Idolatry - Adultery With The World

“But now bring charges against Israel—your mother— for she is no longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband. Tell her to remove the prostitute’s makeup from her face and the clothing that exposes her breasts. Otherwise, I will strip her as naked as she was on the day she was born. I will leave her to die of thirst, as in a dry and barren wilderness. And I will not love her children, for they were conceived in  prostitution. Their mother is a shameless prostitute and became pregnant in a shameful way. She said, ‘I’ll run after other lovers and sell myself to them for food and water, for clothing of wool and linen, and for olive oil and drinks.’ [Hosea 2.2-5]

As Israel represents the Church, this indictment found in Hosea consistently reveals Israel's propensity to idolatry.

As the Church is God's "bride," it is not difficult to see how the world's idols are given too much access to our lives just as a prostitute exposes herself to her lovers. She covers her true face with makeup but exposes her breasts to attract and secure her lovers. The "fruit of her prostitution" is manifested in illegitimate children - children who bear the distinct resemblance of their mother's various lovers.

The last sentence of the passage above reveals the nature of idols the Church commits prostitution with. These idols provide food and water, clothing, olive oil and drinks.

Food and water need little imagination to understand. God consistently declared Himself as Provider of the most basic of necessities - food and water are just that.

Clothing is another provision that God promises to His "bride" the Church.

Olive oil represents a household necessity for cooking and light, but was also used as an agent of healing (medicine). Olive oil largely represented God's coving over His people as it was used to "anoint" people in their dedicated service to God.

Drinks covers blessings of provision beyond basic necessity. Wine is most commonly this "drink" blessing and it is noted as that which "makes the heart glad." This too is something God is Provider for.

While all of these are good and, as such, are blessings, they are all included in what God promises to provide for His bride - His children. To seek these blessings from any source other than God is idolatry - it is prostitution.

The Church today is deeply entangled in prostitution with the world - giving herself to the world and its systems for the blessings God promised. For everyone who has ever felt "exposed" in situations where the world demands a Social Security number, income information, other personal information and then a signature, it may very well be likened to "exposing breasts" to the world in order to receive its provision - provision God promised when He took us as His bride. Just think of how "naked" we must become to solicit the world's provisions! While married to the Provider Himself, Almighty God, we bare ourselves unashamedly to strange lovers who promise a worldly version of that which God said He would provide. This is the nasty reality of idolatry.

In fact, we have given birth to many bastard children from our prostitution that bear no resemblance at all to our Husband, but instead, only the resemblance of the world who fathered them.

This is serious business! How do we recognize "God's children" in our lives? They will look and act like God. In fact, Jesus was the exact reflection of His Father God! Anything in our lives and from our lives that does not look and act like Jesus is the bastard child of our prostitution with the world. Jesus didn't recommend a good restaurant, He miraculously fed thousands! Jesus didn't call a doctor, He miraculously healed the sick. He did this because He was His Father's Child and bore the distinct resemblance to His Father!

Whose resemblance do we and are our children bear?

The more seriously we look into God's Word, the more we will see how incredibly adulterous we are and have been.

If we are to ever "bear children" that look like God, we must stop giving ourselves to the world and bearing its children! 

Why doesn't the Church today see more of the miraculous? Simply because there are few, if any, legitimate children of God. All the "testimonies" of provision through worldly systems are nothing more than public confession of adultery - spiritual idolatry - with the world. Any "child" born as a result of impregnation by the world - no matter what we "claim" - is a bastard child that can only at best look like its worldly father, and NOT like God. Jesus was very clear that He could be identified as "God's" by the things He did. Jesus did miracles without the aid of any worldly system.

We have been caught and identified in our prostitution. Will we return to God? Will we turn from our worldly lovers and return to God and God alone? Doing so is called "repentance" and it is the ONLY way to be washed of our filth and restored to our Bridegroom.

Father, the more I see and hear and understand from Your Word, the more I see just how idolatrous I am. May the fruit of my life bear resemblance only to You because I am faithful to You and You alone. Forgive me for the adulterous relationships I have with the world, no matter how I have tried to justify my adultery. I want to love and trust only You. Teach me. I need only You.