2nd Evangelical Free Church

Phony religion is adultery.

Hosea 10

 

Hosea incessantly pronounced God’s coming judgment on Israel for her hypocritical religious devotion to Yahweh. This seems to be the theme of the book. This is because religious hypocrisy is akin to marital infidelity because it is spiritual adultery. Israel is like Gomer but her spouse is Yahweh. The Lord chose her and made a covenant with her. Yet, like Gomer, she does not live as if she were His bride but lives like a prostitute. She claims she is in right relationship but her actions belie her words. She pursues intimate relationships with false gods while rejecting the legitimate intimacy offered by Yahweh.

 

Most people in the 21^st Century church engage in spiritual prostitution. We spend more time devoted to pursuing the gods of this world such as fame, sex, money, material goods and pride. While we do this, we manifest an outward appearance of charity, goodness and piety while withholding obedience and deep love from God. In addition, we withhold love, mercy and justice from our fellow human beings especially those who poor, needy or caught up in those sins we deem particularly despicable such as prostitution and homosexuality. We can stand up for right theology, orthodox belief and morality but still fail to maintain a proper relationship for God because our obedience is a sham. Solid theology is fine but not by itself, it must be accompanied by acts of unselfish righteousness and love that exalt God and not our pride.

Meditate & Apply: In what ways have you been guilty of spiritual adultery?

Is the Lord obligated to bless us for our religious activities no matter what?

Hosea 9

During the time of Hosea Israel enjoyed great prosperity in terms of their agriculture and trade. The people became rich and attributed this to God’s acceptance of their worship and their religious devotion. The prophet, however, called on them not to rejoice because they were hypocrites who needed to repent. While they were celebrating the feast of the harvest they were told that Yahweh was going to carry our His judgment because they still did not acknowledge Him as supreme and sole God nor serve Him as He commanded. Since they had forsaken God, He had forsaken them. The only prayer Hosea could make was that the people would not have children so that the impact of the coming suffering would be minimized.

These days God is often acknowledged as the author of blessings. People thank Him for whatever blessings because they feel God is obligated to them in some way because they have fulfilled their religious requirements. So when suffering comes their way, many will blame God and curse Him for depriving them of good things. They choose to ignore the possibility that their own hypocritical, selfish and sinful ways of living resulted in these unplanned yet inevitable consequences. Other people, however, will see the hand of God at work, examine themselves, turn to Him and repent. All of us will go through suffering, but it is far better to endure it knowing that God is with us in that time, drawing us closer to Him. Those who curse Him will have no true or lasting relief until they go to the Lord in humble prayer. That may mean of course that many will remain without hope separated from God.

Meditate & Apply: How has the Lord helped you in suffering?

Hypocritical worship is abhorrent to Yahweh.

Hosea 8

Israel has chosen to totally ignore God. She has rebelled against God by breaking His covenant and His law so that they also broke their relationship with Him although they claimed they had not. She has failed to seek out His way and His will. She has chosen instead to seek out leaders who are unrighteous and who would lead them willingly in their pursuit of idolatry and its accompanying immorality. This idolatry was similar to that of the Israelites and the golden calf for one of the idols that the people worshiped was a bull who they believed represented Yahweh. Thus they could still claim they had relationship with Yahweh while still being able to live as their desired.

 

Today there are many people who claim to have a relationship with Jesus but who choose to avoid His commands or redefine them. These claim that relationship with God is developed and maintained through worship, prayer, spirituality and liturgy. How one lives his or her life is a matter of personal preference. People can disregard God’s laws and His word as elements of a rigid fundamentalism that is outdated and unnecessary. They do not realize that those who reject or ignore God’s Law cannot have a relationship with Him for their lives are an abomination to Him. Worship, singing and prayers no matter how dramatic, emotional or lively is meaningless unless one accepts God’s law and His definitions of sin and righteousness.

Meditate & Apply: What is more important: a personal relationship with God or right belief? Explain your answer.

Israel is useless to God.

Hosea 7

 

Hosea continues to drive home his indictment of the people of Israel with images that continue to emphasize the insincerity of the people as well as the dangers of her failure to repent. These images initially look positive but they are not. The first image is that of an oven which represents the adulterous immorality of Israel. The oven burns continuously with passion not for Yahweh but for their physical desires and lusts. The hot oven produces the second image, a half-baked cake that is uncooked on one side and burnt on the other, unfit for consumption and so unfit for the service of the Lord. Hosea also compares Israel to a dove that seems peaceful and calm but is really gullible, foolish and easily misled. She does not seek the help of Yahweh when in trouble. Finally, Israel is a faulty weapon that again is useless for the Lord.

 

As we know, despite these graphic images, Israel did not heed the word of Hosea. Neither will the people of the 21^st Century. People in our contemporary society do not want to think about sin. This would include many churches even evangelical ones. The sins that many churches emphasize are those of institutions and governmental systems such as racism, injustice, sexual abuse and religious fundamentalism. They tend to ignore the sins committed by individuals such as abortion, sexual immorality, materialism and pride. Thus they do not mention the fact that God will judge the nation by its tolerance of such evils. If human beings want to truly acknowledge the Lord as God they must repent.

Meditate & Apply: What about institutional sins? Are they more important than those committed by individuals? Which sins can be ignored?

What is wrong with the profession of faith that the Israelites make?

Hosea 6

 

While the people claimed a desire to acknowledge the Lord as sovereign, this is not true. Hosea indicts the people for their lies and insincere profession. Their words reflect their belief that they expected the Lord to act automatically. That is, He wounds, and then He heals in a cycle that occurs independent of their response or action. What their statement lacks is the crucial element in God’s work: conviction of sin and repentance. The goal of the Lord’s affliction is to lead people to repentance. Thus their religious profession of faith is worthless no matter how dramatic or moving. God desires love which is demonstrated by total, unreserved obedience. A refusal to address their sinfulness shows that the person who is offering sacrifices despises God, is not devoted to Him and in fact has no relationship with him at all.

 

For us the lesson is not for us to presume upon God. When He allows affliction to come our way, He will not act automatically to deliver any of us. He allows such troubles to come our way for a purpose and reason, sometimes as punishment but more often to lead us to confess and renounce our besetting sin and repent. We may pray for relief, perform many good deeds or make promises in an effort to bargain with God, but our trial or affliction will continue until we learn repent of our sin, which is something the people of Israel did not desire or like and neither do we. If we knew the Lord, had a personal relationship with Him, we would understand this. The trouble with a lot of those who call themselves Christians is that they assume that because they were brought up in the faith that they have such a relationship. But without genuine repentance such an assumption is flawed and deadly.

Meditate & Apply: What is that sin that besets you that you hesitate to give up?

You can run but you sure can’t hide.

Hosea 5

 

Hosea’s prophecy turns to focus on the Lord’s omniscience. Yahweh sees and knows everything that happens in the thoughts and acts of men. Israel cannot deceive Him for He knows what she is doing and all the reasons why. He knows that the attempts of the people to please Him with religious offerings and sacrifices are hypocritical lacking in sincerity. He knows that the people have refused to forsake their sins of idolatry and its accompanying immorality while they pretend to honor Him. In addition, they demonstrate their lack of devotion to Yahweh when in their time of need they seek help from Assyria, not from Him.

 

One of the more troubling characteristics of God that causes sinners to run from Him is His omniscience. The Lord sees us through all our attempts to deny, cover up or atone for our sins. He sees though our outward displays of religious worship, good deeds and spiritual acts of piety. He sees that they are often done for our own enrichment and pleasure rather than out of a sense of sorrow or of thankfulness and love for Him, who He is and what He has done. This is scary and we run from Him. We run because we do not want to have our sins exposed. We run because we do not want to confess that we are sinners. We run because we do not want to admit that we need Him. And we run because we think He is angry and wants to punish us. We want to look good and feel good without having to really obey His commands.  

Meditate & Apply: Evaluate your spiritual life and determine if your praise songs of worship are more for your self or for God. In other words, why do the songs we sing make us feel good?

What are the sins of Israel?

Hosea 4

Hosea brings charges against Israel and her people. They have sinned by being unfaithful to Yahweh, by not showing love and devotion to Him and by their consistent refusal to acknowledge Him as their sole and sovereign Lord. The Lord has decided that He will give them what they desire. This is detrimental to them because God is good and the source of all that is good. So because they choose to reject God and go away from Him, they will find no good thing. They will seek pleasure and will not find it. They will give way to gluttony, sexual immorality, and religious spirituality but none of these will satisfy them.

Today our culture is seeking God through many new (and not so new) forms of spirituality. These forms of spirituality exalt the individual by helping find the god within, the essence of divinity which we all are. Some refer to this as the “Christ” within. We Christians know that this is all a new form of the old Satanic lie Gen. 3:5). The God the people of the world seek is neither Yahweh or Jesus, God incarnate. People reject the God of the Bible because they do not want to depend on anyone but themselves, do not want a God who will tell them what is right and wrong, and do not want to submit to the authority of anyone who will tell them how to live their lives. Hence they will find, like the Israelites, that goodness and pleasure will elude them.

Meditate & Apply: What scares you most about God?

Why does Hosea buy Gomer back?

Hosea 3

 

This short chapter gives us an excellent picture of the truth of our salvation. Hosea is commanded by God to go into the marketplace and buy back his wife, Gomer. She has sunk to the lowest possible condition, so low that she is not even considering going back to her husband. She may have thought he would not take her back as she was “damaged goods” but it is also possible that, as bad off as she was, she did not want to go back to that life she had with him, ever so briefly. She preferred her own pursuit of the pleasures of the flesh to living with a man who loved her. Once Hosea buys her however, she has no choice for she is his property and must obey him. He has no intention of treating her as a slave for he loves her and wants to bless her with kindness though she deserves nothing of the sort.

 

This is exactly what the Lord does for the sinner. We are slaves on the auction block. We have sunk to our lowest level afraid that God hates us and wants to punish us or else scornful of His love altogether. We sinners are quite reluctant to admit we need His help. Even in our shame we are loathe the idea that we must surrender our lives to Him for that means doing things His way not ours. Who really wants to do that even if we know we have made an irreparable mess of life. We don’t want to give up our freedom. Nevertheless the Lord comes in and pays the price for our redemption: the blood of Jesus. We don’t want and certainly don’t deserve it but the choice is ours to reject the gift and stay slaves to sin or accept what Christ has to offer and find that we have true freedom.

Meditate & Apply: What held you or what holds you back from accepting the Lord’s gift of salvation? Are the pleasures of sensual living really worth the loss of eternal life? Its like smoking cigarettes (or drinking alcohol or taking drugs). You know its bad for you and will most likely kill you but you still do it. Is that what freedom is all about: the freedom to lose your life?

Why doesn’t Hosea take Gomer back immediately?

Hosea 2

 

The Lord describes Himself in the person of Hosea as a jilted husband and lover. When Hosea discovers His wife is gone, he allows her to pursue her choices. He still loves her, but lets her do what she wants. This of course this leads her into deep shame, disgrace and slavery, as is the case with sin. She sought satisfaction, pleasure and prosperity in the arms of other men, but eventually is abandoned by them all and left destitute. Israel too sought her prosperity by prostituting herself to the Baals. She even attributed to them the blessings that Yahweh had given her. Yet they proved false. The Lord allowed Israel to sink into disgrace and ignominy because He wanted to lead her back to Him even after what she had done to Him.

 

God treats all of us like Hosea treated Gomer. We are all sinners who have turned from Yahweh to worship the gods of self, materialism, sex, fame, prosperity and power. We have scorned His love for the empty promises of Satan and the world. The Lord allows all of us sinners to pursue our wicked ways and so suffer the inevitable consequences: shame, disgrace, unhappiness, disappointment and deprivation. Psychologists, educators and prosperity preachers will tell us that these things are detrimental to our emotional and spiritual will-being and should be avoided at all costs. Yet they mark the only true pathway to repentance. There is no salvation unless we first experience humiliation and the loss of face. 

Meditate & Apply: What do you think about the concept of saving face and thus avoiding shame? Is this a quality that should be indicative of the Christian lifestyle? Why or why not?

Why does the Lord ask Hosea to marry a prostitute?

Hosea 1

 

Hosea was called by Yahweh many years before Jeremiah appeared. The Lord called him to prophesy destruction to Israel at a time when she was experiencing a time of prosperity and power, secure and safe from foreign invaders. Jeroboam II was King at that time and was as wicked as Jeroboam I, the King who rebelled against Yahweh and split the Kingdom of David and Solomon in two. The nation that was formed in rebellion rejected Yahweh and almost from the outset and worshipped the Baals, the fertility gods of Canaan. What Yahweh called Hosea to do was a symbolic depiction of what Israel had done to Him. Hosea married a woman who proved to be unfaithful to her marriage vows. The children that were born to Gomer symbolized Yahweh’s displeasure with Israel. She rejected the Lord so He rejected her.

 

It strikes us as odd that the Lord would command a good man such as Hosea to marry a woman who would prostitute herself. Yet the Lord wished to demonstrate how Yahweh He felt towards His people who broke His covenant. Hosea’s life would not have been easy. He would have felt betrayed, confused and ashamed. He would be the subject of a lot of gossip and ridicule since it is likely that only the first child, Jezreel was his. He would also have been the subject of criticism for the behavior of those children who would most likely have been bad-tempered, dysfunctional and rebellious. The lesson we learn is that the Lord often calls his servants to do things that are difficult and downright wearisome and depressing.

Meditate & Apply: Do you think the Lord handed Hosea a raw deal? Why or why not?