Consequences of Rejecting God's Word of Truth

 Hosea 4:1-10

1 Hear the word of the LORD,
You children of Israel,
For the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land:
"There is no truth or mercy
Or knowledge of God in the land.

2 By swearing and lying,
Killing and stealing and committing adultery,
They break all restraint,
With bloodshed upon bloodshed.

3 Therefore the land will mourn;
And everyone who dwells there will waste away
With the beasts of the field
And the birds of the air;
Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.

4 "Now let no man contend, or rebuke another;
For your people are like those who contend with the priest.
5 Therefore you shall stumble in the day;
The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night;
And I will destroy your mother.

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.

7 "The more they increased,
The more they sinned against Me;
I will change their glory into shame.
8 They eat up the sin of My people;
They set their heart on their iniquity.

9 And it shall be: like people, like priest.
So I will punish them for their ways,
And reward them for their deeds.

10 For they shall eat, but not have enough;
They shall commit harlotry, but not increase;
Because they have ceased obeying the LORD.

Israel had stopped hearing God’s word of truth and with it the pursuit and practice of that truth and mercy in their ignorance of the knowledge to trust and obey that which was life and peace with Him.  Hosea cried out the message to hear the word of the LORD once more.  He was charging them as a nation and people with disobedience and spiritual adultery.  Because they cast aside knowledge of God from His word and ceased living in mercy according to the truth of the scriptures delivered by the prophets (Jeremiah 35:15), they were charged for their sin of leaving Him.  They had devolved into a lawless people of lies and curses on each other, with thieving, adultery, and murder.  They no longer restrained themselves as they shed more and more blood as spiritual children of Cain instead of faithful Abel who offered his best to God as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1).  Because of their godless lives of sin in rejecting Him, the whole country fell into disarray and destruction, the pattern seen throughout history of all who cease listening and following God’s word of truth that tells us to love Him above all others and then to love others as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31).  They were told to live peaceably with each other instead of arguing and dissenting angrily as we see today in meaningless temporal political debates and resulting hatred instead of considering others as God does each of us.  Those who contended then were likened to ones arguing with the priest who ministered sacrifices of forgiveness and mercy, leading to stumbling and destruction in their lives.  This is akin to arguing against Christ and accusing Him while refusing to hear His word to the contrary in our dealings with each other and God Himself.  The end of rejecting the knowledge in scripture is ruination of the individual and nation with the lack of understanding of the peace of God which comes by faith and following His every word.  How people are still destroyed for lack of knowledge in both small and great ways, depending on the amount of seeking that knowledge to understand or the level of scoffing against pursuing it.  Israel increased in prosperity of power and possessions and allowed their willful ignorance to increase their sin because the sin nature is what we all come to as our spiritual quiescent state when not allowing daily renewal and change sought according to His word.  Because they left the scriptures, God’s people reaped what they sowed and faced the consequences.  They ate bit were never satisfied, they committed sexual immortality but did not fruitful and did not multiply.  There is only grief if we follow their example (1 Corinthians 10:6, 11) and stop pursuing our sanctification by reflecting in His word to see our true condition and follow Him according to His word to obey in trust as a proof of our true faith and to please our great God and Savior (Titus 2:11-13).  May we love God by living opposite to this example by pursuing the knowledge of obedience as we become people of the Book in living sacrificial lives of thankful worship.  Hear the word of the Lord (Hebrews 2:1)!