Hosea 2-3, "What Kind of Lover Is God?"

Hosea chapter 2 and 3 beginning both chapters. Hear the word of the Lord Say to your brothers you are my people and to your sisters you have received mercy. Plead with your mother plead for she is not my wife and I'm not her husband.

Did she put away her whoring from her face and her adultery from between her breasts? Let's I strip her naked and make her as in the day She was born and make her like a wilderness and make her like a parched land and kill her with thirst Upon her children.

Also, I will have no mercy because they are children of whoredom for their mother has played the whore she who conceived them has acted shamefully where she said I will go after my lovers who Give me my bread and my water my wool and my flax my oil and my drink.

Therefore I will hedge her way with thorns and I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths. She shall pursue her lovers, but shall not overtake them. She shall seek them but shall not find them.

Then she shall say I will go and return to my first husband for it was better for me then than now and She did not know that it was I who gave her the grain the wine and the oil And who lavished on her silver and gold Which they used for bail.

Therefore I will take back my grain in his time and my wine in his season and I will take away my wool and my flax Which were to cover her nakedness and I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of of her lovers and no one shall rescue her out of my hand and I will put an end to all her mirth her feast her new moons her Sabbath's and All her appointed feast and I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees Which she said these are my wages which my lovers have given to me.

I will make them a forest and the beasts of the field shall devour them and I will punish her for the feast days of the balls when she burned offerings to them and Adorned herself with her ring and jewelry and went after her lovers and forgot me declares the Lord.

Therefore behold I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her and there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Acre a door of hope and there she shall answer as in the days of her youth as in the time when she came out of the land of Egypt and In that day declares the Lord you will call me my husband and no longer.

Will you call me? My bail for I will remove the names of the bails from her mouth and they shall be remembered by name No more and I will make for them a covenant on that day With the beasts of the field the birds of the heavens and the creeping things of the ground and I will abolish The bow the sword the war from the land and I will make you lie down in safety.

And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and injustice and steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord. And in that day, I will answer declares the Lord.

I will answer the heavens and they shall answer the earth and the earth shall answer the grain the wine and the oil and they shall answer Jezreel. And I will sow her for myself in the land and I will have mercy on no mercy and I will say to Not my people You are my people and he shall say You are my God and The Lord said to me go again.

Love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins. So I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and a Homer and a lethwich of barley and I said to her You must dwell as mine for many days.

You shall not play the whore or belong to another man. So will I also be to you for the children of Israel shall dwell many days without King or Prince without sacrifice or pillar without ephod or household gods.

Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their King and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days. May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word.

What kind of lover is God? A Continually favorite subject is about kinds of love and what kind of Lover you are now. When I was young that discussion was dominated by CS Lewis who wrote the popular book the four loves.

Very good book. He said that there was first affection Greek word Storge affection. He wrote lives quote lives with humble undress. Private things. Soft slippers old clothes old jokes. The thump of a sleepy dogs tail on the kitchen floor.

The sound of a sewing machine. It's the love we might have for a pet or a favorite song or the familiar people that we've been thrown together with. Then there was friendship the Greek word philia. Lewis said that Ancient people thought that it was the greatest of loves.

The commitment to some Real friends you almost have to define friends these days. You can you know, I don't mean like the fake Facebook kind of friends. But someone you're really in a in a relationship with there were real you're committed to them.

They know you they can be committed to you a covenant that we share with those who are covenanted. To something greater than ourselves like a band of brothers. Lewis said that it was the love that was closest to heaven and the one that modern people have lost.

They've dismissed. Um dismissed it almost entirely. In fact, some modern people have almost no conception of Philia a real friendship because it's not productive. It doesn't cater to the consumer. It makes you stay loyal to people who aren't currently doing anything practical for you.

You know like to someone in a nursing home who can't do anything for you. It's the kind of love that we here call members to have for each other. When we ask you to commit to walk together in Christian love.

Well, then there's romantic love the Greek word eros Lewis said different from French friendship erotic lovers quote are always talking to one another about their love and are Normally face-to-face absorbed in each other.

It's celebrated in the Bible in the Song of Solomon. But besides that is oddly from our point of view not dwelt on much if at all elsewhere in Scripture, it's the love that our culture today says is Everything it's the meaning of life.

It's the key to happiness and fulfillment. We're told as a gift from God. It's a good thing. But it's an idol in our culture. Then there's what Lewis called following the King James Version charity. Agape the unconditional love the father has for us through the son.

The love exemplified by the cross by God giving himself for us not because of us. Not because we first loved him or we did something for him. We impressed him. Well anything that we could do but that he loved us and gave himself to make us right with himself.

That's Agape the unconditional love this is what is so disastrous. About describing the cross as some modern preachers do as a display of how much we're worth. They say some do now that the cross shows how valuable we are that we are worth dying for.

To redeem to buy back if that's the case. Then the cross isn't motivated by love by agape at all. It's just a good investment. You know, it's no more loving the cross is no more loving or sacrificial than if say you go back in time to the early 90s knowing what you know now and You invested all your money in Google stock.

Would that be a sacrifice? Would that be love? Of course not. It's just a good investment. It's pure self-interest. But the cross is love. It's the buying at great cost to oneself what is no longer valuable what has been devalued and cheapened and emptied.

Prostituted it's the love that makes the loved one valuable again. Well, that was Lewis's treatment of four kinds of love. Published in 1960 in 1992 Gary Chapman published a popular book called the five love languages probably you've heard of it.

It wasn't so much about different kinds of love. But about different ways of showing love like almost all treatments of quote love in our times. It's all about eros romantic love. About how to express love to your mate in a way that is interpreted as love.

Does your mate need words of affirmation or acts of service or gifts or quality time or physical touch? In order to feel love what kind of lover someone is is shown by which of those ways? He or she naturally expresses love.

More recently in fact revised just last April a man named Neil Burton MD Probably a psychiatrist publish an article in psychology today magazine entitled. These are the seven types of love. The first one Obviously not surprisingly in this environment is eros and then he repeats Lewis's kinds of love.

Without giving him any credit which seems to be you know on the verge of plagiarism. And then he adds three more of his own. The first of which that he's adding on his own that he calls let us LUD us.

Which he describes as quote a playful or uncommitted love. Which which of course is a contradiction in terms? Uncommitted love what in the world is that a quote? The focus is on fun. It's the Madonna love.

I guess, you know girls just want to have fun. It might involve seducing even quote conquest sex. Quote with no strings attached that of course is not love at all. It's just pure selfish consuming of another person because we live in a day that wants to endorse all kinds of sexual indulgence as Love we're now supposed to call lust Love and just in case you weren't sure that that man wasn't totally confused.

He then says that there's a kind of love that he calls feel Autia literally. Love of self self love and that's just okay you just. That's just an emptying of the word love of any real meaning at all. Because love is always supposed you can debate about kinds of love but love is always supposed to be about valuing caring about doing something for someone outside of yourself.

Now What kind of lover is God? Is he always affectionate, you know words of affirmation you see that kind of lover or is he our friend with philia sticks closer than a brother or Eros were the bride of Christ.

Even though some modern Americans think that's kind of creepy or does he have an unconditional love that means? Like a lot of people today assume that he just loves everybody in the same way maybe with a few rare exceptions.

That maybe they can be so evil that they lose his unconditional love which means it's not unconditional. Is it never mind? That's so confused some people but there's some rare exceptions like like Hitler.

Okay, is that my kind of lover? God is well here we see differently. God is here in Hosea. Like a jilted lover. He's suffering. He's angry. He's passionate and yes, he has unconditional love for his people redeeming love.

We see that here in the story of Hosea and Gober in six parts. First, there's the depravity. Second. There's the thorns. Third. There's severity. Fourth there's kindness. Fifth. There's the day and then finally the redeeming love.

What kind of lover is God? First he's the betrayed kind and we're the betrayers. We're the adulterers in this story the problem with the cheap modern idea of unconditional love. We just kind of deserve his love because we're not that horrible.

The problem with that is is that it doesn't see Who we are in this picture it thinks well, you know, come on we have our problems, but We're kind of cute army. We're well-meaning. We're kind of like puppies, you know.

Well, we sure we might occasionally make some disgusting little messes and chew up things. We're not supposed to chew up. But come on. We're adorable. How could anyone not love people like us? We're just so cute.

We're good boys and girls. We're affection inspiring. People think so naturally we think a god of affection. Storge is going to just he just naturally can't he can't help himself. He may get angry from time to time if we chew up something.

We're not supposed to but how come on we just say he'll just say eventually our shots. How can I stay angry? You're so cute. We don't see our depravity. The first five verses are Hosea the husband and the Lord the betrayed lover displaying the depravity of The betrayer and he's speaking to the three children.

Remember the three children the first Jezreel. God sows literally no mercy and not my people. Say to each other. Children you are brothers and sisters you have received mercy have friendship filia covenant love with each other but in verse 2 plead with your mother.

That's us. Okay, plea beg her to be reasonable. You plead with people? To get them to see something that should be obvious and it's in their best interest. You you have to plead with sinners to stop sinning because their sin makes them so depraved.

They can't see that they are destroying themselves with their sin. They're in unable to see how sinful they are here plead that she put away her immorality. Plead with us. That we forsake our sin. It should be obvious.

That our sin whatever it is is bad for us, but we so often go back to it time and again. This we're depraved. What kind of lover is God? But he's one who pleads with those he loves. Sometimes you have to plead with people to get them to see what will happen if they don't change.

They continue the way they are, you know, stop eating so much or you'll get overweight. You'll get heart disease or diabetes should be obvious. But sometimes you have to plead with people here in verse 3 stop being so immoral.

Stop stripping naked for other men or or God says he will strip you naked in front of everyone. He'll put you to shame. He threatens in his pleading he says I'll strip her like the day she was born. I'll make her with nothing to offer.

Make it with nothing attractive. Like it like a desert desert had nothing to offer those springs of water. There's nothing refreshing. There's no fruit. There's no food. There's nothing there and God says I'm gonna make her like that.

So that anyone who sees her will not be attracted to her. No one will want her. No one will want what she has to offer and so that that that love that eros that she craves. No one will give her. And so her children will get no mercy in verse 4.

They're the product of immorality. Because in verse 5 their mother has been immoral every everything coming from her is is shameful. She she resolved in the second half of verse 5 to pursue her lovers.

She made that decision. Thinking that from them. She would be fed and clothed and housed in comfort not from her husband. It was from the lovers the idols the things other things besides the Lord for us.

Maybe the mammon or the eros or the ego, whatever it is. We think supplies our needs here. She thought the other lovers will do that. They'll supply her needs but that's immorality. It's a shame to be exposed.

God exposes the depravity the the emptiness that of those that he is pursuing that he is pleading with that He loves. That's is why part of being genuinely converted is coming to a sense of our own filthiness.

Because he's pleading with us through the spirit and when he finally when he when he finally speaks to us. We have a sense of shame. So we cry out Wretched man that I am who will save me from this body of death.

This is why the gospel of self-esteem. You know that you need to you need so-called self-love. Your problem is you don't love yourself enough. Some people tell tell us you need Phil Altea. Self-love constant words of affirmation.

You need to you need to see the cross at the display of how much you're worth. That's so self-defeating. That's not what we need to see. We need to see our depravity. That nothing in our hands we bring.

But only to the cross. We can cling what kind of lover is God. We see in three therefore's. Three consequences there are issuing first five verses about our depravity. The consequence of that depravity three therefore's in verses six nine and fourteen therefore.

Because they are depraved because we are depraved. God says I'm doing this. What kind of lover is God. He's not a deistic one kind of a passive one. Who just lets us go our way? Living however, we want to live unpursued.

You might send a few nice words our way, but he just lets us be. He's not like a passive man who lets the immoral wife go merrily on her way because you know, but we're told today. It's just it's too possessive.

People think now it's too possessive to put up a fight. I've seen over the last few years admittedly only glimpses of it through Facebook, but I had someone I know Superficially around here married couple that had a child.

Just turned six just a few days ago. Then for unknown reasons because Facebook is so perversely superficial that that relationship broke up and soon the the ex-wife had a new boyfriend and they got married and had another child about three months after the wedding and I saw that they had a birthday party for the first child the older child who just turned six a few days ago.

At the YMCA pool. I'll be this last year about this time and the father of the first child was there. Happily swimming along with his ex-wife and her new husband like everything is just cool. We're just one big happy family.

And now I don't know what happened behind the scenes but biblically. Someone betrayed someone. There's no such thing as a no-fault divorce in the Bible. So either one or both of them was at fault, but the attitude was, you know, we're just too mature.

We're too cool to be to be troubled by. Whatever the sin was the betrayal we're too we're too we're beyond being upset by it. That's not maturity. That's just calling evil good. That's just I Don't know but God is not like that at all.

God doesn't get along amicably with his exes therefore in verse 6 because of their depravity. Because of their betrayal. He says I will hedge her way with thorns. As I will put up thorns as hedges full of thorns along her path to force her to go.

The way I want her to go. Because it will be too painful to try to veer off the path that she's being directed on. Have you ever tried to walk through thorns? I have it's not pleasant. So you just you don't want to go through the thorns.

In other words. God is saying that he will make her life so hard. That there'll be there'll be things happening. That will force her to go where she doesn't want to go and we'll just but she'll that should be her path.

And this path looks so good at first. There's this life of immorality with lovers lavishing her with gifts. When she thought yeah, this is the way this is nice. I'll go this way. But God will make it as make it so that she's forced to make decisions.

Like it's as if she's walled in there's walls on every side that are there's no other way to go then the way That is open. She can't find that comfortable path that she thought she started on. She'll go looking for more lovers.

But the thorns the painful events the wall. Whatever it is the debt. The health problems the impact of her lifestyle on her appearance the addiction. Maybe maybe a surly kind of bitter attitude will keep them from her.

The Lord makes life hard for those he's pursuing. Until they decide at the end of verse 7 notice that I will go back. She will sit. This is her speaking to herself. I will go back to my first husband.

For it was better for me then then now. Like the prodigal son had to get so hungry. You know, they wanted the pigs food. Yet he get he had to get to that level before he realized that well. Hey, man, life is better with dad.

And so the Lord will make will make Gomer hit bottom. Here though, it's clear in this story. The the Lord is in control of the thorns of the hard life. He's actually growing them to. To move her along in the direction He wants her to go.

The thorns are meant to keep you from getting comfortable in yours in your sin and to wake you up. To come back to him before the thorns in verse 5 we betrayers think. You know our life our stuff our food everything that that we have that we enjoy that it all comes from.

Not the Lord it comes from our idols. It comes from that mammon or that eros or whatever it is. We serve but then the thorns. The thorns separate us from that easy life. That whether we thought serving money or pleasure or eros or self love would provide.

Now all we get is a hard path of a desert land with thorns keeping us from. Going back where we thought we were going. Maybe it'd be a pandemic or a fear of one comes. Takes it all away. That's that's so we'll know that while God may provide through money or through a Relationship or through a family through a career that money or those other things Shouldn't be our God.

We did not know at verse 8 until the thorns. That it was the Lord who gave us all the things that we need the grain the wine the oil. That it was the Lord who lavished on us his gifts. He was supplying our needs.

We thought we earned it. We thought we earned it by our service to our God other gods. We we serve mammon and he gave us back prosperity. We did not know but we should have known That the Lord provides so it took thorns to get us to see that that life is better Serving him.

Think about the fact that it took crucifixion talk about a thorn. Took crucifixion to get the thief on the cross to see that Jesus was King. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day and there may I though vile as he Wash all my sins away.

What kind of lover is God. Therefore in verse 9, this is the second consequence of our betrayal. The second second display of what kind of lover God is we see his severity. Because the Lord was lavishing us with great gifts.

While we were betraying him. We were serving mammon or we were serving eros or sports or self-love or whatever other idol we had. While God was providing us with his gifts, therefore God will take back those lavish gifts here.

He'll take back the grain the wine the clothes take back the vineyard which produces the wine the Refreshing juice he could take back today our prosperity. He can take it back very easily. Can't he haven't we seen how easily he can unleash a virus that stops us from Working or shuts down our sports or our movies.

He can take it all away. We said that will follow the word. But he'll expose how How worldly we are in verse 10. He says he'll expose the lewdness the the depravity. He'll expose the betrayal of our sins.

We may cover it up make it look respectable, but he will expose it. We cover it up with our Professions that we believe his word, but in our lateral life, he'll expose how maybe how individualistic we are.

We don't really say to our brothers and sisters. You are my people is in verse 1. We don't have philia Friendship for them. He exposes our worldliness. The Lord exposed the lewdness of churches that didn't speak up against racism because they were so full of people who were part of The problem in his severity.

He exposes the shame of His people that he's pursuing. So those people other people around them. Well, they don't want. They don't want their religion or here. They don't want Gomer anymore. Notice God is not always speaking the love language of words of affirmation.

In verse 11 got verse 11 God says I will stop all her mirth. Always heard her good times gonna put an end to it. Oh girls just want to have fun, huh? Well, he'll make sure they can't have fun anymore maybe trap them inside in the virtual house arrest for months on end because of a virus the feast the movies the fairs the Concerts the games the March Madness the meets the races the plays the bowling alleys, whatever.

It's all Banned all closed. If you wouldn't enjoy God, he'll take away everything else that you enjoyed instead. And so he lays waste the vines here the fig trees. Maybe for us the ice cream parlors the movie theaters everything that was pleasant that we thought that this world had given us.

Because we paid them. And so he will punish us his betrayers in verse 13 for everything we enjoyed. Not as a way of enjoying the Lord Not as a way to glorify him, but we enjoyed it for ourselves because of our own Self-love our feel ought to you for the way we gave ourselves.

What makes us look good for the body the money the car that the house the jewelry the achievement and We'll enjoy ourselves. Most of all that's what we live for. To enjoy ourselves and glorify ourselves forever.

And we forgot in all of that. We forgot The Lord. Oh, we may have used him from time to time in our religion, but we forgot The Lord and so he says that he'll take all those things away then. We think we can insulate ourselves From his judgment from him taking away all those things we can you know, if we have enough money.

We have a good insurance policy enough guns big walls a security system a protective family the right government. Oh, we could we can insulate him ourselves from his judgment, but he assures us in verse 10.

No one shall rescue her out of my hand. He is indeed a Possessive Lover. What kind of lover is God? In Romans chapter 11 verse 22 Paul says notice the kindness and Severity of God. Well, we see the severity now.

Notice the kindness. Therefore in verse 14, this is the third consequence of the depravity of those who betray him. Behold notice this. I Will God speaking I will allure her. Suddenly the tone has changed.

I Will speak tenderly to her. He'll restore her vineyards. It produces the thing what he said earlier that he will dry them up turn into a forest. So it's productive for nothing now. He will restore them.

So it produces juice. It produces wine refreshment and and he says he will make the valley of a core. Literally, it means the valley of the word. A core means trouble this valley of trouble the experience of afflictions a problem.

That she went through because of the thorns. Because the Lord took everything else away the time of trouble he says becomes a door of hope. The affliction the the thorns the walls the desert emptiness the parching thirst all those things that that God Surrounded us with because he would not let us go our way to destroy ourselves.

That affliction becomes he says a threshold Into hope. It's an entrance to a new life. There in a time of trouble that valley of a core valley of trouble Turned into a doorway of hope there there will be a rebirth of that first love in verse 15.

She shall in that in that valley when she goes to that threshold of hope she shall answer as in the days of her youth. It's a restoration of a first love in his kindness to us his gifts. He will inspire our words of affirmation of adoration for him.

What kind of lover is God? He's kind he speaks tenderly words of affirmation and affection and This will happen. That the kindness of God He says in that day. The day that's at the fifth part. The the times from verses 16 to 23 that the Lord says that he will show his kindness to his bride is in That day that day is is now in 1st Corinthians chapter 10 verses verse 11 says that the Old Testament was written for us on whom the us on whom the end of the Age that is the that day that the day of the Lord has Come it's come already.

I was this is that day in that day now Hosea says the relationship of love Will be restored. So we'll speak to God as tenderly as he speaks to us we won't call him by some some pagan title for God like.

But bail or ball literally means master the old gods that attracted people with promises of fertility and Prosperity like bail will be forgotten in verse 17 serving mammon. Thinking that the secret to life is just getting rich.

That's how you take care of yourself. That will be forgotten then in verse 18. The Lord says I will make a covenant. He'll make it for us with nature for our benefit nature will be at peace. So that the animals Yes, that includes the viruses Won't hurt us anymore.

There will be no more invasions or terrorist attacks. We will have perfect Safety, he says then in verse 19. I will betroth you to me forever. What will be married to the Lord is the bride of Christ unshakably held by him and Because the relationship depends on his Agape his steadfast love righteousness justice Steadfast love Chesed and mercy three times.

God says I will Betroth you other words. I will engage myself. I will commit covenant To you it will be in faithfulness. Otherwise, it's totally reliable not dependent on moods and Different feelings on whether you're convenient to him anymore.

There's no love without faithfulness without commitment. None of that silly self-serving let us there's there's fateful committed steadfast loyal Unconditional love. In that day, which is now from verses 21 to 23 notice what kind of lover God is.

He's an active one works of service is one of his love languages. He's not a remote kind of deistic God. He's at work. He's answering. He's responding. He's giving us what we need just like the weather that the skies Gives the earth what it needs to grow that the rain and the sunshine.

That the grain the wine the oil the food the things we need with the things we depend on will then enter back to God. It says Jezreel remember what that means means God sows God plants that means the the things that people pursue.

Often pursue instead of God those things will in that day, which is now Give glory to God. They will point us back to God. It's kind of ironic that aren't today our money which many people pursue says right on it in God we trust.

It's telling us the money itself is telling us Jezreel God sows he's the source of everything you need. Well, they'll say to us all the things That people around us often pursue as their idols. They'll say to us God provided us.

God provided us dollars. Food as cars as houses. He provided us for you. God did it wasn't your idols? It was a bale or mammon or eros or the government. God sows he plants What you need. God says I will sow.

So that you will be provided for he says I Will have mercy. I will have affection friendship unconditional love on no mercy and I will say to Not my people. He will speak tenderly tenderly to them words of affirmation to us you are my people and We shall say we former betrayers.

We X X's will say You are my God Abba father. Where chapter 2 is the prophecy? Chapter 3 is the story. It's the story of redeeming love. Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die. Well at first in chapter 1 that the Lord had told him to to marry an immoral woman.

Now in chapter 3 The Lord says go again. Love a woman's the same woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Do that because that's just how the Lord loves his people. Redeeming love. Well, they turn to other gods with a Bale then with his cakes of raisins or mammon now with his big big bank accounts.

Big houses of cars or eros with its honeymoons our ego with its trophies. We chase other gods and the result is that we end up as their slaves. We chase other gods. But then the Lord chases after us. The Lord said that he would hedge her in with thorns.

That all the pleasures of the life of immorality that she pursued that they would dry up and be like a desert land. For Gomer that meant somehow we don't know all the details, but somehow she went from being the party girl to a prostitute owned by some pimp and The Lord said that he would strip her naked.

Now if she was sold at the slave market, she would have been stripped literally naked as the men bid on her. So imagine Hosea showing up at them showing up at the auction. There's Gomer on the stand naked.

Bidding starts. Auctioneer says bidding starts at five shekels. Hosea starts. Someone bid six. Hosea bid seven. Someone else raises it to eight. Hosea counters with nine. Now the guy takes it to ten. Auctioneer.

Do I hear 11. 11. Some man raises his hand before Hosea can get to it. Hosea goes to 12. Is there a 13? Yes, the auctioneer sees there's a hand back there 13. Hosea raises it 14. One last man bids 15.

Hosea says I'll see that 15 and add a Homer and a lethwich of barley worth about another 15 shekels so he's doubled the price and Sealed the deal. Gomer's taken off the stand. Her head bowed in shame and handed over to her new owner and she looks up and sees.

It's Hosea her husband. Whom she had forsaken. He paid for what he should never have had to pay for. Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die. If she's redeemed and the response to being redeemed in verse 3 you must dwell as mine for many days.

You shall not play the whore in other words. Don't give yourself to other gods. That's a money or the eros or the ego or to feel law to yourself love. I will be to you God says your husband then God's people.

The Israel that he has mercy on that he loves unconditionally with that steadfast Covenant love that he has that he has sown it. He's scattered. He's planted around the earth. Well, he will gather them from all nations.

They will have their idols in their temple destroyed. They will live in the world under its kings and then when the Lord speaks tenderly to them. When he allures them with the gospel when he draws them with cords of kindness then They return to the Lord who made a covenant with them from eternity past.

They seek the Lord to be their God. Not mammon or eros or self-love or whatever else is offered. They they seek the one who fulfills that covenant with David who's the king of the kingdom of God. They will seek Jesus their king and they shall come at the end of chapter 3.

They are coming. We are coming in Fear and reverence trembling at his word. They are coming. We are coming To his goodness his kindness. We are coming Because he's shown his love for us and that while we were still sinners when we were depraved.