Can we just dream together for a minute? I want you to picture life without sin. Maybe that means you imagine the Creation story. Or maybe you have an idea of heaven with all sorts of new adventures like being able to fly or swim underwater for unlimited amounts of time! Now I cannot personally tell you all the details of what life without sin will be like after Jesus comes back and the world is made new but I can tell you enough details that God gives us in Scripture that should be enough to make us long for his return and the redemption of our broken world. 

This next section of Hosea is beautifully hope-filled after all those verses of wrath and destruction, and the section I want to focus on is 2:19-20. Flip it open in your Bible—it’s okay, I’ll wait! 

Now let’s make sure we keep the context

Now let’s make sure we keep the context: God is talking to the Israelites here. He’s just finished telling them about all their unfaithfulness, and that despite their unfaithfulness he still wants to betroth himself to them. This is the fulfillment of the picture of Hosea’s life and God’s call for him to commit himself to unfaithful Gomer. And the beauty of these verses are the legal and emotional implications. 

God says he will betroth himself “in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and mercy” (v19).  He’s given us two pairs here. Righteousness and justice; steadfast love and mercy. So often we see God’s commitment to us in one of these two pairs. Some of us only see his commitment based on righteousness and justice. We see God as a cold, distant God, who only deals with us to tell us how wrong we are. Those of us that see God this way probably spend our lives either trying to live up to his expectations or completely throwing his expectations out the window because we want nothing to do with this kind of creator. Others of us only see God’s commitment to us based on his steadfast love and mercy. This creates an “anything goes” worldview, because we think no matter what, God is going to love us anyway! 

But just like anything else in life

But just like anything else in life, if you only have half the picture, then you’re probably missing some vital pieces of information. God is showing us here that he cares just as much about righteousness as he does love. He cares just as much about justice as he does mercy. These things are not interchangeable. They can’t be separated from his full character. So this had two implications for the Israelites: 

God’s betrothal in righteousness and in justice meant all the legal standards would be met. Everything he promised in the Law would be fulfilled, down to his full commitment and his promises of judgment on those who broke their commitments back to him. 

God’s betrothal in love and mercy meant all of the emotional needs would be met. He is not just a God of judgment and wrath, but a God who cares deeply about every single one of his people. 

Okay, so what on earth does this have to do with eternity and heaven and all that stuff I mentioned at the beginning? 

When God fulfills all of His promises, his righteousness and justice mean all of the evil in this world will be dealt with.  Satan will be defeated for good, and the world we live in will be rid of all the sadness and pain that we wish would go away. This is also a little bit scary for a minute when we realize that we have also been the cause of some of the brokenness in this world. But before you freak out, remember the second half! His steadfast love and mercy will also be fulfilled. Those of us that know and follow Jesus will be recipients of that love and mercy. We won’t be judged according to our evil works, but by Jesus’s perfect works! And finally, in verse 20, God says he betroths himself in faithfulness. This means he will do what he says he’s going to do! This is the Good News, y’all!!! So let’s be confident in it!  Now go out, and be bold!