Hosea 10:1-15

The children of Israel have been avid in their practice of idolatry and all kinds of evil.  They have built altars to false gods on their land and built temples of unrighteousness in their hearts.  God is going to put an end to both of them.  When people begin to worship idols they will always follow with works of immorality.  The two are always linked together.  Sinful works are the outflow of satanic worship.  All worship not directed exclusively to God is satanic in nature.  All works not submissive to God’s Word is satanic in origin.  God does not tolerate wrong worship or wrong works.  He will break them both.

BROKEN ALTARS OF WRONG WORSHIP: The nation of Israel constructed all kinds of altars to all kinds of gods.  They were guilty of following the gods of Egypt from whom they had been delivered.  They were guilty of following the gods of the nations that were surrounding them over whom they had been victorious.  Each of these false gods had some sort of altar and some sort of symbol that was used throughout the nation.  This idolatry infuriated the One and only true God of Israel and all man-kind.  He would not tolerate this kind of idolatry and so He was determined to break up the altars of wrong worship.  The Assyrian army would come to the nation of Israel and haul away their golden symbols of worship and they would tear down all the altars erected to these false gods.  The land would become desolate and thorns would grow on the lands dedicated to these idols.  When we refuse to worship God alone and begin to replace Him with idols made of our own hands we will inevitably experience the wrath of God.


BROKEN HEARTS OF WRONG WORKS: Because of their constant practice of idolatry the people began to practice all kinds of immorality.  When we ignore God’s instructions about worship we will also ignore God’s instructions about how He wants us to live life.  They hearts of the children of Israel had been hardened towards God and so they also became hardened towards one another.  The lied to each other, were violent towards one another and they stole from one another. All of these unrighteous works sprung up from hardened heart of ungodly worship.  God is going to get out His plow and break up these hardened hearts so that He can begin to plant in the hearts of His people the seeds of righteousness.  The plow of God is usually so sort of suffering.  In this case He would use the suffering of war and captivity.  He may choose any number of means to inflict us with suffering in order to plow up the hardened soil of our hearts.  We must not think of suffering as only punishment from God but also as the preparation of God for our hearts to be planted with the seeds of righteousness.

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