CONDEMNATION

“For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and has built temples; Judah also has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send fire upon his cities, and it shall devour his palaces” (Hosea 8:14 NKJV).

Three words summarizes the message of this verse - forgotten, fenced, and fire. They speak of the condemnation of the Israelites during Hosea’s time.

Forgotten - “Israel has forgotten his Maker, and has built temples.” To forget God is to leave Him out of our lives, to ignore His commandments and give our devotion to someone or something else. Israel did not have time for God. They were too busy with the things of this life, as is illustrated by the reference to their building temples. The word “temples” in our verse refers to palaces, not religious edifices. Israel was building great buildings. They were involved in industry and business and had forgotten about God. They were much like our day. We are all taken up with business but not with God. Sunday is a big shopping day and sports day. Stores open early and close late, and stadiums are filled for sporting events. But churches are empty. People are off to the stores and stadiums instead of the church sanctuary because they have forgotten God.

Fenced - “Judah also has multiplied fortified cities.” “Fortified / Fenced” here refers to walls. Walls were built around cities to protect them. Judah was busy fortifying itself with great walls. They too, had forgotten God; they were putting their trust for protection in their walls instead of in God. Our society is like this. We have a great military, supposedly the best in the world. And so, we have rejected God and put our trust in the might of man instead. Yet, in spite of this, we have not protected ourselves from sin.

Fire - “I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour his palaces.” Divine judgment is represented here by the fire. A nation that forgets God has no protection from Divine judgment. All the great structures and boasted military might will be of no help to ward off Divine judgment. God will destroy what we put our trust in instead of Him. Fire will devour where God is rejected.

(Adapted from Butler's Daily Bible Reading 3)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“Obeying God is the best prescription for spiritual health!”

Anonymous

Word Study

Enjoy

In Heb. 11:24-25 we read, “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin!” (NKJV).

Enjoy is the Greek word apólausis (ἀπόλαυσις =ap-ol'-ow-sis). It means to have enjoyment of something, to have the benefit of something and so enjoying it. In classic Greek apólausis means enjoyment. Pleasure is dependent on circumstances, but joy is inward and is not disturbed by one’s environment. The world offers “passing pleasures,” but the Lord Jesus offers to give us full and lasting joy (John 15:11).

“Fear Nots” Found in the Bible

“And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them” (2 Kings 6:16 KJV).

Did You Know…

According to 2 Chron. 3:1-2, Solomon decides to build the Temple of the Lord at the exact place where God had appeared to his father David.

Bible Quiz

What did the Israelites do while Moses was on the Mountain receiving the Ten Commandments?

**Answer to last week’s Bible Quiz: How many women were in Noah’s ark? 4 (Gen. 7:7).

Names For the Lord Jesus in the Bible

“AMEN”

"And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God!” (Rev. 3:14 NKJV).

1. Meaning – AMEN speaks of the Lord Jesus as the as the One who is true and faithful.

2. Insights – The word “AMEN” is derived from the Hebrew text of the Old Testament meaning truth. In Isa. 65:16, the Lord presented Himself as the “AMEN,” which is an Old Testament title for God. It conveys the idea of that which is true, firmly established, and trustworthy. The Lord Jesus is the “AMEM” in the sense that He is the affirmation of God’s truth (cf. 2 Cor. 1:20). It is through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ that all God’s promises and covenants are fulfilled and guaranteed. All the promises in Scripture about forgiveness, grace, hope, and eternal life are bound up in the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the “AMEN” because He is the One who confirmed all of God’s promises.

Did You Know – Christian History

Benjamin Randall was born February 7, 1749, at New Castle, New Hampshire. He was an American Baptist minister and the main organizer of the Freewill Baptists in the northeastern United States.

Randall’s education was limited to the primitive public schools of the day, but he supplemented it with extensive personal reading. He was a pious youth who read the Bible daily. A considerable part of Randall’s youth was spent as a cabin boy aboard his father’s ship. At age 17, Randall was apprenticed to a sailmaker in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with whom he remained until he was 21.

As a young man Randall had gone to hear the renowned evangelist George Whitefield, who was preaching in New England, but only to find fault. His attitude changed on September 30, 1770, however, when he heard that Whitefield was dead. This was a crucial moment in Randall’s life and led directly to the work for which he is known.

The first thoughts that passed through my mind said Randall were, “'Whitefield is now in heaven, and I am in the road to hell. I shall never hear his voice any more. He was a man of God, and I have reviled him, and spoken reproachfully of him. He has taught me the way to heaven; but I regarded it not.”

For over two weeks, Randall lived in terror, crying constantly to God for mercy. It was not until he believed Heb. 9:26, that he find relief. “But now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” Such peace came over Randall that he began to leap with joy. Randall became a member of the Congregational church that he had attended most of his life. However, his reading of the scriptures led him to believe that Baptist doctrine was more accurate. He was baptized as an adult and joined the Baptists. In 1777, he felt God was calling him to become a Baptist layman preacher. Two years later, having decided that his denomination’s strict Calvinist views were out of line with true Bible teaching, he left, becoming the main leader of the Free Will Baptists in the Northern states.

Randall rode thousands of miles a year, winning converts. He was the single most influential force in putting the Free Will Baptists on the map of the Northern United States. Even in his last illness, Randall’s concern was all for Christ. He wrote to his people, “For Christ's sake, my brethren, let us be little, humble, cross-bearing disciples. See to it, that we do not get any new-fangled, heady, wordy, tonguey doctrine of men, which leads from Christ instead of leading to him.” Randall died of tuberculosis on October 22, 1808.

A Little Humor

10 year old Joshua was talking to his friend Michael: My father says I should learn the Ten Commandments. But I don’t think I want to because we already have enough rules in our house.

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“Only one road leads to heaven - Jesus Christ is the way!”