Book of Hosea Chapter 1 Vs. 10

Hosea's Wife and Children

 

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Hos. 1:10

Yet the number... Regardless of being cut off they would eventually multiply to be great in Christ when all Israel will be saved (Zec. 12:1-13:1; Rom. 11:25-29) and be gathered (Hos. 1:11; Isa. 11:10; Eze. 37:1-28) and would again be called the children of God. That time is yet future; the prediction will be fully fulfilled at the second coming of Christ (Mat. 24:31).

A reaffirmation of the Abrahamic Covenant, not to be fulfilled in this generation but in the future (Gen. 22:17). We see the start of this covenant being talked about today but as stated will happen in the future.

Ye are not... God was not permanently casting away the people of Israel, however. In the verses quoted by Paul God promised to restore them as His beloved and as His people. By ethnic heritage the Gentiles were not God’s people, so Paul was led by the Spirit of God to apply these verses to Gentiles — and Jews also — who were sovereignly chosen by God and called to be His people in Christ. The quotation of Hos. 2:23 is rather free with the order of the clauses reversed to fit the application to Gentiles. Paul was applying these verses from Hosea to the Gentiles, not reinterpreting them. He was not saying that Israel of the Old Testament is part of the church.

This speaks of a time, when God will forgive them, and take them back as His wife. God is faithful to keep every promise He ever made.

shall be as... He had promised Abraham that his seed would be as the sand of the sea, and He will do it. The punishment that Israel suffers is to make them repent and return to God. In Jesus Christ, God makes a way of restoration for His people. To become sons of God, we must receive Jesus Christ as our Savior.

John 1:12 "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:"

Rom. 8:14 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."

The Symbolism Reversed

In a remarkable shift of tone the Lord declared that the effects of judgment would someday be reversed. He promised a time of rich blessing accompanied by restoration of the covenant relationship and national unity.

Despite the demise of the Northern Kingdom (Hos. 1:4-5), the Israelites will again be like the sand on the seashore in fulfillment of the Lord’s irrevocable promise to Abraham (Gen. 22:17; Gen. 32:12). In the same place where Israel heard the words not My people (cf. Hos. 1:9) they will be called sons of the living God. The sonship reference points to restoration of the covenant relationship, pictured under the figure of a family setting (cf. Hos. 2:1-5). The divine title “living God” was used in Jos. 3:10 in reference to the Lord’s mighty presence with Israel during the Conquest of the land. In the future Israel will again experience the benefits of a relationship with the living God as they reoccupy the Promised Land.