The Bible by David Alley

Although coming at the end of the book of Hosea, we have a chapter that lists the horrible, nauseating, and depressing sins of Israel. The Lord had been so patient with them, and from the time Hosea spoke he would continue to be patient. Why did they not listen?

So much of the book of Hosea has been specifically about the northern nation of Israel and its specific sins and woes. But the book finishes with a Messianic gospel prophecy that Israel - but this time the Israel is a different Israel - will be saved. The true Israel - those of faith in Christ - would be restored. The book of Hosea finishes with hope.

Jacob wrestled with God once at Penuel in the book of Genesis, but as a nation and a people group, Jacob has never stopped wrestling with God and God wrestles with what to do about them.

This chapter starts with "Don't Rejoice Israel" and the things that God had to say to them through Hosea were not good news. They did not please God and it wasn't ok, and they were not to be happy about it. LIke a smirking teenager the Lord was going to remove that bad attitude.

Hosea's prophecy of judgement and warnings continue. In this chapter he tells them to "break up their fallow ground," or in other words, to soften their hearts. Charles Finney the great revivalist preached from this chapter in his lectures on revivals of religion and brought many people back to heartfelt faith in Christ.

This chapter contains the famous verse in Hosea quoted by Matthew in his gospel. It got us all thinking about how Jesus parallels what Israel did in his own life, except He did it properly. This chapter helps us understand that Jesus is the true Israel.

How can you forget your maker? Can you forget your parents? This is what Israel did in the days of Hosea. The Lord announces that he is going to send an Eagle - the nation of the Assyrians - to punish Israel. This is a prophecy of judgement.

There were things that Israel did, and they thought that nobody saw them, but God sees everything. "Be sure your sins will find you out" says the scriptures. King Jeroboam not only setup the false worship system at Dan and Bethel, but celebrated the wicked use of it. God had something to say about that as Hosea records.

The people of Israel had this idea that if things went wrong, they could "just say sorry" and everything would be find - after all God is so kind and gracious. In this chapter of Hosea, we find out that God isn't a meal ticket and knows the intent of the heart.

Hosea says "Listen you priests", but these are not hte priests of the temple in Jerusalem, these are the priests of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel. Another entire religious system is happening in Israel and in the mind of God, this is a type of prostitution.

Hosea lived in a day with many gods - a polytheistic culture. People were free to worship whatever they felt like. They had choice. Today's culture is relativistic and you can believe whatever you want. There is a remarkable similarity between polytheism and relativism. What does Hosea have to say about that?

Hosea's wife Gomer (a prostitute) gets to the bottom of the barrel and ends up on the slave auction block. The Lord commands Hosea to go take his wife back, so she is redeemed. This is a picture of the Lord's redemption of His Church.

Hosea married a prostitute (chapter 1) and has three children, some of which are not his children. The story of Israel's (and our) unfaithfulness continues, while the Lord's faithfulness also continues. In this chapter Hosea declares the Lord's displeasure with his wife, and Hosea must care for children that are not his.

Nobody wants to swap places with Hosea - the prophet that was told by the Lord to take for himself a "wife of unfaithfulness." His prostitute bride ended up having three children and it seems at least two of them were not his kids. This chapter introduces us to a living illustration of the Lord's faithfulness and his wife's unfaithfulness.

Daniel 12 is the last of three chapters describing his angelic appearnce and what the angel had to say. The angels words described a lengthy history of at least a few hundreds years of striving between the king of the north, the asian kings of Greece, and the king of the south, the ptolemies. Many people throw this chapter right into the end of the world and see antichrists and other things in it,...

Daniel is in prayer and the Lord sends an angel with an answer, but the angel is held up by a demon and they battle in the spirit realm for three weeks. And so Daniel continues his fasting and prayer oblivious of what is transpiring. Finally the angel arrives with the vision, and a story of his experience. This chapter opens the door to the spirit realm, something we don't see very much of in over...

Daniel had remarkable visions about the future, and this chapter is no less remarkable. An angel reveals to Daniel political and spiritual details about the future for hundreds of years, which quite specifically came to pass. God knew what the future held and information like this was able to assist the HIgh Priest of Jerusalem in future years to not resist Alexander the Great, but to cooperate wi...

There are many remarkable prophecies in scripture, but this must be the most amazing of them all. Sadly, a dispensational perspective tries to steal the thunder from Jesus and give it to the 'AntiChrist.' We are not even sure there will even be an AntiChrist. But once we get the perspective fixed properly, this is an incredible prophecy about Jesus and what he was going to do for the Jews and also...

We now get to the prophecy part of Daniel's book which is no less interesting than the story part was. We are thrown right in with the vision of the four beasts, the fourth of which is..... terrifying. And what is that little horn that Daniel sees?

In this marvellous vision of the future, Daniel sees a vision of a goat, which represented Alexander the Great, who conquered the Persian Empire, but then his horn snapped off and was replaced by four horns, which were the four empires that came from him. This vision is so accurate that it prompted some people to think Daniel could not possibly have seen this vision, and the book must be a made up...

As King Belshazzar has a wild party using cups from God's temple in mockery, a hand appears and there is mysterious writing on the wall. TEKE TEKE MENE PARSIN It was all over for the Babylonian empire and that night the Persians invaded the city via an elaborate trick that involved lowering the water level in the river and entering the city through the moat. Daniel explains the mysterious writing...

Daniel survives an elaborate ruse to get rid of him, and the lions as well. But those who plotted the ruse had short-sighted thinking and end up as lion chow. This chapter is more than just a great sunday school story - it has meaning that applies to our lives today, and is also a picture of Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection and his intercession on our behalf.

In my opinion (David Alley's) this is one of the most remarkable chapters of the entire Bible, because it was written by the evil King Nebuchadnezzar and seems to show us that he became a believer in God, and then encouraged the entire Babylonian Empire to know Him. How is it that Israel for 500+ years have so little effect on the surrounding nations, to show them God's love, but one person (Danie...

Inspired by his dream, but apparently not having learned the lesson, Nebuchadnezzar builds a giant statue and compels the people of Babylon to worship it. This presents an ethical dilemma to three of Daniel's friends. In this chapter we consider what faith is - do you obey God when it appears you are gong to die for it? What do we learn about how we should walk and trust the Lord?

Nebuchadnezzar has a terrifying dream, and calls his expert dream interpreters (the wise man, enchanters and the magi) to figure it out.... except he will not tell the the dream. They must tell him the dream AND the interpretation or he will kill them. Daniel seeks the Lord and has the same dream and the Lord gives him the meaning. It was a dream of a giant statue with a gold head, and a rock that...