ESOCS Devotional 17 July 2025 – God’s Judgment on Deviant Ministers
MEMORY VERSE: “The priests are like a gang of robbers who wait in ambush for someone. Even on the road to the holy place at Shechem, they commit murder. And they do all this evil deliberately.” Hosea 6:9 GNB
TEXT: HOSEA 6:1-11
Come, and let us return to the Lord;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
2 After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
3 Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
4 “O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?
O Judah, what shall I do to you?
For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,
And like the early dew it goes away.
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have slain them by the words of My mouth;
And your judgments are like light that goes forth.
6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 “But like men they transgressed the covenant;
There they dealt treacherously with Me.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers
And defiled with blood.
9 As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man,
So the company of priests murder on the way to Shechem;
Surely they commit lewdness.
10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:
There is the harlotry of Ephraim;
Israel is defiled.
11 Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you,
When I return the captives of My people.
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Following Israel’s deliberate practice of making and worship of idols, which God views as spiritual adultery, Hosea prophesies impending doom on the nation. And, shortly after the prophetic warning, Assyria unleashed a devastating military attacks on Israel. This led to the destruction of Samaria, and many people were carried captives into foreign lands.
Worse still, priests and ministers had constituted themselves into bands of robbers, waiting in ambush for their victims. Even in these days and age, ministers commit murder, adultery, and indulge in all sorts of misconduct, including fraudulent grabbing from the people. Had the prophets and apostolic fathers not warn that God views sin seriously, and will not allow iniquity to go unpunished? Did the Master Himself not caution that not even the smallest jot of the law will go unfulfilled, until heaven and earth pass away? (Matthew 5:18). Did Apostle Peter not warn that God’s judgment will begin in the household of the Lord? (1 Peter 4:17).
Then, if God’s judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who are without? Moreover, if the righteous are scarcely saved, where shall the outright ungodly and sinful be? Let’s take heed to ourselves. The Blood of Jesus shed at the cross for sinful humanity does not qualify anyone for eternal life. The Blood is only there to enable penitent sinners have a second chance to amend their ways. Let’s not be deceived, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows, that he shall reap (Galatians 6:7). Moreover, priests and ministers should lead the way and live by example.
CHALLENGES
- If judgment will begin in the Church, where will pretender believers run to?
PRAYER POINT
- Dear Lord and Master, give me the grace to live aright, so I shall not be a cast away.
FURTHER READING: Hosea 7:1-18; Acts 23:12-35; 24:16-27
ESOCS Devotional 17 July 2025
