I can get through all things, no matter how hard, with Christ who strengthens me!
Hosea 5:15
I will return again to My place
Till they acknowledge their offense.
Then they will seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”
Hosea 6:1-2
Come, and let us return to the Lord;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
2 After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
Since 1948 the gathering and material increase for Israel continues. The stage is being set for the return of Jesus. In the latter years Christ will return to reign. Israel will acknowledge Jesus as their King bringing the fulfillment of all prophesy.
Matthew 24:1 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
Matthew 24:4-8 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
We are getting closer and closer to the return of Jesus as King. We need to be aware of those who claim to be doing good but are only using humanity for their increase materially. There is little truth and more and more baseless conspiracy theories as people become desperate for answers. The love of God and our neighbors will be forgotten by those who proclaim to be followers of Him. The only answer is Jesus and His truth. We need to cling to our faith in Him and through the power of Holy Spirit to do what we cannot.
Mathew 24:15-26 Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. 23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it.
Jesus speaking to Israel warned that the anti-christ will come but they are warned to leave the city taking nothing…going quickly! At the end of the 7 years it will end. Those days will be full of wrath but take heart for Jesus will return to His people and restore everything that satan tried to destroy.
The remnant of the Israelites will be protected by God’s power, not their own, in their faith in Jesus and will preach the Gospel of Christ to all the nations. They will rule with Christ in peace and justice. Although satan desires to kill believers in Christ …greater is He in us than he that thinks he rules the world. It begins and ends with Jesus the anointed of God! Carla
The disciples ask Jesus about His prediction in verse 2. They want to know when the temple will be destroyed and how they can discern the timing of His return. He responds by discussing the troubling events that will signal His return and the end of the age. Jesus’ teaching in 24:3–25:46 is commonly called the Olivet Discourse because it was His teaching on the Mount of Olives (verse 3).
These things refers to the destruction of the temple (verse 2). The disciples assume that these two events will happen at the same time. His return signals the end of world empires and the beginning of His kingdom (similar to Daniel and John in Revelation). The Jewish War of ad 66–73 partially fulfilled Jesus’ prophecy.
Famines and earthquakes were common motif in apocalyptic writings (Revelation 6:8, 12; 16:18; 18:8). Famine is often the result of war, and earthquakes represent cataclysmic chaos that extends to nature itself (Acts 11:27–30; Revelation 6:8; Joel 2:10). The Birth pains metaphor is used throughout the Bible in reference to suffering and judgment (Isaiah 26:17–18; Jeremiah 22:23; 1 Thessalonians 5:3). Faithlife Study Bible
Jesus’ warning about being deceived was especially appropriate for the disciples. The destruction of Jerusalem did not necessarily mean the nearness of the end of the age. This principle was a point of confusion for them (Luke 19:11–27; Acts 1:6, 7).
Three indicators of time are given in verses 6–14. The first is found in verse 6, the end is not yet. The second is found in verse 8, “All these are the beginning of sorrows.” The third is found in verse 14, “then the end will come.”
Verses 4–6 may describe the first part of Daniel’s seventieth week (Daniel 9:25–27), but possibly they present a general picture of the present age. False messiahs and wars and rumors of wars are characteristic of the fallen world in which we live. When the Lord said all these things must come to pass, He used a word for must that indicates a divine or logical necessity. Such activities are necessary because of the people’s sin.
False messiahs had existed before (Acts 5:36, 37; 21:38), and false preachers would come in the future (Acts 20:29, 30; 2 Cor. 11:13–15). This passage describes characteristics of the end times. Nation … against nation, and kingdom against kingdom seems to indicate wars on a broad or worldwide scale. The famines, pestilences, and earthquakes are more fully described in Revelation 6:1–8; 8:5–13; 9:13–21; 16:2–21. Sorrows literally means “birth pangs.” The earth continually has birth pangs today (Romans 8:22); during the tribulation, these “sorrows” will increase in intensity and frequency until Jesus returns in glory (19:28; Acts 3:21). The NKJV Study Bible
Matthew 24:9–20 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another…
Isaiah 19:2
I will set Egyptians against Egyptians;
Everyone will fight against his brother,
And everyone against his neighbor,
City against city, kingdom against kingdom.
2 Chronicles 15:6 So nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity.
Risk
To laugh, is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep, is to risk appearing sentimental.
To give without regard for reward, is to risk misunderstanding.
To reach out to others, is to risk involvement.
To seek justice, is to risk reprisal.
To open your heart, is to risk vulnerability.
To expose feelings, is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your dreams before a crowd, is to risk their loss.
To love, is to risk not being loved in return.
To live, is to risk dying.
To hope, is to risk despair.
To try, is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken,
because the greatest hazard in life is to do nothing.
The person who risks nothing,
does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.
Chained by their certitudes, they are a slave,
they forfeited their freedom.
Only the person who risks can be free.
Leo F. Buscaglia (with adaptations)
Excerpt from Sabbath Moment
While not neglecting the reality of struggle and suffering along the way, Hosea 1:10 reaffirmed the Abrahamic promise of multiplication and God's redemption of His people.
The same is true for us today. We are rooted in the story of God's faithfulness to Israel. Our sufferings and trials are not evidence of His failure to care for us but an invitation into deeper faith in Christ Jesus, the risen and resurrected One. In John 12:24, Jesus said, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." This is how the Son of God died, defeating sin and death through death and inviting us to experience resurrection life through submission to Him!
This is exactly what it means to be "children of the living God" (Hosea 1:10). Once we were dead in sin, but now we are alive in Him. Once we were lost, but now we are found. Once we were not God's people, but now we are His children. Romans 9:24-25 even quotes Hosea 1:10 to remind us this is true for all people who trust in Jesus.
Hosea 1:11 referred to a time when Israel would appoint "one head." Once again, this is a seed planted to point us to the risen Christ, who is the head of all things on earth and in heaven (Colossians 2:10; Ephesians 1:9-10).First5
