#DailyDevotion Who Is This Holy One?
#DailyDevotion Who Is This Holy One? Hos. 11 12“Ephraim surrounds Me with lies and Israel with deceit.” Judah also is wayward with God and with the Holy One, Who is faithful. 12 Ephraim cultivates wind and chases after the hot east wind. All day they add violence to their lies. He makes a treaty with Assyria and takes oil to Egypt. 2The LORD has a quarrel with Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways. He will pay him back according to what he does. The Masoretic text makes verse 12 of chapter 11 verse 1 of chapter 12. I guess that makes sense because of the change in tone from verse 11. It switches pretty quickly from Gospel to Law here. The accusation against Israel and Judah is they are lying, deceitful and wayward with the LORD their God. Such is the way when you believe a lie you become a liar. Now what is interesting here is they were wayward with God and with the Holy One. There are two distinct persons here. El (God) and Qadoshim (Holy One). The “im” implies multiple but the adjective, “faithful,” is in the singular showing it isn't more than one but it is rather the holiness is multiplied. What we have here is an Old Testament witness to multiple persons in the Godhead. We have God the Father and God the Son. What is Jesus called in the New Testament? In John, Acts, 1 John and Revelation, He is the Holy One. On top of that, the Holy One here is faithful, i.e. Amen. In Rev. 3:14 we read, “The Amen, the Witness Who is faithful and true, the Origin of God's creation.” In Rev. 19 we read, “11Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse, and its Rider is called Faithful and True. He is righteous when He judges and goes to battle.” So the second accusation of the LORD against Israel is they chase after the wind and add violence to their lies. I believe cultivating wind and chasing after the hot east wind has similar connotations to our own meaning of chasing after the wind. It is all in vain. When one lies in order to uphold the lie violence must be taken up to put down those who stand for the truth. A third accusation was they were making treaties with Assyria and Egypt. Instead they should have repented of their sins and trusted in the LORD their God for help. Instead they turn to idols and those who seem to have some strength among men. The LORD tells us not to trust in princes or the strength of the legs of a horse. We are to trust Him instead. So the LORD has a quarrel with Judah and Jacob. We see Judah isn't innocent before the LORD either. The LORD will pay them back for what they have done. The LORD is fair and just. He does not pay us back more than we deserve for our sins. He only brings what punishment our sins deserve especially in the fires of hell. Thanks be to God, during this time of grace, He does not punish us with what we deserve. He disciplines us to call us to repentance and faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. He has provided us an escape from the just and fair eternal punishment we deserve through the blood of Jesus applied to us in baptism and sealed to us in the LORD's Supper. Let us then seek refuge in the nail holes of Christ, the stripes He received at the hand of Pilate and empty grave which is our justification. Merciful God and Father, grant us such faith in Your Holy One, Jesus Christ, Your dear Son that we regularly repent of our sins and trust in Him for eternal life and rescue from the eternal death we deserve. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Read the full article
