For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days (Hosea 3:4-5 NIV 1984).
No Faithfulness or Love
The Israelites (the people of God at that time) were experiencing a time of spiritual decline. They were faithless and loveless in their relationship with their God. In fact, they failed to even acknowledge him. In other words, they were pretty much just ignoring God and his commands, and they were going their own way and doing what they wanted to do. They were caught up in the world, and were following the pattern of the sinful world, rather than following after God and his plans and purposes for their lives. Cursing, lying, murder, adultery, and stealing, etc. had replaced love, kindness, generosity, compassion, mercy and forgiveness. Their sins knew no bounds. Bloodshed followed after bloodshed. Times have not really changed all that much. The church of today in America can certainly identify in many respects with the Israelites of Hosea’s day.
They stumbled in their sin day and night, and their spiritual leaders sinned right alongside them. They rejected the knowledge of God found in scripture. They ignored the law of their God. The spiritual leaders even fed on, i.e. profited from the people’s sins. They deserted the Lord in order to give themselves to prostitution, i.e. to other lovers, and for their own pleasure, instead of to please God. These “other lovers” today can include anything that vies for our attention, affection, honor, praise, loyalty, time and devotion over and above, and even in place of our love for and obedience to Jesus Christ. These “other lovers” can include sports, fitness, entertainment, technology, human knowledge, careers, sinful habits, lust, adultery, gossip, gluttony, sinful addictions and even man-made forms of religion, religious activities, and the teachings and philosophies of men in the church.
As well, they were a stubborn lot. They were, in other words, “unreasonably and obstructively determined to persevere or prevail” (Encarta) in their sin. The question was thus asked, “How then can the Lord pasture them like lambs in a meadow?” You can’t lead someone who does not want to be led. You can’t advise someone who is unwilling to receive advice. They were so steeped in sin and rebellion that their actions hindered them from being able to return to their God. They were not only stubborn, but they were proud and arrogant, too, and were not willing to humble themselves before God and admit their own sin. Yet, they still tried to seek the Lord in their sinful state of rebellion, but they were not able to find him. When we hold on to sin in our lives and we refuse to repent, it hinders our fellowship with Jesus Christ, because we are not walking with him in obedience. Yet, God does not force his will on any of us. He is a very patient God. He will speak tenderly to us, he will remind us of our sins, and he will wait for us to return to him, at least for a time.
New Testament Parallels
Lest we think this is just Old Testament stuff and it does not apply to us, let me remind you that Jesus Christ said similar words of rebuke to his church in the book of Revelation. He told them that they had forsaken their first love – Jesus Christ. A first love is someone with whom you are enthralled. This is the person you think about most - the one you want to tell everything to. You will get up early in the morning and stay up late at night just to be with this person. You will linger on the phone with him or her for hours because you don’t want to hang up the phone and say, “Good bye.” You want to be with him or her as much as possible. You want to do everything with him or her, and share all your experiences with each other. And, this is the kind of love we are to have for Jesus Christ. If we don’t, then we have forsaken our first love, too, and perhaps are guilty of going after “other lovers.”
They had people in their midst who held to the teaching of false teachers who taught the people to sin and to compromise with the world. And, they even tolerated the false teachers who led the people into sexual immorality. We may think that is not true of the church today here in America, but it is. The church overall, though not everyone in the church, has embraced today’s culture in the church as a means of attracting the world to the church. Yet, we are not supposed to attract the world to the church, especially using worldly methods. We are to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything Christ Jesus commanded us. We are to share the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is an offense to those who are perishing. We are to tell the world that they must turn from their sin, and they must turn to walk in faithful obedience to Jesus Christ. If our “gospel” is attracting the world instead of offending them, then we are preaching the wrong gospel.
Many, many congregations in today’s church have gone to “gospel light,” i.e. to watering down the gospel message so that it is less offensive and is more palatable to the listener, and so more people will “get saved,” i.e. accept Christ. Yet, what are they accepting? - A false gospel that tells them that they don’t have to repent and they don’t have to obey Christ in order to be saved. So, this gives them a free license to continue in their sin and to still feel as though God is pleased with them, and that they will still get to go to heaven because they have their “ticket.” Oh, how wrong! When we give people the message that repentance and obedience are not necessary for salvation, and that God is pleased with us no matter what we do, then we are, in fact, leading them to continue in their sin, and we are no different from Balaam and Jezebel who led their followers to sin and to compromise with the world.
Some in the church had the reputation of being spiritually alive, but were actually spiritually dead (or nearly dead), for Jesus told them to strengthen what remains and is about to die. Others in the church were spiritually lukewarm, i.e. they were neither on fire for the Lord nor were they completely indifferent to Christ. This was the church in Laodicea, which a lot of people feel describes best the church today in America. We are a complacent people who are caught up in our own lifestyles of fun, entertainment, activities (even religious activities), games, drama, careers, sports, possessions, etc., and we have forgotten God. “Oh,” you say, “I go to church every week, I pay my tithe regularly, I sing in the choir, I help out in the nursery, I visit the sick, I don’t do anything really bad, and I feel overall that I am a pretty good person. I even read my Bible and pray.” It is possible to do all of that, and to still forget your God, and to forsake your first love, and to be living a spiritually lukewarm Christian life. God doesn’t want all the things we want to do for him. He wants us as living sacrifices on the altar, no longer conformed to the pattern of this world, but being transformed by the renewing of our minds, and living holy lives pleasing to him.
God’s Plan of Action
With regard to the Israelites, God said that because of their sin, the earth would mourn and all who live on it will waste away. He said that his people were destroyed for lack of knowledge (understanding and spiritual wisdom and insight). Because they ignored the law of their God, God would ignore them. He would punish them for their sinful ways. He would repay them for their deeds. They would come to ruin due to lack of understanding the ways of God. A whirlwind would sweep them away. God would discipline all of them. God would pour out his wrath upon them like a flood of water. They would be trampled in judgment, because they were intent on pursuing their idols.
Many people think that judgment of this kind for sin has been done away with because of Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins and because we are now under grace. That is not true! Jesus died so that we could be free from the control of sin over our daily lives, and he also freed us from eternal damnation in hell (the ultimate destiny of the unrepentant sinner). Yet, clearly he speaks of judgment as a form of divine discipline either to make us holy, to refine us and to purify us, or as a form of correction in order to get us back on the right path.
In these letters to the churches in Revelation, Jesus had many words of encouragement and praise for the churches, with the exception of the church in Laodicea. Yet, in many cases, he also had something against them. He told those whom he found something against that they must repent. To repent means to turn from our sins and to go the opposite direction in following Jesus Christ in obedience and surrender to his will. Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily (die to self and sin daily) and follow (obey) him. He said if we want to find our lives in Christ, we must first die to our old lives of sin. This is what is required for us to come to faith in Jesus Christ. Yet, it is possible for followers of Christ to drift away from their Lord and to need to be brought back to repentance and to walk in obedience and to have renewed fellowship with Christ.
Jesus said that if they did not repent, and if they did not return to faithful obedience to Jesus Christ, he would visit them in judgment. This is not the judgment of hell, but is the judgment of divine discipline on those he loves for the purpose of bringing them back into a right relationship with their Lord. He told some that he would come and remove their lampstand (the church) from its place. Some he told that he would come and fight against the false teachers in their midst. Still others he promised to judge the false teacher by placing her on a bed of suffering, and to make those who commit (spiritual or physical) adultery with her to suffer intensely. And, he would strike the Jezebel’s children dead. Then all the churches would know that God is the one who searches hearts and minds and he will repay each person according to his deeds. Another church he told to wake up, obey him and repent. If they did not wake up, he would come in judgment against them like a thief in the night. And, lastly, he told the lukewarm congregation that he was about to spit them out of his mouth, so they were to be earnest and repent.
Some people have the notion that these writings were just for those specific churches at that time, while others believe that each church represents the church at particular eras, ending with the Laodicean church as the one existing in the last days before judgment. Whatever your theological leanings may be, all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuke, correction, encouragement and training in righteousness. These letters were written to the church calling some of them to repent, and following the letters are the prophecies concerning the judgments at the end of time.
I believe this applies to the church today and the church that will exist when all of these things reach their fulfillment, and that we are to take God seriously. We are to repent and turn back to God in faithful obedience to Jesus Christ and to his commands, or face the potential of divine judgment against us, his church. Yet, there is still hope. The purpose of judgment will always be to bring us back into a right relationship with Jesus Christ, and to draw us into closer fellowship with our Lord, and to cause us to put our hope, faith and trust in the Lord Jesus for all things, instead of trusting in man and/or our own resources. Then, our love for God will increase, as well as our love for others will intensify. Where we once craved and followed after worldly passions and desires, now God alone we will seek.
For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days (Hosea 3:4-5 NIV 1984).
More Love To Thee, O Christ / Prentiss / Doane
More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee!
Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee.
This is my earnest plea: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!
Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek, give what is best.
This all my prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!
Let sorrow do its work, send grief and pain;
Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain,
When they can sing with me: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!
Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise;
This be the parting cry my heart shall raise;
This still its prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!
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