The Greatest Love Story
Hosea 3:1–3
Love . . . as the Lord loves. Hosea 3:1
After Gomer left Hosea, she sank lower and lower in the social scale of the day until she became a slave and was sold in the capital city of Samaria. When the time came for her to be sold on an auction block, Hosea was told by God to buy her.
One man started the bidding: “Twelve pieces of silver!”
“Thirteen!” said Hosea.
“Fourteen pieces of silver!”
Hosea’s bid was “Fifteen!”
The low bidders were beginning to drop out, but one man continued bidding: “Fifteen pieces of silver and a bushel of barley!”
Hosea said, “Fifteen pieces of silver and a bushel and a half of barley!” The auctioneer looked around and, seeing no more bids, said, “Sold to Hosea for fifteen pieces of silver and a bushel and a half of barley.”
At this point Hosea owned his wife. He could do anything he wished with her. Yet at this point Hosea’s love, which is an illustration of God’s love for us, burned brightest. Instead of seeking vengeance, he put Gomer’s clothes on her, led her away, and claimed that love from her that was now his right. Moreover, as he did so, he promised no less from himself.
Here is the way he puts it: “The Lord said to me, ‘Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods. . . . ’ So I bought her. . . . And I said to her, ‘You must dwell as mine for many days. . . . So will I also be to you’” (Hosea 3:1–3).
Does God love like that? Yes! God steps into the marketplace of sin and buys us out of sin’s bondage by the death of Christ. When we see Hosea standing in the marketplace under orders from God to purchase his wife, who had become an adulteress and a slave, we recognize that this is the measure of God’s love.
We are Gomer. We are the slave sold on the auction block of sin. The world bids for us. But when all seemed lost, God sent Jesus Christ, his Son, into the marketplace to buy us at the cost of his life. If you can understand it as an illustration, God was the auctioneer. He said, “What am I bid for these poor, hopeless, enslaved sinners?”
Jesus said, “I bid the price of my blood.”
The Father said, “Sold to the Lord Jesus Christ for the price of his blood.”
There was no greater bid than that. So we became his, and he took us and clothed us, not with the dirty robes of our old unrighteousness, which are as filthy rags, but with the robes of his righteousness. That is how God loves us. That is what Jesus did on your behalf.
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.