View source for 1 Hosea Paints the Picture!

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The fifth chapter of Hosea paints a graphic and painful picture of what lies ahead for those to be punished. It includes the reason for the punishment and exactly what God is looking for before He will intervene on Israel&rsquo;s behalf. It also offers hope. Let&rsquo;s read: &ldquo;And the pride of Israel does testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them. They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find Him; ''He has withdrawn Himself'' from them. They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children [today&rsquo;s rotten—&ldquo;filthy&rdquo; (Prov. 30:11-12)—generation]: now shall ''a month'' devour them with their portions&rdquo; (Proverbs 30:5-7).<br>

Notice that after a certain point God will not be found of those who seek Him because &ldquo;He has withdrawn Himself from them.&rdquo; This presents an irony. Today, Israel ''can'' still seek God, because He ''can'' still be found. But she will not. The time is coming when she will seek Him, but He cannot be found—and this is because the punishment has begun and NOTHING can stop it until God&rsquo;s purpose is completed!<br>

The above passage ends with a curious reference to how &ldquo;a month&rdquo; shall &ldquo;devour them.&rdquo; Here is what this means, and it is nothing new: The Great Tribulation begins 1,260 days before Christ&rsquo;s Return. Jerusalem is surrounded by armies 30 days earlier (Luke 21:20), at the point of &ldquo;1,290 days&rdquo; (Dan. 12:11). Matthew 24:15-19 reveals that this is the signal for the Church to flee &ldquo;into the wilderness, into her place&rdquo; (of safety –Revelation 12:14), because the Great Tribulation is only 30 days away—the ''same month'' that will &ldquo;devour&rdquo; Israel after the Work is over and the Church is protected. Realize that the Church will have ''already gathered'' in anticipation of flight, beginning at the &ldquo;1,335 days&rdquo; (Dan. 12:12).<br>

Recall what Christ said in Matthew 24 ALL ''right after'' His instruction to flee at the abomination&rsquo;s arrival: &ldquo;For THEN[30 days later] shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved [alive]: but for the elect&rsquo;s sake those days shall be shortened&rdquo; (Matthew 24:21-22). (These time periods reappear in Chapter Fourteen for more in-depth examination.)<br>

If God did not intervene, Earth&rsquo;s entire population would be wiped out. Of course, this would include Israel. The only reason there is a ''Remnant'' of her saved is God &ldquo;cuts short&rdquo; events, including her punishment.<br>

===Famine of Hearing God&rsquo;s Word===
Let&rsquo;s momentarily move backward in time to the moments just before the beginning of the Tribulation. Recall that there is to be a famine of hearing God&rsquo;s Word that comes suddenly as the final Work is &ldquo;cut short&rdquo; (Rom. 9:28). At this point, the John 9:4 &ldquo;night&rdquo; will have come when &ldquo;no man can work,&rdquo; including God&rsquo;s Church warning those who had better heed NOW! But it must be seen how—WHY!—this prophesied famine could not possibly yet be here.<br>

First, let&rsquo;s review what God inspired Amos to record. Let&rsquo;s remember the prophecy: &ldquo;Behold, the days come, says the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of''hearing the words of the LORD ''&rdquo; (Amos 8:11).<br>

Next, Amos describes what happens at the time of this famine. How do people react? &ldquo;And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it&rdquo; (Amos 8:12).<br>

This is a shocking moment for frantic millions who can no longer find what God has been declaring through His Church. Another prophecy, implied here, but largely forgotten today, is that people will have been accustomed to &ldquo;hearing the Word of the Lord.&rdquo; Do not miss this.<br>

This takes us back to Ezekiel 33 ALL and an attitude that will become dominant through Israelite lands, because of what this Church will have been announcing. Notice how this chapter about the &ldquo;watchman&rdquo; concludes: &ldquo;Also, you son of man [a modern Ezekiel], the children of your people still are talking against [Heb.: &ldquo;about&rdquo;] you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and ''hear'' what is the word that comes forth from the LORD&rdquo; (Ezekiel 33:30).<br>

The unceasing and intensifying message from ''this Work''—the ''only place'' that word ''from the LORD ''could come—will eventually be a subject on millions of lips. These will be regularly coming to hear what God&rsquo;s Work has to say on the most salient and important matters of the time. Great numbers—an audience of vast proportion—will be talking about and debating the meaning of powerful prophecies. However, most, even of those who understand, will remain unwilling to ''act'' on what they are learning. Let&rsquo;s see: &ldquo;And they come unto you as the people comes, and they sit before you ''as'' My people [in appearance only], and they ''hear'' your words, but they will ''not'' DO them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their ''covetousness''&rdquo; (Ezekiel 33:31).<br>

The last sentence in the passage introduces the problem.<br>

===The &ldquo;Music&rdquo; Suddenly Stops===
Tragically, the pull of materialism will overpower the masses&rsquo; desire to ACT on ominous, impending prophecies made plain by God&rsquo;s Work. Covetousness will continue to rule the thinking of most. But people ''will'' remain interested because the message from God&rsquo;s Work will be so compelling: &ldquo;And, lo, you are unto them as ''a very lovely song'' of one that has ''a pleasant voice'', and ''can play well'' on an instrument: for they HEAR your words, but they DO them not&rdquo; (Ezekiel 33:32).<br>

But, abruptly, as though in the middle of the &ldquo;song,&rdquo; the &ldquo;music&rdquo; and &ldquo;lyrics&rdquo; stop. God suddenly concludes the warning. Space to take action will be gone. Those who would not heed will realize that they have made a horrible miscalculation about how much time remained. Desperate millions will be searching the airwaves, the Internet and every other outlet used for what can no longer be found—because the greatest famine of all time has struck! And it has become too late to escape!<br>

This brings us back to Hosea 5 ALL  where the context continues with God speaking about Himself at the moment of famine: &ldquo;I will go and ''return to My place'', till they [Israel] ''acknowledge their offense'', and seek My face: in their affliction [brutal enslavement] they will seek Me early&rdquo; (Hosea 5:15). When God &ldquo;withdraws Himself,&rdquo; He describes it as a &ldquo;return to His place&rdquo; in the third heaven.<br>

He will remain ready to intervene—but this will not happen until terrible punishment is complete!<br>

===Moment of Intervention===
Let&rsquo;s continue in Hosea and see what triggers God&rsquo;s miraculous intervention on Israel&rsquo;s behalf. Recognize that the message about Israel&rsquo;s condition overlaps into the next chapter. (Remember, men added chapter divisions in the Bible.) Let&rsquo;s read what happens to her as the Day of the Lord arrives. Notice Israel&rsquo;s attitude at the point where &ldquo;they acknowledge their offense&rdquo; before God: &ldquo;Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for He has torn, and He will heal us; He has smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us: ''in the third day'' He will raise us up, and ''we shall live in His sight''&rdquo; (Hosea 6:1-2).<br>

This presents a fascinating point of prophetic understanding about the nature and timing of the Great Tribulation and Day of the Lord. It reveals what God will do for Israel and how He will &ldquo;raise…up&rdquo; the surviving Remnant in the &ldquo;third day,&rdquo; or third year (each day for a year), of the Tribulation. Israel recognizes what is happening and declares, &ldquo;We shall live in His sight.&rdquo;<br>

Many may have forgotten this passage—or never knew of it—and that Mr. Armstrong summarized the timing of these final, cataclysmic events. Here is a short statement he wrote in 1980 in his longest book about the fate of the nations of Israel as revealed in prophecy:<br>

&ldquo;The coming Great Tribulation probably will last about 2 1/2 years—the &lsquo;Day of the Lord&rsquo; about one year—then comes the resurrection and the second coming of Christ!&rdquo;<br>

''The United States and Britain in Prophecy, pp. 226-227''<br>

Get these crucial time periods clear in your mind. Remember that the Day of the Lord is also called the ''Year'' of the Lord in other places.<br>

An inset: Note a passage previously referenced—that Ezekiel 20:35 stated that God pleads with the regathered tribes of Israel &ldquo;in the ''wilderness''&rdquo;—and that God also reveals He will take spiritual Israel, the Church, &ldquo;into the''wilderness'', into her place&rdquo; (Rev. 12:14).<br>

We might speculate: Is it possible that the Remnant of Israel is brought back to an area near, but outside, the Place of Safety? Are one or two wildernesses being described?<br>
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