Hosea Prophecy Series #1

Chronology of the Prophets & Hosea 1 thru 2:13

Fred R. Coulter | November 14, 1998

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You're going to have to do quite a bit of ordinary reading that I will refer to, because if we went through trying to read every verse, we would be ten years trying go get through it. There are going to be parts where we will ge into it very particularly because of the prophetic message that is there.

There are going to be other aspects of it where we will get back into the New Testament, because I don't want to stay strictly in the Old Testament on a continuous basis, lest we lose perspective, that we are not an Old Testament church, we are a New Testament church and there are reasons for all of these things that have been written. Not only they prophetic for our time, but they are examples for us.

Let's see the purpose for all of these things so that we can understand when we go through them and study them. This is going to require that you do some extra reading so that you can cover all of the material.

1-Cor. tells us why all these things have been written. It talks about the children of Israel. Of course, all of the prophecies in the Old Testament have to do with the children of Israel and the children of Judah. The ten tribes of Israel and the tribe of Judah and some Benjaminites and Levites, commonly called the Jews.

1-Corinthians 10:1: "Now, I do not wish you to be ignorant of this, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And they all ate the same spiritual meat" (vs 1-3).

They did not understand the commandments of God, though God spoke them to them. When the commandments were given to them, what happened when God spoke to them from Mt. Sinai? They were so terrified and afraid and trembled at it, they wanted some insulation between them and God! When God got done speaking, they all went up to Moses and said, 'Moses, you go to God and speak to God, and you come and tell us. and we'll do whatever God says.'

So, there was this removal of the relationship with God right at the beginning. They couldn't endure that spiritual meat.

Verse 4: "And they all drank of the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them. And that Rock was Christ." This is a direct Scripture showing that the Lord God of the Old Testament was the One Who became Jesus Christ.

As we go through this, we're going to emphasize some of these basic things.

Verse 5: "But with many of them God was not pleased, for their dead bodies were strewn in the wilderness." We can also apply this to the seven churches (Rev. 2; 3). With many in the Churches of God, God is not well-pleased. Didn't He call them all to repent except Smyrna and Philadelphia? Yes!

Verse 6: "Now these things became examples for us, so that we might not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.' Neither should we commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and twenty-three thousand were destroyed in one day. Neither should we tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted Him…" (vs 6-9). Another verse showing that Christ was the One Who was the Lord God of the Old Testament.

"…and were killed by serpents. Neither should we complain against God, as some of them also complained, and were killed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages are coming…. [then Paul gives this admonition]: …Therefore, let the one who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall" (vs 9-12).

We're going to see that when we get into some of the prophecies, there are a lot of warnings that will help us to take heed so that we can stand and not fall. We're going to see that:

• many of the prophecies were specific for that time
• some of the prophecies are dual

That means there's a first fulfillment and there's a second fulfillment.

• some of the prophecies are continuous because of the nature of the children of Israel
• some of the prophecies are for the end-time only

As we go through, we will discern those. Plus what we're going to do is we are going to note all the Scriptures that apply to Jesus Christ the Messiah, and we're going to see that most of those come in the book of Isaiah. There are some few in other parts, but the vast majority of all the prophecies of the Messiah come in the book of Isaiah.

We have two printouts that show all the events in a narration, but especially the things contained in Amos and Hosea.

{transcriber's note: the Biblical Chronology chart is found in The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version, pg. 1401}

Chronology of the Prophets

Let's just survey this. Carl Franklin has done an excellent job in this. Let's understand that it's almost impossible to go to Adam and start with year zero and go forward.

Bishop Usher was an English bishop who did a chronology beginning with he year zero with Adam, and coming to the end based upon 6,000 years of mankind, based upon where Peter said that a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day (2-Peter). He came to the year 2004. That's why a lot of people are getting excited toward he end-time, because a lot of people thought it would be in the year 2000. They thought they would have what is called a Y2K problem come up.

Adam—4025B.C.—add 2000, which makes it 6025 years, which would make it the year 2025A.D. This tells us that we don't know the day or the hour. We can get a chronology within a reasonable realm.

I want you to understand that a chronology is only within a reasonable realm of it. The reason being is that we don't know the exact time of the begettal of the new individual in the lifetime of the Father.

Example: Adam was 130-years-old when he begat Seth. Was 130 and a month, in six months or ten months? We don't know! So, there is always that difficulty within the chronology. What you do is use these as pretty close approximations within a six-month period. That's about the best you can do.

If that be correct, then we may have more time at the end. However, this also leads us to another thing that Jesus said when we come to the end. If it goes beyond the year 2004 for the return of Christ, what are people going to say? 'Well, all of you 'religionists' are wrong! Christ didn't come in 2000 or 2004 and Usher's chronology is wrong!'

What are they going to say? 'There is no such thing as a second return of Christ!' And those who believe in Christ are going to say, 'My Lord delays His coming.'

As I've said before, Christ is not going delay His coming, it's going to be right on time, whatever time it is that Christ is going to return and that the Father has set is going to be right on time.

We have to understand that some of our understanding in these things is going to be limited. When we get to some of these prophecies, we do not want to be absolutely dogmatic where the Bible does not tell us with absolute dogmatism. Otherwise, we'll end up with the mistake that we had when Worldwide went back to the Seventh Day Adventists. They said it would be in 1844. They said that the temple in heaven had to be cleansed.

• When was it ever that the temple in heaven was filled with sin? God dwells there!
• Isn't God righteous?
• How could it be filled with sin that it needed to be cleansed?
• Did God sin?
• Did Christ sin?

NO! Satan sinned, but not right there in the temple! He was cast out from the 'stones of fire' (Ezek. 28).

I have to mention here that there's a false prophet—John Roansbe (sp?)—out there preaching that 'once saved always saved,' and Satan was created as an evil being and all kinds of weird different doctrines. The worst false prophets are going to come who have been long-time members or ministers within the Church of God, because they sound authentic. They're not going to come from Methodists, Presbyterians or Catholics.

Those are false prophets for the world, but false prophets for the Church are going to come from within the Church. I've been listening to some of the sermons by this guy, and I can only listen to it about two or three minutes at a time, because it is so horrendously bad.

We've gone all the way from the year 2000 to the year 2025 as far as written down, the suspected return of Christ. This is why Jesus said:

Matthew 24:42: "Watch, therefore, because you do not know in what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have been watching, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready. For the Son of man is coming at a time that you do not think" (vs 42-44). This has a dual meaning:

• Rev. 2; 3—going to the seven churches

Christ said to the churches, 'If you don't repent, I will come unto you quickly and remove your candlestick and fight against you with the sword of My mouth. And I will kill her children with death. I will spew you out of My mouth.' It's very important.

• Christ can come upon you for whatever God's judgment is in your life, at any time. Not necessarily relating to the second return of Christ.

Verse 45: "Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his lord has set over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing" (vs 45-46).

• Did God come down and check on Sodom and Gomorrah? Yes, He did!
• Does God come down and check on the Church every once in a while? No question about it, because we have the Spirit of God!

God's main concern is with the Church.

Verse 47: "Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his property. But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, 'My lord delays his coming'" (vs 47-48). There are going to be those who say, 'My Lord delays His coming.'

Verse 49: "And shall begin to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the lord of that servant will come in a day that he does not expect, and in an hour that he does not know. And he shall cut him asunder and shall appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (vs 49-51).

Did that not happen to the successor of Herbert W. Armstrong? He changed all the doctrines and then God came in a day that he look for, and he died! He died on the Sabbath the day that he hated and was ready to change for Sunday.

That was the very Sabbath I was down in Los Angeles area and I took a stroll on the campus. The very day that he died I walked on the campus of Ambassador College. I was there that morning. It was really quite an emotional event for me to do that and to see how run down it was.

It's kind of like what God said of Israel: I planted a good vine and here we have wild grapes! It was, everything was grown over and run down and just terrible. Later they were down there on the Sabbath working to repair the roofs and paint and things like this. God came upon them in an hour when they didn't expect it. Then the ultimate result is that if you commit the unpardonable sin, then 'there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

By the way, John Roansbe says that you cannot go into the Lake of Fire. Well, that's contrary to what all that's in the New Testament.

If you go backward from the birth of Christ, which is a calculable date based upon many different things—note in the Faithful Version Bible, Appendix E: When Was Jesus Christ Born?—then you can go backward and figure the chronology. That's how Franklin came to the year 4025 with Adam.

Referring to chart of historic and prophetic events from the prophet Jonah to Jesus Christ: It shows that Jonah prophesied of the destruction of Niniveh in 797B.C. Then Hosea begins prophesying, then Amos prophesies. We have the sun goes down at noon as Amos prophesied, the great earthquake of Uzziah occurs. Jerusalem split open by 2,640-feet, and that is all documented in Josephus. He's got a narration to go along with this.

Then we come to the year 739B.C.—Micah begins prophesying. We're going to take some of these in the historical prophesying as they occurred. Then Isaiah begins prophesying and we will see how all these things dovetail in.

We're going to see that as long as there was not the canonized Word of God—as we have it today—there was, in nearly all cases, a prophet. It starts with Moses, and he refers to himself as a prophet. Then we have Joshua and then the judges. At the end of the time of the judges, who do we have as a prophet that God raised up as very young child? Samuel! He prophesied all the way down into the life of David.

What I'm going to show is that very rarely was there ever a time before the canonization of the Old Testament Scriptures, by Ezra in 600B.C., when there was no prophet. There was always a prophet around.

With David we had Samuel. After Samuel who do we have? Who went to David to convict him of his sin with Bathsheba? Nathan! Then during David's time, we also have mentioned Gad the seer. During the days of Solomon we have another prophet:

1-Kings 11:26: "And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon's servant, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, he too lifted up his hand against the king. And this was the cause that he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built Millo and repaired the breaks of the city of David his father. And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of war. And Solomon, seeing that the young man was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph" (vs 26-28).

He was like a prince over the ten tribes of Israel. The house of Joseph, in many cases, refers to all the ten tribes of Israel, but not necessarily.

Verse 29: "Now, it came to pass at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh found him on the way…."—and Ahijah brings a message from God.

"…And he had clothed himself with a new garment. And the two of them were alone in the field. And Ahijah caught hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, 'Take ten pieces for yourself. For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, "Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you, but he shall have one tribe for My servant David's sake and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel because they have forsaken Me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the goddess of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways, to do what is right in My eyes, and to keep My statutes and My judgments, as David his father did. But I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David My servant, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes. But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and will give it to you, ten tribes. And to his son I will give one tribe, so that David My servant may have a light always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Me to put My name there. And I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires, and shall be king over Israel"'" (vs 29-37).

What I want you to understand in this is how much latitude that God gives. Just like every one else, He sets before us choices. We are to choose and exercise our free moral agency. Notice how broad this is.

Verse 38: "And if you will hearken to all that I command you and will walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight to keep My statutes and My commandments, as David My servant did, then I will be with you and build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you. And for this I will afflict the seed of David, but not forever" (vs 38-39).

So, God gave Ahijah quite a broad mandate! What did he do? He set up his government with a new religion! He made two calves—one in Dan and one in Bethel—and changed the Feast from the seventh month to the eighth month. He told he children of Israel that these calves were the gods that brought them out of Egypt (1-Kings 12).

1-Kings 12:30: "And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even to Dan. And he made houses of worship on the high places and made priests…" (vs 30-31). He set up his own religion; a full-blown Babylonian system with the king as the representative of God. In this case he made himself the high priest.

When he did these things, v 32: "And Jeroboam ordered a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah. And he offered upon the altar…."

In God's way the king was to never, never to into the temple to make the offerings at the temple. The king could bring an offering to the priest, and then the priest would make the offering. We're going to see a little later on that in the days of Uzziah he usurped the authority and went into the house of God and resisted the priest—who said not to do it—and he was made a leper that day. That's when the earthquake took place and split open and moved 2640-feet, moved part of Jerusalem to the west; this is pretty close to a half-mile.

None of us, even here in California, who have been through earthquakes have been through one like that. That's why when you get to Zech. 14 it talks about the earthquake when Christ returns and 'the mountain is going to split in two—half to the north and half to the south—and they will flee like they did in the days of the earthquake off Uzziah.' That's how great that earthquake was!

"…So, he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made…." (v 32). They have a pious, sanctimonious ceremony. I imagine that they had their regal priestly walk, having on all of their robes, all the regalia that they had. I imagine that they had incense and dressed up like a pope, walking down there with the incense and his staff coming up to do the sacrifice. I imagine that they had the singers on the one hand and trumpeters on the other hand. They had the whole chorus of singers, and they had the whole order of their priests.

They should never have been priests, they were not of the sons of Levi. Anyone who wanted to be a priest would come and be a priest.

It seems like that same thing happens in the Church of God. We have so many teachers around; everyone wants to be a teacher. Well, if you're going to teach, you better teach the Word of God, otherwise you're going to be a dead duck.

"…And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places, which he had made. And he offered upon the altar, which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month, which he had devised out of his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel. And he offered upon the altar and burned incense" (vs 32-33).

Here's the whole point: God still had a prophet! 1-Kings 13:1: "And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the Word of the Lord, to Bethel…." Why doesn't it give his name? I think it doesn't give his name because he disobeyed God! God told him to go up here and cry against it.

Verse 2: "And he cried against the altar by the Word of the Lord and said, 'O, altar, altar, thus says the LORD. "Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name…"'"—several hundred years in advance.

We have Rehoboam starting in 970B.C. Then you come all the way down to Josiah in 637B.C.—333 years—he was prophesied by name, 333 years ahead of time. We will see what Josiah did.

"'"…and upon you he shall offer the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and men's bones shall be burned upon you."' And he gave a sign the same day, saying, 'This is the sign which the LORD has spoken. "Behold, the altar shall be torn apart, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out."' Then it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God who had cried against the altar in Bethel…" (vs 2-4). How dare you come up here and do this to our altar! Who gives you the right to come up here and speak against it?

"…he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, 'Lay hold on him!' And his hand, which he put forth against him withered up so that he could not pull it in again to himself. The altar also was split asunder and the ashes poured out from the altar according to the sign which the man of God had given by the Word of the Lord" (vs 4-5).

They're jus like cowards and crooks; they kill and murder people and when the police get them, 'Don't shoot! Don't shoot!' So,

Verse 6: "And the king answered and said to the man of God, 'Seek now the face of the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me again.'…." So, he did and it was restored. Then we had false prophet come along,

Verse 7: "And the king said to the man of God, 'Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.'…." The king should not have done it! He went and ate and a lion came and ate him on the way.

We have Ahijah the prophet, and this was when Rehoboam's son—Abijah—was sick:

1-Kings 14:4: "And Jeroboam's wife did so and arose and went to Shiloh…." That's where the tabernacle was, but this is after Solomon, so what they had in Shiloh was probably a school of the prophets.

"…And she came to the house of Ahijah. And Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age. And the LORD said to Ahijah, 'Behold, the wife of Jeroboam comes to ask a thing of you for her son, for he is sick….'" (vs 4-5). And he was to tell her that her son was going to die.

I want to point out that there was a prophet all the way down through these times.

1-Kings 16:1: "And the Word of the Lord came to Jehu… [the prophet] …the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying."

Verse 7: "And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu…"

1-Kings 17—now we have Elijah. There are quite of few chapters devoted to the work of Elijah. First of all he came on the scene and he was sent to the widow and stayed with her for three and a half years. How's that for a public prophecy?

1-Kings 18:1: "And it came to pass after many days the Word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying, 'Go, show yourself to Ahab. And I will send rain upon the earth.' Then Elijah went to show himself to Ahab…" (vs 1-2).

They had false prophets there, 450 prophets of Baal. Let's summarize the story: When Elijah came and started his ministry, and to determine who was really God—Baal or the Lord—Elijah came and said, 'How long halt you between two opinions?' That means to jump back and forth. This is what people do whoever looks to be on the winning side. That's what they did with the prophets of Baal.

Remember, during the days of Ahab, who was Ahab's wife? Jezebel! She was the daughter of the priest of Baal from Phoenicia. That's why there were so many prophets of Baal at that time.

They took to bullock and put them on the altar that they made, and the prophets of Baal cried all morning into about mid-afternoon, even cutting themselves and crying, 'Oh, Baal! O, Baal! Hear us!'

Elijah mocked them and said, 'Maybe he's asleep or on a journey. Cry louder! Jump up and down more!.' That didn't work, so when that was all done, Elijah straightened up the altar and put his sacrifice on there, filled it up three times with water and prayed a very short prayer.

1-Kings 18:36: "Now, it came to pass at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, 'LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel, and that I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your Word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their heart back again'" (vs 36-37).
I don't know how many seconds it took me to read that, but that's not a very long prayer.

Verse 38: "Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the burnt sacrifice and the wood, and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw, they fell on their faces. And they said, 'The LORD, He is the God! The LORD, He is the God!' And Elijah said to them, 'Take the prophets of Baal. Do not let one of them escape.' And they took them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and killed them there" (vs 38-40).

That made Jezebel mad and Elijah got scared and ran on down to the area of the Sinai peninsula and went into Mt. Horeb and stood there in a cave and was afraid.

God didn't speak to him in the wind, the earthquake or in the fire, but He did speak to Elijah and told him in a wee, small voice to go finish doing what he ought to do.

1-Kings 19 was when God was telling Elijah to go, and he was feeling sorry for himself. You've felt sorry for yourself; you're down and out, you've got trials and problems and nothing is working right. Everybody is mad at you: your husband/wife, the dog bites you, the cat scratches you, your car has a dent in it, you forget what you went shopping for, you come out of the store and can't find your car. Then you find your car and the shopping cart made a dent in us.

I remember one time that something like that happened to me when I was going through real severe trial. We had two Isuzu, one white and one red, and one of the kids had borrowed mine, so I took hers and I was kind of wandering around because of the big trial I was going through. I got in the store and forgot what I was going to buy, so I walked around and remembered and just had enough money to pay for it. I went out and went all over that lot looking for my car. I couldn't find it. So, I went around the second time and, lo and behold, I discovered my wife's car.

Elijah was feeling that way; 'Oh, I'm the only one, Lord. Why do You put me through this?' Sometimes you feel all alone, that there's nobody! Well, God told Elijah:

1-Kings 19:18: "Yet, I have left seven thousand in Israel for Me, all who have not bowed the knees to Baal…" So, there are more than we figure, though we don't know them. Elijah didn't know who they were. We will see that God always has a remnant; He talks about it in the first part of Isaiah. God always has a remnant that is faithful.

"…and every mouth that has not kissed him" (v 18). So, they had to go up and kiss the statue of Baal.

Verse 19: "And he left there and found Elisha…" Now Elisha enters the scene.

(go to the next track)

This shows God's mercy, but it also shows that the prophets have to be flexible:

1-Kings 21:15: "Now, it came to pass when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned… [because he wanted the property] …and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, 'Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth of Jezreel, which he refused to give you for silver, for Naboth is not alive, but dead.'" He should have still paid the survivors! But this was murder by Jezebel.

Verse 16: "And it came to pass when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth of Jezreel to take possession of it. And the Word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'Arise, go down to meet Ahab the king of Israel in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone to possess it. And you shall speak to him, saying, "Thus says the LORD, 'Have you killed and also taken possession?'" And you shall speak to him saying, "Thus says the LORD, 'In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.'" And Ahab said to Elijah, 'Have you found me, O my enemy?'…." (vs 16-20).

Isn't that how people treat those who speak the Truth? There was one man in Seattle that told me that he checked with a minister in his church and that minister said that 'Fred Coulter is demon possessed.' I said that that didn't surprise me because Jesus said that 'if they call the Lord Beelzebub, will they not also say the same thing of you?' He came from Montana all the way over to Seattle just to check me out, and he found out that I was not demon possessed.

It's just like Ahab; here comes Elijah, who is going to preach the Truth, and says, 'You're my enemy,' because Elijah is not going to tell him what he wants to hear. That's what happens. Prophets are not tell people what they want to hear.

What prophets tell the people what they want to hear? False prophets! We will see that.

"…And he answered, 'I have found you because you have sold yourself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. "Behold, I will bring evil upon you and will utterly sweep you away, and will cut off from Ahab him who pisses against the wall…"'" (vs 20-21). That's kind of frank language. That's saying He's going to cut him off, no male descendants.
"…both bond and free in Israel. And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat…" (vs 21-22). You'll see that over and over again; Jeroboam was absolutely the worst sinner of all th kings and used as a measuring stick, as to how bad the kings of Israel were.

"'…and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and made Israel to sin.' And the LORD also spoke of Jezebel saying, 'The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.… [that did happen a little later] …He who dies of Ahab in the city, the dogs shall eat…." (vs 22-24). That's something! You think about that!

We don't have that many dogs running around today. I imagine that God would have the angels send the dogs to go eat them, to fulfill His prophecy.

"…And he who dies in the field, the birds of the air shall eat…. [send all the buzzards, vultures and storks] …But there was none like Ahab, who sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel" (vs 24-26).

I'll just stop here and mention that the Amorite god was called 'Yahweh, Yahwah and so forth, and that's how Yahwah got into those who teach Old Testament things.

Verse 27: "Then it came to pass when Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes…" God is always, always, always interested in repentance! God is not interested in the death of the wicked, though He pronounces the death of the wicked.

Always remember this: God has given choice so that IF the person heeds and repents, God will change His judgment! God is always interested in repentance.

Ezekiel had the toughest prophetic ministry of any of the prophets of God. Most of it was death, doom and gloom. Yet, even in that, God shows that He holds out hope. This is something for us to really understand.

Ezekiel 33:7—one of the missions of the true prophet of God: "And you, son of man, I have set you as watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore, you shall hear the Word from My mouth, and warn them from Me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked one, you shall surely die'; if you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked one shall die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand. But, if you warn the wicked of his way, to turn from it; if he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul. And you, son of man, speak to the house of Israel. Thus shall you speak, saying, 'When our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we are wasting away in them, how then shall we live?'" (vs 7-10).

In other words, if it be so bad that God says that a curse is coming upon you, how are you going to live?

So, He says, v 11: "Say to them, 'As I live,' says the Lord GOD… All the way through the book of Ezek. He says this. When it gets to this, that is really the strongest message that can come.

"…'I have no delight in the death of the wicked… [even here at this late date] …except that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn you, turn you from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?'" (v 11). This has always been God's message to Israel.

But Israel is likened unto a roller-coaster. They serve God for a while on the high end and then they go to the pits of despair and paganism. Then God has to send correction. Then God sends either a king or a judge to help them out the pits of depravity that they have gotten into, or a prophet to warn them and they come out of it.

The whole story of Israel is just like looking at a chart where it goes high and low, high and low and high and low all the way through the history of Israel down through time. Yet, God is interested in repentance.

Let's see this with Ahab, because he said, 1-Kings 21:25: "But there was none like Ahab, who sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." I've never met anyone who had sold himself to do evil.

Verse 27: "Then it came to pass when Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes… [a sign of repentance] …put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth and walked softly"—very timidly, rather than being emboldened in false pride because of his wife.

• What happened?
• Did God change his judgment? He modified it!

Verse 28: "And the Word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'Do you see how Ahab humbles himself before Me? Because he humbles himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days. But in his son's days I will bring the evil upon his house'" (vs 28-29). Isn't that something? He had to turn around and go back and say, 'Okay!'
Now during the days of Jehoshaphat, Elijah is still there. We're going to see that Elijah is still in the north. Jehoshaphat is king of Judah in the south. He's getting together with the king of Israel Ahab. It just says king of Israel all the way through, but it identifies Ahab (1-Kings 22:40)

1-Kings 22:7: "And Jehoshaphat said, 'Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides that we might inquire of Him?' And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, 'There is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the LORD. But I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.'…." (vs 7-8).

If you started walking the streets of San Francisco today saying that in 30 days the city would be below the surface of the ocean, you would have some people who would believe you and start packing up and move away. But you would have all the city officials out there—the Board of Supervisors, the mayor, the sheriff—saying that they speak evil. 

Verse 9: "And the king of Israel called an officer and said, 'Hurry and bring Micaiah the son of Imlah.'" They went ahead and brought him forth.

Verse 13: "And the messenger that had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, 'Behold now, the words of the prophets are good to the king with one mouth.… [all the false prophets that Ahab had] …Please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak good.' And Micaiah said, 'As the LORD lives, what the LORD says to me, that I will speak'" (vs 13-14). So, Micaiah told Jehoshaphat not to go into league with him.

Now, see what we're doing is more of a survey and I want you to understand that we're showing that God always had His prophets for Israel. They were there to prophesy to the kings, to the leaders, to the people; but mainly to the kings. Why is that? Because whenever they had a king who was righteous, generally the people that which was good, in the main! In some cases they didn't, as we will see later on when they became so apostatized.

2-Kings 1—we find that Elijah is still alive. During the days of Elijah we have this other prophet that we found in 1-Kings 22: Micaiah.

2-Kings 1:3: "But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, 'Arise! Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, "Is it because there is no God in Israel that you go to ask of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron?" And, therefore, thus says the LORD, "You shall not come from that bed on which you have gone up, but shall surely die."' And Elijah left. Then the messengers went back to the king…." (vs 3-5)—and they were going to take him by force. What happened? Fire came down from heaven and devoured them!

Verse 6: "And they said to him, 'A man came up to meet us and said to us, "Go, return again to the king who sent you, and say to him, 'Thus says the LORD, "Is it because there is noGod in Israel that you go to ask of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron? Therefore, you shall not come down from that bed on which you have gone up, but shall surely die."'"' And he said to them, 'What kind of man was he who came up to meet you and told you these words?' And they answered him, 'He was a hairy man and was bound with a girdle of leather around his loins.' And he said, 'He is Elijah the Tishbite'"(vs 6-8).

• Sound a little bit like John the Baptist?
• Was he not gird about with a leather girdle?
• Was he not a hairy man?
• Yes, he was!

Verse 9: "So, he sent to him a commander of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him. Then, behold, he sat on the top of a hill. And he spoke to him, 'Man of God! The king has said, "Come down."' And Elijah answered and said to the commander of fifty, 'If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from the heavens and burn up you and your fifty.' And there came down fire from the heavens and burned up him and his fifty" (vs 9-10).

Sometimes God wants to give a lesson! We can be thankful that there's a second resurrection. These will come up in the second resurrection for an opportunity. But their last recollection was talking to prophet of God and ZAP! they're burned up!

Verse 11: "So again, also he sent to him another commander of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said to him, 'Man of God! So says the king, "Come down quickly."'"

What he's saying is, 'Who is this sinful king that I obey him?' In other words, it's the difference between obeying the king or obeying God. That's why this confrontation went on.

Verse 12: "And Elijah answered and said to him, 'If I am a man of God, let fire come down from the heavens and burn up you and your fifty.' And the fire of God came down from the heavens and burned up him and his fifty. Finally he sent again a third commander of fifty and his fifty. And the third commander of fifty came up and fell on his knees before Elijah…" (vs 12-13).

Nothing like a little change of attitude; this really changed the circumstances. At least this captain of 50 was smart.

"…and begged him, and said to him, 'Man of God, I pray you, let my life and the life of these fifty, your servants, be precious in your sight…. [what a change of heart] …Behold, fire has come down from the heavens and burned up the first two commanders of fifty with their fifties. Therefore, now let my life be precious in your sight.' And the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, 'Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.' And he arose and went down with him to the king, and said to him, 'Thus says the LORD, "Because you have sent messengers to ask of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel to seek His Word?—therefore, you shall not come down off that bed on which you have gone up, but shall surely die."'" And he died according to the Word of the Lord, which Elijah had spoken. …" (vs 13-17).

2-Kings 2:1: "And it came to pass when the LORD was about to take Elijah up into heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal." Here's the whole story of Elijah taken up and moved someplace else on the earth. The point that I want to make now is that you have Elijah and then Elisha; see how the prophets continue on down with Israel.

2-Kings 4:1: "And a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, saying…"

2-Kings 6:1: "And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha…" So, they had a school of prophets. That's what Elijah and Elisha had; so there were many prophets of God during this time.

"…'Behold now, the place where we live with you is too small for us'" (v 1). Then it shows what they were going to do. They went across the Jordan.

2-Kings 7:1: "And Elisha said, 'Hear the Word of the Lord! Thus says the LORD…'"

2-Kings 8:1: "And Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, 'Arise…'"

2-Kings 9:1: "And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him… [v 2]: And you shall go there, and you shall see there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat…"

2-Kings 13:14: "And Elisha had fallen sick with his illness in which he was to die. And Jehoash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over his face. And he said, 'O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen of it!' And Elisha said to him, 'Take bow and arrows.' And he took bow and arrows to himself. And he said to the king of Israel, 'Put your hand upon the bow.' And he placed his hand upon it, and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands. Then he said, 'Open the window eastward.' And he opened. And Elisha said, 'Shoot!' And he shot. And he said, 'The arrow of the LORD'S deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria, for you shall strike the Syrians in Aphek until they are destroyed.' And he said, 'Take the arrows.' And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, 'Strike the ground.' And he struck it three times and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, and said, 'You should have stricken five or six times then you would have stricken Syria until it was destroyed. But now you shall strike Syria three times.' And Elisha died, and they buried him…." (vs 14-20).

From Elisha we go on through and we find Elisha and the king, and right after that we have Jeroboam II.

2-Kings 14:1: "In the second year of Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel…" Jehoash reigned from 874-835B.C.—23 years. Elisha died when Jehoash begins, which is 874B.C. He dies 23 years later until 835B.C.

We take and subtract all of this and you find that from the time that Elisha died until we come to the Prophet Hosea is 79 years. There's not too big a space of time when there was not a prophet; but what do we have? We have the school of prophets after Elijah! How long did they go down with the kings? We don't know! But we do know that Hosea begins prophesying in 795B.C. Elisha dies in 874 B.C., and to 795 is 79 years.

There was the school of prophets and those who would and come and study under Elisha. He would teach them, and I imagine that God would use them whenever it was ever necessary to use them. The point I wanted make here is that we have a point of 79 years that there was no major prophet, which when you go through the history of Israel it's not too long a time.

We're not told if there were some of the lesser prophets who were also active at that time; we're just not told. We have something like the preachers who we saw of Israel in the Alps who would teach the younger ones and so forth. In other words the point is that—until the canonization of the Bible—the whole point of this survey is to show that God had a continuous presence with the prophets for Israel and for Judah.

There was never a time when there was not a prophet. We have the 79-year period that we're not sure of, but that's the only time. All the rest! So, Hosea begins prophesying in 795B.C.

HOSEA 1:

If anyone wants to be a prophet, be careful; God may require something of you that you're going to have to do. We will read a little later what He required of Ezekiel to do.

Here in the book of Hosea, God required to teach a point, to teach a lesson to Hosea and to Israel. We're going to find, as we do the survey in the book of Hosea—we'll stop at certain places as we follow through—there are not very many prophecies of the end-time. However, we're going to see that there are certain sections, which can apply to Israel at anytime in their history because of the record of their behavior. Just the nature of the children of Israel going after Baalim.

Did that not also happen in the Church, that the Church went after Baalim? Yes! They turned to Sunday services and the whole thing: Christmas, Easter, communion!

Hosea 1:1: "The Word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah…" You go from Jehoash to Uzziah—795B.C.—just after Uzziah was made king in 808B.C. and he reigned until 756B.C.

"…Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah…" This overlaps with Isaiah. We will see that Isaiah begins in the last days of Uzziah. Nevertheless, the prophecy of Hosea is really quite long.

This becomes important because God identifies when the prophet spoke; Isaiah 1:1: "The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz… [I don't know if that's the son of the prophet Amos] …which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah."

In this particular case, the prophecies of Hosea and Isaiah overlap. Also, we'll see that Micah comes in there. So, there was that time when there were three active prophets prophesying to Israel and Judah. God was doing quite a few things at that time, and that's why He had these three different prophets.

Hosea 1:2: "The beginning of the Word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, 'Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms, for the land has utterly committed great whoredoms, departing from the LORD'"

He had to go down to the local brothel and select his wife, just to put it bluntly. God said to do it, because 'I'm going to teach you and children of Israel a lesson.' As it turned out, Hosea really loved his wife, even though she was from the house of whoredoms. That's like God loving Israel, but Israel goes whoring after other gods.

Verse 9: And He said, 'Call his name Lo-Ammi, for you are not My people… [v 10]: Yet, the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea…'" In spite of all this, God says that He's no going to destroy them all. He's going to let them continue as a people:

"'…which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall be in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' there it shall be said to them, 'You are the sons of the living God'" (vs 10-11).

This obviously has to do with the Millennium, the second coming. God is not going to say that of Israel until the second coming of Christ. We'll see that there are certain places here where it eludes to the second coming of Christ.

Verse 11: "Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and shall set over themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel." That is the battle that God is going to have against the heathen in the Valley of Judgment.

HOSEA 2:

Hos. 2 is an interesting chapter. It has specifically to do with the time of Hosea, but it also can be dual, because it can apply to the children of Israel at anytime in their history, but specifically for the ministry of Hosea.

Hosea 2:1: "Say to your brethren, Ammi, and to your sisters, Ruhamah. Contend! Contend with your mother, for she is not My wife, nor am I her husband. Let her, therefore, put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts, lest I strip her naked and set her out as in the day that she was born; and lest I make her as the wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. And I will not have mercy on her children, for they are the children of whoredoms" (vs 1-4).

There's going to come a time just like it did then. Did God not punish Israel and send them off into captivity? Yes, He did! So, there's going to come a time when this could apply to modern Israel today. This is what you can call a dual prophecy. But it also can be continuous down through history, because this is what Israel has always done.

Verse 5: "For their mother has prostituted herself. She who conceived them has done shamefully, for she said, 'I will go after my lovers who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.'" Isn't that what we're doing today as a nation? going after the other nations of the world? Yes! With world trade organizations, free trade everywhere?

We're not looking to God! What we have in government today shows that no one is looking to God. They have a form of Godliness, but they don't have anything to do with the true God! Presidents and politicians may go to church, but that's just politics; likewise with all the other politicians. They're all in bed together.

Verse 6: "Therefore, behold, I will hedge your way with thorns… [troubles and difficulties; many] …and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths."

You can see how this applied to Israel then, just before the captivity. This was quite a few years before the captivity, because they went in 721-718B.C. Hosea starts in 795B.C.—80 years ahead of time Hosea is speaking to them.

Verse 7: "And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them. She shall seek them, but shall not find them…." In other words, in the final analysis, all of your allies, friends and nations whom you've made leagues with cannot save you from the judgment of God. They cannot provide for you the things that God can provide for you.

We can learn a lesson with that from the Church. Can any of the 'religions' of the world give us the true understanding of God? No way! If we follow after them and go after them, what are we going to end up doing? Going their ways and doing their things! It's what is commonly called now immorality or deviance down to the lowest immoral level. That always happens.

"…Then she shall say, 'I will go and return to my first husband…'" (v 7). In other words, God is going to use this as a means of repentance. That's what He's showing. Why does God send prophets? To show the people what is wrong and to bring them to repentance if they choose to do so! That's why!

"'…for then it was better with me than now,' for she did not know that I gave her grain, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. So, I will return and take away My grain in its time, and My wine in its season, and will recover My wool and My flax given to cover her nakedness. And now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of My hand" (vs 7-10).

So, the time of judgment came upon them. They were warned about 80 years in advance that the time of judgment is coming on the descendants of Israel, of which the United States is a part of. No one is going to deliver them out of the hand of God when that time comes. Just exactly how it's going to come, we have some clues. Watch the movies! It's called 'marshal law.' Watch where the United Nation's troops in stationed in America, hundreds of bases with thousands of troops ostensively for training. So, it's all sitting there.

Verse 11: "I will also cause all her joy to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts." These are not the Feasts of God. These are the feasts of Baal.

Verse 12: "And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, 'They are my rewards that my lovers have given me.' And I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. And I will visit on her the days of the Baalim…" (vs 12-13).

Tie in v 11 with v 13, and that tells you that 'her feasts, new moons and sabbaths were the days of Baalim. Today, they even call Sunday the Sabbath.

When I was Salt Lake City, I was driving down this road and there was a big sign: Remember the Sabbath, to keep it Holy—see you in church on Sunday. Israel has always done that.

"'…in which she burned incense to them, and she adorned herself with her nose rings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers and forgot Me,' says the LORD" (v 13).

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

• 1 Corinthians 10:1-12
• Matthew 24:42-51
• 1 Kings 11:26-39
• 1 Kings 12:30-33
• 1 Kings 13:1-7
• 1 Kings 14:4-5
• 1 Kings 16:1, 7
• 1 Kings 18:1-2, 36-40
• 1 Kings 19:18-19
• 1 Kings 21:15-27
• Ezekiel 33:7-11
• 1 Kings 21:25, 27-29
• 1 Kings 22:7-9, 13-14
• 2 Kings 1:3-17
• 2 Kings 2:1
• 2 Kings 4:1
• 2 Kings 6:1
• 2 Kings 7:1
• 2 Kings 8:1
• 2 Kings 9:1-2
• 2 Kings 13:14-20
• 2 Kings 14:1
• Hosea 1:1
• Isaiah 1:1
• Hosea 1:2, 9-11
• Hosea 2:1-13

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 2; 3
• 2 Peter
• Ezekiel 28
• Zechariah 14
• 1 Kings 17; 22:40

Also referenced:

• Appendix E: When Was Jesus Christ Born?—The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version
• Book: Josephus

FRC: bo
Transcribed: 11/24/17