What was Hosea seeing? In this 8th century BC as he looked at the priests and the people of God was he seeing anything different than in 2023?!
“Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children. The more priests there were, the more they sinned against me; they exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful. They feed on the sins of my people and relish their wickedness. And it will be: Like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds. (Hosea 4 v 6-9)
They saw success but it meant nothing: more priests were entering the ministry so there was a surge of religious activity, but bigger is not better if they were not knowing God more.
They gained deceptively from the people: their bad leadership led the people to sin more which led them come and offer more sacrificial offerings of which the priests were entitled to a portion. More sins, more offerings and therefore more portions!
The Scriptures became less important: how in fact they ignored the law Hosea doesn’t say, but perhaps the teaching of it became secondary, maybe they shortened their sermons to a ‘God-thought’ or maybe it was just a thought! Thoughts don’t build a future for the next generation.
These are direct warnings for the Church today.
- Charisma and crowds do not automatically mean God is pleased.
- A ‘blessed’ person does not mean God has done the blessing.
- Minimal Preaching and without boldness may be a blunt representation of the Scriptures.
Missions Paul 