"And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine" (LEVITICUS 20:26).
The strange marriage of Prophet Hosea to Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, "a wife of whoredoms", is a symbolic illustration of God's marriage to Israel. The prophet was instructed to do so and to bear "children of whoredoms", because "the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD" (Hosea 1:2).
The prophet was to experience firsthand the anguish of living with an unfaithful spouse - an experience God had been enduring due to Israel's infidelity in constantly turning to idol worship. Our text emphasises the need for Israel to keep the statutes and judgments of the Lord. They were not to walk in the ways of the heathen. They were to make a difference between clean and unclean animals, and be holy because the God of Israel is holy. Anyone having familiar spirits or into wizardry should be put to death.
Today, the Church is a body of called out people who have been redeemed. Christ remains the Head of the Church, while the Church is the Body of Christ. Also, Christ is the Bridegroom and the Church, the Bride. The Bride as a chaste virgin is espoused unto the Lord - separate and holy to offer living, acceptable and reasonable service to Him.
As Israel was chosen by God to be a "peculiar treasure", so the Church has been called to be "a chosen vessel unto [Christ], to bear [His] name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15). Israel failed God through idol worship and many unholy deeds, but the Church of the first century did not. They gave their all to God and paid the supreme price for the gospel.
Present-day believers have the same mandate to take Christ to the world. We must not disappoint God.