Hosea: God's Faithfulness in Christ - Misshapen Image-Bearers

So, Sunday I mentioned that I am listening to Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series. I grew up making long trips to Michigan to visit extended family in Battle Creek. During that 15-hour trip in a 1977 GMC Suburban with three boys wrestling in the back, my parents would play the Hobbit over the stereo system. It was good for eight hours of quiet, spellbound children. If you’ve read the books or watched the movies, then you know that Gollum was once a normal Hobbit named Sméagol. He was a descendent of early hobbits known as Stoors, but the one ring consumed him, changing his mind and his physical form, making him a detestable, unrecognizable creature. In fact, that became the description of him, the creature Gollum.

It illustrates what God says in our text about His idolatrous people, they…became detestable like the thing they loved. This is how idolatry functions. It takes image-bearers of God and distorts them into misshapen creatures. While it’s a warning to us, urging us to examine our hearts, it’s a reason for great celebration to think of Christ conforming us to His likeness. Join us as we look at the text and worship our righteous Lord.