In Hosea 4, the Lord takes to task the Israelites and their priests for their vain confidence in their blessings (note verse 7 - "The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame.") and also for the abuse of the means of grace by the priests (verse 8 - "They feed on the sin of my people; they are greedy for their iniquity."). In these verses I see a couple of ways in which the Israelites abused the graces and provisions of Jehovah God - and note a warning for us today.
First, the abuse of gifts of God - we today are blessed by many gifts - and what do we do with them? We have the most prosperous society on Earth, with wealth to spare, and military might such as cannot be compared. What do we do with this? We perpetuate a man-centered philosophy, and cultivate a culture of death, in which babies can be readily disposed of when inconvenient. We celebrate the independence and autonomy of man, as we define our own ethic, which includes the 'right' to blaspheme God and the 'right' to define whatever relationships we want apart from His righteous standard. The Holy Spirit is surely grieved. We are as Israel - once small, now mighty; once fully and self-consciously dependent upon the God of the universe, now shaking off that mantle, and proclaiming our own greatness before Him and before the world. How long before we are struck down?
Second, with regard to verse 8. I see rather clearly there, as Calvin notes, the reference to abusing God's provision and intent with respect to the sacrifice for sin. In Calvin's commentary, he makes the following remarks:
God had instituted sacrifices for this end, that whosoever sinned, being reminded of his guilt, might mourn for his sin, and further, that by witnessing that sad spectacle, his conscience might be more wounded: when he saw the innocent animal slain at the altar, he ought to have dreaded God's judgment. Besides, God also intended to exercise the faith of all, in order that they might flee to the expiation which was to be made by the promised Mediator. And at the same time, the penalty which God then laid on sinners, ought to have been as a bridle to restrain them. In a word, the sacrifices had, in every way, this as their object, - to keep the people from being so ready or so prone to sin. But what did the ungodly do? They even mocked God, and thought that they had fully done their duty, when they offered an ox or a lamb; and afterwards they freely indulged themselves in their sins.
The entire system of sacrifice was being abused brutally by the people. The last line is particularly telling: they "thought that they had fully done their duty" and "afterwards they freely indulged themselves in their sins." What an abuse of grace! Completely missing the point, the people invented a quid-pro-quo arrangement for themselves, and lost God's favor because of it. We can easily point to Roman Catholic practice in Calvin's day and into today, and see the same error, the same blasphemy, the same abuse of God's graces... but I want to hit closer to home.
Do we do this? How often do we sin, ask forgiveness (thinking we've done our duty), sin, ask forgiveness (again, sure we've done our duty), sin, ask forgiveness (yet again, absolutely positive that we're 'in good'), etc. etc. When does the train stop? I know quite positively that I've followed this path... have you? Consider what grace God has favored you with. Consider what mercy has been extended in Christ's blood... are you, as I have been, as the Israelites have been, as I am certain that America has been, guilty of shirking the duty of pursuing obedience (in favor of feeling satisfied that we have done all we must by asking forgiveness)? God isn't in the practice of exchanging judgment on sin for our petty actions of 'repentance'. Christ's blood alone on the cross is payment. Have we turned repentance into a shell game?
Posted by toddpedlar at July 28, 2004 06:18 AM | TrackBack