E75: Hosea - God Did Not Come in Wrath
The Bible in 30 Seconds or Less | Old Testament: Minor Prophets
"The prophet Hosea offers us one of the boldest and most controversial metaphors for God in the Bible, controversial then and now. He compares God to a husband who loves the people of Israel as his wife. A heartbroken husband because his beloved has been unfaithful, a heartbroken husband who wrestles whether to continue to pursue his beloved or to divorce her. In the end, God expresses his unconditional love. We read in Hosea chapter 11: "How can I give you up, oh Ephraim? How can I handover, oh Israel? My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger, I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God and no mortal, the holy one in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.""For us Christians we see the fulfillment of this prophecy in the person of Jesus. In Jesus God did not come in wrath."