Not My People; Now My People

January 22nd, 2025
by Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Romans 9:25-26 As He says also in Hosea, “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’ And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’ ” 26 “And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.”

Among the objects of God’s mercy is “us” in v. 24, both Paul, a descendant of Abraham, and Gentile believers. After all, salvation and membership in Christ’s Church includes both Jews and Gentiles. To prove this, Paul paraphrased a quote from God when He spoke through the prophet Hosea circa 700 BC: “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’ and her who was not beloved, ‘beloved’ ” (Hosea 2:23). The full context of this quote begins in Hosea 1:3 where God said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry, and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord” (1:2). In that passage God commanded the prophet to not only remain married to his adulterous wife, in spite of her unfaithfulness, but because of it! In this, God would illustrate His grace in His marriage to Israel.

In Hosea 1:3-4, 6, 8-9 the prophet married Gomer, who became a prostitute. She bore Hosea a son that God named Jezreel, meaning God scatters. She conceived again and bore a daughter that God named Lo-ruhamah, meaning no compassion. She conceived a third time and bore another son that God named Lo-ammi, meaning not my people. God was thus illustrating to Israel their unfaithfulness, represented in Gomer, and God’s discipline, represented in the names of the children. Although God would remain faithful to the unfaithful nation, He would first scatter them, show them no compassion, and reject them for a time. After that, in the same way that Hosea loved Gomer in the midst of her prostitution and would redeem her off of the slave block, God would redeem Israel like a slave being sold in the open market, naked and full of shame. Note God’s promise through Hosea: “I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness, and speak kindly to her… And I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion” (2:14, 19).

Like Hosea, many OT prophecies unfold gradually. First, they can be immediate and literal. Second, they can be intermediate and spiritual. Third, they can be ultimate and eternal. In short, they are now but not yet. The immediate fulfillment of Hosea’s prophecy occurred in his day when God rejected Israel for their apostasy. The nation of Assyria became the rod of God’s anger (Isa. 10:5), scattering Israel in 722 BC. After the Assyrians intermingled with Israel, the northern tribes became “not My people”—Lo ammi. They were scattered, left without pity, and forsaken by God. Later in 586 BC, the southern tribes in Judah met a similar fate with the Babylonians. Although God preserved and restored them to their land 70 years later, He scattered them again for rejecting the Messiah in AD 70. To date, they remain unredeemed as a nation.

By Paul’s day in the first century, Hosea’s prophecy was intermediate, for Gentiles who are not God’s people by calling, are now included through faith in Christ. Of course Gentiles were at one time completely alienated from God’s promises and privileges given to Israel. Yet in Christ, they are Abraham’s spiritual children (Gal. 3:16, 29). Of course the ultimate fulfillment of Hosea’s prophecy will occur when all of God’s chosen Gentiles, along with all of His chosen ones among the Israelites, come together in eternity for everlasting praise of their Savior.

Food for Thought

When God calls us to salvation He summons us. Notably, when He called the Gentiles to salvation following Christ’s resurrection, they believed in droves. So God’s calling is efficacious in that when He calls His chosen ones, we always respond in faith. Why? Because God has graciously chosen some to believe, adopting us as His children—both Jews and Gentiles.