In the past I have “flown over” books of the Old Testament, I admit, I never found as interesting as the New Testament so I didn't spend a lot of time there. What a mistake I made in disregarding these books classified as "Minor Prophets." MINOR not because they are less important, but simply because they are shorter books. Any reader of the Bible will immediately recognize all their names .. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah (my step-son carries his name) Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and finally Malachi. A total of 12 as in the New Testament 12, symbolizing a complete and organized people of God. These uniting the Old Testament tribes of Israel with the New Testament apostles, representing the fulness of the Church and God's perfect order. I believe these "24" are the elders seated around the Throne of God mentioned in Revelation 4:4. I'm mentioning these 12 Minor Prophets for a reason. All 12 warned and prophesied God's judgment upon people who repeatedly broke their covenant agreement with God. The prophets delivered warnings so the people would turn back from their sins.
It is their repeated warnings of judgment that reminds me of all the warnings being shouted out, called out, preached out, and written out to another nation today. America. But as then, our calls are being ignored. America is in trouble. Sin was just as effective and deadly then as it is now. God still judges sin and calls for man to repent of that sin before it is too late. America's grievous sins are mounting up to God's nostrils. God still offers forgiveness through His mercy and grace. I want us to look at the "Book of Hosea" and see its message to the northern Kingdom of Israel regarding the terrible State of Affairs. As I read, it was as if I was looking into the sad state of affairs in America, "Home of the Brave, land of the Free. The LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there was no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. When God looked down to examine the hearts of men what did he find? Well, Hosea tells us what He did not find – the things GOD was looking for. Truth! Mercy! Knowledge of God! My eyes read those words and I heard echoes from Genesis 6:5: "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Today, the Church spread across the world- His people/ His Church – are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and have turned unto sin. God sees us in the same position as the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah:
Void of righteousness!
Void of Truth!
Void of Light!
DELIGHTING IN SIN
I read this in, Hosea 4:2 "By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood." In the first 11 words they are guilty of breaking 4 of the Ten Commandments! They broke free from all restraints as a dog breaks free from its leash. The blood of their victims pools together, crying out for justice just as the the martyrs in Revelation 6:9-10 were crying out from underneath the altar asking justice for their blood being shed! Readers, can you not see our present world in those words? Read the front pages of any newspaper in America! Glance at any news web site! Good is called evil and evil is called good! The prophet Isaiah nailed it when he said in 5:20, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!'
How can that be? Hosea tells us in 4:6, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children."
WARNINGS KEEP GOING OUT -- Our society is void of truth! America had God’s truth. America rejected God’s truth. America will be judged according to God’s truth.That rejection of God is manifested in Idolatry. Look at verses 12 & 13, "My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery." Just as Ancient Israel rejected God for worthless idols, so has America. Oh, there doesn't need not be statues or figures for anything placed above God in our hearts can be an idol. Money, fame, power, greed, lust, selfishness…
That rejection of God is through all society as it was during Hosea's warning:
Hos 5:1 "Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.'
Hos 5:2 "And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all."
Hos 5:3 "I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled."
I see three groups of people in these verses. First, the general populace – the house of Israel. Second, the religious leaders – the priests. Third, the aristocracy – Ephraim. Why is Ephraim the aristocracy, the ruling elite? Does the word ELITE sound familiar?? Ephraim was the most powerful tribe. SAME WITH A CERTAIN SET OF THE RULING CLASS TODAY! Let me say that I despise those that seek to divide our nation through inciting class/racial warfare. I am not here to say the problem is not the poor or the rich or the rulers or the young or the old. I’m here to say that as a whole and then no matter how you slice it, our society is becoming more and more corrupt.
Rejection of God leads to seek answers outside of God. Hos 5:13 "When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound." The wages of sin came due with interest. Where did they turn? Not to God! They turned to the pagan Assyrians, who would soon conquer them! AMERICA IS ON THE VERGE OF BEING CONQUERED!
They call today the Information Age. We can find answers to almost any question in a matter of seconds through the Internet and now even faster through AI!Yet in all that searching we fail to look to Truth itself. We fail to go to God! We turn to celebrities and their “expert opinions”. We turn to scientists and their knowledge. We turn to political leaders and their influence. And we fail to turn to God! It is His Truth that we have rejected! It is His Judgment that surely must fall if He be Just at all! It is He who can grant mercy and forgiveness! And we will go anywhere to anyone but to Him.
WHAT CAN WE DO??? Well, I’m glad that God is merciful to us sinners! He has provided the remedy then and thank HIM for now. How? What is the trigger to stop God’s anger? Hos 6:1 "Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up." Just because God may judge our sin does not mean He casts us off. He bids us to COME. What a wonderful word! Hear the words of Christ in these verses: Mat 11:28, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Mat 11:29, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Mat 11:30, "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
What is the message for the world today? Come!
Rev 22:17, " And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Oh, what America needs to do is to come to Jesus! What sliding Christians need to do is to come back to Jesus! What does it mean to COME? It means to come from where we are. That is repentance in a nutshell. We change our mind and our direction. We turn from sin to the Savior! We turn from sin’s wages to the Great Shepherd’s care! We turn from a curse and death to blessing and life! It means a change in heart and not just action. God does not want us to make the appearance of turning to Him, He wants our hearts to be truly changed. If we do not turn, they we will be like the Israelites we read about here. Hos 6:7, " But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me."
What happened to them? History tells us the judgment came. The Assyrians conquered them and carried them away captive. WE ARE BEING CONQUERED TOO, slowly! The hope for our nation is that those of us with God’s Truth will heed that truth and repent. When we change our ways, we may affect the wicked to change theirs. Though not written to us, we may learn from the words God spoke to Solomon 2 Ch 7:14, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. I PRAY AMERICA WAKES UP AS WE ARE ON THE CUSP OF GOD'S RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT.
Util He Comes,
-Pat-
No comments:
Post a Comment