A thought from my considering this morning Hosea 2:19ff
19 "I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; 20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.
Here God speaks peace to his people among the Israelite nation... he makes clear reference to another betrothal (has he not just condemned them for their harlotry?) which will be forever. This certainly brings to mind the themes of Jeremiah 31 and the 'new covenant' that Jeremiah brings in. It also reminds us that our salvation, our communion and fellowship with God, is due entirely to HIS action. The fact that WE KNOW our God is due to His redemptive grace. Hear Calvin on this theme:
But we must notice this short clause, "They shall know Jehovah". We indeed see that we are in confusion as soon as we turn aside from the right and pure knowledge of God, nay, that we are wholly lost. Since then our salvation consists in the light of faith, our minds ought ever to be directed to God, that our union with him, which he has formed by the gospel, may abide firm and permanent. But as this is not in the power or will of man, we draw this evident conclusion, that God not only offers his grace in the outward preaching, but at the same time in the renewing of our hearts...for when we compare ourselves with the Israelites, we find that we are nothing better. It is, therefore, necessary that God should work inwardly and efficaciously on our hearts, that his covenant may stand firm: nay, since the knowledge of him is the special gift of the Spirit, we may with certainty conclude, that what is said here refers not only to outward preaching, but that the grace of the Spirit is also joined, by which God renews us after his own image, as we have already proved from a passage in Jeremiah: but that we may not seem to borrow from another place, we may say that it appears evident from the words of the Prophet, that there is no other bond of stability, by which the covenant of God can be strengthened and preserved, but the knowledge he conveys to us of himself; and this he conveys not only by outward teaching, but also by the illumination of our minds by his Spirit, yea, by the renewing of our hearts.
What blessing it is for God to grant us knowledge of Him, which knowledge saves us to the uttermost. God alone acts efficaceously to work faith and understanding in the soul. Thanks be to God that it isn't our weak and unstable minds that must, of themselves, bring forth faith.
Posted by toddpedlar at July 24, 2004 11:20 PM | TrackBack