Hosea

Transcript

I remember back in November, we did out during our daily readings, we came across the book of Hosea. Hosea is one of those books that you read through it, you kind of get a little confused on the situations going on. And it's just, you know, another book of judgment you look at in certain ways. And, you know, it just didn't always rub me differently that I couldn't quite get the message until I spent a little time on things. And I want to share with you tonight my perspective of what I glean from the book and the things that I see as I read through it. We know Hosea basically was told in the first few chapters to marry these adulterous women and to develop a relationship and to bear children to these women. What we see through the situation is Hosea is actually being used as an object lesson. He's trying to teach the children of Judah and the children of Israel the sins that they've been creating and how they've been adulterous to God and how they want to go out and get involved with the idols of the land and whatnot, and then also turn and try and serve God. They want a little of both ways. And that's the lesson that they didn't learn, they need to see. So sometimes God uses people like Hosea for a lesson to show others. I mean, he preached a long time. If you read the beginning in Hosea, he preaches during the reign of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. And when you look at those kings of Judah, this reign goes for over 100 years. I don't think Hosea was preaching during all that time, what point he came in under Uzziah and which point he left in Hezekiah. But there was a lot of time there to preach and to teach and to bear the children to be a representative for God through this lesson. So being this object lesson to Israel, trying to show them the sins that they're creating to God by the lifestyle they're living in, even though Hosea is doing that in his life by marrying these adulterous women, having these children and bearing them names, it's supposed to be teaching a lesson to them there. So Hosea isn't the only one that kind of had to do these things in life. We know, for example, like Hezekiah was also like an object lesson. And many times in his preaching, he was told to do certain things, certain ways. And people would ask him, what are you doing? Why are you doing it this way? And he's trying to teach them a lesson in the captivity as well. So it's not unusual for people to be used in this manner, not that Hosea was a bad person, but he was asked by God to do these things, to show this lesson to the children of Israel so they would change in their ways. Because over the course of time, it's so easy to get involved in the things of the world and to fall away a bit and to start squeezing things in. And that's what the children of Israel have done in their lives through this time and period and how they got involved in things they shouldn't have. So it's also used, as with the apostles in the New Testament, as far as an object lesson goes, is they're teaching us through their lives, they're witnessing what they've been through, how they reacted to Jesus. So it's something that we all look at. If you read the description, look at it in a different way. You see this through many people and the many lessons that they teach us from these things. The bottom line is we're supposed to be changing from a worldly lifestyle to a spiritual lifestyle, a lesson they never got much in the Old Testament. Very few people actually picked up on this, that you're supposed to be living a different life in service to God. I mean, it's pretty basic what God asks us to do in order to serve him. And it's when we want to do things our way and squeeze things in our way that we tend to fall away and suffer in the fleshly world. So during my reading of this, the key point that I want to bring out is that there is, you know, we know that Judah and Israel represent the ten tribes and the two tribes, the kingdoms of that time period. And there's also one more name that comes up in the fifth chapter and beyond, and that's Ephraim. And it puzzles me a lot as I'm reading through this day after day in the daily readings. Why is Ephraim being mentioned so often? Is he part of the ten tribes? And that's what I'm focusing on today is this lesson about Ephraim. So in Hosea chapter five, Hosea five verses one to five, we read, Hear ye this, O priest, and hearken ye, house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king, For judgment is toward you, because you have been a snare on Misbah and a net spread upon the table. And the revoltors are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me. Now, O Ephraim, thou commitest whoredoms, and Israel is defiled. They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God, for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord. And the pride of Israel doth testify to its face. Therefore, shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity, Judah also shall fall with them. So judgment is being cast upon this group, being cast upon them, because they all turn to adulterous ways, things they weren't supposed to be doing, whether that was physical adultery or adultery in the sense of worshipping idols, many ways that they could fall into this trap and then work out their salvation wrong by letting go of God. So, to understand what's going on here, I want to back up in history a bit. Why is Ephraim so important? To do that, we're going to go to Joshua chapter 18 and read verse 1. I think this is the key to what's going on in Ephraim. Joshua 18 verse 1, and the whole congregation and the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh and set up a tabernacle of the congregation there, and the land was subdued before them. Shiloh is located within the borders of Ephraim. I want to put a little context into things I remember recently in our readings of Exodus. It came to the point where the children of Israel commanded to build a tabernacle, to build the furnishings, make the clothes for the priests, and all these things had to be created. And it was a bright shining point for them in the wilderness that they all bonded together. They all worked on the same mission. The spirit was one, that they were there to serve and to produce these things and to bring God into their lives and bring God into their presence by building this tabernacle, by creating this service that God asked them to do. It was a great feeling of camaraderie and fellowship and love with one another during this time. It must have been really a great feeling within them when the tabernacle was actually put together, everything was put in place, and the service that God had begun. Just imagine if you were there at that time how you would have felt after all you went through, through the life in Egypt, to come out into the wilderness, to wander around, and now you've been given a mission and you have this wonderful opportunity to serve God and to show him your thanks for what he's doing by building this special thing. Now we come to Joshua, and they're about to fill another promise, so God told them, you can come into the promised land if you do what I tell you to do. And through Joshua we know they crossed over. So Shiloh was a place that Joshua had selected to set up the tabernacle and the congregation for the children of Israel there. That's where the worship service to God was to take place. That's where they were to come together to offer their sacrifices, to remember God, and to be uplifted, as we do each week as we go to the Ecclesiastes each week, to remember our Lord and Savior were uplifted by these things. They were supposed to be doing that in Shiloh. So that's why Ephraim becomes an important part for what's going on here. But unfortunately, we know in the process of time, things change. In 1 Samuel 1, verses 1 to 3, we read, And there was a certain man, a Ramathian Zophram, Mount Ephraim. His name was Elkanah, the son of Jehoram, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zeph, the son of Hephaethai. And he had two wives, the name of one was Hannah, and the other was Penina. Penina had children, but Hannah had no children. This man went out into the city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Elihu, Half-Nine and Penahash, the priests of the Lord, were there. So we're advancing quite a bit forward in time. And it's a situation where, you know, this group come together, Elkanah and his wives come together to worship God in Shiloh. So we know that Shiloh was a place that when it was time to worship God, they all got together and they traveled there to present themselves before the Lord. And it was a very important place for them to go there and to meet and to be uplifted. It was supposed to be, but we all know the time of Eli as well. We all know these things that, you know, even though they were doing sacrifices like they were supposed to in the land, the attitude wasn't quite right. Because in 1 Samuel chapter 3, we all know the story of Eli and his children. First outing in verse 11, And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel which both ears of every one that hear it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house when I begin. I will also make an end. For I have told him that I would judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth. Because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering forever. So Eli and his children and before them probably corruption had come into the priesthood. Corruption had come in that his children were looking for bribes and doing things they shouldn't be with women. All these things are going on in the tabernacle area where they're supposed to be serving God. You have an awesome responsibility of being the priest of God. You have a great responsibility and they were taking it for advantage for themselves. They were taking bribes. They weren't happy with what they were given. They didn't want the boiled flesh. They wanted the roasted flesh. All these things that were going against God's ways. Evil had crept in and pretty much Eli had no control over his children. They did nothing about this. So I mean this is a change in pace. A change in attitude where the glory when the tabernacle was first set up in the wilderness to when Joshua set it up. It is all shifted now to a time of dishonouring God in a sense and not really following God's ways. And the children, you know, even the people who come into worship service were getting frustrated that things weren't going the way they were supposed to. And they weren't happy with this whole situation. So we know the story of Eli how that his, you know, his children had done this thing and he was in charge of all these things. But this also comes up to the time of Saul, the first king of Israel, because they were tired of what was going on in the priesthood. They wanted a king to rule them. And with this king, Saul, he came out in the beginning listening to God, but again turned to things of his own way, doing things his own manner and started following God. And what they have done in the past is when they would have a battle like Jericho, they would march around with the Ark of the Covenant and the walls would come crumbling down in Jericho. So they kind of thought this was the right thing to do sometimes when you're in trouble. And we know the story of Saul and his last battle. I know I'm jumping forward a lot, but it's just to tie this all in. But Saul and Jonathan go out to battle and they bring the Ark with them with Eli's two sons, Hophnah and Phinehas. And of course, they think they are going to win this battle now because they have the Ark of God with them. And behold, they lose. And the Ark is carried away by the Philistines and they're all put to death. You know, the Philistines, they thought they had a trophy as well with this Ark. They were parading it around. It was going place to place and they started having problems, curses developing upon them as it made its routine through the five nations of the Philistines. And they all said, you know, this is not a blessing to us. We need to get rid of this thing. And the important part here is, you know, as they get rid of it, they put it on a cart and they send it away back to the children of Israel. Notice how there was never mention of the Ark going back to Shiloh. And that's the point. Shiloh had become so bad in God's eyes, he didn't want anything to do with it anymore. You know, the Ark will never return there because God has cast judgment upon them because they did not do the right things. They weren't serving God in the right manner. And that's why Ephraim is mentioned so much because Ephraim is on the backslide of all this going on through history. They should have known these things. They were supposed to be an example for the children of Israel. What they were supposed to be doing was setting up the priesthood for performing the works of God. And they didn't. And as we read here that, you know, God was going to do something special that they wouldn't hear about. And God does in 1 Kings chapter 2, 1 Kings chapter 2, starting in verse 26. Unto a bias of the priest, said the king, get thee to Anathos and unto thine own fields, for thou art worthy of death. But I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou bearest the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted. So Solomon thrust out a bias that from being a priest unto the Lord, that he might fulfill the word of the Lord, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. So, you know, during Solomon's time, once again, they have a marvelous opportunity to serve God. They build this wonderful temple. They build a great palace. I mean, it was the focal point of the world. Everybody wanted to come in to see this place. The glory was awesome, shining through, especially when Solomon presented it before God. His glory came down and shone so bright, nobody could enter into the temple. Just being there during that time should have rekindled your faith, rekindled your thinking. and so forth of what was going on. And this is the time also that Solomon realizes, you know, you've got to fulfill God's word with the house of Eli, and they are no longer important a part of the priesthood anymore. And Abiathur is cast out of the priesthood to fulfill God's word, as he had promised. So what God has done is he's taken the ark away from them, sent it off to another nation. The ark never returns again to Shiloh. Shiloh is kind of still sitting there, but in Solomon's time, he finally builds the temple and he brings the ark in and brings what's left of the frontiers and whatnot back into the temple, because the location has now changed to Jerusalem. Shiloh has lost its glory. Shiloh has lost its time in place with God, as we see in 1 Kings chapter 8, starting in verse 1. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chiefs of the fathers of the children of Israel, and unto King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is in Zion. And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethnym, which is in the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark, and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in tabernacle, even those that the priests and the Levites bring up. The furnishings were brought in, everything was brought in, because Shiloh had lost its importance. Ephraim had lost its place with God, because they no longer were doing things the right way. We know even before this point, before that Solomon had built this and so forth, Solomon would still go to Shiloh, and he would offer offerings like there was a poster with the tabernacle, even though the ark of God wasn't there. Yet it was in David's heart to build a place for God's tabernacle, to build a place for God's ark and so forth, and a place of worship, but we know David couldn't do it, so that was fulfilled through Solomon. So, in Psalm 78, we read the following. Psalm 78, starting at verse 52, he says, But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them on safely, so that they feared not, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies, and brought them to the border of a sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased. He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them in inheritance by line, and made the tribes' divisions dwell in their tents. Yet they tempted and provoked the Most High God, and kept not his testimonies. But turned back and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers, they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. When God heard this, he was wrought and greatly abhorred Israel, so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men, and delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hands. He gave his people over also unto the sword, and was wrought in his inheritance. The fire consumed the young men, and their maidens were not given to marriage. Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made low lamentations. What a down point in the history, a down point in their service to God. God just gave it all up. He gave the ark over to the Philistines. He didn't stop or prevent it. He gave up all he had for Shiloh. All his care is about Shiloh. They weren't serving God. The priests were being killed when the armies would come in and attack the areas. It just didn't matter anymore because they walked away from God. They didn't care, and that's what Psalm's showing us here. Jeremiah also shows us the importance of what people of Shiloh had done, and the attitude that was so wrong in the people. Jeremiah 7, you read this. In this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes. Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord. But go ye now unto my place, which is in Shiloh, where I said my name at the first, and see what I did for it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because you have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising early and speaking, but you heard not. And I called you, but you answered not. Therefore, what I do unto this house, which is called by my name, we're in trust unto the place which I have given you unto your fathers, as I have done in Shiloh. And we know the story of Jeremiah. He preaches at the end times for the children of Israel and Jerusalem. We know that they're about to be overrun by Babylon. Everything is about to be destroyed. And God's trying to tell you, look, I gave you many examples. I gave you plenty of things to think about. I tried working with you over and over again, but you refused to listen. You keep turning back to the old ways, the ways I told you not to do. Remember what I did in Shiloh? Well, that's about to happen to Jerusalem as well. So I mean, Shiloh is being used as an example here, how God can pass judgment down, because the people will not listen. So in Jeremiah 26, starting at verse 4, And thou shalt say unto them, thus sayeth the Lord, If you will not harken to me to harken my law, which I have said before you, to harken to the words of my servants, the prophets whom I sent unto you, both rising up early and sending them, but ye have not harkened. Then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. And we know that was fulfilled, because they didn't listen to God. No matter how hard Jeremiah pleaded with them, no matter how hard he tried to guide them and give them correction, and to show them their wrongs, they would sort of stop to listen to Jeremiah, then they would deny it. They would go one way and deny it, and God says, you know, I'm done. I had enough. This place is going to be destroyed, just like I did in Shiloh. So the point that comes with all this is, you know, we've got to think about, how does all this relate to us? What has all this got to do with us as we look at these things, the sins of the people, the way they turned, constantly turned back away from God, constantly wanted to do things their own way, and there are plenty of examples of how they should have been acting and behaving. So we have, I can't even read my own writing. So we all have a choice. And basically, we made that choice at our baptism. At our baptism, we said we wanted to serve God. We wanted to follow his ways. This is what we desire, to live a spiritual life, life of serving God, and give up the worldly life people strove for all around us. I mean, we look at what's going on around us each and every day. We see the chaos going on in the world. We see the corruption in the world, the politics, the businesses, the people, the gangs. I mean, there's so much that's taking over the whole world all at the same time. It's easy for us to wane a bit, because emotionally it can affect us, physically it can affect us, financially it can affect us, and even some of the people in our poor brothers and sisters and war-torn countries losing their life over their trust and belief in God. All these things can be a little overwhelming to us. But what do we do? How do we handle all this? We have to remember God's words to us. We have a hope that the world does not have, because we have an understanding of the Word of God. And we realize that in these times, things are going to happen. I look back 10 years ago, and to see the things I see today 10 years ago, I wouldn't have even dreamed that these things were going to come to pass in our lifetime, that when we see the things that we see, it's incredible. I mean, look at politics. None of us should be on either side, any side of politics, because if we're wrapped up in politics, and we're so wrapped up in what's going on with the political world, we're not listening to God, because we've got to remember one main thing. God is in control of the kingdoms of men. He's the one with the plan, not us. It's not our plan, it's God's plan. And part of His plan is He's going to use people to His advantage, use things for His purposes to put people in power, to take people out of power, and none of that should be making us afraid because of the hope that lies within us. None of us should be overwhelming our thoughts of these things, what's going on around us, because none of it matters. It's all going to happen, whether you want it to or not. Our job is to stand strong in the truth, and to stay strong, listening to God, and not be like Shiloh, not be like Jerusalem of old, where they walked away, and they kind of, you know, well, I guess God isn't with us anymore. You know, He's always with us. He's encouraging us each and every day, why it's so important for us to read each and every day. And like I've said before, when we read, we just can't breeze through the readings. Try and take a different look at things. Try and look at this at a different angle, like I did with Hosea here. I look at it from a different perspective than just reading the book and seeing it as a book of judgment on the children of Israel because of the whoredoms they've created, getting involved in the idolatry of the land, the idols of the land. There's more to that. There's much more if we look at it from different angles. I'm sure someone else has got a different viewpoint of Hosea as well. And that's how we share these things with each other, to encourage each other to stay strong, because these days that we live in, it's not going to change. It's going to continue on until we go further and further into God's plan. Now, it can be challenging. Some of us have physical challenges. Some of us have emotional challenges, mental challenges. Some of us have, you know, money challenges and hunger. But we have to stay strong and keep our faith to God. And, you know, we have to look at our lives and evaluate ourselves, you know, realize the blessings that we have. I know 11 years ago, I almost died from a situation. I was right at death's doorstop. Yet God saved me, turned me around, made me better. You know, I look at that every day as a gift, every day that I have. I mean, I could have gone the other way. I could have gave up. I had the easy part. All I had to do was close my eyes and let go. But my faith kept me strong, kept me thinking about God's words, praying for other people, turning my thoughts on others instead of myself. And that's how we get through these situations that we're in, so that we don't fall away. We don't start taking God's word, trying to adjust it to fit our lifestyle. You know, it's difficult. I know I raised six children and had to go out to work each and every day. And it's so hard to be in the world when you're not part of the world. It's so hard to worry about paying the bills and you put so much energy into that and you're working two or three jobs at the same time and your faith is waning. It's a challenge. But we have to be careful not to fall into these traps. That could be honest and true. My entire life, from 68 and a half years old, I never lacked a thing. Even before God came into my life, I never starved, I never missed clothing, I never lacked anything. And then you look back in hindsight and realize the blessings that we have. So God is with us. He is helping us. We're going to go through things, sure. Sometimes we're going through things to kind of get us back on track. Sometimes it's not even us. Sometimes we're being used as an example, an object lesson for somebody else. It's going to go through things and you're the strong one that can show them the difference, how they can continue to move forward. So there's many different ways that God got into our lives and we have to accept whatever comes our way. Accept these things, do what our readings each and every day and stand strong in the truth. You know, there's always something that comes up in our lives that could pull us a bit one way or another and we have to be careful not to fall into that trap. I mean, we have a history before us that we read the readings. How many times, like a roller coaster, do the children usually do good and then they went bad? They did good and then they went bad. And then we can't imitate that in our lives each day if we're truly serious about our walk in the faith. Living a spiritual life is not as easy as it says because there's so many things that will pull us back the other way if we're not careful. But yet, living in a spiritual life is so comforting because it doesn't matter what happens from here. If I fall asleep tomorrow, I have the hope of the resurrection. You know, there's nothing to be afraid of and that's what I've learned through my situation. I only speak to myself personally that I don't have these fears anymore because of what God put me through, the things He challenged me with in life. Yet, you know, here I am continuing on 11 years later doing what I can for Him. I just hope my life isn't like Hezekiah with 15 years time time. I hope mine continues a little longer, but that's up to God. So we'll see what happens. But the one thing that we have to remember through all this tough time, through all the challenges we've got ahead of us and everything else, Matthew gives us some good advice. In the book of Matthew 24, starting at verse 21 and 22, For then shall great tribulation, such as it was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be, except those days shall be shortened, they shall no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be saved and shortened. If we're alive at the end of this time, we are that elect's sake. We are those to hold on to these verses, realizing that when the final part finally comes about, it's going to go quickly. Time is something that is our enemy sometimes. We have too much time, we make mistakes. But through God's mercy and grace, time will go quickly at this end so that we don't move. He doesn't lose us, that we don't fall away, that we stay encouraging strong through his words. And this is the lesson that I've learned through this study, looking at Ephraim, looking at Shiloh, how they had so much time to serve God and they let it fall apart. We have many ecclesiastes throughout the world. It's our responsibility to keep these ecclesiastes thriving, to keep our brothers and sisters in our prayers each and every day, to keep our encouraging each other, speaking to one another, keep maintaining the ecclesiastes so that we don't become like Shiloh, where one day you close the door and lock it and it's never, a building's never occupied again. And we know that can happen, but we have to make sure we don't allow those things into our lives so we don't become one of those places. I mean, we see churches all over the place that have been closed up and locked up for years and just sit there because people let go of the truth. They let go of their faith. They let go of serving God. And they wanted to, you know, do their own thing. Younger generations came along. They weren't interested in the truth, something we all face. I mean, I face up my own six children. They were all raised in the truth the best that we could, and they all walked away. But yet I still have hope for them because if they're still alive at the Lord's return, they still have an opportunity to change it. That's the mercy of God that we have. We have a mercy of God that will work with us and continue being with us. So this is, I don't know if I'm kind of short or not, but this is what I have for our class tonight. This is what I'm presenting you, my thoughts on Shiloh.