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We are nearing the end of the book of Hosea, and we don't even need an entire verse to get a spiritual revelation that is so powerful and needed for today, that we are preaching it on a Sunday Night. In our text, God is speaking and we are concerned with only the first four words of the verse tonight. In the King James Version, God says "He is a merchant." God breaks through the prophet's preaching and interrupts the message to the people to comment on Israel, the "he" is the nation of Israel. And His comment is "He's a merchant."

The word for "merchant" has been supplied by the translators to try to give some readability to the text. The original word in the Hebrew is simply "Canaan," refering to the offspring of the cursed grandson of Noah and the people who were the natives to the Promised Land when Israel entered under Joshua. The New King James corrects to this more accurate translation by saying:

A look at other leading English translations finds that they are divided as to say "merchants" or "Canaan" here. Today's English Version, joins with the New King James Version in saying:

As we have said before the original Hebrew word here is the word for "Canaan" so is the King James Version wrong? It is correct but yet not completely accurate. It is true that the main activity of the Canaanite people was trading goods and spices and such and so the name Canaanite eventually came to mean "trafficer" or "merchant." If someone found out that you were a Canaanite, then they would automatically assume that you were involved in the selling or distribution of goods because most were, but not ALL Canaanites were merchants, it was just a stereotype. We find the same situation when it comes to the Chaldeans in the Bible. Many of the Chaldeans were astrologers and worshipped the sky, and the word Chaldean has survived even today to mean an astrologer or fortuneteller, but in reality not ALL of the Chaldeans were astrologers or involved in such wickedness, it just became a stereotype.

We find such stereotypes today. If you introduce yourself as a lawyer or a "used car salesman" then chances are that most people will automatically think the worse and that you are a dishonest person desiring to cheat them for money. That's a stereotype because not ALL lawyers and used car salesmen are dishonest (I guess...). There's a stereotype that any male that plays the piano is queer, but I can without a doubt tell you that such belief is false because I play the piano, I'm male, and I'm definitely not in any way queer or even a little "light in the loafers!"

And so buying into what the term "Canaanite" had come to mean, the King James Version and other translations give the word as "merchant" or "trader." But the original word is just "Canaan." And I think that it would be better to remember the original word and use it in the fullest sense, especially in light of the rest of the chapter.

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If you glance back up at the first few verses of the chapter, you find that -- beginning in verse 2 -- the prophet Hosea goes back to when the nation of Israel got their beginning in the man named Jacob and remembers the night that Jacob was forever changed. Let me remind you of the story to which he just alludes. God made promises to Abraham about a great nation that would shine forth the glory of God to the world coming out of his lineage, but really it was from his grandson, Jacob, that the nation really began to spring forth. Jacob, you may remember, means deceiver and he certainly grew up living up to his name! Jacob tricked his brother Esau out of the inheritance and then had to run for his life so that his brother couldn't kill him for it. He joined up with Laban and worked 7 years for his beloved Rachael only to find out on the wedding night, that the deceiver had been deceived and his father-in-law had pulled a "switcheroo" on him giving away Rachael's ugly sister, Leah, instead. Jacob then had to work another 7 years for Rachael's hand in marriage and when he finally gets out of Laban's household, with two wives that are sisters that don't especially like each other, Jacob, the deceiver, is getting mighty tired of living the deceitful life and paying the consequences!

Sometimes God has to get people good and miserable in their sin before they desire to come out of it, and such is the case with Jacob. As he is leaving Laban and traveling through the desert, Jacob got word that his old enemy, his brother Esau, was coming to meet him with an army of mighty men. Scared to death and realizing that he is now coming face to face with all the evil that he has sown, Jacob divided his family into two parties so that Esau would be able to destroy all of them in one fell swoop, and then camps alone a little ways ahead so that he will meet Esau alone. That night, a sleepless night in the place in the middle of great trouble, Jacob decides to return to the place called "Bethel," which means "the house of God." It was a place where Jacob had met God before in a dream, and so with no hope in anything else, Jacob returns to seek God. He meets God there, and an angel begins to wrestle with him. Somewhere in the struggle, Jacob realizes that this is a divine messenger and the battle turns from the angel as the aggressor to Jacob saying "I will not let you go until you bless me." Finally, after they had wrestled all night, the angel blessed Jacob, and touched his thigh so that he would forever walk with a limp, and then said "your name is no longer to be "Jacob" or "deceiver" but will now be "Israel," or "a prince with God." There was more than just a walk and a name changed that night, but Jacob, now called Israel, got up from there with a different nature and a different future. When he met Esau the next morning, he found that Esau came in peace and God had began to work within his family! From that day forth, he would be blessed of God and God would use him and his wives, which before he thought a liability to produce twelve sons which would become the twelve tribes of Israel. A nation was born that night because a man went to the house of God, Bethel, and left changed!

Let me stop here and say that maybe it sounds like a strange story in the Bible but it has a lot of truth within it! When you were born in this world, you were born into sin with a sinful nature and you were certainly a deceiver! For you to be here, God had to allow you to reap the effects of your sinful nature until you finally got tired of learning and experiencing life the hard way and desired a change. Around that same time, you faced a situation from your past that caused you to decide to walk through the night and get back to "Bethel," the house of God. And there, you found your flesh wrestling with God over control of your life, and at first it was a wrestle with the Spirit of God trying to subdue your flesh, but -- if you are filled with the Holy Ghost -- then somewhere in the struggle, you got the revelation that you wanted whatever this divine messenger had for you. And before the night was over, you had been touched by God, never to walk the same way in life again, and you left having entered a deceiver but now "a prince with God!" And if you kept walking as such, you found out that God began to work in and among your family and began to bless you mightily!

And if you are here and haven't experienced the life-changing power of the Holy Ghost and being baptized into His precious name, then let me say that God is no respecter of persons, and God is still able to completely change and transform your life in one less-than-12 hour period! If you need a change, then you are at the right place! You've come to Bethel, and God is here wanting to change you! Let Him touch you! Let Him change you! Let Him fill you! Let Him heal you! Walk out of this place with a new lease on life to face your troubles with God on your side! Walk out of this place having power as a prince or princess with God!

And so in verse 4 of the twelfth chapter of Hosea we find the prophet referring back to that life changing event in Jacob's life that caused a nation to come forth:

And so remembering the grandness of the event that led to the formation of God's precious people, Hosea then makes an impassioned plea for the people to once again come back to Jehovah God:

But then abruptly and sharply, in verse 7 God breaks in on the preaching of Hosea and utters the words of our text about Israel: "he is Canaan." It's almost like God is saying, "yes, Jacob was changed and a mighty nation came out of that night, but now, but now Israel has become Canaan."

I want you to understand that God had the greatest dreams and blessings for the nation born of Jacob. Through the story of Joseph, God got all twelve brothers and their families into Egypt. After a few hundred years, they had grown into a million plus people. Once again, the process started again, and God allowed persecution to come -- this time in the form of slavery to Pharaoh -- to cause these "Israelites" that had adopted too much of the Egyptian way of thinking to begin to despise Egypt and desire to leave. Most of you are familiar to the story, in that God sent Moses, their deliverer to deliver them from the hand of Pharaoh. Through the blood of the Passover Lamb, they were set free, God erased the Egyptian army from pursuing them in the Red Sea and then they went to the Mt. Sinai to get the laws of God before traipsing through the wilderness toward a land of Promise and blessing, the Promised Land, the Land of Canaan. The people who lived within this land were, naturally, the Canaanites or descendants of Canaan the cursed grandson of Noah. They were a godless people and people who cared less about truth and righteousness and the Almighty One.

Now there is a popular misconception by Christians today that "Canaan Land" as the Promised Land was called, represents heaven, and the idea is put forth in a number of old songs and hymns that used to be sung. For the Promised Land or "Canaan Land" to represent heaven is an utterly ridiculous thought. Because if heaven will be like Canaan Land, then when we get to heaven, we will have to be like Joshua and drive out the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and the Perizzites and all the other ungodly people. When you get to heaven, there is not going to be walled cities of ungodly people and idols and giants that you have to face, in fact you worries and cares of this life will be over. Therefore the land of Promise, or the Canaan Land cannot refer to heaven or represent heaven in our life.

So what does it represent? If Egypt was our sinful past and the Red Sea and the Spirit Cloud represent water baptism the Holy Ghost, then what does the Canaan's Land represent? It represents this world. It represents the sinfulness around you after you become a blood-bought saint/child of God!

Understand that God knew that the Canaanites were in this land when He chose to lead His people to it. Understand what I am saying. God did not lead His people out of Egypt and take them to a secluded island somewhere where they could live holy without having any outside influence from the godless. He could have done that, if He desired, but He didn't! Instead of a deserted island, nation, God led them back to the center of the earth of their time. He led them into a land where all of the major trade routes traversed through. He led them to the land with access to the major sea routes and where they would be surrounded by godless people, both in the nation and out. God didn't take His people to a deserted island, but did quite the opposite: He took them to the place where they would have the MOST contact with the godless nations of the world.

Why would God do that? It wasn't because He wanted them to worship idols and such. Get that thought out of your mind. Listen to what God told the children of Israel about the Canaanites before they entered into the land of Canaan:

God knew that He was sending His precious people into the land of Promise that was filled with people who were sinful and committed acts that He hated, because He warned them to not to defile themselves by joining them.

So, if that is true, then why would God choose to take His precious, blood-bought people and lead them into the place where they would come in contact with the most ungodly people possible? Because God intended for Israel to be His showcase, His example of a people living for Him. Israel was to be a light shining in the darkest night and a living witness to the ungodly around them. God placed Israel in the center of the earth so that all nations would see the glory of God and the right way to live and to come in contact with someone who knew Him and loved Him and served Him. God wanted to reach the world, not just Israel, and so Israel was to be His chosen vessel to reach them. "For God so loved the world..." and so we find that God even loves the Canaanites. He hates their sin and despises their abominations and desires for them to change and repent and live differently, but He wanted to give them an opportunity to receive and obey truth so He put His precious people, the "called-out ones" right "smack dab" in the middle of the heathens to shine forth the light of living right! Simply put, God intended for Israel to make Canaan, Israel! He intended for Israel to reach the Canaanites and for them eventually to be Israelites. The plan was for Canaan to become Israel.

Let me say that many of you now have the answer to a question that you have prayed and asked God for many times. Some of you have asked God "why haven't you removed me from this situation and why did you put so and so in my life, and how come I'm still having to work here and in this environment and why do I have to face this everyday?" And the answer is quite simple: you are a lamp of God that He desires to use to shine into this world. You are a chosen people. Paul wrote speaking about Jesus Christ:

It was a theme that Peter chimed in on:

Both are quoting commands of God to Israel in Moses' day and applying it to you and I! We are the chosen people of God. If you are blood-bought, baptized in His name and filled with His Spirit, then understand that God has a plan for your life that might be slightly different than you thought: you are different so that you can "shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness!" And so, God will most likely put His light on earth in the darkest place that He can find, because that is where you will be the most effective! You know the scripture well:

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..." It's more than just a cute little kid's song, it is our ultimate calling. If I am a child of God then I was created to shine. I'm only going to be in church a few times each week so the majority of my shining will be in the darkest areas of this world. When you find yourself in a worldly situation surrounded by people who are ungodly and in need of a change of spirit, remember that God has you there in His perfect will. He doesn't want you on an island away from society. He doesn't want you with your light under a basket. But the command is "let it shine!" You are God's light. And remember God wants to use you, His chosen people to take the Canaanites, the worldy and godless multitudes and turn them into being -- like you -- princes with God! To speak in types and shadows terminology, God has placed you, Israel, into Canaan because He desires for Canaan to become Israel! It's a sobering thought but one that is needful and poignant: let your light shine, because your light may be the only light that those around you ever see in their life of darkness! How sad that some Christians let God ignite a flame with the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire and then spend the majority of their time trying to hide the fact that they've got something going on that those around them don't! Silly Christians, you need to get like Paul who boldly wrote:

And in Psalms we find the cure of removing the ashamedness of letting our light shine:

"Let my heart be sound in thy statues" in other words, "let me obey all of your word and be obedient to it. Simply obedience in every area leads to boldness and the removal of ashamedness. It is a mark of sin to cause people to be ashamed of close relationships. Adam and Eve were never ashamed of their union and nakedness until sin came into the picture! If you've got a close relationship with God and you are obedient to His commands, then you will not be ashamed to be a light to this world! But if there are areas in your life that God is trying to work, and you are fighting Him in those areas, then you will be hesitant to shine forth into this world! But just remember, that you are light of the world, and the darkness around you needs the light! God wants Israel to cause Canaan to become Israel!

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And so now maybe you realize the implications and the abruptness of the interruption of God in Hosea's preaching. As Hosea is preaching about all that God has done for Israel and how He changed them, God breaks in with "He is Canaan." In other words, after all of this, Israel has become Canaan. It was supposed to be the other way around. Israel was supposed to influence Canaan to be more like Israel, but what has happened is the opposite: Canaan has influenced Israel to become more like Canaan. This chosen people from which God was going to reach out to the world, has not only extinguished their lights of witness, but are now living and acting and talking and being like the very people whom they were sent to reach. They are worshipping the same idols and doing the same things that the Canaanites are. Despite all that God has done for them, the people of God are now so worldly and so much like the world that you can hardly tell the difference. At least not in their lifestyle. They may have a few "religious words" here and know the catch phrases of what to say in a given situation but if you compare "apples to apples" and put their everyday lives against the Canaanites there is little difference. Israel has become Canaan. They dress like them, they talk like them, they live like them, they spend their time in the same way, and they act like them. They respond to things in the same way. They go the same places that Canaanites go.

But I thought, these were the people that God delivered from Egypt, the chosen people, the people that were to be different? You can't tell it now. But I thought that these were the people who had been through the Red Sea, who have the name of God written in their foreheads? You can't see much difference now! Even their worship looks suspiciously Canaanish. It's backfired. It's the opposite that it should be. Canaan was supposed to become Israel, but now Israel has become Canaan!

It's not just a problem of olden times, because we find that Paul is writing to the church in Corinth that he established. Some scholars have called the letters to the Corinthians "Paul's heartbreaks." Because Corinth was now the center of the trade routes between the East and Rome and like most port cities was one of the filthiest and most ungodly places to live in the time. But Paul had gone into Corinth and with the anointing, Spirit, and zeal of God had established a mighty church there. God had brought some people out of the sinful lifestyles and put an Apostolic church right in the middle of the filth and darkness of the world. What an opportunity the Corinth church had with so much access to so many peoples from all walks of life!

But we find that instead of the church reaching the sinners so that the sinners became the church, that Corinth had infested the church so that the church was becoming again the sinners. In our other text, we read Paul's heartbeat and cry to the church:

A little Bible Study will show you that Paul is quoting scriptures from the prophets Isaiah and Hosea! The passage begins with a negative command "be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers" and ends with a positive command "come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord!" And in between, five times Paul presents a contrast in the form of a question:

What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?

What communion hath light with darkness?

What concord hath Christ with Belial, or the devil?

What part hath he that believeth with an infidel or an unbeliever?

What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?

Listen to the message of Paul sounding tonight! Look at the words placed between the opposing things: fellowship, communion, concord, part or portion, and agreement. "Fellowship" means "sharing." What can righteousness and godliness share with unrighteousness and ungodliness. In other words, what is there in sin that the Christian needs? What is it about sin that a righteous person would want? The answer is obviously "nothing," for such opposites cannot share.

The word "communion" means "to have things in common." What is common between light and darkness? The answer is "nothing, there is nothing in common, between the two." Each has a different effect and purpose for existence. Light has the energy and power that darkness lacks!

The word between Christ and Belial is "concord" which literally means "to harmonize as a symphony." There can be no sounding of harmony between Christ and the devil!

Then between the believer and the unbeliever he writes what "part" or "portion" can there be between the two. It literally refers to "an inheritance." There is no comparison because the believer and unbeliever have a different inheritance indeed!

And finally, Paul asks "what agreement" or what "sentiment" can there be between the temples of the Holy Ghost and that of idols? The answer is very clear in the contrast: there can be no agreements!

So what would be the message of God to His church tonight? What is it that God would have us hear tonight? It would be a warning spoken in love! Take heed! We need to take stock of where we are headed and how we are letting the world affect us. What direction are we leaning? Are we changing our world, or is the world changing us? You are "in the world, but not of the world" do you need to remember that thought from Jesus? You were placed here to influence them, but there is a great danger when you begin to draw close to the world, that we would begin to emulate their ways.

Only you can answer the question, but understand that when Israel becomes Canaan, then God has no choice but to give them Canaan's lot. They will receive the inheritance of the Canaanite! Which direction are you going tonight? Have you drawn closer to God or further away this past week? Are you standing at the foot of the cross, or is Golgotha a distant sight to your back? Are you becoming more Godly or more Worldly? That is the question of Hosea tonight. That is the query of God. Is Canaan becoming Israel or is Israel becoming Canaan. There is no doubt as to which is the will of the Almighty in your life. But where are you really!? Heed the warning today against the pull of this world because you don't want God to change you miraculously only to have to one day pronounce, "He is Canaan." God rather wants to use you to one day be able say "Canaan is become Israel." But this will only be spoken about those who stand true to God's Word and do not give in to compromise! Let your light shine unerringly into the darkness of this world, for we have what it is they are looking and seeking! Canaan has nothing for us! Let Canaan become Israel and not Israel become Canaan!