Based on Hosea 8:8 – 9:17 (New King James Version)
“Israel is swallowed up; now they are among the Gentiles like a vessel in which is no pleasure. For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey alone by itself; Ephraim has hired lovers. Yes, though they have hired among the nations, now I will gather them; and they shall sorrow a little, because of the burden of the king of princes. ‘Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin, they have become for him altars for sinning. I have written for him the great things of My law, but they were considered a strange thing. For the sacrifices of My offerings they sacrifice flesh and eat it, but the Lord does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. They shall return to Egypt. ‘For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and has built temples; Judah also has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send fire upon his cities, and it shall devour his palaces.’ Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples, for you have played the harlot against your God. You have made love for hire on every threshing floor. The threshing floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her. They shall not dwell in the Lord’s land, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and shall eat unclean things in Assyria. They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord, nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing to Him. It shall be like bread of mourners to them; all who eat it shall be defiled. For their bread shall be for their own life; it shall not come into the house of the Lord. What will you do in the appointed day, and in the day of the feast of the Lord? For indeed they are gone because of destruction. Egypt shall gather them up; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver; thorns shall be in their tents. The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come. Israel knows! The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity. The watchman of Ephraim is with my God; but the prophet is a fowler’s snare in all his ways—enmity in the house of his God. They are deeply corrupted, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity; He will punish their sins. ‘I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal Peor, and separated themselves to that shame; they became an abomination like the thing they loved. As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird—no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception! Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them to the last man. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them! Just as I saw Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place, so Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer.’ Give them, O Lord—what will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts! ‘All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them. Because of the evil of their deeds I will drive them from My house; I will love them no more. All their princes are rebellious. Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Yes, were they to bear children, I would kill the darlings of their womb.’ My God will cast them away, because they did not obey Him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.”
God’s judgment on His people has already been determined generally. Yet, at a personal level, I believe that things can be changed—particularly regarding matters of eternity. However, to be able to fix things, we must understand what is wrong. It is essential to identify what God desires us to change as His people. In this passage, we saw that God intended to punish His people; and tragically, the calamities of which the Lord spoke did happen, because there was no conversion among God’s people. Instead of taking Him seriously, they ignored Him, and they continued to sin.
What, then, were the sins being committed that provoked God’s wrath? There was much sin—of every conceivable variety, one might say. One could almost ask: what sin did they not commit? God’s people fell into idolatry, worshipping other gods—the very gods of the nations He Himself had defeated before their eyes. And alongside that idolatry, they committed every manner of sin associated with the worship of those false gods and idols. They engaged in fornication and adultery. They offered impure sacrifices. They harmed their neighbors. As if this were not enough, they committed the sacrilege of bringing those foreign gods and idols right into the Lord’s Temple. And in doing so, they were also worshipping themselves—seeking to fulfill their own will rather than obeying God’s commands. Such was their depravity that they even sacrificed their own children—their newborns—to these false gods, burning them alive upon stone altars. And for what purpose? Simply to obtain whatever they wanted.
And what do we see today among those who call themselves God’s people? Do we not see the very same things? At one moment, God is praised; yet at another, God’s people seek out other gods, offering them more than they offer to God—devoting their time, their possessions, and even their loved ones—all for the sake of obtaining what they desire. Many people today live in sin, engaging in practices that clearly run counter to the will of God. Furthermore, there are many churches that openly endorse what constitutes an abomination in the eyes of God. There are many preachers and teachers of the Word who, for their own personal gain, teach doctrines that stand in total opposition to God’s will, using a facade of piety as a means of profit. And while one might be horrified by the fact that God’s people in times past used to burn their own children, today this is done in different ways—and in even worse forms; instead of raising them in the fear of the Lord, they endanger their very souls by allowing corruption.
Will God overlook all these evils? No—especially considering everything He has done, and continues to do today, out of His good will and love. God’s patience does indeed have limits, and God’s people are reaching those limits—due to their vain way of living, their constant rebellion, in short, because He is neither loved nor feared as the God and Lord that He is. This is what the Word says: “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence?” Malachi 1:6a. This is what is wrong. It also says: “And you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth…” Isaiah 51:13a. “For in Him we live and move and have our being…” Acts 17:28a. If you live, it is because He allows it. If you possess abilities, it is because He gave them to you. Everything you are and have, you owe to Him. And furthermore, the forgiveness and salvation to which you have access were made possible only through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, you owe everything to the Lord. Therefore, live in that manner—wholeheartedly—if you wish to obtain His forgiveness and redemption. For it also says: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. Galatians 6:7-8. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:9-10. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Matthew 7:21. “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come!” 1 Corinthians 16:22. If you wish to find favor in the eyes of the Lord, learn to fear Him and love Him as He deserves. You may not escape physical judgment today, but you will indeed save your soul for all eternity if you learn to be righteous before God through the Lord Jesus Christ. So, will you change your ways before it is too late? Lord bless! John. God bless Israel!