesus preached the same message as Hosea using a different image.
He explained that if God’s people resemble the surrounding world like salt losing its saltiness, they become useless for God’s purposes.
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot” (Matthew 5.13).
If salt becomes unsalty, it ceases to be true salt. In Jesus’ time, the salt used in Israel came from the Dead Sea and was often mixed with other elements. It could become corrupt, losing its saltiness.
This serves as a picture for Israel and us. When we are corrupted by the attitudes and actions of the world’s system, we cease to be an alternative to it.
We fail to be the blessing and the ‘salt’ God has called us to be for the world. Instead of making disciples of the world, we become its disciples.
Hosea’s Message
In the final chapter of Hosea, he offers a solution for faithless Israel and Christians who have failed to be ‘salt’ and ‘light’ to the nations.
Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Take words with you
and return to the Lord;
say to him,
“Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good,
and we will offer
the fruit of our lips.
Assyria shall not save us;
we will not ride upon horses;
we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.” (Hosea 14.1-3)
We return to the Lord and confess our sins. We also confess that we can no longer save ourselves through the work of our hands. A return to God is a trust in Him.
Like Jesus told the church in Ephesus, a return to God in repentance involves a return to our first love.
“I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
“Remember, then, from where you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (Revelation 2.4-5).
YouTube Video
Rudy Ross and I discuss this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
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