God says...Are You Trying To Be Last?
Hosea 13:7-8
"So I will be like a lion to them,
like a leopard I will lurk by the path. Like a bear robbed of her cubs,
I will attack them and rip them open; like a lion I will devour them—
a wild animal will tear them apart."
The three menacing creatures mentioned – the lion, the leopard, and bear were all native to Palestine and known for their relentless manner of killing prey. And the forth was the wild animal. The prophet Hosea has prophesied here about the coming destruction of Israel brought on by their worship of the Baals and calf worship. The Lion is the Assyrian army who will take them into captivity in Babylon. The Leopard is the Greeks who will conquer the known world under Alexander, the She-Bear is the Medo-Persian Empire, and finally the wild animal is the Roman Empire. And what follows we now know is the people of Israel scattered throughout the entire world for millennia. Such is the wrath of God.
But God says...
John 19:37
Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”
Zechariah 12:10
“I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn."
The testimony of the scriptures has been proven to be true, time after time. The scriptures guide, they strengthen, they bless and minister to our lives...but primarily they serve one purpose...they tell the truth so that you may also believe.
Israel was given the scriptures, prophet after prophet, angelic visitations, missionary exhortations, signs and wonders, and finally the One whom they pierced. The Son of Man came and he found very little faith, and almost no understanding.
They had "church". They were a nation of church-goers, their nation was ruled by a theocracy. They had a history of being loved and blessed by the One true God. For generations upon generations they've been blessed. They had it all and it wasn't enough. So they created calves for worship. They offered their children to the Baals. And they practiced fertility rituals and included identity politics and sexuality in their worship services.
Why?
Why did the people of Israel do these things?
The simple truth is, God says it's about sin. The human condition is sin. And these sins have been exposed in the commandments. The Lord God is outraged by Israel because where there should be faithfulness and covenantal love there is instead “the vain use of God's name, lying, murder, greed and stealing, and committing adultery” (Hosea 4:1-2). That’s five out of the ten commandments right there! And as if those sins weren't enough they joined their worship with the cult prostitutes of the pagan religions. And they didn't just sneak off to visit these pagan priestesses, they brought the corrupt sacrifices to the temple of God. They hung their Pride flags on the altars. They conjured and chanted for the demonic sexuality spirits in their prayers and offerings to the idols. They built idolatrous shrines at Bethel and Gilgal. These places previously represented the special relationship between God and Israel. Now they have corrupted the land by turning to the Canaanite cult religions, consequently they've broken the covenantal bond with God. They make themselves guilty of deception, murder, stealing, and sexual perversion.
Through the prophets and the exposure of all mankind's vices and adultery, we gain a clear understanding of what God's inner thoughts are about his relationship with his creation. We discover the mind of God. And in the person of Jesus we come to understand the heart of God. And by the works of the Holy Spirit we are then transformed into the image of Christ. All these things must happen in order for salvation to come.
That's the answer to the "why".
Jesus put it this way.
"Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’" (John 3:6-7)
That's the answer to "why".
There is no human solution to the problem of sin. There is no religion, no system of government, no laws, no brotherly love that can overcome the sin of mankind, nothing BUT the love of Jesus that came into the world and continues to come through the patient works of The Holy Spirit.
All this prophetic scriptural history is about this one truth, this one final human historical moment.
"I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God...the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” (John 3:3,14b,15)
And the rest of the story is NOW...here and now in you and me. The end of the story is yet to come.
Sin is still the nature of man. What drives people? Sin. And in the face of that God is still God. The Holy Spirit is still working it out in many. Jesus is still coming. And the last convert is yet to happen.
Are you ready?
Or are you trying to be last?