REJECTED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“But let no one bring a charge, let no one accuse another, for your people are like those who bring charges against a priest. You stumble day and night, and the prophets stumble with you. So I will destroy your mother—My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.”

“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.”

Hosea 4:4-8

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s devotion from the opening verses of Hosea 4, we found God levying charges against His people for the sinful ways they were living in plain sight of Him. Those charges included:

A complete lack of faithfulness as they committed spiritual infidelity through worshiping false gods and idols and refused to even acknowledge God in the land.

Lovelessness.

Cursing.

Lying.

Murder.

Stealing.

Adultery.

How far reaching was the inclination of God’s people toward transgression?

The Lord tells us in His word that they had no boundaries, even going as far as liberally shedding blood, a clear demonstration that the Israelites had lost all sanctity for human life.

It was obviously a very sad state of affairs, one that would offer up the question:

How did the people slip into such a state of apostasy in the first place?

Perhaps one of the answers to that question can be found in our scripture passage for today as we continue our study of Chapter 4. Look again at those words here:

“But let no one bring a charge, let no one accuse another, for your people are like those who bring charges against a priest. You stumble day and night, and the prophets stumble with you. So I will destroy your mother—My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.”

“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.”  Hosea 4:4-8

There is no misunderstanding what the Lord is saying here. For He is fully calling out the priests for their failure in leading and guiding His people away from sin and toward His righteousness. The nation of Israel, referred to here as the priests’ mother, was going to face severe judgment and become destroyed largely because they lacked knowledge, knowledge of God’s word and the consequences of violating it. It was incumbent on the priests to ensure the people were educated in all things of God but they failed miserably. In fact, we get a sense that even the priests themselves had abandoned the word, will, and way of God for their own desires, something we know happened because other places in the Old Testament confirm that many priests participated in the worshiping of false gods and idols, allowing such worship to even take place within God’s temple. In other words, the priests chose to exchange their glorious God for something disgraceful, feeding on the sins of the Israelites and relishing in their wickedness. Those expected and commanded to set themselves apart and display the way a righteous life in the Lord should be lived were, in the end, no better than the sinners they were to lead and direct. The priests were just as guilty, if not more than the people they failed to direct.

So what were the consequences for failing to lead the Israelites spiritually?

God spells it out for us.

For since the priests had rejected His knowledge and their obligation to impart it on His people, then God would reject them. Further, since the priests had decided to willfully and willingly ignore the law of God, He would ignore their children, once again showing us as we have seen elsewhere in the scriptures that the sin a person might commit can result in judgment that impacts more than just the sinner.

Things were going to go south and go south quickly for the people of Canaan and the priests were going to go south as well, all for failing to lead people away from sin as they were obligated to do.

All this leads me to wonder about how well our spiritual leaders are doing their jobs today.

Are pastors, priests, deacons, elders, bishops, or any other titles associated with leadership in the church, living lives in service to the Lord that are guiding people toward Him and His ways?

Or are our spiritual leaders leading and guiding their people down the path of sin and destruction, deviating from God’s word, will, and way by pointing their followers to the ways of the world instead of God’s kingdom ways, ways clearly defined by His word?

If anyone is in the latter category, I would hope they would pay close attention to these verses from Hosea for the Lord is making it crystal clear that He will not stand for anyone in a place of spiritual leadership who decides to reject His knowledge, ignore His laws and precepts, and lead His people down the road of destruction instead of salvation.

He sent rejected the priests in Hosea’s day and imparted judgment upon them. Rest assured that He will do the same today to anyone who chooses to mimic their apostasy.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark
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