In God’s appointed time there will be restoration. Those who are His are never forgotten.
But what is the process for that restoration? What are the signs that God is working towards this season of restoration?
- It is to uncover the sin. God brought to the surface their wicked treatment of one another, 7 v 1-2)
- He breaks up the party, calling His people out from the world, to be different, 7v3.
- He exposes ambitious and competitive fire for what it is, v4-7.
“They are all adulterers, burning like an oven whose fire the baker need not stir from the kneading of the dough till it rises. On the day of the festival of our king the princes become inflamed with wine, and he joins hands with the mockers. Their hearts are like an oven; they approach him with intrigue. Their passion smoulders all night; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. All of them are hot as an oven; they devour their rulers. All their kings fall, and none of them calls on me.” (Hosea 7 v 3-7)
Hosea uses 4 images to help us understand what was happening and what God was drawing attention to. When this is acknowledged then you know you are on the path to restoration.
God’s people were like an overheated oven.
A little research shows us that a) In the early morning the fire was lit underneath the oven; b) When the walls were hot the fire was removed; c) the bread was placed in the oven.
The image is that of an oven so hot that the baker fails to do any of his duties.
That was the people.
They had become so consumed with their passions that they were not being who they had been called to be.
It is seen in the short-lived reigns of the kings after Jeroboam II had died. Each were assassinated by the other:
Zechariah reigned for 6 months; Shallum for 1 month; Manahem for 8 years; Pekahiah for 2 years and Hoshea for 9 years (all in 2 Kings 15).
Hosea tells a story though we do not know who it applies to regarding what appears to be an all-night orgy of some sort. But the picture is clear and we see it around us today. We see it as much in the Church as in the world.
Assassinating other leaders in order to stand on their shoulders to get their title; fiery exchanges of anger in meetings; burning desires for something that looks godly but isn’t.
Within the Church we preach about fire and we want people to be ‘fired up’. We want them to have a passion from within. For the gospel, for calling on God, for their discipleship and for mission. The pathway of restoration is one where God exposes ambitious and competitive fire for what it is, And the result is the opposite of v7 “none of them calls on me”.
Missions Paul 