I Will Betroth You to Me Forever

[00:00:00] Prophecy of Hosea in chapter two. [00:00:09] I'm going to read it again. [00:00:12] Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her, or in the Hebrew, and speak to her heart, and I will give her her vineyards from thence and the valley of achor for a door of hope. And she shall make answer there as in the days of her youth, and as in the days when she came up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi, and shalt call me no more Baali. For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their name. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground. And I will break the bow and the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in justice, and in loving kindness. This word in Hebrew is hesed and in mercies. [00:01:24] I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness. [00:01:28] And thou shalt know the Lord. [00:01:31] And it shall come to pass in that day. I will answer, saith the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel. [00:01:45] And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy. And I will say to them that were not my people, thou art my people. And they shall say, thou art my God. [00:02:03] And then in the new covenant in the roman letter of the apostle Paul, the roman letter of the apostle Paul in chapter eleven from verse 24. [00:02:21] For if thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? [00:02:38] For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits that are hardening in part of befallen Israel, until the fulness of the gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved, even as it is written there shall come out of Zion the deliverer. He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sin. As touching the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers sake. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as ye in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience, even so had these also now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you, they also may now obtain mercy. For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. [00:03:51] How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past tracing out for who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor, or who hath first given to him? And it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of him and through him and unto him are all things. To him be the glory forever. [00:04:21] Amen. [00:04:23] Shall we just bow together in a word of prayer? [00:04:28] Beloved Lord, we want to thank you that when we come to the ministry of your word, you have made specific provision for us. You have provided us an anointing through the finished work of our Lord Jesus and made it a glorious reality in the person of the Holy Spirit. [00:04:49] We want by faith to stand into that anointing grace and power, both for the speaking of your word and the hearing of it, that your design and purpose in our time be fulfilled. [00:05:03] And we, Lord, not the same. [00:05:07] Touch us by your spirit, Lord. Touch the eyes of our hearts. Grant us, we pray, that spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of yourself. Give us an understanding of the times in which we live. Hear us, Lord. We shall give you all the praise and all the glory for answering this, our prayer, for we ask it in the name of our Messiah, the Lord Jesus. Amen. [00:05:43] This afternoon I spoke from the second chapter of Hosea, that wonderful prophecy. And the verse that the theme for this special day was taken in verse 15. [00:06:02] I will make. [00:06:04] I will give her the valley of Akhor for a door of hope. [00:06:12] It would be foolish of me to try and go over all that we've said this afternoon. And for those who've joined us, I could only suggest that you get the tape or the video. [00:06:28] But we have looked at this extremely extraordinary phrase that our brethren felt led of the Lord to choose as the theme for this time. I'm quite sure it was right. [00:06:43] The valley of Akhor comes from the incident that took place in, as recorded in Joshua in chapter seven, it was the story of Achan Akan, and indeed Aachan's name, which we don't know what it means in Hebrew. [00:07:06] Interestingly, in one chronicles two is the scribe possibly deliberately changes the name from Akan to Achar, which is a play on the word akor as well, and simply means trouble. [00:07:24] Well, Aachan was trouble. [00:07:27] And the story, as we have mentioned this afternoon, is a sad and tragic story of deceit, of avarice, of blind pride, of sin. [00:07:44] And only when it was judged was there a door of hope opened. [00:07:52] Then there was victory, then there was deliverance, then there was possession of the inheritance, then there was salvation. So we have talked a little bit about the valley of Akor becoming a gateway, certain hope. [00:08:17] We have talked about the Lord Jesus, who himself has stood in our place as the messiah, as the lamb of God, and taken all the judgment of our sin upon himself, and has become in himself the door. [00:08:38] He said, I am the door. [00:08:42] He is the gateway into everything that God has, all these unsearchable riches of the Messiah, all this fathomless depths of the fullness of God's life, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, they are all ours in the Lord Jesus. [00:09:10] This, this valley of achor, this place of judgment, this place where the Lord Jesus was made sin for us, became our sin offering, has become also the door of a certain hope. [00:09:32] And then I have talked a little bit about, of course, much more than ive said now, but I talked a little bit about this in relation to Israel. Its very interesting. Underlying the whole of jewish history is the finished work of the Messiah. [00:09:49] People dont understand that. Thats why, dear friends, the apostle Paul, in his own inimitable way by the Holy Spirit, refers to Israel as a mystery. [00:10:03] There are many mysteries as the mystery of the gospel. Did you know that nobody can get saved on themselves in this? I am a total calvinist. [00:10:13] I believe that only God can save a lost sinner. And the whole work of salvation, from beginning to end, is the work of gods grace and the work of the Holy Spirit. No person can save themselves, not in any single way. It is God who arranges the circumstances, God who brings conviction, God who brings us into repentance, God who causes that godly sorrow to lead us to repentance. It is God who creates faith in our hearts. It is God who brings us to new birth. [00:10:50] Beloved friends, there is a lot of rubbish in christian circles today. [00:10:55] It is a form of humanism that has come amongst us whereby we do 90% of the work and God does 10%. [00:11:04] We take all the major steps. God steps in and does the last 10%. The whole thing is nonsense. [00:11:11] Thats why there are many who think theyre saved and theyre not saved. [00:11:15] They have some kind of conversion, which is a conversion in the head. But it is not a new birth in the spirit. But when there is God given repentance and a real new birth, people can go through all kinds of tribulation and trial then now trials and tribulations become the very means, like a valley of Akor, they become a door of hope. [00:11:40] It is amazing what the Lord does with a true believer. [00:11:45] The very things you would think destroy them are the things that drive them more deeply and more deeply into the Lord. It is always the same with the Lord. And every true child of God has this testimony that God has given them the valley of Akhor, of trouble, of disturbance, of distress. [00:12:07] He has given it to them for a door of hope, a door into new discoveries of the Lord Jesus, a door into new discoveries of his power, of his grace, of his mercy, of his love, of his fullness, of his overcoming power. It is wonderful to know the Lord. [00:12:30] You feel sorry for the enemy. [00:12:34] Everything he does to a true believer, God turns to blessing. [00:12:40] It was CT studd who said many years ago that he felt sorry. He got into a lot of trouble for saying it. He said he felt very sorry for Satan because God used him more than anyone else in the universe. And it is absolutely true that every, everything that Satan does for evil, God turn to good for the believer. [00:13:07] But dear child of God, to come back to this, we looked a little bit at its relationship to Israel. I spoke about the pogroms. Truly, those pogroms were a valley of akhor. And God turned it into a door of hope, because underneath there, all of it lies the finished work of the messiah. God could not deal with Israel, but for the messiah. I think of those wonderful words in the 84th psalm. Look upon the face of thine anointed, speaking to the Lord. Look upon the face of thine anointed, thy Christ, thy Messiah. Look upon the face of your and bless us. [00:13:53] So I talked about the pogroms, and how out of those pogroms came all the early pioneers, the recreating of the fertility, the restoration of the ecology, the rebirth of the hebrew language. I talked about the Holocaust almost in harsh terms, because it wasn't just some small valley. [00:14:18] And God took that valley of Akor, that deep and terrible valley, and he made it the catalyst for the recreation of the state of Israel. [00:14:31] Out of that came the re gathering of the exiles. Out of that has come the rebuilding of the ruined cities. Out of that has come the reinstating of all the national institutions. Out of that has come the regaining of the capital, Jerusalem. Out of that has come the preservation of Israel in six wars in 50 years. [00:14:55] I've talked about objections. I'm not going to even deal with those. I talked about four objections that I hear all over the world wherever I go. And I have sought, as the Lord helped me, to answer those objections to these various things. How can atheistic, agnostic, pioneers and leaders in any way? How could God be behind, through them be behind the recreation of this state and all the other things that are brought up as objections? [00:15:32] Finally, I talked about this little word. I will allure her into the wilderness. The wilderness is no beautiful place. Don't get romantic ideas about the wilderness. I remember a certain bishop, perhaps I should not mention him by name, but I remember a certain bishop who got into a lot of things that were absolutely wrong and forbidden in the word of God. He came to Israel and he went with his wife walking in the beautiful wilderness. And he was warned that he needed a guide, but he wouldn't take a guide. And according to his wife, he heard voices leading him. I have no doubt about the voices, since he was into things that were absolutely evil and he died of dehydration. I was there. I remember all the helicopters going over my home to search for his body. His wife somehow made it to Bethlehem. How she ever did it, I will never know. And then they went out in rescue teams to find him. The wilderness is not a romantic place. We have every crank coming to Jerusalem. [00:16:39] I have told you this before, so I don't want to bore you once again with my stories about cranks and nutcases, but we are full of them. They are drawn like some magnetic, invisible magnetic force to Jerusalem. They dress in a strange way. We even have a medical term for it, the Jerusalem syndrome. There is a whole ward about only mental hospital that is put aside for serious cases of the Jerusalem syndrome. [00:17:10] It is extraordinary. Quite ordinary people suddenly imagine themselves as Elijah or at present two Elijahs in Jerusalem. And we have about six or seven of the two witnesses. [00:17:31] It is a sad business, this whole thing with the year 2000. I don't know what they're all so excited about this year 2000. [00:17:40] I mean, anyone who knows anything about history knows that this cannot be the 2000 year from the birth of Jesus. We know it either has to be five BC or at the early the latest three BC. [00:17:56] This means we're already in the new millennium. [00:17:59] We passed it without all the hullabaloo, which is probably the way why probably why the Lord did it, so he would take us into it without all this. But nevertheless, the year 2000 have all coming to Jerusalem, planeloads of them. [00:18:18] No, don't let it put you off. Do come to Jerusalem. [00:18:24] Do come to Jerusalem. It's a good thing to come to the land and to see the land, but these unhinged folks, I'm sorry for it. [00:18:37] My own conviction is that in 1997 we passed into the new millennium and that's why we had the blood red moon on Passover Eve, why we had another blood red moon in the same year on Sukkot, the eve of the feast of tabernacles. And why for the first time ever, we had revelation twelve in the heavens, illustrated in the heavens with Virgo the Virgin, lying in a position of giving birth with the twelve stars at the head, the new moon at her feet, and bathed with the setting sun. [00:19:17] It was revelation twelve in the heaven. I think the Lord put on that heavenly firework display to say we've got there 2000 years. I don't know, I might be wrong on this. I'm not being dogmatic, I hope, about it. My own conviction is we're already in the new millennium and that is why we're in a period of enormous turmoil, instability and judgment. [00:19:45] We have passed into a period in which the Lord is arising to judge nations. And now he will fragment them, he will break their back, he will smash their economies, he will turn them upside down and inside out. And the touchstone of the whole thing is his gospel, his word, and the jewish people, that nation that will not serve the purpose of God concerning the jewish people will perish. [00:20:16] The Lord has said, that is in Isaiah, chapter 60. [00:20:20] In another place, the Lord says to the prophet Jeremiah, I will make a full end of all the nations into which I have brought you, but I will not make a full end of you, he says, speaking to the jewish people, but I will correct you in measure. So we expect Israel also to know a time of turmoil and of judgment and of instability in many ways also. But the Lord is doing it with positive purposes to bring them through to salvation. [00:20:53] So I spoke a little bit about this word wilderness. The wilderness is not a romantic place. Its not an easy place. It is in fact a hard place. It is a very, very difficult place. And the Lord says to this beloved one of his I will entice you, I will allure you into this hard place and there I will speak to your heart. [00:21:20] If you read the context, you will see there was no way the Lord could speak to her heart. Her heart was given to others. [00:21:31] Read the context. [00:21:33] You know, HOsea is in the most extraordinary book because he married a prostitute and the Lord told him to do it. And out of this ten terrible relationship came this incredible prophecy. [00:21:48] And the Lord says, you cant talk to someone whos in love with somebody else. How can you talk to their heart when their heart is given to somebody else? [00:21:58] But the Lord says, I love this person. [00:22:02] I have salvation, I have redemption, I have deliverance in my heart for them, for this one. Therefore I will entice her into a hard place. [00:22:19] And there finally, when all her lovers have deserted her and all her props are gone, I will speak to her heart. [00:22:32] My conviction is that is exactly where Israel is now. [00:22:43] She's coming into a hard place and there the Lord will cause all her lovers, the one she's so enamored with, to disappear and leave her. [00:23:03] Then the Lord will be able to speak to her heart. How will he do it? I have no idea. [00:23:10] I have no idea. [00:23:12] I only know he will do it. [00:23:15] And when he does, it will be tremendous. [00:23:21] So my dear friends, I want to take up this theme a little more now. I spoke a little bit about the practical side this afternoon at the very end of what I had to say about the election, about the hopelessness of the present electoral process, the possibility of an even more disastrous government following, and the support for the palestinian authority, for want of a better term, by the whole world. [00:24:00] There were already some 24 nations that have said they will recognize the palestinian state the moment it is proclaimed. [00:24:12] So we have a hard place we're coming into and we have an arms race. The Middle east, which is phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, all of them are in an unbelievable arms race. [00:24:41] Well now I want to speak from yet another verse. It is perhaps the most wonderful. Here it is verse 19. [00:24:51] The Lord says to this one he is going to speak to, to whose heart he is going to speak to. He says, and I will betroth thee unto me forever. [00:25:06] Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness and thou shalt know the Lord. O what words, what amazing words. This is spoken to one who has become a prostitute. This is spoken to not someone who's faithful, but someone who is faithless. And unfaithful, who has other lovers other than the Lord, who has turned her back upon the Lord. And here the Lord says, and I will betroth you to me forever. [00:25:58] You know, the love of God is surely the most incredible, incredible thing in this universe. [00:26:06] There is nothing like the love of God. [00:26:10] We human beings, we love people, but we only love them with a limit. [00:26:16] Generally speaking, if a person turns out to be rotten, we will persevere for a while. But when we see that there is seemingly no change, we finally, as we say, my love for so and so, died. [00:26:33] That's what we normally say. Oh, what would we do without the Lord? [00:26:40] Are you so self righteous that you believe that the Lord loves you because you're so lovely? [00:26:50] I have known so many christians who take it for granted that the Lord loves them, apparently because they are so lovable. [00:27:00] I tell you, it is absolutely true what the Lord Jesus said. [00:27:05] He or she who has sinned much and is forgiven much will love much. [00:27:15] It is when you know that you are absolutely hopeless, as unlovable, unworthy, unprofitable, and basically unlovable, that then the marvel of God's love becomes apparent. For he never gives up once. He loves. He loves to the end because he has the end in mind. That's why he will leave no stone, stone unturned in bringing that person to a new place. [00:27:53] The greatest illustration of this love is God's love for Israel. [00:28:04] So faithless, so secular, so hopeless, so blind, so disobedient, and still God loves her. [00:28:20] If you read the context, you will see how his loved one dresses herself up. She puts these earrings on, she puts her jewelry on. She puts her beautiful dress on. [00:28:36] And not for the Lord, for her lovers. [00:28:42] It's all here. It's a dreadful story. [00:28:49] She really dresses herself up for these worthless lovers. [00:28:53] Wouldn't you think the Lord will say, go to your lovers and stay with them, but not the Lord? [00:29:01] Through all the years of jewish history, the Lord has remained in love with this people. [00:29:12] Now, some people say the Lord is only in love with the church. [00:29:17] Believe me, I think that is also a remarkable story, too. [00:29:26] I have been long enough in the church to see how ugly she is, how unlovable she is, how faithless she is, how unfaithful she is, full of wrinkles, pimples, warts, and I don't know what else, blemishes of every kind. [00:29:46] It is a marvel to me that the Lord continues to love the church. Yet the church thinks she's taken the place of Israel. [00:29:54] She believes she is it. [00:29:58] She is the only object of God's love. Poof. The jewish people. You mean to tell me he loves them? [00:30:10] God only loves the church. Well, he does love the church, the true church. [00:30:15] In all her unlovableness, he loves her in all her spiritual unattractiveness, in all her selfishness, in all the blemishes, he sees the finished product. [00:30:38] He always looks ahead to the end. It is amazing. The Lord. [00:30:47] The extraordinary thing is that God has never fallen out of love with the jewish people. [00:30:55] Throughout all these years of history, he has remained faithful and he has remained in love. And now concerning this one who has given herself to everyone but the Lord, he says, and I will betroth you to myself forever. [00:31:23] And then he adds a most extraordinary thing. [00:31:27] I will betroth you to me in righteousness. [00:31:32] So this isnt just sort of pulling the wool over the eyes. This isn't sort of turning a blind eye on in righteousness, injustice. [00:31:47] The valley of achor. [00:31:51] Got it. [00:31:52] The valley of achor. The place of judgment, because there the messiah was judged for our sin. There the lamb of God took upon himself the sin of the world and bore it away. Because God caused all the iniquity to be laid on him. [00:32:14] Because of that, the Lord can say, in righteousness, in justice. How did the Lord save you? [00:32:26] Because there was something redeemable about you. [00:32:31] Some christians believe that, you know, they believe there, as I've already said, there's something redeemable. [00:32:38] You know, that somewhere deep down within them. Well, of course, all these other things, the problems that we have, that makes us ugly, that makes us difficult, that makes us complex, that makes us sinful, that causes us to fall and to fail. These things of so circumstances, these things are genetic history. [00:33:03] My great grandfather, my great grandmother or somebody else, you've inherited something. Unfortunately, you are the sweetest, purest thing underneath it all. But this overlay is just sinful. You see, it's only an overlay. Beneath it all is something so beautiful. Beautiful, so sweet, so pure. [00:33:30] Dont kid yourself. [00:33:33] There is nothing redeemable in you there. As the scripture says, no good thing dwelleth in me. [00:33:48] Some believe there is something good. And as I have said, its only the circumstances that have made the person so unlovable. [00:34:02] God is in the business of redemption. [00:34:07] He will take the most unredeemable person and turn them into a child of his. [00:34:14] And then he will fill them with his holy spirit and make them beautiful. [00:34:19] Dont you think it is amazing thing sometimes you dont. Someone doesnt have to tell you theyve got saved. [00:34:26] You can see it. If someones really been saved, you can see it. [00:34:32] Not all of us are blessed with handsome or beautiful features. [00:34:36] Some of us have got positively ugly features. [00:34:42] But when the Holy Spirit gets into a person, when Christ dwells in a person, even those features that are not very beautiful there's a beauty that comes through them. I remember years ago in a conference in Switzerland a dear sister had a very big burden for a young man. [00:35:02] She didn't want to marry him, don't get me wrong, but she had a very big burden for this young man. He was from South America. And she said to me, I do try to talk to him. [00:35:17] I was myself young then. Try to talk to him. She said, no. I said, I will not. [00:35:23] I suspected that she had manipulated him, this poor fellow who was a rugby player. She had manipulated him into this conference. [00:35:33] And now she was expecting all of us to pressurize the poor fellow till he got saved. Corner him. You know what I mean? People always get on to me because they say, I don't believe in sharing your faith with Jews. [00:35:47] I believe firmly in sharing your faith with everybody. [00:35:51] But it's the way you do it. [00:35:53] This kind of bludgeoning tactics where you pulverize a person, corner them and then blast them. [00:36:04] It just to me, it is not right on any level. Whether it's a gentile or a jew. Sometimes it's doing the devil's work. [00:36:14] Some people are put off forever by the tactics of some Christians. [00:36:21] Beloved friends, I remember saying to this dear sister, you pray and I will pray. [00:36:29] I felt so sorry for this fellow. He sat through these compensations on some of the deepest things in the faith and clearly didn't understand a word of what was being said. But he sat through it all. And then, I shall never forget one day he walked in and he came straight across to me and I took one look at his face. He had a chin like an anvil. [00:36:54] It sort of came in the door first, if you know what I mean. [00:37:01] I took one look at that fellow and I took one look at his face and I knew he was saved. [00:37:09] There was a beauty that even softened his anvil chin. [00:37:16] It was something in him. And he said to me, what do you think I've seen? Jesus was saved. [00:37:27] It is an amazing thing that happens when a person gets saved. [00:37:31] They are really unredeemable. But when God gets in on the act, he redeems the unredeemable. [00:37:40] And then he fills that person with his spirit. And then the beauty of the Lord Jesus is seen in them. [00:37:55] What a work the spirit of God does in us all. [00:38:00] Now, if the Lord does this with you and with me, could he not do it with Israel? [00:38:09] Dont you think so? [00:38:12] I believe that God is in love with his people. [00:38:17] He has never given them up. [00:38:20] He's bringing them into a hard place to speak to the heart. But it's not just to speak to the heart. [00:38:27] He wants to betroth them to himself forever. [00:38:32] Not illegally, not in a kind of through the back door, but in righteousness, in justice. [00:38:48] That's how you got saved. [00:38:52] That's how you got saved. [00:38:54] When Jesus died in your place, he took all your sin upon himself and carried it away. Just like the scapegoat. You remember the two goats? One was slain in Jerusalem. Do you remember? [00:39:11] And the high priest said to the people of Israel, see your sin die. [00:39:19] And the other scapegoat was carried out into the wilderness and went over a precious bit. [00:39:26] And the high priest said, see, your sin vanished as far as the east is from the west, so far. The Lord removes our sin. [00:39:44] It is a legal, righteous, just foundation. Satan can never come and say, you were showing favoritism. [00:39:58] You overlooked that person's sin. You did. No, no, no, no. [00:40:03] When Jesus the Messiah died as the lamb of God, in that moment, he, in righteousness and injustice, laid a foundation for every single sinner to come to God and to come in righteousness and injustice. He could be justified on the basis that another has died in his place. [00:40:34] Then listen to this. I will betroth you unto me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness. [00:40:47] This word chesed is one of the most wonderful words in the Bible. [00:40:53] Steadfast love. Which is put in some version, persevering love. In another modern version, loving kindness. In the revised version, mercy. In the old authorized version. [00:41:10] You know, this word chesed is a combination of words. Loyal, persevering, covenant, merciful love. [00:41:27] And this is what the Lord says, I will betroth you to me, he says, to the jewish people, forever in righteousness, in justice, and in loyal, persevering, merciful covenant, love. [00:41:48] And then another word in mercies. [00:41:53] Not mercy, but mercies. [00:41:57] Oh, the mercies of the Lord. Do you know anything about the mercies of the Lord? Oh, dearly me. [00:42:05] Every time you see yourself, you will know something about the mercy of the Lord. [00:42:11] But there are some who dont seem to feel that. They feel they have a right to almost pressurize the Lord. [00:42:18] I know people who lecture the Lord. [00:42:21] They believe that they have a right to do so. Somehow there is no fear of the Lord in their eyes. [00:42:28] But when you know yourself, it is an interesting thing that everyone who ever saw the Lord fell at his feet as one dead. [00:42:37] Interestingly, they never fell backwards. They always fell forwards, which I always find very interesting. I have nothing, by the way, about anything against falling backwards. I just find it very interesting that everyone who ever saw the Lord fell forward. [00:42:53] Interesting, isn't it? [00:42:55] Well, whether you fall backwards or fall forwards, what does it matter so long as you've seen the Lord? [00:43:03] That's the thing that matters, to have seen the Lord. [00:43:06] I find it interesting that every time anyone really saw the Lord, they fell at his feet as one dead. That means they saw themselves. [00:43:16] Those who look in and see themselves in an introspective way kill themselves. [00:43:23] Those who see the Lord see themselves in the light of what they see in the Lord. [00:43:31] That is healing. [00:43:33] Do you understand? One is destructive and one is building up. [00:43:39] Nobody who ever fell at the feet of the Lord, as if dead, was ever destroyed. Every one of them was raised up with a ministry. Isn't it interesting? [00:43:55] Now let me take you one step further in this then he said, and I will betroth you unto me in faithful man. [00:44:05] I suppose one of the greatest illustrations we have in the Bible is gods faithfulness to the jewish people. [00:44:14] The fact of his judgment of Israel is, in fact, all to do with his faithfulness. When a person has given up, they are no longer faithful to that person. They've given them up, they're finished with them. [00:44:30] There's no more faithfulness. [00:44:32] They're ended. Do you understand? [00:44:35] But when a person is corrected, when a person is pursued, when a person is even judged, chastened, disciplined, this is a sign of faithfulness. [00:44:50] Well, now, my dear friends, all I want to do, I don't want to hold you here forever. What I want to just simply underline is this amazing word that we have when you look at verse 17. [00:45:02] Don't you think this is extraordinary? For I will take away the names of the Baalim, that is, the idols, out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their name. Oh, Israel has a lot of idols. [00:45:14] A lot of idols. [00:45:17] And he says, there will come a day when there will no more be mentioned. And in that day, I will make a covenant, he says, and so on. Isn't that amazing? In verse 16 shall be that in that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi, my husband, and no longer call me Baali, which is the, the name for Baal, my master. That's wonderful. What an incredible thing this all is. Now, dear friends, let me come at this from one other angle. [00:45:53] Actually, this extraordinary picture we have here is really all to do with a marriage. [00:46:06] And it is to do with the bride, the wife of the lamb. Now, if you know your Bible, you know that the Bible ends with a marriage. [00:46:21] Now, I'm a good person to talk about this. [00:46:25] There's two ways of looking at marriage. One is its the end of everything and the other is its the beginning of everything. [00:46:37] Some people look upon marriage as the end and other people look upon it as the beginning. Actually, marriage is both. [00:46:48] It is the end of one phase of living and the beginning another. [00:46:56] Is it not remarkable that the Bible ends with a divine marriage? [00:47:03] The end of one whole phase of living called the former thing and the beginning of a new phase. Now here is another extraordinary people are always asking me, will we wear clothes? What an extraordinary question to ask. [00:47:29] But I'm often asked, will we wear clothes? Are people so interested in seeing people without clothes? [00:47:37] Will we wear clothes? Will we eat? [00:47:41] It's if you almost know what's, what the complex is in a person, you know, with a bit of divine psychology, you can tell from the question, will we eat? Some people are, especially young fellows, will we eat in heaven? [00:48:01] Will we be clothed? What will we do? Will we recognize each other? We have thousands of questions. It's very interesting. People say, what will we do? [00:48:13] Are we really going to be in an eternal choir forever and ever? I mean, one of these long drawn out hallelujah choruses that goes on for a thousand years? No, 10,000, no. A hundred thousand years with a break perhaps of 5000 years to have something to drink served by angels. [00:48:39] You know the kind of idea we have? Oh, we think what? But we, the Christians have done a terrible thing in this thing. They've given all this idea. You know, there's wonderful hymns. They're wonderful hymns about tramping up and down on the, on the streets of gold, you know, and going in and out of the pearly gates, you know, this kind of idea. So now that the world thinks they're going to spend the whole time tramping up and down on golden streets and going in and out of pearly gates playing on the harp having a thousand years of hallelujah, that's all they're going to do. And apparently, apparently their God sent his son to be their savior so that they could walk up and down on golden streets and go in and out of pearly gates and play a harp and sing in a choir forever and ever and ever. [00:49:30] No wonder the world laughs at us. [00:49:37] But if I look at my Bible, I don't find that at all. I find that only it uses Sunday school, kindergarten language, simplicity. [00:49:50] But those simple symbols are meant to signifies something we are not told what we shall eat. [00:50:02] I could explain a few more things there about our lord when he ate, in terms of lots of things like this, what we shall dress, whether we shall recognize each other, even what we shall do. [00:50:16] The Bible puts it like, if you are in love with your heavenly bridegroom, that's enough. [00:50:29] All those questions will be sorted out. But the first priority is, do you love him? [00:50:36] Are you prepared to follow him? Are you prepared to lay down your life for him? Are you prepared to be 100% for him? [00:50:46] Then everything else can wait. [00:50:52] If you can trust him with yourself, your whole being and your eternal future, you will be part of the bride. [00:51:05] It really is extraordinary when you look at it. [00:51:09] After all, this is an incredible city. At the end of the Bible, this city is called a bride. Have you ever heard of such a combination of something that is a capital city called a bride? I have. [00:51:24] I have gone all over the world and I've stayed in the most extraordinary homes, but never has a husband said to me, this is my capital city. [00:51:34] Some of the wives I've seen could be almost capital city. [00:51:41] They are turreted and fortressed and they could easily be capitalized. But I have never, in all my years of wandering around the world, never has any husband ever said, and this is my capital city. [00:51:59] It is the most extraordinary combination. [00:52:03] A capital city that is quated with a wife, the bride of the lamb. [00:52:13] And there you have two extraordinary things. One is spiritual character, spiritual growth, ending with spiritual character, which enables a person to share the throne. [00:52:30] God is not interested in a bride for his son, who is a kind of spiritual Marilyn Monroe. [00:52:38] Very beautiful to look at, curvaceous, wonderful eyes, wonderful eyelashes, wonderful hair, wonderful hands, wonderful nails, wonderful feet, wonderful toenails, wonderful everything. Wonderful figure and nothing between the ears. [00:52:56] She is beautiful to look at, but no more. But the way some christians talk about the church, that's exactly what they seem to think the Lord wants. He wants a kind of non entity. She can't think, she can't discern, she can't do anything. She just sits there and looks beautiful. [00:53:17] That's not what the Lord wants. [00:53:20] He wants a capital city, city. Thats where the government is centred and you cant govern if youve not been trained, you cannot govern. [00:53:33] You cannot give orders unless first you can take orders. [00:53:39] Its very, very simple. [00:53:41] Very simple. [00:53:43] So simple its almost stupid. [00:53:47] But the fact of the matter is, you have a bride here. And this is the most amazing thing. [00:53:53] God wants, not a civil service. If he'd wanted an eternal civil service, the Lord preserve us. But if the Lord had wanted an eternal civil service, he could have got machine like qualities. In all the believers, there are plenty of them that have these machine like qualities. Impersonal, distant. [00:54:13] They go by the book. [00:54:15] As long as they've got a methodology, that's all that matters. [00:54:20] The Lord wants those who can govern, who are in love with him. A most extraordinary combination. [00:54:29] These are overcomers. [00:54:32] These are what are called in the Bible, overcomers. [00:54:36] Now, my dear friends, if what I'm saying is right, but it is quite revolutionary in some ways, for it means, listen carefully, that every one of you has been called to be part of the blind. [00:54:52] Every one of them. And it's here in our chapter. [00:54:57] For it says in the most incredible way, and those and the Lord says, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy. [00:55:10] And I will say to them that were not my people, you are my people. [00:55:18] This is quoted at least once in the New Testament as referring to the gentiles saved by the grace of God. [00:55:28] It says it in Romans. Incredibly, it shall be said in Romans. It says in Romans nine and ten. And where it was said, you are not my people. There the Lord will say, you are my people. Isn't this amazing? [00:55:44] And she who was his people, she has other lovers, faithless and unfaithful. [00:55:56] Now we have replacement theology. [00:56:01] And that is precisely what the apostle Paul takes up by the spirit of God. In Romans chapter nine and Romans chapter ten. If we only had Romans chapter nine and Romans chapter ten, we would understand that replacement theology is the only theology. [00:56:18] But we also have Romans eleven. [00:56:22] And in Romans eleven, Paul qualifies everything that he has said in Romans chapter nine and ten. For he comes to the very question himself. He says, then has God rejected them? [00:56:38] God forbid, he said, I'm also an Israeli. [00:56:42] I don't know why all these modern verses say Israelite, as if Israelites are somebody quite different to Israelis. [00:56:53] Who are the Israelites? [00:56:57] They are Israelis, but because of political reasons they dont like to put Israelis because that would upset so many in the church, everywhere. So whenever Paul says, im an Israeli and they say, hes an Israelite, this is something antique. [00:57:16] This belongs to history. You see, they no longer exist. [00:57:22] Theyve gone out with the dinosaur left forever behind. [00:57:29] No, my dear friends, he says, I am also an israeli den. Then he begins to qualify everything. No, there is a remnant saved courting. [00:57:41] A remnant of the election. An elect remnant, saved by grace according to grace. And then he goes on further. [00:57:51] Well, then, did God trip them up? No, he says, I cannot say it. But by their fall, salvation has come to the Gentile. To provoke them to jealousy, so there's hope. And then he goes on, step by step, step by step, until finally he comes to. This, you see, as touching the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as touching the election, the predestinating counsel and will of God. They are beloved for the patriarch's sake, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Beloved people of God. You were once not his people. Now you are his people. He if I could put it this way. The Lord stands here and opens his arms and says, you are my people. [00:58:41] No matter what your background, what ethnic group you come from, what cultural group you come from, it doesn't matter. You are my people. [00:58:52] You don't have to go into all these weird, fanciful things, theories about British Israel. And I dont know what else to prove. That somehow you have a special relationship with God. If youre born of the spirit of God, you are his people. [00:59:09] You are the wild olive branches brought into the good olive tree. [00:59:18] We are some more wild than others. [00:59:27] Yeah. Some more wild than others. I always remember that wonderful play by Wolf Mankiewicz years ago. In which some poor fellow running away from the black and tans. Dives into a poor building in Dublin. And runs up the stairs, away from the so of british soldiers. And falls into room, which is a synagogue. He's never been in such a thing at all. And then he looks around. It's obviously not a catholic chapel. [00:59:56] And he sees a man davening, with long white beard. And he's reading something that he cannot understand. From a language, in an Alphabet or in letters he cannot understand. And finally he says in his book, irish accent, to him, what is this? The rabbi says, we are an ancient people, and we have been exiled from our homes all over the world. We are even here in Ireland. Oh, should the young man with the recognition coming into his eyes. I have an aunt in Galway. [01:00:37] She says that the aunt are one of the lost tribes. [01:00:44] And ive always remembered the rabbi with his back to the boy. So you only see his face, and you see this look come across his face. He says, no, my boy. [01:00:56] Theyre not as lost as that. [01:01:02] I say that because my mothers people came from the jewish community in Dublin. [01:01:10] No, I mean, the fact of the matter is that basically when you look at this whole thing, you have an amazing, amazing thing. This is a wedding. Did you know the Bible begins with the wedding and ends with the wedding? [01:01:26] Did you know that it begins with the earthly marriage between Adam and Eve for time till death part? [01:01:36] And do you know it ends with an eternal marriage between the lamb and the wife of the lamb forever? [01:01:45] And do you know that the middle of your Bible, in the song of songs, you had the most incredible marriage? [01:01:55] And according to jewish tradition, this was an allegory of the love of God for Israel, for his redeemed. In other words, the Bible is explained by a marriage. [01:02:13] It is all to do with love and service and loyalty and commitment and trust. [01:02:25] It is therefore incredible that here in Hosea chapter two, we discover that there are those who were not his people, who were alienated from God, to whom no covenants had been given, to whom no promises had been given, who were, as it were, beyond the pale. [01:02:52] And now God says, you are my people, and you have become my people through a jewish messiah. [01:03:05] Now the covenants are yours. [01:03:10] Now the Messiah is yours. [01:03:14] Now the promises are yours. [01:03:17] Now everything is yours. But just wait. [01:03:25] This does not mean God has forgotten his ancient people. [01:03:36] That to me is the most extraordinary thing about this chapter, because here he says, this faithless, unfaithful one who is in love with everyone and everything except the Lord. [01:03:52] He says, and I will betroth you to me forever. [01:04:01] Dear people of God, I believe we are very near to this. [01:04:15] And I believe that the powers of darkness who thank God, do not know everything. [01:04:22] They are created being, not uncreated being. [01:04:27] They do not know everything. [01:04:30] They have limited knowledge greater than ours and all of ours put together, but nevertheless, still they have limited knowledge. Those powers of darkness have picked up this truth. [01:04:47] They know that their end will be told out when Israel comes home to the Lord. [01:04:59] And for that reason, those powers of darkness and evil will mobilize everything they have. They will mobilize the whole of hell, every weapon they can produce to liquidate these people, annihilate them, destroy them before any such miracle of salvation can take place and before the whole person, purpose of God, can come full circle and be completed. [01:05:35] Beloved friends, there are natural branches to come back into their own olive tree. [01:05:47] Those natural branches are at this present time, for the most part, lying everywhere, faceless, unsaved life. [01:06:14] I'm not saying I think something that is unbiblical I'm almost afraid to use the biblical term, but if you look through romans 910 and eleven, you will find they're fallen, lost, blind, hardened enemies of the gospel. [01:06:37] What a catalogue. [01:06:40] Away. [01:06:42] Oh, what a catalogue. What a catalogue. But still loved. [01:06:50] The final chapter is being written. [01:06:57] It is quite simple and you and I are in it. [01:07:03] Can you imagine anything more wonderful? [01:07:06] People have waited for years to be in this last chapter. They have died in faith and have not been in the last chapter. But by the grace of God. You and I are in the last chapter. Now. Dear friends, is it any wonder that Paul calls this a mystery? [01:07:26] Is it any wonder, I mean, listen to him. Does this make sense now? And a new way to you. I will read it again. We've already read it earlier. Listen to this. For as you gentiles in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by the jewish people's disobedience. [01:07:53] Even so have these the jewish people also now been disobedient that by the mercy shown to you, they also may now obtain mercy. [01:08:09] Why this is Hosea. [01:08:12] This is exactly what Hosea said, isn't it? [01:08:17] Hosea said it. He said, so if you were once not the people of God, but now the Lord said, says, you are my people. Now he turns to those who were once his people, who have somehow other wandered away and followed other lovers. [01:08:36] And he says, you shall also be my people again. [01:08:42] You got it. [01:08:45] How did you come to the Lord? Through therefore. [01:08:52] How will they come to the Lord? By the mercy shown to you, through therefore. Very simple, very simple, willy, isn't it when you see it, if you don't see it, it's complex. What is he talking about? Going on and on and on. It's about time we finished this meeting. [01:09:16] No, my dear friends, its wonderful when you see it. When God reveals a secret to us, our whole being is illumined. [01:09:29] It is so amazing. [01:09:31] And this is a secret that only God can show. Is it any wonder he calls it a mystery, a secret? And is it any wonder that he bursts into a peer and of praise he says, who can instruct the Lord? Who has ever given to the Lord? And the Lord is in debt to him. [01:09:53] Who's been the counselor of the Lord? [01:09:57] Who can trace the ways of the Lord? Who can trace out the ways of the Lord? [01:10:06] Then he says, for of and through him and to him are all things. [01:10:15] In other words, the natural branches coming back into their own olive tweets will signal the completion of the purpose of God. [01:10:32] No wonder the whole of hell is mobilized. No wonder the powers of darkness are in turmoil. No wonder there is so much activity everywhere. No wonder the most inexplicable things are happening to those servants of God in the forefront of this battle all over the world. [01:10:57] We are nearing the completion, as simple as that. May God touch your heart if you know all this clearly. May God establish you this evening in that in a way that will make you an intercessor and involve you in the fulfillment of God's purpose in the days in which we live. [01:11:24] May he make you someone who cannot get away from travailing prayer. [01:11:32] May he preserve us all the cranks, but at the same time, may he create real members of the body of the Lord Jesus that will pray and fulfill a ministry. [01:11:50] The Lord touch your heart, and if you've never seen these things, may he open your eyes like a new baby. May your eyes open to another world. A new world. May you begin to see, if only dimly at first. May you begin to see as you've never seen before. [01:12:11] God, do it. [01:12:13] Thank you.