Special Sunday Edition
Ethan Barton, Pastoral Resident, Tallowood Baptist Church
God had brought Israel up from out of Egypt and promised to continue blessing them, and the Israelites had celebrated this for centuries. But the promise was conditional: obey my laws and I will bless you, abandon them and I will abandon you. Well, Israel made a flaming train wreck of things. So naturally, as he promised, God warned them through Hosea that he would let them fall right back into the slavery he had pulled them out of, only this time under Assyria rather than Egypt.
But praise God that the Bible is a story about more than just sin and justice! After the prophecies of condemnation, God then promises to eventually show them grace anyway. He doesn’t explain why. Grace makes no sense sometimes. Israel by no means deserved it, and neither do we. It makes no sense that, after centuries of consistent rebellion and disobedience, he would graciously redeem them from slavery yet again. But that’s just how good God is.
To whom are we enslaved today? The powers of sin and death abound and corrupt just about every corner of the world. Yet we are God’s people, just like the Israelites, and God is still a God of grace. He has promised us that he will one day roar like a lion and call us all home. So as we live in exile in the meantime, sojourners in a world that is not our home, We await that day with indomitable hope and eager expectation. What an incredible, underserved grace God has given us! What else can we do but live lives of hopeful, joyful worship?
