Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: hosea

  • REPENTANCE! Rated ‘R’ – but Not for Revival

    REPENTANCE! Rated ‘R’ – but Not for Revival

    I will ransom them from the power of the grave;

    I will redeem them from death:

    O death, I will be thy plagues;

    O grave, I will be thy destruction:

    repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

    Hosea 13:14 KJV

    a Gathering of the Dead with NO Hope of Revival

    When the Prophets spoke a convicting word of repentance to the professed chosen of the LORD, WHY didn’t THEY repent?

    Could it be that THEY refused to hear ANY word of conviction – an accountably of the GOD’s indictment of SIN?

    (And like THEM, who among us is not GUILTY of hiding OUR sins from the Lord as we would like to think on occasion after occasion?)

    Are those ancient LEADERS and PEOPLE of Judah, Israel and the nations JUST LIKE US?

    Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out - Acts 3: Peter preaching repentance
    Repentance!

    Repentance oft’ served bitterly in the King James

    (Of course most shepherds of Christ's 21st c. churches resist a call of evangelism by reading the KJV. Most will not preach any convicting word of God given to fallen people through His PROPHETS from ANY translation of the Holy Bible.) 

After all, who comes to church to REPENT?

    The Prophets use severe terms that a pastor hardly dare preach

    – the ‘R’ rated word of the LORD –

    NOT ever to be spoken to a sweetened Sunday flock of young christians, gracefully posing alongside a remnant of the faithful, as sinless sheep.

    AND IF you are not repentant about your continued sins against Him don’t think that your preferred personal designation of ‘King Jesus’ will save you from the grave.

    We certainly wouldn’t want our Jesus-lovers sent home sorrowful [נֹחַם] over our sin.

    Yet this is exactly the other meaning of the repentance of which the Prophet speaks in saying that the LORD will hide YOUR sorrow from His eyes.

    Hosea and other ‘minor’ prophets will often rail on bitterly in a specific call of repentance.

    The LORD reminds Israel through Hosea’s words and obedient unexpected actions of their former disobedience to obey their promises to Him.

    The LORD’s word by the mouth of His Prophets may not only be bitter and offensive, but rated ‘R’ in the church gathering of culturally inclusive Sunday audience.

    So would you with ears to hear prefer to hear the LORD in easier English than the King James? 
(Any translation of Scripture can be convicting to a heart open to receive the word of the Lord.)

    It is your ruin, O Israel,

    That you are against Me, against your help…

    I gave you a king in My anger
    And took him away in My wrath.

    Hosea 13:9.11 LSB

    The LORD laments over Israel when He sorrowfully gave them Saul as a king —

    and then David, a man after God’s own heart

    — and Solomon who built the Temple

    — and his sons who as kings of Israel and Judah lost favor, because these kings and their subjects most often refused to repent.

    Returning to Hosea's calling and also the King James:

    Hosea 1:

    The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

    The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea.

    And the LORD said to Hosea,

    Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.

    • Would you like to go tell your President or king THAT?
    • Dare you call your congregation and country ‘children of whoredoms?’ [v.2]
    • Will you warn them “.. ye are not my people, and I will not be your God?” [v.9]

    AND from there, the LORD gets even more graphic in HIS imagery of nakedness of the sin of his CHOSEN PEOPLE who bear witness to HIS NAME (supposedly).

    IS THAT how we witness JESUS when we whisper to Him gracefully on Sunday?

    “‘King Jesus,’ WE love what you have done for US,”

    Christ gets little mention.. no honor.. no priority in six and a half days of our weekly life?

    When do YOU ever Talk of JESUS outside of the walls of a ‘worship’ service?

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com

    Repent & Turn back to your Savior

    Here’s the idea of Repentance when you have an argument with God:

    COMPLAINT!
    Job 6: “my complaint is just.’ BUT finally the LORD answers Job in a whirlwind (think tornadic pillar of fire!)

    Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

    Job 42:6

    And Job was a righteous man!

    But to the unrighteous kings, princes and people God warns Israel and commands his last Prophet of Israel, Hosea:

    Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.

    Hebrew – נָחַם

    KJV Translation Count — Total: 108x
    The KJV translates Strong’s H5162 in the following manner: comfort (57x), repent (41x), comforter (9x), ease (1x).
    Outline of Biblical Usage [?]
    to be sorry, console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted

    Source: BlueLetterBible.org

    Repent – Greek – μετανοέω

    Do you recognize the comfort of having your guilt removed by God when you repent of sin?

    Of course YOU are not alone. For your witness of Christ our Savior ought to be that WE are included with THEM in that all have sinned [Romans 3]. JESUS paid the full price the justice of God requires (even for repentant sinners like you and me).

    Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

    The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 2:5 KJV – THIS to the 1st c. CHURCH at Ephesus 
    Shepherds of 21st c. churches also resist the New Testament repentance of preaching Jesus' Revelation of THE END to sheepish christian congregations more entertained than revived.

YES, JESUS is KING of Kings and Lord of lords! Is your worship of the KING appropriate to His call to obedience?

    Lexicon :: Strong’s G3340 – metanoeō

    Outline of Biblical Usage [?]
    to change one’s mind, i.e. to repent

    to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins

    “Repentance (metanoia, ‘change of mind’) involves a turning with contrition from sin to God; the repentant sinner is in the proper condition to accept the divine forgiveness.” (F. F. Bruce. The Acts of the Apostles [Greek Text Commentary], London: Tyndale, 1952, p. 97.)

    Source: BlueLetterBible.org

    Repent ye G3340 therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

    Acts of the Apostles 3:19 KJV

    This is how Peter and the Apostles preached.

    Peter Replied: Signs Preached from Solomon’s Porch
    Yet Peter replied also inviting their response.

    Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

    Acts 4:4 KJV

    Revival?

    I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;
    I shall redeem them from Death.
    O Death, where are your plagues?
    O Sheol, where is your sting?
    Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

    Hosea 13:14 ESV

    Aren’t followers of Jesus — Ἰησοῦς His NAME means: “Jehovah is salvation” — ransomed from the cost of sin and the power of Sheol by the price He paid on the Cross?

    Since JESUS IS GOD, aren’t His followers redeemed by Him from Death?

    Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
    whoever is discerning, let him know them;
    for the ways of the LORD are right,
    and the upright walk in them,
    but transgressors stumble in them.

    Hosea 14:9 ESV – the Prophet’s closing cautions to the wise in the Lord.

    The root of revival is ‘to live!’ – חָיָה

    Yet Hosea warns that transgressors will stumble into Sheol and Death.

    AND David sings out in Psalm 37: He Will Not Forsake His Saints

    v.38 But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;
    the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

    Shall the transgressor of Christ’s grace receive carte blanche revival from the grave without witness of the saving Cross of JESUS?

    In fact, what did the King of kings and Lord of lords have to say about such revival?

    Gospel Truth (and the Way and the Life)

    “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord.. And then will I declare to them,

    ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

    Matthew 7:21-23 excerpt ESV

    The word for lawlessness Jesus uses is: ἀνομία – anomia – its definition:

    contempt and violation of law, iniquity, wickedness

    When a man thought a family obligation should delay his discipleship to the Lord Jesus he received an unexpected answer from the Son of Man who could actually revive the dead:

    And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

    Matthew 8:22 ESV

    NO, I do not believe that we will have REVIVAL in the Church (people, and not the building of certain Shepherds) WITHOUT first witnessing the fruit of REPENTANCE by the crowds from which Jesus fled.

    What do YOU think, my fellow follower of Christ Jesus?

    Repentance OR Revival?

  • Epistle from the Council of Jerusalem – Acts 15:20

    Epistle from the Council of Jerusalem – Acts 15:20

    The Council of Jerusalem has come to a decision. They will write an epistle of instruction to the gentile churches.

    Let's focus for a moment on a HOT TOPIC of A.D. 50 on which future missions of the apostles hinged.

(HOW will JEWS worship with other CULTURES?)

Church leaders ANSWERED with an EPISTLE from their Council in Jerusalem.

    ἐπιστολή – a written message: — epistle, letter

    So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle: G1992

    Acts of the Apostles 15:30, King James Version

    WHAT DO WE DO WHEN AS SOON AS WE MAKE AN IMPORTANT DECISION IMPACTING EVERYONE?

    We send out an epistle or letter or message or broadcast.

    AND like any council with authority this council of Church leaders in Jerusalem go back to their followers personally as well. These apostles of the gospel will also send their epistle or letter of instruction with other trusted messengers to churches they cannot encourage personally.

    We're getting a little ahead of today's work of the Jerusalem Council, but I thought it important to DEFINE our term and impact of today's meeting of the Apostles in Jerusalem.

    Lexicon :: Strong’s G1992 – epistolē

    – From ἐπιστέλλω (G1989) epistellō –

    Outline of Biblical Usage

    • to send one a message, command
    • to write a letter
    • to enjoin by letter, to write instructions

    Christians familiar with traditional readings of Scripture from the King James Version recognize an introduction like:

    “A reading from the Epistle of Paul to the Romans.”

    The cover letter pictured is an actual parchment of Romans 1:1-7

    Acts of the Apostles 15:30 [above] reads ‘epistle‘ in the KJV.

    But most Bibles simply translate it ‘letter.’

    You may have seen a similar epistle in Acts 9 where Luke records a previous ‘official letter’ also sent with Paul (aka at that time Saul of Tarsus) from Jerusalem.

    Damascus Road: Witness into all the World
    But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
    – Acts of the Apostles 9:1-2 ESV

    Christians familiar with the epistles or letters of the New Testament (after Acts) see epistles addressed to an individual church, i.e. Corinth, Ephesus, where these letters were also circulated to churches throughout and beyond those regions.

    However this important earlier letter from the Council at Jerusalem was sent to as many churches as possible. And the Apostles gathered in Jerusalem specifically address Gentiles as participants and members.

    SO It could have, but was not, named:

    The Epistle of the Council of Jerusalem,

    TO the Church at Antioch Syria (where it is to be sent) OR due to apostles sent out into all the world:

    ‘TO the churches of the Gentile Nations.’

    Leaders of the Christians in Antioch had requested clarification from the Apostles and leaders of the church in Jerusalem. Most Hellenist or Greek church members were Gentiles rather than Jews of the Diaspora.

    Acts 15 – Conclusion of Pastor James

    Truth for Gentiles who turn to God
    Previously, from ACTS 15:6-19

    Do not trouble those turning to God

    .. we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,
    but should write to them
    to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.

    Acts 15:19b-20 ESV

    Don’t cause trouble. Do not annoy. Do not harass. 

    You get the idea; this is what Saul of Tarsus had planned to do in Damascus with the authority of the Jewish Council to persecute the converted.

    ἐπιστρέφω – Lexicon :: Strong’s G1994 – epistrephō

    transitively, a. to turn to the worship of the true God, 
b. to cause to return, to bring back; figuratively, to the love and obedience of God ..

    Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God [theos] from among the Gentiles ἔθνος [ethnos].

    YES, God chose the Jews

    BUT why would we want to keep those Gentiles whom the Lord our God has drawn through Christ?

    AND WHY add requirements which would hinder Gentiles from turning to God?

    SO James adjudicates the matter also addressing the concerns of the Jews.

    EXCEPT these practices of Jewish Law

    Here, James adds a requirement for the Gentiles but it is NOT circumcision.
    • abstain from 
      • the things polluted by idols
      • sexual immorality
      • what has been strangled
      • [from] blood

    21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”

    Epistle of James greeting of 1:1 map major Jewish cities of Roman Empire - Rome Antioch Damascas Jerusalem Alexandria
    James .. To the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. Greetings.

    A Map [above] shows first century Jewish cities of the Roman Empire to which James refers in an epistle he authored most likely during Paul’s first missionary journey just prior to the Council at Jerusalem.

    As you can see, much more communication will be required to cover so many Hellenist cities with Jewish and Christian worshipers.

    Acts 15:20 King James Version — But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

    Scriptural (Old Testament) Reasons for James’ exceptions

    Pollutions of idols

    – Gen 35:2; Exo 20:3-5,23; Exo 34:15,16; Num 25:2; Psa 106:37-39; Eze 20:30,31;

    “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and go whoring after their detestable things? When you present your gifts and offer up your children in fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I *be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not *be inquired of by you.

    Ezra 20:30-31 KJV – *note: Lexicon :: Strong’s H1875 – dāraš
    Fornication – πορνεία – Lexicon :: Strong’s G4202 – porneia –
    • illicit sexual intercourse
      • adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc.
      • sexual intercourse with close relatives; Lev. 18
      • sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman; Mk. 10:11-12
    • metaph. the worship of idols
      • of the defilement of idolatry, as incurred by eating the sacrifices offered to idols

    The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of *whoredoms and children of *whoredoms: for the land hath committed great *whoredom, departing from the LORD.

    Hosea 1:2 KJV note: *Lexicon :: Strong’s H2183 – zᵊnûnîm
    from Lexicon :: Strong’s H2181 – zānâ – A primitive root [highly-fed and therefore wanton]
    Things Strangled – πνικτός pniktós, pnik-tos’

    from G4155; throttled, i.e. (neuter concretely) an animal choked to death (not bled):—strangled.

    and Blood – αἵματος – αἷμα Lexicon :: Strong’s G129 – haima of man or animals
     καὶ τοῦ αἵματος - "from what has been strangled, and from blood." - ESV is best understood in the context of Leviticus, Book of the Priests, which provides some detail about Sacrifices to God, which Christ became by His own Blood, the flesh of our Lord Jesus pierced for our transgressions.
    The Sacrifice of Blood
    Leviticus 17: ESV

    וַיִּקְרָא (Leviticus) 17 :: Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC)

    וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹֽר׃

    1. And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

    10 “If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people.

    For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls,
    for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

    Leviticus 17:11 ESV

    12 Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.

    13 “Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.

    For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.

    Leviticus 17:14 ESV

    Letter from the Council

    Acts 15:

    22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas…

    To Be Continued… 

    .. with the text of their Epistle authorizing apostles for another mission to the Gentiles.

  • Be Kind to One Another before..

    Be Kind to One Another before..

    teaching children to pray and be kind to one another

    “Be kind to each other before you must say,

    ‘I’m Sorry.’“

    Be kind to one another..

    Some children (it seems) never say ‘I’m SORRY,’ after they do bad things to you. But I know that you do because you are a kind child of God.

    Sound familiar? The parental leading or teacher’s prayer of repentance for your unkind words?

    “Be kind to one another, BEFORE you must repent.”

    A Lenten Short Take on Scripture

    That’s NOT in the Bible, is it?

    No, not in those exact words but this advice to the children of the Lord God resounds throughout the Bible.

    Some of us have been thinking about Lent as a time we should pray for forgiveness for all of our shortcomings — sins of commission and omission — things we have said that we ought not to have said..

    Sins of ours for which JESUS was NAILED TO THE CROSS!

    • Yet wouldn’t we do better to behave a Christ?
    • To act like JESUS in our relationships with others?

    Kindness OR Repentance?

    Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

    Letter of Paul to the Church at EPHESUS 4:32

    We teach this to our children. (And we claim to be children of the living God!)

    חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת אַל־יַעַזְבֻךָ קָשְׁרֵם עַל־גַּרְגְּרֹותֶיךָ כָּתְבֵם עַל־לוּחַ לִבֶּךָ׃

    CLICK HERE for translations of ENGLISH BIBLES Mishlei (Proverbs) 3:3 :: Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC)

    Repentance BEFORE Kindness

    What were your most recent unkind words for which you must repent?

    If our hearts would only have heeded the wise words of Scripture prior to allowing our tongues spew out unkind darts toward another, then our repentance and I’m sorries would not have been so required this day.

    When it is My desire,

    I will discipline them..

    Sow for yourselves, with a view to righteousness;
    Harvest in accordance with kindness.
    Break up your uncultivated ground,
    For it is time to seek the LORD
    Until He comes and rains righteousness on you.

    Hosea 10:10a,12 NASB20

    WHAT’S YOUR SHORT TAKE ON THESE SCRIPTURES ABOUT KINDNESS?

    • What unkind words have brought you to a need to repent?