NOTES for Hos 9:5

Here is the main question to which faith leads a person. For the believer there is no question about whether the day of the Lord's triumph and feast will come. Moreover, he knows that this feast has already begun ("behold, now is the day of salvation," 2 Cor. 6:2). But where is my place at this feast, what is God's design for me, what specific call does He address to me? How should I respond to this call, how should I enter into the fulfillment of His design? What will He say to me when we meet Him face to face at this feast: "Come, you blessed ones" (Matt. 25:34), or: "I never knew you; depart from Me" (Matt. 7:23)?

Christian life is not a quiet niche, but intense labor; yet it is not exhausting labor, but joyful labor, because it is carried out not in the monotony of weekdays, but inside a feast - the feast of the Lord's victory over sin and death - and not under pressure from circumstances, but voluntarily, out of love for Christ.