This is Spoken Gospel.

We are dedicated to seeing 
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s 
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Hosea tells Israel that they have 
broken their marriage covenant with God.

Like the exchanging of vows at a wedding, Israel and God
pledged themselves to each other and took certain oaths.

They represented a covenant that 
defined the way Israel would act  

in her marriage to God and established her as 
God’s representative to the world around her.

And in that covenant Israel also agreed that if the people
broke their vows, God could reject and punish them.

But Israel has forgotten and therefore broken the covenant
explained in the places like the Ten Commandments.

God lists the specific ways Israel has
betrayed her marriage covenant, but

the overarching problem is that the
people lacked knowledge.

They've forgotten what it means 
to be God’s wife in the world.

They've forgotten God and turned 
to false idols and false lovers.

Because Israel has rejected her marriage 
covenant with God, God will reject them.

And while many of Hosea’s other prophecies will focus 
on specific punishments toward Israel’s land and people,

this section identifies the worst possible
punishment—separation from God.

Hosea explains that since Israel has forgotten her
covenant with God, it’s a sign they don’t know God at all.

God is well within his rights to 
walk away from their relationship.

The God who used to be present and for 
Israel will now be away from and against her.

Until God’s bride stops forgetting and instead
gains knowledge, nothing will change.

Israel must recognize her guilt, seek God’s 
face, and desperately desire for him to return.

Only when she remembers her covenant 
with God, will she even know God again.

[music]

This link between not knowing God’s covenant and not
knowing God himself escalates in the New Testament.

The Pharisees prided themselves in knowing and 
remembering the laws of the covenant better than anyone,

but they’re no better than the
forgetful people of Israel in Hosea.

Jesus said if they really believed
what Moses wrote in the covenant,

they would believe in him because
Moses’ words were ultimately about Jesus.

But because they lacked true knowledge of the 
covenant, they couldn’t know who Jesus is.

They could not see that he is God himself.

And to know Jesus is to know the covenant.
And to know the covenant is to know Jesus.

That's because Jesus revealed and fulfilled God’s
covenant to Israel on the cross.

That's what Jesus called the 
new covenant of his blood.

Jesus has borne the consequences of 
covenant-breaking that our forgetfulness deserves.

And like a faithful husband, he keeps the requirements
of the covenant even when we forget them.

And when we do what God said in Hosea, when 
we acknowledge our guilt, seek his face,  

and earnestly desire him, we begin a new 
covenant bought by Jesus’ blood on the cross.

As Jesus put it—repent and believe; 
when we love Jesus as a husband,  

we will receive his blessing
of being married to him.

That is why knowing Jesus is knowing the covenant.

And knowing Jesus is how we restore
our fractured relationship with God.

I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see
the God who wants to be known in covenant with us.

And that you will see Jesus as our husband who 
keeps the covenant so that we can know him forever.