The Minor Prophets Speak to Today
Is There A Time God Calls Too Late? Part 2:
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Words of warning heeded
are sweeter than encouragement
in the face of judgment.
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The nation of Israel, the northern kingdom, ran out of time to repent. Assyria swept in and destroyed the nation. What they did not destroy they carried away. Unlike Judah the destruction was permanent. No mass exodus returned to the land after Assyria's fall. To this day there is speculation about where the people were resettled by Assyria or where they wandered off to.
Chapter 8 of Hosea provides many details of the coming destruction and God's words and actions just as they later came to pass. The passages are again filled with the evidence of their apostasy and God's words concerning each point of accusation.
"These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age." 1 Corinthians 10:11-12 It is time we heed God's warning.
There is a time called too late
and here is what it looks like.
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During the last presidential election
I placed a warning on social media about honoring
those whom God has appointed
in leadership over us.
Many people's words were moving
beyond detailing why they did not
think the sitting president
should be reelected
to
dishonoring epithets.
As you might expect this produced some disagreement.
One person even said that this
verse does not apply
to
Americans
because we elect our leader.
I assume this meant
since we elect our leaders
we do not owe them the honor due
their positions.
It clearly meant
our leaders do not serve
at the will of God
but merely the human will
of the electorate.
Little did this friend know that she was
repeating a condemnation
God lays against
the people
in
a
nation.
5. The people have appointed their leaders
without my consent.
There is a second part of that condemnation referring
to lesser leaders among the people.
"The people have appointed princes without
my knowledge."
Who are the princes in today's culture.
I submit to you there are many -
the stars of the movies and television,
the players in our dominant professional sports,
the leaders in business,
and our unelected
community leaders.
We rush from church to follow the sports princes.
We want to be like the media princes and princesses.
We curse and envy the princes of business
and we let the community
princes and princesses set the agenda
for our local communities.
All of those actions and thoughts on our part
are taken without the leading
of our Lord.
Many of these dynamics are the equivalent
of worshipping the created
or idolatry.
All involve giving lordship to some one
or something other than
God.
He destroys nations for this.
He destroyed his own children for this.
These were written as warnings
to us.
And - we have not even touched on
physical idols like
larger houses,
retirement funds,
etc.
O America I reject this
economy, this
culture,
you have made.
My fury burns against you.
6. How long will you be incapable of innocence?
The lives we live,
our lives that we worship,
we have crafted with our own
minds and hands.
They are not God!
They are not from God.
They were not made with his knowledge,
from his truth,
with his wisdom.
Therefore, they stand under his judgment.
As the scripture says,
they must be smashed to bits.
Just another metaphor for the
destruction of God's people
destruction of the apostate nation.
How long before we will acknowledge
that these, God's judgments,
stand true?
There is a time called too late
and these dynamics
describe
that time.
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