When God Declares: "The Church Is Not My People and I Am Not Their God!"

The Minor Prophets Speak to Today

The Great Divorce

Hosea 1:8-2:1

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After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she again became pregnant and gave birth to a second son. And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi—‘Not my people’—for Israel is not my people, and I am not their God.

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WHEN GOD SAYS YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE AND I AM NOT YOUR GOD:

Hosea named his second child, born of a loveless conception, Not Loved. Not that he was being intentionally cruel. The Lord prescribed the name--a name that reflected the status of Israel's (the prostitute church's) relationship with God.

NOW, Hosea's wife has conceived again and the child born to her is not even Hosea's. I have known men that faced the same terror in their lives. AND God dictates to Hosea, "Name him Not My People."

God uses this name to tell Israel that he is divorcing her. He is sending her away to practice her failure to love in some other country, some other god's house. 

When a church, or an individual's relationship becomes loveless toward God and the fruit of their lives no longer is born of God but of unfaithfulness, that church or individual has demonstrated He is not longer their God. God will set that church, that person, apart from himself. He will withdraw the benefits of him being their husband, their God. WHAT A TERRIBLE THOUGHT! What a terrible way to face each new season in the life of a church or in a human life.

God does not become their enemy, but God does withdraw his protection and his benefits.

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BUT ALL IS NOT LOST!

“Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’  Then the people of Judah and Israel will unite together. They will choose one leader for themselves, and they will return from exile together. What a day that will be—the day of Jezreel—when God will again plant his people in his land.

"In that day you will call your brothers Ammi—‘My people.’ And you will call your sisters Ruhamah—‘The ones I love.’

Hosea 1:10-2:1

New Living Translation (NLT)

With repentance, with God drawing that prostitute church, that unfaithful individual, back to himself -- the day called Jezreel, when God's avenging is complete, God will change the names of the fruit of their relationship to I Have Avenged, My People, and The Ones I Love. A reversal of the names first dictated to Hosea.

Do not take God's love for granted. For in your unfaithfulness, from your failure to relate to him in love, out of your being designated not my people, God's love still stands. When the day of his inaction becomes the Day of Jezreel, because He loves you, his vengeance will turn to blessing and fruitfulness. He will again call you My people, the ones I love. And you will again be fruitful, deeply in love with your God, and His gathered people.

Even so come quickly Lord!

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PHOTO CREDITS:

Thistle Flower by Wayne M. Anson

Birtday Rose by Wayne M. Anson