The Laymens Movement

What is the main focus of Hosea chapters 1 and 2?

• Hosea 1:2; 2:1-2 - "The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD…Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts."

• The main focus is about a representation of the Old and New Testament churches by Hosea, his wife and their children, an allegorical family.

To what time does the prophecy apply?

• Hosea 2:18-20 - "And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD."

• The prophecy reaches beyond our time. Verse 18 speaks of a time when the Lord makes peace between man and beasts and removes weapons of war and destruction from the earth.

Is the marriage of Hosea and Gomer literal?

• Hosea 1:1-2 - "The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD."

• The marriage (wife and children) was visionary. "Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD." It portrayed the sad and abominable conditions which then obtained in Israel.

• Also, according to Leviticus 21:13-14, the high priest "shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take." 1 Corinthians 6:16 says "he which is joined to an harlot is one body?" Thus, God would not literally have His prophet marry a prostitute.

What is foreshadowed by the birth of Jezreel?

• Hosea 1:3-5 - "So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son. And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."

• Jezreel, the first-born son of Hoseas visionary marriage, foreshadowed the termination of the ten-tribe kingdom Israel, and the place in which its army was to be defeated - in the valley of Jezreel (2 Kings 10:11, 32; 17:23; 18:11) for the shedding of the blood of Jezreel, a symbol of the prophets whom Israel rejected and killed (1 Kings 18:13).

• Jezreels birth foreshadows the “breaking of the bow” of Israel, the destruction of the princes of the nation when Jehu slew all seventy sons of Ahab and all that pertained to Ahabs house (2 Kings 10:1-7, 11).

What is foreshadowed by the birth of Lo-ruhamah?

• Hosea 1:6-7 - "And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen."

• Lo-ruhamah (not having mercy) foreshadowed no mercy upon the house of Israel, the ten-tribe kingdom. Its end had already come. It had been spared until the birth of Lo-ruhamah. The coming destruction upon the house of Israel was accomplished when the king of Assyria scattered them (2 Kings 18:11). Thus, was fulfilled the prediction made at Jezreels birth.

• However, the house of Judah, the two-tribe kingdom, was to have mercy and be delivered by a miracle. This was demonstrated when Sennacherib came to take Judah captive. Through the prayer of Hezekiah, Judah was saved (2 Kings 18:13, 17; 19:1, 15, 19, 20, 35).

What is foreshadowed by the birth of Lo-ammi?

• Hosea 1:8-9 - "Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son. Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God."

• The third child, Lo-ammi (not my people), foreshadowed the departure of Gods mercy even from the house of Judah, because of their continual course of backsliding. The fulfillment of this took place when, as a nation, they crucified Christ (Matthew 27:22-23, 38; Luke 23:18). These verses bring us to the Christian era.

What is the emphasis of Hosea 1:10-11?

• Hosea 1:10-11 - "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel."

• These verses speak of the multiplication of Israel and Judah and their reacceptance as individuals into the Christian church (1 Peter 2:9-10; Romans 9:25-26). Thus, the present identifiable Jews of today are not necessarily those that are seen in the fulfillment of this prophecy.

• After the scattering and rejection of Israel, the nation consequently lost their racial identity as they were assimilated by the Gentile nations. Thus, many of them became Christians, and are unidentified in the world today. We see also the gathering of Gods saints in the last days and their organization into a theocratic government ruled by antitypical David (Daniel 2:44-45; Hosea 3:4-5; Ezekiel 37:24-25).

What is the significance in the omission of the prefix “lo” and the pluralizing of Ammi and Ruhamah?

• Hosea 2:1-5 - "Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink."

• Note that the prefix "lo" has been omitted from the names Loruhamah and Loammi, thereby rendering Ruhamah to mean "mercy," and Ammi to mean "my people." This change of status implied by the change of names denotes a division of church history and brings us to the New Testament period.

• Ammi and Ruhamah, being brother and sister, represent male and female members of the laity. This is brought out from the fact that the children are here pluralized - brethren and sisters. The mother to whom the children are commanded to take the message is symbolic of that part of the church which is responsible for bringing converts - the ministry. Since it is the children (laity), not the mother (ministry), who deliver the message, it is a message of revival and reformation to the church.

• Selected Messages Book 1, page 128 - "A revival and a reformation must take place, under the ministration of the Holy Spirit." This description portrays a reformatory movement in the church because of "mother" (the ministry) playing the harlot. "How is the faithful city become an harlot!" (Testimonies, Volume 8, page 250).

• Jezreel must be the one to whom God is speaking since this is the only name omitted from this verse. Jezreel delivers a message from God to the laity, who in turn deliver it to the church. Jezreel must therefore be God's mouthpiece - a prophet. "Children of whoredoms" are untrue converts.

• Testimonies, Volume 6, page 370 - "The Lord does not now work to bring many souls into the truth." Review and Herald, January 10, 1893 - "But great care should be exercised in accepting members into the church; for Satan has his specious devices through which he purposes to crowd false brethren into the church, through whom he can work more successfully to weaken the cause of God."

How is the churchs experience depicted in Hosea 2:6-14?

• Hosea 2:6-14 - "Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD. Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her."

• Verse 7 shows that instead of the church Christianizing the heathen, “overtaking” her “lovers,” the heathen paganized the church. Thus, we see that because of a departure from God, the early Christian church was to suffer adverse circumstances as a means of calling her back. This was the reason for the Dark Ages of religion from 538 to 1798 A.D. By permitting Rome to gain control of the church, the true Sabbath was lost and substituted by a false one (Daniel 7:25).

• In fulfillment of verse 14 the church fled into the wilderness, into the lands of the Gentiles (Revelation 12:6).

What does the Valley of Achor signify?

• Hosea 2:15 - "And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt."

• This is the only door of hope for the church, the only way out of her present predicament. It was in the typical Valley of Achor that Joshua stoned the sinners in Israel - Achan and his household (Joshua 7:24-26).

• The significance of the Valley of Achor is that God is to thoroughly purge the church, cutting off the sinners in her midst just as in the case of Achan. Then she shall return to her former position of purity.

• Testimonies, Volume 5, page 157 - "If the presence of one Achan was sufficient to weaken the whole camp of Israel, can we be surprised at the little success which attends our efforts when every church and almost every family has its Achan?" Testimonies, Volume 3, page 265 - "One sinner may diffuse darkness that will exclude the light of God from the entire congregation."

• Testimonies, Volume 3, page 270 - "God's displeasure is upon His people, and He will not manifest His power in the midst of them while sins exist among them and are fostered by those in responsible positions." Testimonies, Volume 1, page 190 - "Many, I saw, were flattering themselves that they were good Christians, who have not a single ray of light from Jesus. They know not what it is to be renewed by the grace of God. They have no living experience for themselves in the things of God. And I saw that the Lord was whetting His sword in heaven to cut them down. Oh, that every lukewarm professor could realize the clean work that God is about to make among His professed people!"

What do the names Ishi and Baali represent?

• Hosea 2:16-17 - "And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali. For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name."

• After the hypocrites and sinners are taken out of her, the church shall no longer call the Savior Baali (Lord), but she shall call him Ishi (husband). She will then truly become his wife, indicating a much closer relationship.

What conditions will be obtained after the church is married to her Lord?

• Hosea 2:18-23 - "And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God."

• When these events take place, the Lord is to be amidst His people. That is, His presence is to be manifested among His people.

• Testimonies, Volume 9, page 16 - "It is impossible to give any idea of the experience of the people of God who shall be alive upon the earth when celestial glory and a repetition of the persecutions of the past are blended. They will walk in the light proceeding from the throne of God. By means of the angels there will be constant communication between heaven and earth."

• There shall be no want of spiritual food, for the earth shall hear Jezreel, a symbol then of the church leadership and messengers (144,000 included). This is the crowning event in the finishing of the Everlasting Gospel.