"Children of God--No Longer Losers"
#92-08Presented on The Lutheran Hour on October 20, 2024
By Rev. Dr. Leopoldo Sanchez, Guest Speaker
Copyright 2024 Lutheran Hour Ministries
Reflections
Text: Hosea 12:2-6
A reading from Hosea, the 12th chapter: "The Lord has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways; He will repay him according to his deeds. In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us—the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord is His memorial Name: "So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God" (Hosea 12:2-6).
A loser is a consistently incompetent person. In the Bible, Jacob, Isaac's son and Abraham's grandson, fits this definition in a spiritual sense. Jacob is a loser, someone whose behavior does not match God's ways. And so is God's people Israel, whose collective name was first given by God to Jacob when he fought with him. Like his father Jacob, all his descendants, the people of God as a whole, are losers. Their behavior also leaves much to be desired, especially their lack of trust in God. Israel takes after his father Jacob. Like father, like son.
Jacob is a bit of a sketchy character, spiritually incompetent. He is known for his cunning and deceitful ways towards his twin brother Esau. In the text for today, God describes Jacob's habit of taking things from his older twin brother Esau. Already "in the womb he took his brother by the heel" (Hosea 12:3). Little Jacob got an early start as a cheater and trickster. Even the name Jacob, which means something like "one who supplants or overreaches," derives from this early attempt at taking from another what was not his. Later in life, Jacob's shenanigans come into full display. According to tradition, Esau, as the firstborn son of Isaac, would have been the rightful heir to his father's birthright and blessing. But at the instigation of his mother Rebekah, Jacob tricks his old and blind father into thinking he is Esau, stealing his brother's birthright and blessing from him. Esau had been hunting game to make a meal for his father Isaac, after which the patriarch promised to bless him. Upon his return, however, Esau found out what Jacob had done and rightly complains to his father Isaac about Jacob's shenanigans. Esau cries out: "Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing" (Genesis 27:36). Jacob comes across as a major loser.
Later, the Lord God changed the name of Jacob to Israel at Peniel when He fought with him, and Israel became the collective name of the whole people of God whom He saved from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. The Lord God revealed Himself to Moses and through His prophet saved His people Israel in the great exodus. Many years later, the prophet Hosea portrays this relationship between God and Israel as that of a loving and faithful father towards his disobedient and unfaithful son: "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols" (Hosea 11:1-2). Israel, like his father Jacob, was a loser, spiritually incompetent. Israel's perennial problem was his idolatry, putting his trust in idols. God, on the other hand, is a faithful Father who again and again goes after His erring son Israel to save him. But tragically, His son is obstinate, stiff necked, and will not repent and turn to Him for forgiveness and restoration.
In today's text, God, through His prophet Hosea, pronounces an indictment against Israel and Judah for their idolatry and their unjust deeds. At that time, the people of God (also known as the house of David) were split into the Northern kingdom of Israel with Samaria as its capital, and the Southern kingdom of Judah whose capital was Jerusalem. Although Hosea also called people in Judah to repentance, he primarily served as God's prophet to Israel up north, where idolatry was especially rampant among God's people. Up there, even the place Jacob once consecrated and called Bethel, meaning "house of God"—that place where God had met Jacob in days of old (Genesis 28:19)—had now in Hosea's time become desecrated to idols under a king by the name of Jeroboam (see 1 Kings 12:25-33). Israel in the north was a total loser, spiritually incompetent, an idolater, far from living in accordance with God's ways.
Hosea does not have an easy job. He finds out that Israel no longer listens to God's prophets. They do not heed God's call to repent of their sins. That is why God will throw them out of their home, from the land that He gave them. Because they have distanced themselves from Him, they will live in exile and will not bear spiritual fruit (see Hosea 9). Israel builds altars to other gods, sowing ungodliness and reaping iniquity throughout the land. But God will tear down the altars of Israel. And because of Israel's persistent sin, God will leave His son in the hands of Assyria, putting an end to the Northern kingdom (see Hosea 10). However, despite Israel's turning away from the care of his tender Father, God will continue to love His obstinate son as He has done since the days He delivered him from Egypt in the exodus: "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son" (Hosea 11:1; see Exodus 4:22-23). Although His children will live wandering among the nations, without a permanent home, the Lord will be compassionate, and like a roaring lion calling his cubs, He will gather His scattered children under one roof as one united house (see Hosea 11).
Through His prophet Hosea, God calls to repentance both Judah in the south and Israel (also called Jacob) in the north: "The Lord has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways; He will repay him according to his deeds" (Hosea 12:2).
What about us today? We too are God's children. What will God do to us when we are unfaithful and disobedient like His son Israel? Will the Lord also punish us according to our ways? Will He repay us according to our deeds?
To answer this question, we must see how God dealt with Jacob and then with Israel to see how God will deal with us. The prophet Hosea reminds us that Jacob wrestled with God from the very first moment he grasped Esau's heel in Rebecca's womb (cf. Genesis 25:26). That wrestling with God was at first that of a child who seemed obstinate to do things his way. Later in his life, however, after his acts of deceit against his father Isaac and ultimately his brother Esau, there is a turning point in Jacob's life. Hosea reminds us that Jacob literally wrestled with God's messenger at Peniel (see Genesis 32:22-32)—a bold act in which he sought God's blessing. But this was now a different kind of wrestling, one God would use to restore Jacob as an heir to the promise God had given to his grandfather Abraham, that through him many generations would be blessed. So, God fought with Jacob and eventually overcame him, wounding him and leading Jacob to repent and put his faith in God. As Hosea puts it, "in his manhood he [Jacob] strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His [God's] favor" (Hosea 12:3-4). God was working in Jacob, in this loser's heart, turning him into a repentant, obedient, and faithful son. At Bethel, a restored Jacob built an altar to God, and there God renewed the covenant established with his grandfather Abraham (cf. Genesis 35:1-15). God had mercy on His loser son. God restored a sinner to fellowship with Him, not because of Jacob's obedience and good works, but because of his unfailing and unmerited love toward His son.
Will God also renew His covenant with His unfaithful and disobedient son Israel, like He did with their father Jacob? Will God be their loving Father once again? And what about us, God's people today? Will God also lead us to repent of our sins against Him and our neighbors? For we are no heroes. We too are losers, sinners in need of God's forgiveness. Truly, we are no better than Jacob or his son, the people of Israel. We too are unfaithful and disobedient sons and daughters of God and seek to do things our way instead of God's way.
At times, we try to pick fights with God, even though He knows what is best for us. But will God care enough to fight us back? Will God come after us and pin us down? Will God restrain His sinful children and claim them as His own yet again? Will God love us that much to renew His covenant with us, to say to us, "You will be My people, My son, and I will be your God, your loving and gracious Father?" Will God speak with us again like He spoke with Jacob at Bethel? (Hosea 12:4b). Will "the Lord, the God of hosts" come to help us like He saved Israel in Egypt, and lead us by His Word to "return" to Him and "hold fast to love and justice"? (Hosea 12:5-6)
Hosea has good news for Israel, and for us, too! For in their exile, God will speak once again to Israel through His prophets, just as he did through Moses during the exodus and in the desert after crossing the Red Sea (Hosea 12:13). God will also protect them as He once cared for His son (and their father) Jacob during his days in the land of Aram (cf. Genesis 28:1-5, 15, 20-21) (see Hosea 12). God will call His people to repentance through His prophet Hosea, and Israel will turn back to the Lord confessing their sin. They will hear God's Word and cry out: "Take away all [our] iniquity" (Hosea 14:2). And God will set aside His anger to save Israel: "I will heal their apostasy," says the Lord, "I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them" (Hosea 14:4). God's people will return to the Lord and receive His life-giving Word, and His son Israel will cease to be a loser, to be spiritually incompetent and barren, and instead will live uprightly and flourish with the fragrance of righteousness (see Hosea 14:8-9).
Friends in Christ: God has a habit of turning losers into children, of turning sinners into sons and daughters. Despite the misguided actions of His children, God has made and renewed His covenant with them throughout the history of salvation. The Lord's faithfulness endures forever. Even God's Word of judgment and punishment aims to bring about repentance, so that He might then restore the disobedient child with His Word of forgiveness and comfort: "I will heal their waywardness ... [says the Lord]... I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them" (Hosea 14:4). Although Israel has broken the covenant God made with them in various ways, Hosea teaches us that God loves His children not because they are good, but out of His divine goodness and mercy without any merit or worthiness in us. In Hosea, it is not Israel's goodness that makes God seek after him, but rather it is God's free gift of grace which draws Israel back to him.
Jacob and Israel. A cheater and a bunch of idolaters. Losers turned into children of God. The promises of God to Jacob and the people of Israel find their fulfillment in Christ. The long-awaited reunification of God's children under one king, David, "in the last days" (Hosea 3:5; cf. 1:11), reaches its fulfillment in Christ, who will sit on "the throne of David His father," for "He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:32b-33). The covenant made with Abraham and renewed with Jacob (see Hosea 1:10, 12:3-5) extends to us too, to the Gentiles, not through our works of the law, but through faith in Christ, the seed of Abraham (Genesis 3:6-18). Through Christ's gracious rule in our lives, we too have become children of God's kingdom, members of His household.
A text from Hosea is explicitly quoted in the New Testament as a prophecy fulfilled in the life of Jesus: "Out of Egypt I called My Son" (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:15). In the Old Testament, God called His "firstborn son" Israel out of Egypt so that His son would be a light to the nations, but His son was unfaithful and pursued other gods. Israel worshipped the golden calf in the wilderness (cf. Exodus 32), and throughout its history bowed to other idols (Hosea 8:5-6; 10:5; 13:2). But there will another Son whom God will also call out of His exile in Egypt, where His family had fled when King Herod tried to kill Him. Unlike God's first son Israel, however, Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, will be faithful in the wilderness and throughout His life and mission (see Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). Jesus will not bow to Satan but do His Father's will. He will be what Israel could not be, namely, the faithful and obedient Son, the glory of Israel (of Jacob) and the light and salvation of the nations (see Luke 2:30-32; Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6). Thanks be to God for the faithfulness and obedience of His Son, Jesus Christ, through whom God the Father has renewed His covenant relationship with us now and forever by forgiving our sins, by turning losers and sinners like us into beloved children of God.
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, we give You thanks for Your unfailing mercy which You showed to Jacob and Israel, and for extending that mercy to us through Your Son Jesus Christ, through whom You have adopted us as Your sons and daughters. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Reflections for October 20, 2024
Title: One in place of us all
Mark Eischer: Joining us now, here's Lutheran Hour Speaker, Dr. Michael Zeigler.
Mike Zeigler: I'm visiting again with Dr. Dan Paavola. He is an author, a professor, pastor, and a beloved guest speaker here on The Lutheran Hour. Thanks for being with us, Dan.
Dan Paavola: Well, thank you for another chance to be with you and all our listeners. It's always a joy to come and share ideas and the message of God with each other.
Mike Zeigler: Amen. Well, we're still listening to the account of Jacob's life in the book of Genesis. And one place that I personally have gotten tripped up on, and I know other people have as well, is when you read Genesis, it's over this matter of what's sometimes called "election." So, God's choices. He picks this person instead of that person. So Isaac, not Ishmael. Jacob, not Esau. That's the problem of election. And it relates to a biblical theme that you've written about in your book, Patience and Perfection. The theme is that one stands in place of us all. So tell us a little bit about that theme and how it relates to election.
Dan Paavola: Well, yes, I think it's an experience we can all relate to in some way. When I was in fourth grade, I got hit in the back of the head with a rock. I did not deserve this, by the way. And no fault to every teacher on every playground in the world, when a fourth-grader gets hit in the head with a rock, does the rock thrower offer up his guilt immediately? No, no, no, no. And since there is no immediate person to put this burden on, what's going to happen to our recess? Gone. We're all going inside, and we're not going inside for milk and cookies, I'll tell you that. We're going inside, and we have to do—I remember this so clearly—the other half of the math assignment. I don't know if you remember in fourth grade, oh, just do the even numbers or the odd numbers, remember?
Mike Zeigler: Oh, yeah.
Dan Paavola: And I'm not, by the way, any good at math, so I'd have to sit there and think, "Which ones are those?" Well, I remember that day, oh, guess what? We got to do all of them. Now, is this fair? There's not a fourth-grader in the world who thinks this is fair, that we're sitting inside, recess is gone, and we're doing all the math problems. Because after all, I didn't throw the rock; none of the other ones except the rock thrower threw the rock. All right, that's not fair. It's terrible.
Well, now for my story, just imagine that our rock thrower became a champion shot putter in high school. And when he's a senior, he's going to go to the state tournament. Now to send him off, we have to have a pep rally, and we're going to have that pep rally, of course, in the afternoon, say 2 p.m. in the afternoon, which means we get out of class. We get out of math class. Let's get out of an AP calculus test, I say. And how do we feel about the rock thrower now? Oh, we love him. This is the greatest idea ever. Isn't that exactly what God does?
On the one hand, we think it's a terrible thing. Adam fell and took all of us with him. We all say, "Is that fair? I'm not the one who ate the apple, and yet I'm getting the penalty." On the other hand, it's not the first Adam, but the second Adam that counts. And when Jesus is faultless, carries the sins of the world, rises from the dead, and promises to take us with Him to eternal life, we think this is the best idea God ever came up with—that there's one in place of us all. And so that one can stand, yes, as a marker for our shared guilt, but it's much better to say, "But there is One who exemplifies what God can do, both through that one and finally what God is going to do through His Son to save us all."
Mike Zeigler: And that's really what election is about in the book of Genesis. It's not about God picking His favorites, but God picking the one who's going to stand in place for us all to be that hero shot putter on whose coattails we ride. If this is the truth about humanity, that we really are going to rise or fall on account of one, we need the right one.
Dan Paavola: Right. I'm putting my money on Jesus, yes.
Mike Zeigler: Amen. Thank you for helping us think through this theme that's ultimately good news, that God chooses. God has chosen us in Christ. He wants all to know the blessings of being His elect.
Dan Paavola: Well, thank you, and it's always a joy to be with you.
Music Selections for this program:
"A Mighty Fortress" arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
"Children of the Heavenly Father" arr. Paul J. Christiansen. From Hymns We Love to Sing by the National Lutheran Choir (© 2005 National Lutheran Choir)
"Crucifer" by Sydney H. Nicholson, arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
"Hope of the World, Thou Christ of Great Compassion" From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House) Used by permission.