Pride Comes Before Destruction

Hosea 6:1-7:2

Hosea 6:1–7:2 NET

“Come on! Let’s return to the Lord! He himself has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us! He has injured us, but he will bandage our wounds! He will restore us in a very short time; he will heal us in a little while, so that we may live in his presence. So let us acknowledge him! Let us seek to acknowledge the Lord! He will come to our rescue as certainly as the appearance of the dawn, as certainly as the winter rain comes, as certainly as the spring rain that waters the land.” What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim? What am I going to do with you, O Judah? For your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist; it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew! Therefore, I will certainly cut you into pieces at the hands of the prophets; I will certainly kill you in fulfillment of my oracles of judgment; for my judgment will come forth like the light of the dawn. For I delight in faithfulness, not simply in sacrifice; I delight in acknowledging God, not simply in whole burnt offerings. At Adam they broke the covenant; Oh how they were unfaithful to me! Gilead is a city full of evildoers; its streets are stained with bloody footprints! The company of priests is like a gang of robbers, lying in ambush to pounce on a victim. They commit murder on the road to Shechem; they have done heinous crimes! I have seen a disgusting thing in the temple of Israel: there Ephraim practices temple prostitution and Judah defiles itself. I have appointed a time to reap judgment for you also, O Judah! Whenever I want to restore the fortunes of my people, whenever I want to heal Israel, the sin of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria are exposed. For they do what is wrong; thieves break into houses, and gangs rob people out in the streets. They do not realize that I remember all of their wicked deeds. Their evil deeds have now surrounded them; their sinful deeds are always before me.

Context:

The arrogance of the people of Israel are going to testify against them. Here are several characteristic traits of arrogance: Complainers, Chaotic, Confused, and Critical. Their vocabulary is filled with blame and excuses. There is little to no acknowledgement of the wrong that they are doing, but a spin in thinking on the positives of God, and not believing that God is going to do exactly what God said he was going to do, which is destroy the prideful.

Content:

Evidence of arrogance: Faithless, Loveless, Ignorant, Lawless, Lustful, and Liars. These attributes God hates, and these are the character traits of the nation of Israel during the time period of Hosea. Twisted Theology, poor religion, no morals, no boundaries, in one word anarchy, is running rampant throughout the country. True religion begins with self, and then it expands to the community, nation, and to the world.

Intent:

Every Prophet was sent to warn the people of their sin, call them to repentance, and practice a proper religion. Beginning with the individual and then moving to the community, and finally impacting the nation. Unfortunately, individually speaking they believe that they have done nothing wrong. Therefore, no repentance, no reconciliation, no restoration will occur.

Circumstance:

The Priests are committing the atrocities: murdering, sexual immorality, manipulating, and are doing these things to get what they want and when they want it. They are encouraging and leading the people of the nation to do the same thing. They are promoting violence.

Situation:

Sin makes it impossible for repentance and true restoration to occur. The sin of a nation is consistently in front of the eyes of God. The callousness of the people, their twisted belief of tolerance, is allowing for the destruction to occur from within, and eventually will allow for destruction to take place from the external.

Challenge:

Much can be said about the United States of America, and the people residing in her today. We have become an arrogant people, and the church has become apathetic and apostate. We want revival without repentance, and rewards without effort. We salvation without death, and sanctification without sacrifice. I hope that we will learn from the past, to bring revival in our present, and provide hope for the future.