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- Hear Tony Pearce speak on this fascinating scripture which unlocks the deeper meaning of the prophetic word and shows us how God speaks in the wilderness experience.
- Why did God tell the prophet Hosea to marry Gomer the prostitute and have children by her? What is the significance in the names given these children in relation to God’s dealings with Israel?
- The Valley of Achor is a type of the place of desolation and judgement, the cross, where Jesus brought us salvation and the knowledge of God.

#Israel #jesus #jesuschrist #Messiah #MiddleEast #salvation

https://lightforthelastdays.co.uk/video/the-valley-of-achor-a-door-of-hope/

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Transcript
00:00So, this morning I'm going to speak on this subject, the Valley of Acre, the Door of Hope,
00:20will be taken from the Book of Hosea, Chapter 2. If you want to follow it in the Church
00:25Bible, it's on page 1040. The Valley of Acre, a Door of Hope. What does Acre mean? Acre is
00:32a Hebrew word which means trouble. I'll explain why it means trouble later on. But that place
00:37of trouble will become a Door of Hope. I've already spoken about some of the trouble in
00:42the world in the prayer, as we looked at the situation in Israel. I'm not going to go into
00:46and again repeat that detail, but obviously we're aware that we live in a time of immense
00:50trouble coming on both the Middle East and indeed upon our world. And we need a Door of Hope. And
00:56the Bible tells us what that Door of Hope is. So, we're going to read from the Book of Hosea,
01:02Chapter 2, verse 14 through to verse 23. Then we're going to look at it in some detail.
01:10Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfort to her. I
01:18will give her her vineyards from there and the Valley of Acre as a Door of Hope. She shall sing
01:24there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
01:29And in that day, it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that you will call me my husband
01:33and no longer call me my master. For I will take from her mouth the names of the bulls
01:39and they shall be remembered by their name no more. On that day, I will make a covenant with
01:44them with the beasts of the field, with the birds of the air, with the creeping things of the ground.
01:49Bow and sword of battle, I will shatter from the earth to make them lie down safely. I will
01:54betroth you to me forever. Yes, I'll betroth you to me in righteousness and justice, in loving
02:00kindness and mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord.
02:07It shall come to pass in that day that I will answer, says the Lord, I will answer the heavens
02:10and they shall answer the earth. The earth shall answer with grain, with new wine and with oil,
02:16and they shall answer Jezreel. And I will sow her for myself in the earth and I will have mercy
02:23on her who had not obtained mercy. Then I will say to those who were not my people, you are my people
02:29and they shall say, you are my God. Praise the Lord.
02:33Okay, let's just have a word of prayer as we come to the word of God. Lord, we thank you for
02:43your word. We thank you for this truth. Pray you help me to speak on this subject and for those
02:47who are here to hear and to hear what you would say to us concerning ourselves, concerning the
02:52situation around us and how you are the door of hope as we see the troubles in our world today.
02:58Background to the book of Hosea. The book of Hosea is a strange book. It's one of the minor
03:05prophets. Hosea was told by the Lord in chapter one to do something which was quite unusual for
03:12a godly young man. Verse two of chapter one, it says, when the Lord began to speak by Hosea,
03:17the Lord said to him, go take a wife yourself of harlotry and children of harlotry for the
03:23land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord. So God told this godly young man
03:30to take a wife who was a harlot and to have children by her. Seems a strange thing to do.
03:36He was then told to divorce her because of her unfaithfulness and then to take her back again.
03:43And the story is a kind of parable of God's relationship with Israel. His love for her,
03:49marriage to her, as a concept in the Bible you have of Israel as the bride of Jehovah or the
03:55bride of the Lord. And Israel's unfaithfulness and harlotry following other gods resulting in
04:01a separation and a divorce to be followed by an ultimate restoration to a relationship with the
04:07Lord through knowing him. And you have then the concept in the New Testament of the bride of
04:12Messiah through Yeshua. And one of the themes through this book is knowing the Lord. And
04:18although it's about Israel, it parallels our relationship with the Lord. Our times of
04:23unfaithfulness, our times of departing and our times of returning and coming to know the Lord
04:28and be faithful to him. Ask questions. If we fall away, can we be restored again?
04:34And this gives a passage, if you like, of someone who falls away and yet is restored again back to
04:39God's grace and God's mercy. And is therefore a hopeful theme as we look at this subject.
04:45Now, Hosea prophesied for a long time in the northern kingdom. And if you know your history
04:52of the Bible, you know that after the reign of King Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was divided
04:59after rebellion against the king by a man called Rehoboam in the north, who set up the northern
05:05kingdom of Israel, which became separate from the southern kingdom of Judah. And Jerusalem was in
05:12the cousin kingdom of Judah. So Hosea was prophesying actually in the northern kingdom.
05:19He also had a message for the southern kingdom. He was prophesying roughly at the same time as
05:24Isaiah was prophesying in the southern kingdom around 760 to 720 BC, when a man called Jeroboam
05:31the second was king of Israel, and Uzziah through to Hezekiah were kings of Judah.
05:37If you look in the Bible, you find that the northern kingdom of Israel was always idolatrous
05:42since the day when the kingdom was divided following the death of Solomon. The first
05:47Jeroboam rebelled against King Rehoboam of Judah and set up an independent kingdom of Israel in
05:53the north, while Rehoboam ruled in the south, with Jerusalem and the temple in the south.
06:01Read about that in 1 Kings chapter 11 and chapter 12. Jeroboam had a problem because he thought
06:08the people are going to go down from the northern kingdom to Jerusalem to worship in the temple,
06:12and then they might stop rebelling against me and go back to wanting to be restored to being
06:17one kingdom under Judah. So he had a bright idea that he would set up calves at the entrance to
06:24at the border of Israel and Judah and tell the people to worship that. In 1 Kings chapter 15
06:31chapter 12 verse 25 it says, Jeroboam said in his heart, now the kingdom may return to the house of
06:36David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the
06:41heart of the people will turn back to their Lord Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me
06:46and go back to Rehoboam, king of Judah. Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold,
06:53and said to the people, it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel,
06:58who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Now he set up one in Bethel and the other he put in Dan.
07:04Now this thing became a sin for the people, went to worship before the one as far as Dan.
07:09He made shrines on the high places and made priests for every class of people
07:14who were not the sons of Levi. You see going back to the ancient idolatry, even making calves,
07:21remember the golden calf as the Israelites came out of Egypt, and he's setting up a calf and saying
07:26that these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt. How far can you get from what God says
07:31in doing that? So he set up a substitute religion. It involved some elements of the religion, the true
07:38religion of Israel, the true religion with the worship of the Lord, but it added new bits and
07:43left others out, which is pretty much what happens often in religion. That's what's happened in
07:48Christianity, as the Christian church added bits and left bits out and ended up bringing another
07:54religion which was not acceptable to the Lord. But the people sacrificed to the calves, they set up
08:00new priests, they set up new feasts and rituals, but they still claimed to be worshipping the Lord.
08:06Things went from bad to worse by the time he got to King Ahab, and they went full-on into total
08:12idolatry and began to import the gods of the Phoenicians through Jezebel, who was the wife of
08:18King Ahab, and they brought in full-on Baal worship, Baal worship which was really something
08:25which was totally abominable to the Lord. They erected pillars to Baal and practiced moral
08:31wickedness with temple prostitutes, even child sacrifice, and they persecuted the prophets of the
08:37Lord. This was a time in the Bible when you had the ministry of Elijah and Elisha, and God spoke
08:43through them with signs and wonders through their preaching, and they also prophesied doom on King
08:49Ahab and on King Jezebel for their great sins. They also prophesied that a man called Jehu would
08:55arise, prophesied by Elisha, and carry out this judgment on the house of Ahab, and himself become
09:01the king of Israel, and he would bring a line of kings descended from him, which you read about in
09:072 Kings chapter 9. His grandson was Jeroboam II, who was on the throne for about 40 years, and
09:14Hosea was prophesying in the days of Jeroboam II. Jeroboam II was a powerful king in the line of
09:21Jehu who recovered much of Israel's territory from the foreign gods. He was successful, and in his
09:28time Israel prospered politically and materially, but it was also a time of continuing
09:35spiritual and moral decline, and the result of this decay wouldn't become evident until the days of
09:41Jeroboam were finished. Then a time of collapse was set in, and the Assyrians would eventually
09:47come in and deport the northern kingdom and take them away. So the northern kingdom would be removed
09:54and taken to Assyria. Some ways I was thinking about this time when it was a prosperous country,
10:02but in spiritual decline sounded a bit like Britain today. We have our spiritual decay,
10:09which is leading to moral and political collapse of this nation, which you can read about in the
10:15latest Light for Last Days if you get it. Now Hosea foretold the downfall of Jehu's dynasty
10:24on the battleground of Jezreel, which happens to also be Armageddon. Up there the tell of Megiddo
10:31on Ha-Megiddo, which means the Mount of Megiddo, the site of the ancient town there. Looking over
10:39the valley of Megiddo, which is the valley of Jezreel, also known as, which is a very large
10:46valley in the north of Israel, and it gets its name Ha-Megiddo. It's given to Armageddon.
10:54It's the same place. I remember the first time I went to Israel, and we went through the valley
10:59of Megiddo, and it suddenly struck me that we were going through an immensely productive and
11:04fertile place. It's the breadbasket of northern Israel, and yet it's also the place which would
11:09ultimately be the place of destruction at the end of days at Ha-Megiddo, Armageddon.
11:16But Hosea and his prophecy prophesied there would be a battle here at Jezreel, at Armageddon,
11:22not at the valley of Megiddo, that would follow the period of lawlessness leading to decline
11:29and the eventual deportation of the people of the northern kingdom to Assyria.
11:35And Hosea, as a prophet, he saw with horror Israel's unfaithfulness to the Lord.
11:40He saw this country which was outwardly prosperous but inwardly corrupt,
11:44and he saw within it the seeds of its own destruction.
11:49Had every advantage as the people of God, but they worshipped idols
11:52and indulged in every form of immorality and social injustice.
11:56And he asked the question, can God still love a people such as this?
11:59Can he still have a relationship with them?
12:01Can he still have a relationship with them?
12:04Prophets saw the sins of the people, saw that Israel had been chosen as the wife of Jehovah,
12:10the wife of the Lord, and yet they have forsaken God and entered into relationships with false gods.
12:19And God says now this relationship is going to be broken and yet it will be restored again.
12:25If you look in Deuteronomy chapter 7, we read how God chose Israel,
12:30said, you are a holy people to the Lord your God.
12:32The Lord your God has chosen you as the people for himself,
12:35a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
12:38The Lord did not choose his love upon you nor choose you
12:40because you were more in number than other people,
12:43for you are the least of all peoples.
12:45But because the Lord loves you,
12:47and because you would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers,
12:49the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you
12:52from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
12:57Because of the Lord's love for his people Israel,
12:59that he's brought them out of the house of bondage,
13:01out of the place of slavery in Egypt,
13:04and brought them into the promised land.
13:08Continues, therefore, know that the Lord your God, he is God,
13:11he is the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations
13:16with those who love him and keep his commandments.
13:19And he repays those who hate him to their face to destroy them.
13:22He will not be slight with them, him who hates him,
13:26he will repay him to his face.
13:28Therefore, you should keep the commandments, the statutes and the judgments
13:31which I command you today to observe them.
13:35So God is faithful to those who are faithful to him.
13:38But he also reserves the right of people who are unfaithful to him
13:41and worship other gods to bring judgment upon them.
13:44That's the nature of God.
13:46And he's telling his people, therefore, to keep his commandments,
13:49to keep the statutes, keep the judgments
13:51in order to be blessed in the land that I give you.
13:55Now, if they break these commandments and what the theme of Hosea is,
14:00that as a result of breaking these commandments of being unfaithful,
14:03going into harlotry and adultery,
14:05they will experience separation, divorce and judgment.
14:09And it's a picture of divorce as having been the wife of the Lord
14:14and a spiritual sense, not in a physical sense, obviously,
14:17but in a physical sense, they're now going to be divorced and separated.
14:21But he's saying they're also going to be brought back again.
14:24Now, if you go to Deuteronomy chapter 24,
14:26there's a passage which deals with divorce and remarriage.
14:32And it tells us that a husband who divorces his wife
14:35is not to take her back at any future date.
14:38So he can't divorce her, separate from her and then take her back again.
14:44But in Hosea, actually, God tells in the parable he gives us here in Hosea,
14:48he's going to go against what he says here,
14:50this Torah principle and offer restoration,
14:53even to his divorced wife, who is called Goma.
14:57So let's have a look at this family.
15:00You have a family here is given Hosea and Goma.
15:04Hosea in Hebrew is Hosea, which is related to the word Yeshua.
15:09And it means the Lord saves.
15:12So there's an idea of salvation in this name even.
15:16Goma, the prostitute, the woman of harlotry who marries,
15:20becomes a symbol of Israel in rebellion against the Lord.
15:23Her name means completion.
15:25And one commentary says it's the filling up of Israel's idolatrous.
15:31She's going to have three children.
15:32One is called Jezreel or Yisrael.
15:36Interesting word.
15:36It means three things, actually.
15:38It can mean God scatters, can mean God sows.
15:42And it also is a place name which refers to a valley in the north of Israel,
15:46which happens to be a very fertile valley, as we've already seen.
15:52We'll come back to those names in a moment.
15:54As another child, a girl called Lo-Ruhamah.
15:58Ruhamah means mercy.
16:00So Lo-Ruhamah means not obtain mercy.
16:03As another child, a boy who was called Lo-Ammi,
16:07which Ammi means my people.
16:10So Lo-Ammi means not my people.
16:14Take away the Lo, which means not, you get Ruhamah, which means mercy,
16:17and Ammi, which means my people.
16:20So you have these three children born.
16:21The son called Jezreel, which means may God scatter.
16:25But if you pronounce it slightly differently, it means may God sow.
16:30And Hosea uses the play on words very often in his prophecy.
16:34Get his message across.
16:36God is going to scatter.
16:37God's also going to sow.
16:39He's going to scatter because of unbelief.
16:40He's going to sow righteousness and draw them back again.
16:44The valley of Jezreel speaks of the place we've already looked at, Megiddo.
16:51The place where Naboth's vineyard was.
16:54The place where Elijah prophesied the fall of the house of Ahab because of his sin.
17:00Going to be replaced by the line of Jehu, who reigned for four generations.
17:05But Hosea prophesied also the fall of the line of Jehu.
17:09Even in the battlefield here at Jezreel and would lead to the fall of Israel,
17:15the nation and its ultimate dispersion to the Assyrians.
17:22But as we've said also, Jezreel is also the valley of Megiddo,
17:27place of Armageddon, the end of days.
17:31Is it going to be the end of Israel?
17:33Or is it the step to the ultimate salvation of Israel
17:36and the return of the Messiah to bring deliverance?
17:39Not just to Israel, but to us all.
17:43And go back to the second child, Leru Chama.
17:45Second child, not beloved, not obtained mercy.
17:50And God's saying that the day of mercy is over for Israel.
17:53The Assyrians are going to come and take him to captivity.
17:56But Judah would be saved.
17:58That's one of his messages.
18:00There's going to be a difference between what happens
18:01to the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom.
18:05Although Judah had its sin as well,
18:07Judah had a faithful king called Hezekiah,
18:11who at the time when the Assyrians came down,
18:14sought the Lord and prayed to God,
18:16and God delivered them under the influence of the prophet Isaiah.
18:19And the southern kingdom of Judah was saved from the Assyrians
18:24when they came down to take them also into captivity.
18:28Actually, from God's point of view, it's very important
18:29that the southern kingdom of Israel remained in Jerusalem
18:33and remained as a people
18:34because God was going to bring the Messiah
18:37through the line of Judah through the descent of David.
18:40And it was important that they remained a people
18:42in order that his purposes should come to pass
18:45through the Messiah, Yeshua.
18:49All things work together for good to those who love God
18:51according to his purposes.
18:53Then we have the third child who is called Lo Ami, not my people.
18:59God announced he no longer have a relationship with Israel.
19:02They've scorned him by embracing pagan religions
19:04of surrounding nations.
19:06So is that the end of Israel?
19:09No, because in the following verses in chapter one,
19:13verse 10 of Hosea, it says,
19:14yet the number of the children of Israel
19:16shall be as the sand of the sea,
19:18which cannot be measured or numbered.
19:19And you come to pass in the place where it said to them,
19:22you are not my people.
19:23There it will be said to them,
19:24you are sons of the living God.
19:27Then the children of Israel, children of Judah
19:29and the children of Israel shall be gathered together
19:32and appoint for themselves one head
19:33and they shall come up out of the land.
19:35The great shall be the day of Jezreel.
19:38God says, say to your brethren,
19:41my people and your sisters, mercy is shown.
19:47So there will be a return.
19:48A remnant will be saved.
19:50The day of Jezreel, day of Jezreel looks forward
19:53to a partial return from Babylon,
19:58but also looks forward to the end of days,
20:00the end time battle at Armageddon.
20:03But according to the scriptures,
20:04it says Israel will look upon him
20:06and they've pierced and mourn for him
20:07as for only some look upon Yeshua as the Messiah
20:11and experience mercy, God's love for his people,
20:13bring them back to himself.
20:16And Goma's two children who were initially disowned by Hosea,
20:20who were born of sin will now be accepted by grace.
20:24And we called Ami and Ruhama, my people, my mercy.
20:30They, when God sows salvation and they become my people
20:34and mercy is shown through Ruhama.
20:37Which brings us on to the passage we just read
20:39about the Valley of Achor.
20:41Valley of Achor, in Hebrew,
20:45the Valley of Achor is Emech Achor.
20:48Achor means trouble, day of trouble.
20:52So let's see how we can relate to that.
20:55Verse 14, I'll read it again.
20:57Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
20:59will bring her into the wilderness
21:00and speak comfort to her.
21:02I will give her her vineyards from there
21:04and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope.
21:07She shall sing there as in the days of her youth,
21:09as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
21:14So the dispersion is not gonna be the end of the story.
21:17There's a significance on this whole passage
21:20about the wilderness and the Valley of Achor.
21:23God's gonna lure them into the valley,
21:25gonna drag them with mercy, with tenderness
21:29into the wilderness and speak to them
21:34at the Valley of Achor.
21:37Word for wilderness in Hebrew is Midbar.
21:41Hebrew, this phrase actually is
21:42V'lochochtea ha-midbar ve-dibati la-libi al-libar.
21:48There's a connection between the word for desert, Midbar,
21:52and the word for speak, dibati.
21:54They both have the same root words.
21:56Pre-Hebrew letters, dalet, beth and resh.
22:00So is there a reason why there's a connection
22:01between the desert and speaking?
22:04The Midbar and the dibar, the word of the Lord.
22:09Same Hebrew root, kind of interesting.
22:12The desert is the place of desolation,
22:14but it can also be the place where God speaks.
22:18You go into the desert, you get into the clamor,
22:20where the clamor of voices of the world are silenced
22:23and you can hear the still small voice of God.
22:27Remember how Elijah went into the desert
22:29and he heard the still small voice of God
22:31speaking to him there.
22:33The desert's not a good place to be.
22:36We don't want to go into the desert.
22:37We don't want to go in the wilderness.
22:38But it may be the place where God speaks to us,
22:42away from the clamor of the city
22:43and the constant voices of the world.
22:45We can hear the voice of God, voice of the Lord.
22:49And the Lord says here, ve-dibati al-libar,
22:52I will speak comfort to her, I'll speak to her heart.
22:56I'll give her a message of comfort and hope
22:57in the place of desolation.
23:00Maybe sometimes we go into the place of desolation
23:03where we feel God's abandoned us,
23:05we feel everything's lost.
23:07And yet if we seek God in that place,
23:09he will speak to us.
23:10God says sometimes he wants to strip away
23:12all the things of the external world which are around us,
23:14the things which confuse us
23:16and which blare all the time at us.
23:19You know, you see people going down the street all the time,
23:21they've got headphones on,
23:21they're listening to something all the time.
23:24When you go into a shop, you've got music blaring.
23:26You can't get away from the noise of the world.
23:29Sometimes God wants us to get away
23:30from the noise of this world to get into a quiet place,
23:33a desolate place even,
23:34a place where we're separated from the clamor of this world
23:37and we can hear the voice of God.
23:38We can hear God speaking to us
23:40because God is a God who speaks.
23:42It's one of the differences of the God of the Bible
23:44from all the other gods.
23:46God says about the idols,
23:47they have eyes but they can't see,
23:48they have mouths but they can't speak.
23:50But God is a God who can see and a God who can speak
23:53and a God who wants to speak to us
23:54by his word, by his Holy Spirit.
23:57And he wants also, it says here,
23:59I will give her her vineyards from there.
24:03A vineyard speaks of fertility, wine, symbol of joy,
24:08symbol of life if you like.
24:10Now you can't grow vineyards in a desert,
24:13not possible, they need water.
24:17And so God's saying I'm going to give you her vineyards
24:20from there means he's going to take you out of the wilderness
24:22into a place where you can be productive.
24:25Maybe sometimes you have to go to the wilderness,
24:27to the place where you're separated
24:30from all the things of the world to hear from God
24:33and give his word to you which can make you productive.
24:37God wants to set us on the way to where he wants us to go
24:40where we can be productive in his kingdom
24:42and produce the vineyard, produce the good fruit
24:46and produce the good fruit which will bring joy
24:50and joy to ourselves and to the world
24:53and to the world around us, the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
24:57Now let's come back to the Valley of Acre.
24:59Why is it called the Valley of Acre?
25:01Goes back to a story which you read in the book of Judges,
25:05sorry, book of Joshua.
25:07After the Israelites came into the promised land
25:09and they won that great victory at Jericho
25:14where the walls came down
25:15and they defeated the Canaanites at Jericho
25:19opening up the way into the promised land.
25:22And one of the things which God said to them
25:23if they, when they had defeated, when Jericho had fallen
25:27they were not to take anything out of Jericho.
25:29They went to, they were to burn the things by fire
25:32not to take any spoils from Jericho.
25:35But a man called Achan went in to disobey God
25:39and he took some garments
25:41and he took some garments and some silver and some gold
25:44and he put it under his tent.
25:47And this became a curse to Israel
25:50because when they went to the next town to Ai
25:53they thought, oh, we can take this one easily
25:55just like we did with Jericho.
25:57And they ended up being turned away
26:00by the inhabitants of Ai and defeated.
26:03And there was a fear then that they're going to lose
26:05the whole scenario because now the Canaanites
26:07had seen they could turn the Israelites back.
26:09And they sought God.
26:10And God said, the reason why you were defeated
26:12is because you got some devoted things
26:14from Jericho into your tent.
26:16And now they're causing you to be out of favor with me.
26:18You have to deal with that sin
26:20which has brought you into this place.
26:23And we read in the book of Joshua.
26:24Joshua said to Achan when Achan was revealed
26:28to be the one who had done this thing.
26:30My son, I beg you give glory to the Lord God of Israel
26:32and make confession to him and tell me what you now have done.
26:36Do not hide it from me.
26:37Do not hide it from me.
26:39And Achan answered Joshua and said,
26:40indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel.
26:43This is what I've done.
26:44When I saw among the spoils of beautiful Babylonian garment
26:48200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing 50 shekels,
26:52I coveted them and took them.
26:53And there they are hidden in the earth
26:55in the midst of my tent with the silver under it.
26:58So Joshua sent messages and they ran to the tent.
27:01And there it was hidden in his tent with the silver under it.
27:05And they took them from the midst of the tent
27:07and brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel
27:09and laid them out before the Lord.
27:12Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan,
27:15the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment,
27:17the wedge of gold and his sons, his daughters,
27:19his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent
27:21and all that he had.
27:22And they brought them to the valley of Achor.
27:25And Joshua said, why have you troubled us?
27:27The Lord will trouble you this day.
27:29So all Israel stoned him with stones
27:31and they burned them with fire
27:33after they had stoned him with stones.
27:35Then they raised up over him a great heap of stones,
27:38still there to this day.
27:39So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger.
27:42Therefore, the name of that place
27:43has been called the valley of Achor to this day.
27:47The valley of Achor means trouble.
27:51So you have this very stern story, if you like,
27:56warning against disobeying God
27:58and taking Babylonian garments and things into your house
28:03to be a treasure to yourself.
28:07He was taken and put to death
28:09and put to take away the judgment from Israel.
28:12And this was given as the reason for the defeat
28:15which the Israelites encountered at Ai
28:18had to be dealt with, in this case, by death.
28:22Then God was able to save Israel and give them the victory.
28:25So you have the valley of Achor.
28:27It was a place of idolatry and judgment,
28:30a place where God dealt with this
28:34and a reminder that if we repent and turn to the Lord,
28:36that place of judgment will become a door of hope.
28:41And to me, it speaks about the cross.
28:44The cross was the place of trouble,
28:46the place where Jesus went to the place of judgment,
28:50to desolation, to trouble, to bear the sins of the world.
28:55So reading Isaiah 53,
28:58we like sheep have gone astray,
28:59we've turned everyone to his own way
29:01and the Lord has laid on him, on the Messiah,
29:03the iniquity of us all.
29:06He had to go there to defeat Satan
29:08because of all the trouble in the world
29:10and to deliver us from the judgment
29:12which comes upon God for our sin.
29:21And for believers, the cross represents
29:23the place of God's judgment on sin.
29:26And so it represents the valley of Achor
29:28which becomes the door of hope,
29:31the door of hope for all people
29:32who call upon the name of the Lord,
29:33whether Jewish or Gentile,
29:35to come into a relationship with God
29:38through faith in Jesus
29:40and how we will open up a door of hope
29:42through faith in Jesus, the Messiah.
29:46Let's move on.
29:47In the next verse, it says,
29:50it should be in that day, says the Lord,
29:52that you will call me my husband.
29:54Hebrew word is Ishi.
29:56And no longer call me my master.
29:58Hebrew word is Baali.
30:01For I will take from her mouth
30:02the names of the Baals
30:03and they shall be remembered by their name no more.
30:07There's a significance
30:08which you don't really get in the English,
30:10in the Hebrew here.
30:12Baali and Ishi.
30:14The word Baal in Hebrew can mean three things.
30:17It can mean Baal, the false God.
30:20It can mean master
30:21or it can also mean husband.
30:24The word Ishi means man
30:26or it means husband.
30:28So actually both words can mean husband.
30:32I guess the word Baal as a husband
30:34has an idea somehow of quite a cruel
30:37and oppressive husband
30:38who is the Lord and master.
30:41Whereas Ishi has more the idea of a husband
30:43who is loving and tender
30:45and who cares for his wife.
30:47So there's an idea here of correcting
30:51something, a wrong idea,
30:52if you like, of God.
30:54An idea of God as a cruel and harsh master
30:57and replacing him with a God
30:58who is kind and loving, tender,
31:01who wants the welfare of his wife,
31:04of his bride.
31:06Also has an idea of removal of the false gods
31:08and the false prophets
31:10and the false ideas about God.
31:14In the book of Zechariah chapter 13
31:16after Israel has looked upon him
31:17whom they've pierced, it says
31:19in that day a fountain shall be opened
31:21for the house of David
31:23and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
31:24for sin and for uncleanness.
31:26It shall be in that day, says the Lord of hosts,
31:27that I will cut off
31:29the names of the idols from the land.
31:32They shall no longer be remembered.
31:33I also cause the prophets
31:34and the unclean spirit
31:36to depart from the land.
31:39So as the people look to the Lord
31:41and they receive salvation
31:43in our time through Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah,
31:46so then we cut off from the false idols,
31:49from the false gods, from the false religions
31:51and from all false prophets
31:53who would lead us astray.
31:57In the case of Israel,
31:58you can see how
32:00many of the Israelites need to be turned
32:02from worshipping false gods, false idols.
32:06Israel today, there is a division
32:08between the secular and the religious.
32:11Both of them actually have false ideas of God.
32:14When that terrible event happened
32:16on the 7th of October,
32:19the Hamas actually attacked a music festival
32:26at which thousands of young people
32:28were gathered together
32:30and were dancing to techno music
32:31which puts you into a trance
32:33under an inflated image of the Buddha.
32:40I kind of feel that there was something
32:41of God's sorrow at that taking place.
32:45And here was Israel,
32:46people who he called for himself
32:48dancing to basically satanically inspired music
32:53under an image of the Buddha.
32:56I will take away from you the false gods
32:58and we see that there is much new age
33:01or cultish stuff in Israel
33:03which God needs to cleanse and prompt.
33:06But what about Judaism?
33:09Judaism also actually has a false idea of God
33:11and of the Messiah.
33:14In 2 Corinthians chapter 3,
33:17Paul wrote,
33:19Therefore, since we have such hope,
33:21we have used great boldness of speech,
33:23unlike Moses who put a veil over his face
33:25so that the children of Israel
33:27could not look steadily at the end
33:28of what was passing away,
33:30but their minds were blinded.
33:31For until this day,
33:32the same veil remains unlifted
33:34in the reading of the Old Testament
33:36because the veil is taken away in the Messiah.
33:40But even to this day when Moses is read,
33:42a veil lies on their heart.
33:44Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord,
33:47the veil is taken away.
33:51Jewish people are very faithful to their God
33:53and they follow the law of Moses.
33:57But unfortunately,
33:59in reading Moses,
34:01very often,
34:03the one who Moses was pointing towards
34:05who is Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah,
34:06is hidden from their eyes.
34:09And Judaism has erected a wrong idea of Messiah.
34:12Messiah is a good man.
34:13He's going to come and sort out
34:14the problems of the world
34:15and has failed to understand
34:17that the Messiah has already come
34:19in the person of the Messiah.
34:20Yeshua came to die for us,
34:23take the punishment for our sins,
34:25and he's coming again,
34:26soon in power and glory
34:27to judge the world in righteousness.
34:29And part of what God wants to do
34:31in the hearts of Jewish people
34:33is to remove the veil
34:35which is over their eyes
34:37through even the reading of Moses
34:40through the observation of the Torah,
34:42but missing out Yeshua,
34:44Jesus, the Messiah.
34:47And to bring them into the new covenant,
34:48which Q1 has already spoken to us about
34:51as we were remembering the Lord
34:53in the breaking of bread.
34:55And it's through Yeshua
34:56that the trouble which has come upon Israel
34:59can be resolved
35:00and the Valley of Achor can become
35:02the door of hope
35:03through faith in Jesus, the Messiah.
35:06And not only that, of course,
35:07also for the Muslims
35:10who have a form of religion,
35:13who worship one God,
35:15but have also missed the point
35:16that Yeshua, Jesus,
35:17is the one mediator between God and man.
35:20Jesus is the Messiah,
35:21the Savior who's come
35:22to pay the price for our sin,
35:24to die on the cross,
35:24rise from the dead,
35:25and be the mediator between God and humanity.
35:29And one has to say
35:30that much of the Christian world
35:31has also missed the point,
35:33has substituted the true message of the gospel
35:36for a corrupted message
35:39which comes through parts of the church,
35:42which has fallen away
35:44from the truth in Jesus Christ.
35:46But the Valley of Achor
35:48should be a door of hope.
35:50The Valley of Achor,
35:51speaking of the place where Jesus went
35:53to pay the price for the sin of the world,
35:55becomes the door of hope.
35:58And as we go on,
35:59it says he will make a covenant
36:03with them.
36:06Verse 18.
36:10In that day,
36:13I will make a covenant for them
36:14with the beasts of the field,
36:15with the birds of the air,
36:17the creeping things of the ground,
36:18bow and sword of battle,
36:20I will shatter from the earth
36:21to make them lie down safely.
36:23I betroth you to me forever.
36:25Yes, I betroth you to me in righteousness
36:26and justice,
36:27in loving kindness and mercy.
36:29I betroth you to me in faithfulness
36:32and you shall know the Lord.
36:36I'll make a covenant with them.
36:38Covenant God has made with us
36:39through Yeshua, the Messiah,
36:41through which we can know the Lord
36:43and we will be betrothed to him
36:44in faithfulness.
36:46See also that this passage
36:47has an end time significance
36:49because it speaks about
36:50something that's going to happen
36:51when Jesus returns.
36:53Make a covenant with the beasts of the field,
36:55the birds of the air.
36:56There's going to be a change
36:57in the animal kingdom,
36:58which we read about in Isaiah chapter 11.
37:00You can read end to war,
37:02read about in Isaiah chapter 2.
37:04And God will betroth his people
37:06to himself in righteousness and truth,
37:09in mercy.
37:10They will experience a new covenant
37:12as the bride of the Messiah.
37:14And there'll be an abundance of supply,
37:16a harvest, grain, new wine, oil.
37:19Things which were taken away before
37:21are now revealed
37:23as the earth is full of the knowledge
37:24of the glory of the Lord.
37:28And the bread, the grain,
37:30the new wine and the oil
37:31also speak about spiritual things,
37:32the bread of life given to us
37:34through Jesus, the Messiah,
37:35through the word of God.
37:37Wine and the oil,
37:39speaking of the Holy Spirit
37:40and the renewal we have
37:41in new life in Jesus.
37:44And this begins the reverse,
37:46the restoration of the people.
37:48Restoration from being lo ruchamah
37:51to becoming ruchamah, mercy.
37:53Lo ami, to becoming my people.
37:58Knowing what God has provided
37:59in the New Testament,
38:00knowing that our sins are forgiven,
38:01that our names are written
38:02in the book of life.
38:04Interestingly, Paul quotes this
38:06in Romans chapter nine,
38:07quoting Hosea where he says,
38:08I will call them my people
38:10who are not my people
38:11and her beloved who was not my beloved.
38:14And it shall come to pass
38:15in the place where it was said to them,
38:16you are not my people,
38:17they shall be called
38:18the sons of the living God.
38:22And it shall come to pass in that day,
38:24going back to Hosea chapter verse 21,
38:28it shall come to pass in that day
38:29that I will answer, says the Lord,
38:31I'll answer the heavens
38:32and they shall answer the earth.
38:34The earth should answer with grain,
38:35with new wine and with oil
38:36and they shall answer Jezreel.
38:39Remember Jezreel means God will sow.
38:43Then I will sow her for myself in the earth
38:45and I will have mercy, ruchamah,
38:48on her who would not obtain mercy.
38:51Lo ruchamah.
38:52Then I will say to those
38:53who are not my people, lo ami,
38:55you are my people, ami,
38:58and they shall say, you are my God.
39:02So now God showers them with blessings.
39:04They have the grain, the new wine, the oil.
39:07They have the bread of life.
39:08They have the new wine of the Holy Spirit.
39:11They're sanctified by the Holy Spirit
39:13and God answers with Jezreel.
39:16God will now sow, not scatter.
39:18They'll receive mercy
39:20and become the people of God.
39:24And all this goes back to,
39:26or goes forward actually,
39:28to the cross, to Jesus
39:30and we look back to the cross.
39:33Remember in John chapter 12,
39:36Jesus contemplating what was before him
39:38was troubled.
39:40He was going to go to the valley of Achor
39:42to trouble, to open up the door of hope.
39:45John chapter 12, verse 27.
39:52Now my soul is troubled and what shall I say?
39:54Father, save me from this hour.
39:56But for this purpose I came to this hour.
39:58Father, glorify your name.
40:00Then a voice came from heaven
40:01saying I both glorified it
40:03and will glorify it again.
40:05Therefore the people who stood by and heard it
40:06said that it had thundered.
40:08Others said an angel has spoken to him.
40:11Jesus answered and said,
40:12this voice did not come because of me
40:14but for your sake.
40:16Now is the judgment of this world.
40:17Now the ruler of this world will be cast out
40:20and I, if I'm lifted up from the earth,
40:21will draw all people to myself.
40:24This he said signifying by what death he would die.
40:32So we too become the people of God.
40:35People on whom he has mercy through Yeshua
40:38who went to the valley of Achor,
40:39place of trouble, place of destruction.
40:42The cross to be the judgment
40:45for the sin of the world.
40:47And he was going to be lifted up
40:48for the sins of the world.
40:50So as we look to him,
40:51we can know that our sins are forgiven
40:53and that we have a relationship with God
40:55and we become the people of God.
40:58And he opens for us a door of hope.
41:00John chapter 10.
41:03Jesus said, I'm the door.
41:05If anyone enters by me, he will be saved
41:08and will go in and out and find pasture.
41:10The thief does not come except for to steal
41:13and to kill and to destroy.
41:15I've come that they may have life
41:16and that they may have it more abundantly.
41:18I am the good shepherd.
41:20The good shepherd gives his life for the Lord.
41:24The door's been opened.
41:25The door is open to us.
41:27When Jesus died on the cross and rose again,
41:29he died on the cross and rose from the dead.
41:32It was open to you and me to come in and out
41:34and receive pasture, receive salvation.
41:37Have you gone through that door?
41:39If not, now's the day of salvation.
41:42Now's the day to put your trust in Jesus,
41:44the Messiah, to go through that door of hope
41:47and to enter into all that God has to give to us.
41:51Now we can know the Lord.
41:53We can obtain mercy.
41:54We can become the people of God.
41:56It's all available to us in Jesus.
41:58Through the door of hope,
42:00into the eternal kingdom of God,
42:03going first to the valley of Acre,
42:05place of the cross, place of judgment,
42:08place of desolation,
42:10which is turned to mercy and grace
42:12through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
42:14and the gift of the Holy Spirit,
42:15which is available to all who ask and believe.
42:20Enter in.
42:22Valley of Acre shall be a door of hope.
42:25Praise God.
42:26Jesus went to the place of desolation,
42:29to the cross, to die for us,
42:32that we might become the children of God.
42:34He died for Israel.
42:36He died for the Gentiles.
42:37He died for the whole world.
42:39He wants us all to come into his kingdom
42:40and to know his peace and his love and his joy.
42:44And how much we need to know that love and peace
42:46as we face a world which is frankly heading for destruction
42:51and is heading towards that awful place of Armageddon.
42:55And yet Jesus is coming to save his people.
42:58And Jesus is coming with power and glory.
43:01And we can trust in him
43:02and know that he's going to have the last word.
43:04May he be the first word and the last word in our lives
43:07as we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
43:10Amen.
43:11Let's just have a word of prayer.
43:13Lord, we thank you for this word from Hosea.
43:16We thank you that it speaks to us so much of you
43:18and of your dealings with your people.
43:21Lord, we pray for your people Israel,
43:23that they might come to recognize
43:26that Yeshua, Jesus, is the Messiah.
43:29We pray for all the peoples again
43:30who are suffering in the conflict there in the Middle East
43:33for Jew and Arab, for Muslim, for Jew, for Christian.
43:38Lord, that they might look upon you whom they pierced
43:40and mourn for you as for an only son
43:42and believe in Jesus the Messiah.
43:44And help us, Lord, to go forward with faith,
43:47to rejoice in our salvation
43:49as we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
43:51and receive eternal life through faith in you.
43:54In Jesus' name, amen.