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March 3 - Hosea 10 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. Great to have your company on
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  this Tuesday the 3rd of March. Here we are the third of the 3rd
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  2026. How brilliant.
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  Time keeps on moving forward. And as time moves forward, boy,
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  some things just get scarier and scarier as we read these sorts
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  of poetic stanzas of God's judgement against His people.
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  And they are terrifying to read. If you're anything like me, you
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  think, my goodness, how do we reconcile this brutality with
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  everything we know to be true about God in Jesus?
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  It just seems incongruous. And so Ioffer you 3 things to
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  consider as we read this poetry of judgement.
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  The first thing is that back then the world was a very brutal
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  place and that kingdoms would rise and fall and with them,
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  unfortunately, people died. And so this is a much more
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  brutal time where death was much more part of life than it is
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  today. So when we hear about this
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  death, it's shocking. But back then death was just
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  much more a part of life than it is now.
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  We tend to hide it away in nursing homes and hospitals.
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  That's my least most important point.
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  My second most important point is that all of what we're
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  reading now is, like I said yesterday, poetry.
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  So often in poetry and, and in this ancient style of writing,
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  the authors use these grand statements, these sweeping
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  statements that are not necessarily factually true in
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  the details, like every man, woman and child was slaughtered.
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  That's often a literary or poetic device to say it was a
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  comprehensive victory. So when we hear these terrible
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  statements of death and destruction of innocence, that
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  is often a poetic device, not necessarily a historical
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  description of what happened. And thirdly, my friends, as we
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  hear these terrible judgements that God has for his people,
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  this is just proof of how much we need Jesus.
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  And the beauty of knowing that our God is not a God who sits in
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  judgement, but a God who sends us help and rescues us so that
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  that judgement is dealt with in the person, the death and
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  resurrection of Jesus. How good is that?
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  So that is just a little bit of a lens through which we can see
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  this poetry of judgement and destruction.
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  So having said all that, let's dive in and read this final
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  chapter of judgement against God's people in Hosea chapter
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  10. How prosperous Israel is a
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  luxuriant vine loaded with fruit.
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  But the richer the people get, the more Pagan altars they
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  build, the more bountiful their harvests, the more beautiful
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  their sacred pillars. The hearts of the people are
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  fickle. They are guilty and must be
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  punished. The Lord will break down their
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  altars and smash their sacred pillars.
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  Then they will say, we have no king because we didn't fear the
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  Lord. But even if we had a king, what
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  could he do for us anyway? They spout empty words and make
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  covenants they don't intend to keep, so injustice springs up
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  among them like poisonous weeds in a farmers field.
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  The people of Samaria tremble in fear for their calf idol at Beth
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  Arvan, and they mourn for it. Though it's priests rejoice over
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  it, It's glory will be stripped away.
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  This idol will be carted away to Assyria, a gift to the great
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  king there. Ephraim will be ridiculed and
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  Israel will be shamed because its people have trusted in this
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  idol. Samaria and its king will be cut
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  off. They will float away like
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  driftwood on an ocean wave, and the Pagan shrines of Avon, the
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  place of Israel's sin, will crumble.
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  Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars.
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  They will beg the mountains, bury us, and plead with the
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  hills fall on us. The Lord says, O Israel, ever
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  since Gibeah there has been only sin and more sin.
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  You have made no progress whatsoever.
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  Was it not right that the wicked men of Gibeah were attacked?
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  Now whenever it fits my plan, I will attack too.
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  I will call out the armies of the nations to punish you for
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  your multiplied sins. Israel is like a trained heifer
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  treading out the grain, An easy job she loves, but I will put a
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  heavy yolk on her tender neck. I will force Judah to pull the
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  plough and Israel to break up the hard ground.
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  I said, plant the good seeds of righteousness and you will
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  harvest a crop of love. Plough up the hard ground of
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  your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that He may
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  come to shower righteousness upon you.
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  But you have cultivated wickedness and harvested A
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  thriving crop of sins. You have eaten the fruit of
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  lies, trusting in your military might, believing that great
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  armies could make your nation safe.
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  Now the terrors of war will rise among your people.
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  All your fortifications will fall, just as when Shalman
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  destroyed Beth Arbelle. Even mothers and children were
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  dashed to death there. You will share that fate,
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  Bethel, because of your great wickedness, when the day of
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  judgement dawns, the King of Israel will be completely
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  destroyed. Oh Lord, just as your people
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  long ago, we stand before you as sinful people and we have no
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  right to be able to call on you and ask for your forgiveness
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  because You have forgiven us so many times, far more than what
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  we could ever expect. Yet here you are, our incredible
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  God, standing before us with your arms open wide, inviting us
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  back in because of what you have done for us through Jesus.
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  Oh, thank you Jesus, that you gave up everything to forge a
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  path that we can be saved, that we can be washed clean and
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  presented to the Father, and that we can be invited into this
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  special place of family, of acceptance, of love, and bask in
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  your love. Thank you for the foretaste of
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  that love that we enjoy today and the knowledge that we get to
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  live basking in your presence forever and ever when this life
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  is done. So we just stand before you.
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  You're very grateful, children, utterly dependent on your grace.
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  We thank you for Your grace and your love, and we praise you all
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  in the name of Jesus, Amen.