Hosea was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel. This was before the northern kingdom was taken away by Assyria.

Hosea is given three children and God names them.

The first is named Jezreel. There is a promise of punishment for the house of Jehu. I looked this one up because we have a record in Scripture of God being pleased with Jehu’s bloodshed. He was the one that cleansed the house of Ahab. The Hebrew seems to read not that Jehu is punished for that bloodshed, but that the bloodshed of Jezreel would now be experienced by Jehu’s house. They would also be killed off for their own sin, not that they were being punished for Jehu’s shedding blood in cleansing the house of Ahab.

That also came with a promise of Israel coming to an end.

The next child is named No Mercy. God is not going to forgive Israel. They will be cut off. Now, they have been forgiven again and again for centuries, but they keep choosing other gods over the one true God. They are given over to them, given what they desired after.

God does promise mercy for the house of Judah. He promises to save them by His own hand, not by bow or sword. They won’t have to fight. The Lord will fight for them and save them.

The last child is named Not My People. Our covenant promise is that we would be His people and He would be our God.

And yet, after all this, God says that the children of both Judah and Israel will be gathered together and be called children of the living God.

The promise that goes with this is that they will have one head. Of course, we know Christ as the one head, the head shepherd who will be appointed to lead Israel, of which Gentiles have become a part of, being called children of the living God.

We are one body in Christ. We are one body with all believers, Jew or Gentile. We are one body with one head, Jesus Christ Himself.

May we always see the unity and not the division in the Body of Christ.