The Great Reversal
“And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. “And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’ ”
Hosea 2:16–23
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The Great Reversal
We confess at the beginning of our divine services that we are “poor, miserable, sinner.” We do this because it is true. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and surely deserve nothing but His wrath. He is perfect and we are flawed beyond our own repair. But yet something happened to change all this. There was a great reversal in our fortunes. Just as we hear of Israel’s restoration we too are restored. We see that our loving and perfect God exchanges His comfort and glory in heaven to come down to earth and take on our flesh. In Christ’s incarnation, He became like us in every way except without sin. And in the muddy waters of the Jordan Jesus placed our sins upon Himself and took them to the cross. There to die for us, the holy for the unholy, the righteous for the unrighteous. And in this great reversal the poor, miserable, sinner, is made into the child of God, forgiven and loved. We are plucked out of the pit and washed clean in the blood of the Lamb, to await the day in which He comes to take us to Himself in heaven. In this great reversal we the unholy were made holy, those who were not His people became His people, and He is our God.
Hosea 2:16–23
+
The Great Reversal
We confess at the beginning of our divine services that we are “poor, miserable, sinner.” We do this because it is true. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and surely deserve nothing but His wrath. He is perfect and we are flawed beyond our own repair. But yet something happened to change all this. There was a great reversal in our fortunes. Just as we hear of Israel’s restoration we too are restored. We see that our loving and perfect God exchanges His comfort and glory in heaven to come down to earth and take on our flesh. In Christ’s incarnation, He became like us in every way except without sin. And in the muddy waters of the Jordan Jesus placed our sins upon Himself and took them to the cross. There to die for us, the holy for the unholy, the righteous for the unrighteous. And in this great reversal the poor, miserable, sinner, is made into the child of God, forgiven and loved. We are plucked out of the pit and washed clean in the blood of the Lamb, to await the day in which He comes to take us to Himself in heaven. In this great reversal we the unholy were made holy, those who were not His people became His people, and He is our God.
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