A Cultic Apostasy

Hosea 8

Hosea 8:1–14 NET

Sound the alarm! An eagle looms over the temple of the Lord! For they have broken their covenant with me, and have rebelled against my law. Israel cries out to me, “My God, we acknowledge you!” But Israel has rejected what is morally good; so an enemy will pursue him. They enthroned kings without my consent! They appointed princes without my approval! They made idols out of their silver and gold, but they will be destroyed! O Samaria, he has rejected your calf idol! My anger burns against them! They will not survive much longer without being punished, even though they are Israelites! That idol was made by a workman—it is not God! The calf idol of Samaria will be broken to bits. They sow the wind, and so they will reap the whirlwind! The stalk does not have any standing grain; it will not produce any flour. Even if it were to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it all up. Israel will be swallowed up among the nations; they will be like a worthless piece of pottery. They have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey that wanders off. Ephraim has hired prostitutes as lovers. Even though they have hired lovers among the nations, I will soon gather them together for judgment. Then they will begin to waste away under the oppression of a mighty king. Although Ephraim has built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning! I spelled out my law for him in great detail, but they regard it as something totally unknown to them! They offer up sacrificial gifts to me, and eat the meat, but the Lord does not accept their sacrifices. Soon he will remember their wrongdoing, he will punish their sins, and they will return to Egypt. Israel has forgotten his Maker and built royal palaces, and Judah has built many fortified cities. But I will send fire on their cities; it will consume their royal citadels.

Context:

Israel has been living in dysfunction, it has become the norm. Hosea is providing the counseling, but this is not a short-term all ends well with a few sessions, this is a long drawn out process by which great measures need to be taken in order for Israel to repent. Politically the nation is in upheaval and making dealings with their neighboring countries instead of pleading to God for protection. They falsely believe that these nations will provide them security and prevent them from catastrophe. The Lord reveals how much latitude He is going to give.

Content:

Israel speaks as if they know God, but their deeds and works speak louder than their words. They have deluded themselves into believing that because they are God’s chosen people that nothing evil will ever happen to them. This brings them to a place of complacency, a form of Apostasy in which people turn from their religion. Israel no longer believes that their deeds will be the cause for their destruction. God is informing them that the Covenant by which they made in Exodus is becoming null and void.

Intent:

Before every thought reaches the point sin, God provides a warning. Hosea is the prophet God chose to warn the people of Israel that they are breaking their covenant with God, first by having Hosea marry a prostitute, then by naming Gomer’s children of the sins that they were committing, and finally, by God brazenly laying it out as if in a court room setting. Now the plan is being implemented. The violations of their covenant that will bring destruction upon them are idolatry and treaties with foreign gods.

Circumstances:

Israel is into positive thinking. They are following the false teaching of their day, abandoning the tenets of their faith, and ensuing the latest and greatest trends of their time. They have begun to compromise with the world, and the political systems thereof. No longer are they seeking God for their kings and leadership, no longer are they grateful for the blessings that God has bestowed upon them, and no longer do they see the need for God.

Situation:

The nation of Israel has miscalculated and misinterpreted the promises, commands, and love of God. Their miscalculations of God’s love, God’s grace, and God’s protection have brought them to receive assistance from Assyria. This assistance will provide the necessary “foothold” for Assyria to conquer the Northern Kingdom, Israel. They misinterpreted the command, promises, and grace of God, believing that their religion would save them. Believing that they were chosen by God, that God would never leave them nor forsake them, and that God’s grace lasts forever, they misunderstood what it means to be a living sacrifice.

Bridge:

The popular belief of our day has moved us into the area of an A Cultic Apostasy. We have miscalculated and misinterpreted God’s promises, commands, and love. There are many who believe that God will not allow for tragedy, sickness, or even evil to come against them. There is a movement that if such things occur that they have the power to simply speak these things away. We have lost the fear of God, transitioned from keeping His commands, to simply standing on His promises. Hear the warning, the age of God’s grace is coming to a close, the trumpet is about to sound.