Hosea 3:5
Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Hosea 3:1-5
We begin our study of the minor prophets today in the book of Hosea. Hosea was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel. His ministry occurred primarily during the reign of King Jeroboam II and lasted until the fall of Israel to the Assyrians. Hosea was a contemporary of Isaiah. While Isaiah directed his message to the southern kingdom of Judah, Hosea was primarily ministering to the northern kingdom.
Hosea’s personal life served as a living parable for God to demonstrate how He was being treated by Israel. God commanded Hosea to marry a prostitute named Gomer and remain faithful to her even though she would not be faithful to him. Hosea’s relationship with his wife was meant to symbolize God’s faithfulness to His people even though Israel was not faithful to Him.
We pick up in Hosea at the beginning of chapter 3. Gomer has left Hosea and is doing what prostitutes do. God instructs Hosea to bring Gomer home and love her unconditionally as God loves the Israelites even though they turn to other gods. So Hosea purchases Gomer out of her life of prostitution and brings her home. This entire section of Hosea’s and Gomer’s lives was a living prophecy that God interprets for Hosea:
“For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days” (vs 4-5).
Some say this prophecy has already been fulfilled by Jesus and some say this prophecy refers to the end times after Jesus returns a second time. I tend to side with the latter. The key phrase is that Israel will return to the Lord “in the last days”. This simply restates the dozens of other prophecies that speak of Israel returning to their land in peace and living there forever with Jesus as their king, such as:
“My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever” (Ez 37:24-28).
“‘In that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty,
‘I will break the yoke off their necks
and will tear off their bonds;
no longer will foreigners enslave them.
Instead, they will serve the Lord their God
and David their king,
whom I will raise up for them’” (Jer 30:8-9).
In all of these prophecies, it is not actually David who will be king. It is the Messiah, a descendant of David, who sits on David’s throne. The interesting phrase in Hosea’s prophecy to me is that he says Israel will return to the Lord and they will “come trembling” to Him. This is the Hebrew word pāḥad which portrays an intense or even paralyzing awareness of power. It doesn’t appear that Israel comes running to daddy glad to be back home again. They come back with reverence and actually quite afraid:
“Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it” (Jer 33:9).
But when Israel returns, their fears will subside because Jesus is their king and his desire is only to bless them. The wrath of God doesn’t await them. They will return to abundant prosperity and peace.
It’s very similar to our spiritual return to God. When we come to God for forgiveness and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we come to him with our shame and fear. Approaching God with a healthy fear of His power is a good thing – even a right thing:
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire’” (Heb 12:28-29).
“This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:17-18).
But we find that God only wants to bless us with an eternal peace. His love for us is perfect and there is no true fear in perfect love.
Christ in the Old Testament 
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