Hosea 14:4-7

These verses describe the happy result of Israel's penitence and the merciful response to Israel's prayer.

1. The pardon sought is secured, and that for the greatest sin—that of backsliding, and so for all minor trespasses. The acceptance prayed for is presently and plentifully vouchsafed. The dark storm-cloud of God's wrath is dispersed and dispelled forever.

2. We next learn the fullness of God's forgiving love and his superabundant mercy to them that trust in him. By the most pleasing figures we are taught what God promises to be to his people; what they themselves become; and what a blessing they prove to others.

I. PICTORIAL CHARACTER OF DIVINE TEACHING . We find great variety as well as great beauty in the lessons of the Bible. There is great variety, for all nature, animate and inanimate, is laid under contribution to supply fit illustrations of Divine things; there is great beauty, for the loveliest objects above us, around us, and beneath us are employed for this purpose. In the passage before us there is a cluster of lovely natural objects employed in this manner to set forth spiritual truths with all the reality of nature and all the vividness of life. Here we read of the dew, the deep-rooted and everlasting hill, the lily, the tall tree with umbrageous foliage, the olive ever green, and Lebanon ever fragrant. We read also of the springing corn, the blooming vine, and wine of aromatic odor. These, it must be acknowledged, are beautiful figures, and the facts which they are intended to convey are equally blessed. But what enhances the beauty and the blessedness is the circumstance that the persons to whom these facts and figures have reference are those very persons who had erred and strayed from the Lord their God—even Israel who had fallen by their iniquity, Israel who had sadly backslidden, Israel who had grievously provoked the just anger of the Almighty; but Israel repenting and returning, praying and pleading, giving up their false refuges and casting aside their false gods. Oh how cheering and encouraging that God welcomes his erring children to return! Like the father in the parable, he runs to meet the prodigal, he casts the arms of his love around him; he receives the penitent to his fond embrace, laying aside the wrath that had been provoked; he bestows the love that had been undeserved; he forgives the sins that had been committed; he foregoes the punishment that had been incurred; and, physician-like, he heals the backslidings great and manifold.

II. SCRIPTURAL APPLICATIONS OF THE DEW . Figurative applications of dew are frequent in Scripture. Sometimes it signifies temporal benefits, as when Isaac blessed his son Jacob, saying, " God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine." Sometimes it denotes spiritual blessings, as in the case of Israel, of whom we read," His heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the Shield of thy help, and who is the Sword of thy excellency!" Sometimes it implies the reviving power and refreshing nature of the Divine Word, as when Moses the man of God, before he went up to the top of Pisgah and closed his eyes in death, addressed the people in that lovely song in which he says," My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew." Solomon compares the king's favor to "dew upon the grass." The psalmist compares brotherly love and union and peace to dew.

"As Hermon's dew, the dew that doth

On Zion hills descend;

For there the blessing God commands—

Life that shall never end."

He also speaks of the children of God who have been born of the Spirit—born from above as dew, because Divine light shines in upon them the Divine image is reflected in them, and, like the morning dewdrops, they deck and ornament the wide field of humanity; thus: "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth." In like manner the Prophet Micah, speaking of the conversion of the Jews, and of the benefit which they shall in that day confer upon the rest of the world, and of their blessing to the peoples among whom they have been long scattered, says, "The remnant of Israel shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord." So also Isaiah, in a beautiful and highly poetic passage in which he refers to the resurrection of the dead, says, "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs." Here God, speaking of himself, says, "I will be as the dew unto Israel."

III. PROPERTIES OF THE DEW AS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THIS PROMISE . The first and perhaps most obvious property of the dew is its refreshing quality.

1. This refreshing property is experienced most in the summer months, and especially during a season of drought, like that with which the land of Israel was visited, when, for three years and a half, there was neither rain nor dew. At such a time the ground is dry and parched; vegetation languishes; gardens and meadows and corn-lands are scorched; fields of grain, blades of grass, and leaves of trees wither; fruits and flowers droop. The showers of the sky have been withheld; rain-clouds, it may be, have gathered and darkened and promised much; but they have passed over without the long-hoped-for and much-required rain. Oh, how refreshing at such a juncture is the dew when it comes down copiously on the bosom of the thirsty earth! There it lies like a shower of gems upon the ground, shimmering in the morning sunrise; it covers the surface with pearly beauty.

"As Morn, her rosy steps in th' Eastern clime

Advancing, sows the earth with Orient pearl."

But those dewdrops are as refreshing as they are beautiful: they water to some extent the fields; they invigorate the languishing herbs; they refresh every green thing; they revive the plants and shrubs, the grasses, herbs, and flowers, and lift up their drooping heads; they gladden all nature. The transition from the soil to the soul is easy and not unnatural. What the dew is to the soil, grace is to the soul. In the natural world, where all erewhile was parched and scorched, dry and hard, waste and withered, consequently bleak and bare and barren, abundant dews, largely supplying in Eastern lauds the place of rain, descend; soon new life springs up and revives the half-withered plants and exhausted herbage, new loveliness appears in the leaves of trees and flower-petals. Just so when the grace of God is vouchsafed to the soul, and when the Spirit of God communicates it in rich abundance, new life is imparted to the soul, new energies are awakened, new spiritual vigor manifests itself, and new holy sympathies are developed. Sometimes, too, after the first bestowal of grace and impartation of life, believers may droop and their graces languish; the winds of the wilderness may blow upon us, the drought of the desert may scorch or wither us; in other words, the world, with its trials and temptations, Satan and his snares, sin and its enticements, the flesh and its lusts, all tend to dry up the spiritual affections of the soul, exhaust its energies, and check the heavenly flow of its feelings. Again a fresh communication of the dew of Divine grace is granted, and spiritual greenness springs up afresh and spreads throughout the soul, a renewal of spiritual life ensues, so that we live no longer to self and sin, but to him who died for us; no longer to the world, but are crucified to it; no longer to the flesh to serve it in the lusts thereof.

2. Dew has a fertilizing and fructifying property . Hence the dew is indispensable to germination and growth. Without it the husbandman would labor in vain and spend his strength for naught. He might industriously break up the fallow ground and carefully scatter the seed, but without the moisture of rain or dew the seed sown would neither bud nor grow; so in spiritual husbandry, men may plough and sow, but without the dew of Divine grace there will be no increase. How different when the dew of God's grace is abundantly bestowed l Then hard hearts are softened, stubborn wills renewed, invitations of the gospel accepted, the warnings of the Divine Word touch the conscience, its instructions impress the heart, awakenings take place in Churches, revivals occur throughout the land. Nay, more, the weakest means become effectual, the simplest instrumentalities powerful; while in individual life the weak Christian is strengthened, the weary is refreshed, the fainting revived, the unlovely spiritually beautified, and the spiritual fruitfulness or virtues of all developed or revived.

3. God ' s wise economy of the dew . There is not a single drop of dew formed by the rude hand of chance or made in vain. Neither is there a shrub, or herb, or leaf, or flower, or blade of grass that does not collect as much dew as is needed 10r its peculiar wants. Grass-lauds and cultivated soils radiate very freely by night the heat which they absorb by day; consequently they cool down speedily and condense plentifully into dew the vapor of the air as it passes over them. Gravel, rocks, barren lands, on the contrary, radiate very slowly and very little heat, so that very little dew forms upon them. Thus there are places where little or no dew falls and which no dew refreshes. There is the barren rock—no dew refreshes it; there are the gravel walk and the sandy desert—little or no dew is formed, collected, or needed thereon; there is the stone-paved street—no dew is needed to moisten it. Exactly so there are hearts so hardened by unbelief that no dew of grace either settles on them or softens them. The seed of Divine truth may be scattered on them from sabbath to sabbath, but it makes no impression on them, and takes no root in them; it lies, it may be, for a little on the surface, then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown thereon. It is not for want of willingness in God to bestow the dew of his grace, or for want of sufficiency in Divine grace, that such is the case; but because the heart has been so hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, the conscience so seared by iniquity, and the whole man so alienated from the life of God, that there is no disposition to receive or profit by the heavenly boon.

IV. EFFECTS PRODUCED BY THE DEW OF GOD 'S GRACE . The first effect is growth as of the lily .

1. The growth of the lily is rapid as it is beautiful . Here we may consider it as an emblem of beauty . Thus our Lord says, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That oven Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." In a passage in Ezekiel God says to his people, "Thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God." The comeliness to which the prophet refers is the comeliness of the soul. There is nothing so beautiful as holiness; there is no ornament like piety. The earth is beautiful when God adorns it with the bounties of his providence; when he replenishes it with fruit and flower, with grass for the cattle and herb for the service of man; when he carpets its surface with living green, clothing the fields with verdure, and covering the hills with corn. There is beauty in the over-canopying sky, in the bright orbs that sparkle like gems in the firmament. There is beauty in the widespread world of waters, and in the waves that dimple ocean's cheek. There is beauty twinkling in every star above us, sparkling in the dewdrops at our feet, and shining in every shimmer of noonday splendor. All these testify how beautiful this world once was, and how beautiful it would still be but for sin. There is beauty in the human face divine: there is beauty in the face of fair woman, and beauty of a rougher east in the countenance of man, and beauty, playful, cheerful beauty, in the pretty countenance of childhood. But all the varied beauties of a lovely world are not to be compared with the beauty of holiness. It is a beauty that reflects God's own image, and by which we resemble Christ.

"Come, then, O house of Jacob, come,

To worship at his shrine;

And, walking in the light of God,

With holy beauties shine."

There may be beauty in the adorning of the person, in the plaiting of the hair, the wearing of gold, and the putting on of apparel; but the true beauty is the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the beauty of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

2. The next characteristic of this growth is stability . The growth of the lily may be fair or fast, but it soon fades; it may be easily plucked up, and so another figure is added to show the firmness of the believer. He is firmly rooted as well as spiritually fair. Some colors are very beautiful and very showy, but they are not fast colors; they soon fade, they soon lose their vividness. Some plants are very beautiful in their bloom, but weak in their root and soon uptorn. Not so the Christian. He casts forth his roots as Lebanon—either as the mountain itself, one of earth's deep foundations; or as the forest trees, those cedars of God, deeply rooted therein. Thus, with the flower of the lily, the believer has the root of the mountain or of the cedar tree, over which the winds of heaven have swept for centuries. He is fair as the one and firm as the other, for Christ dwells in his heart by faith; he is rooted and grounded in love; he is rooted in Christ and established in the faith, abounding therein with thanksgiving. He is, moreover, "steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord," forasmuch as he knows that his labor is not in vain in the Lord. Besides, as the root of trees draws up nourishment from the ground, so the Christian derives nourishment and strength from Christ; while the union is so close and so constant that nothing can separate him from Christ, nothing can wrench him from that rock in which he is rooted, nothing can detach him from the foundation on which he rests.

3. The next characteristic is expansiveness, as expressed by the words, "His branches shall spread." While his roots spread far and sink deeply into the soil, his branches spread. The application of this promise is to Israel literally, and so to the Church in general, as well as to the individual Christian. The Church of God is destined to grow to a great extent, and to spread her branches widely on every side, sending out "her boughs into the sea, and her branches unto the river," and ultimately to fill the whole earth. The Christian's growth likewise is expansive. He grows inwardly in the graces of the Spirit, outwardly in good works, upward in heavenly mindedness, and downward in humility. He adds to his faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. These things are in him and abound, and thus is neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of God and in the doing of the Divine will. Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy, he thinks on and practices these things. His profiting appears to all, and his holy demeanor is so manifested that he promotes the growth of grace in others, and consequently the progress of the gospel in the world. He resembles the shining light, which continues to spread more widely and to shine more brightly until the perfect day.

4. The next element of this growth is permanence of beauty and abundance of fruit. In addition to the beauty or glory of the lily, the stability of the cedar rooted in Lebanon, or of Lebanon itself, the expansiveness of numerous and magnificent branches, we have also the abiding beauty and rich fruitage of the olive. The beauty of the lily is frail and its glory lading; but the greenness of the olive is perpetual; and as abundance of branches and plenty of leaves may make a show for a time, and suggest the idea of a sort of empty ostentatiousness, the prophet gives a fresh touch to his picture by adding the greenery of the olive, which is lasting, and the fruitfulness of the olive, which is so profitable and for many purposes serviceable—enlightenment, nourishment, and embellishment. Thus the psalmist says, "I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever." So also in Jeremiah 11:8 God calls his people a green olive tree, fair and of goodly fruit; such too is the individual believer—planted in the garden of the Lord, watered by the dew of heaven, his leaf is ever fresh and his fruit ever seasonable. Even in the winter of adversity the leaf of the righteous is green; in the winter of age they still bear fruit; in the wintry storms of the world their beauty remains like that of the olive tree, ever green, ever fresh, and ever flourishing. The beauty of an evergreen is enhanced, like most other things, by contrast; it appears most when other shrubs and trees are stripped and bared by the wintry blast; it is seen to most advantage when deadness and desolation reign around. In like manner, when the storms of' life, when the decrepitude of age, when the languor of decay, has stripped the mere worldly professor of the leaves of a merely assumed and temporary profession, a profession without reality, then true Christians stand out in striking contrast.

"Those that within the house of God

Are planted by his grace,

They shall grow up and flourish all

In our God's holy place:

And in old age, when others fade,

They fruit still forth shall bring:

They shall be fat and full of sap.

And aye be flourishing."

5. By the smell of Lebanon is set forth the fragrance of holiness. There is nothing so pleasing to God as holiness proceeding from faith in Christ and love to God. The believers' efforts in the cause of God have a rich perfume; their zeal and devotedness are like ointment poured forth; their spiritual sacrifices send forth the savor of a sweet smell. Thus the children of God are trees of righteousness, God's own planting, precious in his sight, pleasant and pleasing to God, and to all who love God and are like God. God compares his Church to a garden of spices: "A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphor, with spikenard, spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices."

6. The people or Church of God become a blessing to others, Not only are they blessed themselves, but are made a blessing to others; they benefit all around. Like the pebble dropped into a pool and sending out wavelets to the furthest shore, so the people of God communicate benefits that, may reach to the utmost bound of earth and to the very end of time. Such as are converted through their influence, repenting of sin and returning to God, will join themselves to God's people and rest under the shadow of God's Church—shall be spiritually fruitful, reviving like the corn, of which a grain when it dies in the earth brings forth many more; and prolific as the vine, which, when pruned, produces many clusters, and each cluster many grapes; while their persons and their services are fragrant and even medicinal spiritually, as the scent of the far-famed wine of Lebanon physically. So with the Church of the old dispensation; so with that of the new; so with God's Church still.