“The revolters have gone deep in depravity,
But I will chastise all of them,” (5:2).

Okay I admit, most of this chapter does not sound very Loving, especially when filtered through our own understanding of Love. But as we remember the background of Hosea’s story leading up to what God has to say today, as we remember how He revealed His Heart for the Harlot and revealed Himself as Our Betrothed, as we remember His Redeeming Love that provides His Decided Defense Against Destruction, we will come to see His Chastisement as a beautiful demonstration of His Love.

For the motivation of His Chastisement was never to merely inflict punishment; it was His Love in action drawing His people to earnestly seek Him.

“I will go away and return to My place
Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me,” (5:15).

And how many times He had sent His prophets to warn them, until the most loving thing He could do was to turn them over to what they had so vigorously pursued in their adulteress harlotry. But while His discipline, punishment and rebuke would surely be accomplished, even more sure, would be His Heart for His people revealed, declared and demonstrated in His Loving Chastisement.

Blow the horn in Gibeah,
The trumpet in Ramah.
Sound an alarm at Beth-aven:
“Behind you, Benjamin!”
⁹ Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I declare what is sure, (5:8-9).

Today, as we seek to see Him increase in the midst of some challenging truths, let us pray that we will come away with a renewed understanding of His Loving Chastisement.

Consider His Loving Chastisement

• His Loving Chastisement delivers us out of our depravity.
  • The revolters have gone deep in depravity,
    But I will chastise all of them, (5:2).
    • Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin, (Romans 7:24-25).

• His Loving Chastisement returns us to Him as He renews a right sprit within us.
  • Their deeds will not allow them
    To return to their God.
    For a spirit of harlotry is within them,
    And they do not know the Lord, (5:4).
    • Create in me a clean heart, O God,
      And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
      ¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence
      And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me, (Psalm 51:10-11).

• His Loving Chastisement purges us from pride.
  • Moreover, the pride of Israel testifies against him,
    And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;
    Judah also has stumbled with them, (5:5).
    • Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you, (James 4:8-10).

• His Loving Chastisement enables us to find Him.
  • They will go with their flocks and herds
    To seek the Lord, but they will not find Him;
    He has withdrawn from them, (5:6).
    • “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart,” (Jeremiah 29:13).

• His Loving Chastisement recreates us in faithfulness and fidelity.
  • They have dealt treacherously against the Lord,
    For they have borne illegitimate children.
    Now the new moon will devour them with their land. (5:7).
    • But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law, (Galatians 5:22-23).

• His Loving Chastisement empowers us to recognize our only hope of healing.
  • When Ephraim saw his sickness,
    And Judah his wound,
    Then Ephraim went to Assyria
    And sent to King Jareb.
    But he is unable to heal you,
    Or to cure you of your wound, (5:13).
    • And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer,” (Exodus 15:26).

• His Loving Chastisement humbles us that we would acknowledge our guilt and seek Him.
  • “I will go away and return to My place
    Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;
    In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me,” (5:15).
    • I acknowledged my sin to You,
      And my iniquity I did not hide;
      I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
      And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah, (Psalm 32:5).
    • If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, (1 John 1:8-9).

How do we respond to His Loving Chastisement?

If we’re honest, we will have to admit that we don’t typically embrace His Chastisement or perceive it as an act of His Love.

Today, let us ask Him to deepen our understanding of His Loving Chastisement through a passage written to instruct the early believers in the truth of the gospel message. His Love includes His Chastisement.

Let us receive His Loving Chastisement that reveals His Father Heart for His children to strengthen us in endurance.

It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? (Hebrews 12:7-11).

Let us thank Him for His Loving Chastisement that confirms we are His legitimate children.

But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. (Hebrews 12:8).

Let us respect His Loving Chastisement from our Perfect Father Who grants us overcoming life.

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? (Hebrews 12:9).

Let us trust His Loving Chastisement that is working for our good that we may share His holiness.

For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. (Hebrews 12:10).

Let us endure His Loving Chastisement, that we may be trained and made ready for His afterward of peace and righteousness.

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness, (Hebrews 12:11).

Oh Lord, we ask that You grant us understanding of Your Loving Chastisement, that we would receive Your blessing that teaches us obedience. Strengthen us to trust Your Loving Chastisement here until You bring us into our eternal inheritance and glory in Christ, that we would follow You with all our heart in full confidence that Your Loving Chastisement will perfectly accomplish Your perfect Will to conform us to the image of Your Son.

Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord,
And whom You teach out of Your law;
¹³ That You may grant him relief from the days of adversity,
Until a pit is dug for the wicked.
¹⁴ For the Lord will not abandon His people,
Nor will He forsake His inheritance.
¹⁵ For judgment will again be righteous,
And all the upright in heart will follow it, (Psalm 94:12-15).

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; ³⁰ and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified, (Romans 8:28-30).

Let’s Grow Together!