AP

Hosea 13:4-6  “But I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt.  You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Saviour except me.  I cared for you in the desert, in the land of burning heat.  When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.”

This is a timely warning for us.  The Ten Commandments were not given to Israel as a means by which they could come into a relationship with God through obedience; they were given to a people who were already in a relationship with God through his gracious act of saving them from slavery through his power and the death of a substitute Passover Lamb!  The commandments were to be a description of how a redeemed community should live.  This is why they are prefaced by, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt.”

Israel (and so we too) are to understand a ‘therefore’ to lead into what follows: “[Because you have been rescued by grace alone] therefore you shall acknowledge no God but me, no Saviour except me.” (cf Exodus 20:2-3)  It is a stark reminder that the only way we can belong to God’s redeemed people, and so have the hope of eternal life, is through his gracious action on our behalf; precisely through the only Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he sacrificed as our ‘Passover Lamb’ (cf 1 Corinthians 5:7).  Anyone who thinks he can get to heaven by doing good and keeping the Ten Commandments, or by any other way that is not centred on faith in Jesus as his substitute (cf Acts 4:12), will be sadly disappointed.

But Hosea’s words sound another grave warning also.  Israel’s other prevalent sin, after idolatry, was complacency.  They were often so occupied with enjoying God’s protection and blessings that they forgot and spurned the One who gave these blessings.

We are in danger of committing both these sins today: the sin of giving other things the place in our lives belonging to Jesus, the only Saviour; and the sin of taking our peace and prosperity for granted and turning our backs on God completely in the way we live (and think).  It is instructive and challenging to read on in this chapter to see what the prophet says about God’s judgement in response to such sins!  For example, verses 6-8 – “When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.  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.”

Just reading this reminds me afresh of what it meant for Jesus to bear the wrath of his Father to shield me from it, to die in my place.  “When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look, and see him there who put an end to all my sin.  Because the sinless Saviour died, my sinful soul is counted free, for God, the Just, is satisfied to look on him, and pardon me.”  (Charitie Lees de Chenez.)

– Bruce Christian