Hosea 14 - "Freely Loved"

Hosea 14

"O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein."

“I will love them freely” (v.4). Here is the heart and soul of salvation in Jesus Christ. Here is the reason for God choosing to save any: the love of God in Christ—“In love having predestinated us” (Ephesians 1:4–5). It is the reason for the death of the LORD Jesus Christ, for “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). It was not wrath that sent Christ to the cross, but the eternal love of God for His elect. Because He purposed to save a people, He sent His Son to lay down His life for them, that He might be a just God and a Savior. It is a Just Love, because Christ fulfilled it. And the world that He loved was a world of sinners, not just from the Jewish nation, but also throughout the Gentile world, for which Christ came and redeemed. By His death, the LORD Jesus purchased a people unto God from every tribe, nation, and tongue (Revelation 7:9). The word 'world' refers to sinners throughout the world without distinction (Jew or Gentile), not the world without exception, as in every sinner in the world. That would contradict what our LORD prayed in the garden: "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which you have given me; for they are yours," (John 17:9). These are the sinners that God the Father has loved freely in the world, with an everlasting love, for whom Christ laid down His life on the cross. It is the reason for the Spirit calling out sinners, causing them to turn from their sin to Christ. That it was the Love of God that sought me out while yet in my sin—this must have been the love of God. There was nothing in myself that could draw God to me, but that eternal love He purposed for a sinner such as I am in His Son. The only reason God can love us as we are is His free electing Grace in Christ.

If Scripture said only, "I will love them," man would find a way to put a condition on it. But freely removes all conditions. It is Love for those who neither deserved it, purchased it, nor sought it. “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters… buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1). Without money, without price. The Love of God cannot be earned or negotiated. "Freely" also means that God Himself determined to do so—no inducement because of anything worthy in the sinner. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Grace is not of ourselves. Faith is not of ourselves. The whole of Salvation is the Gift of God.

"Freely" also means without any exertion from the sinner first. Not your hand first, but God’s Hand of Salvation, reaching down to rescue a dead sinner. “Now we have received… the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). Freely received. And "freely" means without being sought first. “I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not” (Isaiah 65:1). Those found of God who did not seek Him are saved because the LORD freely loved them and sought them (Luke 19:10). Those who seek to obtain favor through works stand under judgment.

This free love proves itself in forgiveness of sin, full and free. “O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God” (v.1). No condition. No bar to His love—not even sin or backsliding. David’s adultery and murder did not stop God’s love. “The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die” (2 Samuel 12:13). “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven… Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity” (Psalm 32:1–2). Why? Because it was imputed to Christ when He died to pay our entire debt at Calvary.

This love then brings justification full and free. “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). God’s anger turned away, not shall be if, but has been turned away. “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth” (Proverbs 3:11–12), because judgment has already been satisfied in Christ. Therefore He says, “I will heal their backsliding” (v.4). Present tense. Ongoing. God will never forsake any for whom Christ paid the debt by His death, no matter the wandering or sin. He heals, He loves, He restores—freely.

Freely loved. Freely forgiven. Freely justified. Freely kept.