My Most Recent Sermon

The other day I decided to make a "vision board" where I looked through magazines and found images that captured my desire and made a collage, to remind me of what I really want. One of the images I cut out was of a lion stalking his prey, and I thought it was an image of God. I told my therapist that I wanted God to stalk me down and kill the parts of me that needed to die. I had a day of prayer on Saturday, and I read Hosea. A lot of imagery came up from Hosea about God, the lion devouring his people. This was very comforting to me. I wanted to talk about this new image I have of God.

I want to talk today about the comforting wrath of God.
Hosea: God is speaking of judging the Northern Kingdom for its sin (of many kinds). Some people might know it as the book as the one where the prophet has to go marry the whore.

Hosea is reporting what God spoke concerning their sorry state. He is talking to the
Northern kingdom, but makes it clear that Judah is not exempt.

There are three main problems:

Problem 1: Bad Kings are leading the people into violent wars: This is taking place 734-732 BC at that time the Rezin king of Syria joined Pekah king of Israel in attacking the king of Judah. They wanted to replace Ahaz or force him to join their coalition against Tiglath-Pileser II of Assyria. Resin and Pekas forces killed 120,000 of Ahas troups and took 200,000 people prisoner. These people are relatives! Then Ahaz got revenge by making an alliance with Assyria. After the Assyrian king defeated Syria and Israel he required a heavy tax from Ahaz king of Judah.

Problem 2: Bad Priests who were supposed to be leading people to Yaweh are leading the people to false Gods. People are doing violence to God through idol worship and temple prostitution. Temple prostitution, worship of Baal and other Gods...

Problem 3: Bad prophets were not leading people into repentance, but told people lies about their status and importance. They were arrogant towards God and did violence to themselves in that. the people had hardened themselves, refused to admit their guilt, did not face their depravity. The prophets were not leading the people to repentance.

Starting In Chapter 5:
God first gives the leaders a warning…hear, pay attention, listen… God holds leaders responsible for misleading deceiving and trapping othrs with religious political and social ideas that do not come from God. Bad leaders are destroying relationships…between the people and others, themselves, and God.

The leaders are being predators. God describes the people’s actions by using a hunting analogy. God calls them snares and a net spread out.

They are rebels deep in slaughter (kings going to war)—violent towards others An atmosphere of intrigue, deception, entrapment and violence, each group is trying to control the political scene…the kings led the people into war.

Turned to prostitution (priests lead people into idolatry)---violent towards god
Israiels arrogance testifies against them (prophets telling the people lies…)---violent towards Self

This is the first time that God is compared to a wild animal.
The people they are in trouble. They are grasping at solutions. But the solution was not in wars, or unholy alliances. It was not in worship of idols, or the power of positive thinking and self-esteem exercises.

I want to focus on

Hosea 5:14-6:3
For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
like a great lion to Judah.
I will tear them to pieces and go away;
I will carry them off, with no one to rescue them.
Then I will go back to my place
until they admit their guilt.
And they will seek my face;
in their misery they will earnestly seek me."
"Come, let us return to the LORD.
He has torn us to pieces
but he will heal us;
he has injured us
but he will bind up our wounds.
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence.
Let us acknowledge the LORD;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth."
God comes like a lion, and tears at his people. He goes back to his cave and waits for them to repent.

Three things to keep in mind.

1) God’s wrath isn’t a surprise. God warns the people and shows reluctance, but he will not allow his children to be harmed by bad leaders. So, God attacks those who are destroying good things…Gods wrath is a last resort. He warns, chastened them to wake them up, promised hope if they repent…then if all that fails, wrath.

2) God’s wrath is out of love. The purpose is to lead the people into a better relationship with him. God says now is the time for discipline...like a teacher disciplining students, God is bringing people back to his way of thinking through a painful process… God does not punish out of revenge. God's divine chastening of destruction and captivity will cause them to accept responsibility for their sins and realize that their only hope is to seek God. Isaiah 4:4 "The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire."

3) The duration of this period without God is limited only by the peoples’ unwillingness to seek God. God is powerful and dependable to respond to our repentance. The people have to acknowledge the Lord, and commit to knowing God in a covenant relationship. God is consistent and dependable…when and how he will heal and bandage are not specified.

God doesn’t just call himself a lion God describes himself as rot, or gangrene in the wounds of the people. Israel and Judah will be like injured soldiers whose wounds are festering with a terrible infection, which God won’t heal if they continue with their war plans. He describes himself as darkness and drought. When the people turn to him, they will experience healing, bandaging, dawn and seasonal rains.

You might be thinking that the wrath of God is just the Old Testament God. Jesus took on the wrath we deserve and we no longer have to face God’s wrath. I think that this is true. All of us (and all the parts of us) who submit to Christ and want to be covered are. But the NT talks about God’s wrath towards the parts that do not submit to this.

Romans 1:18 says that the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
Romans 2:5 Moreover, because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath.

Its kind of like Jesus is an umbrella, covering us. John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." Romans 5:9 says “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!”

But I think sometimes parts of us reject Christ’s covering. The bad leaders inside. If part of us is not under the umbrella—covered by Jesus’ sacrifice, than that part experiences God’s wrath.

Children will be safer after God gets through with the leaders. When our kings priests, parents are being bad, mean, beating kids, leading kids into idolatry, hurting kids. God protects kids by stopping the leaders. Gods people can’t get away with oppressing neighbors, flirting with other Gods, or living self centered lives which personal passions claim the highest priority. It does damage to relationships. Matthew 18:6 "But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."

Hosea 11:10 "They will follow the LORD; he will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west." Kids come to Jesus. Kids are covered. Kids do not need to be afraid of God’s wrath, because they know that God, like Aslan of Narnia, will protect them from evil leaders. Kids already know God is more powerful than them.

Revelation, which gives us a picture of what is happening in heaven even now, shows Christ on a white horse with a sword. He is destroying lots of stuff. What is he destroying? 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 "Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death."

I believe the OT God is the same God. The OT God is angry. Our anger reflects God’s image.


I see it like this:

God Creates and Destroys
We create and destroy
But God creates good things and Destroys evil
We create evil things and Destroy good things.
God will destroy things that hurt his children. God will destroy things inside of us that are hurting the children inside of us.

Our culture refuses to accept a violent God, but we love violent movies, video games, and fight wars for the country. Maybe if we accepted a violent God we would stop needing so much external violence to reconcile our need for violence! If we refuse to accept a violent God, or bring the violent parts of us to battle with that God, who would crush those parts, we will play out our instinctual need to destroy externally, through violence towards ourselves, our relationship with God and others, instead of internally, in violently destroying evil inside of us, strongholds and principalities, etc.

God is like a doctor cutting out cancer. This is very comforting to me. I want God to violently kill my addictions, my unholy alliances, the crazy parts that insist on hurting kids inside of me.

Inside I’ve got this queen that insists on a kingdom of Chaos. No rules! Good queens protect the boundaries of their kingdom and don’t let bad stuff in. My queen lets bad stuff in all the time! Then the kids inside are beat up, and not safe.

I have priests that lead me into food worship, and worship of my emotions. Whatever I feel at a particular time becomes more true than any other reality. My priests point to my addictions for satisfaction…

I have prophets that tell me that my problem is I need to get involved with more, just meet the right guy, lose some weight, move, find a new job, and I will be better. Meanwhile, the little kids, the ones that need to be in healthy relationships with others, who need love and attention, that need to go to God with their needs, are neglected.

If I am willing to go to god with my violent parts, God will wound my bad leaders, leaving my prophets, kings and priests limping in order to remind them to follow him and be nice to kids inside. I think this is what happened this summer. God was mean to the bad leaders in me and the kids in me were glad.

In Chronicals of Narnia, the Silver Chair, this girl Jill is by a stream and wants a drink of water, but realizes there's a lion by the stream. He asks if she's thirsty, and she says she's dying of thirst. He says then drink. She asks if he would leave while she drinks. He growls. She says:

"Will you promise not to - do anything to me, if I do come?" said Jill.
"I make no promise", said the Lion.
Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.
"Do you eat girls?" she said.
"I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion. It didn't say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.
"I daren't come and drink," said Jill.
"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.
"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then."
"There is no other stream," said the Lion.

Here is my poem I wrote:

The Comfort of your Violence

Tear me to pieces and return to your lair,
Until in my misery I seek you

Slay me with thirst
until I ask for living water

Attack me and rip me open,
my heart is laid bare before you.

Rip me off of my throne
So I know the safety of being second.

Lurk in my path
when I wander from your protection

Drive me on the plow
With your easy yolk upon me.

Stalk me with your keen senses
there is nowhere I can hide from your presence

Strip me naked
and save me from a life of lies.

Wound me
So you can heal me

Crush the rebellion in my soul
I submit to your rule

Block my path with thorns
So I stop to remember your ways

Ruin my vines and fig trees
I stop thrashing enough to hear your tenderness

Separate my bones and marrow, pierce my heart
then I will know your unfailing love.

Roar like a Lion
Trembling, I come to the shepard.

Pound the nails into my wrists
I am crucified with you yet I live.

Yes, God is a lion, but in Hosea he is also many other things: In addition to the lion, he is a forgiving and romantic husband (chs. 2-3), a loving parent (11:1-4; 14:3-4), a healing physician (14:4 [Heb 14:5]), fresh dew and the source of all blessing (14:5, 8 [Heb 14:6, 9]). He also is described as a moth (5:13), a fowler who traps birds (7:12), and a farmer (11:4). Each of these metaphors contributes to our understanding of the nature of God and his activity. All of them give us a fuller picture of who he is. All of us, are different things to different people at different times, ideally according to the needs of the moment. If he must be a lion in your life now, maybe in the future he will be something else.