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A Solution to the Problem

of

Apostasy in the church

God illustrated the solution with the story of Hosea and his wife Gomer. She left him and ended up a slave whom nobody wanted, except of course, Hosea, who loved her very much. Although she had been away for many years he took the first opportunity to reinstate her.

Hosea 1:2
"The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take to you a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land has committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD...."

Hosea 2:2-4
"Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not My wife [in practice any more, although He never divorced her, Isaiah 50:1], neither am I her Husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms".....

Hosea 2:14-17
"Therefore, behold, I will allure [woo] her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably [lovingly] to her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope [Joshua 7:26]. And she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be at that day, says the LORD, that you shall call Me 'Ishi' [i.e. husband] ; and shall call Me no more 'Baali' [boss]. For I will take away the names of [all the] Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name"...

Hosea 2:19-20
"And I will betroth you to Me for ever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth you to Me in faithfulness: and you shall know the LORD"....

Hosea 2:23
"And I will sow her to Me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not My people, "You are My people'; and they shall say, 'You are my God'.".....

Hosea 3:1-5
"Then said the LORD to me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend [husband], yet an adulteress, according to [or in the same way as] the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods [in spiritual adultery], and love flagons of wine".

"So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley [the equivalent of 30 pieces of silver]. And I said to her, You shall abide for me many days; you shall not play the harlot [any more], and you shall not be for another man: so will I also be [waiting] for you".

"For the children of Israel shall [also] abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days".

Vol 4 Spirit of Prophecy 292.001
It was not the will of God that Israel should wander forty years in the wilderness; he desired to lead them directly to the land of Canaan, and establish them there, a holy, happy people. But "they could not enter in because of unbelief." [HEB. 3:19.] Because of their backsliding and apostasy, they perished in the desert, and others were raised up to enter the promised land.

In like manner, it was not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be so long delayed, and his people should remain so many years in this world of sin and sorrow. But unbelief separated them from God. As they refused to do the work which he had appointed them, others were raised up to proclaim the message. In mercy to the world, Jesus delays his coming, that sinners may have an opportunity to hear the warning, and find in him a shelter before the wrath of God shall be poured out.

4SP.292.002
Now, as in former ages, the presentation of a truth that reproves the errors and sins of the times, will call forth a storm of opposition. "Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." [JOHN 3:20.] Those who cannot sustain their position by the Scriptures are stubbornly determined that it shall be sustained at all hazards, and with a malicious spirit they attack the character and motives of those who stand in defense of unpopular truth. Though very unbelieving in regard to the sure word of prophecy, they manifest the utmost credulity in accepting anything detrimental to the Christian integrity of those who dare to reprove fashionable sins. This spirit will increase more and more as we near the close of time.

4SP.293.001
And what is our duty in view of this? Shall we conclude that the truth ought not to be presented, since its effect is so often to arouse men to evade or resist its claims? - No; we have no more reason for withholding the testimony of God's word because it excites opposition than had Martin Luther. Luther declared himself to have been urged on, compelled by the Spirit of God, to battle against the evils of his time; and in the same manner must those labor who still carry forward the work of reform. To the servants of God at this time is the command addressed, "Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins."

Ezekiel 9:3-6
"And the Glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon He was, to the threshold of the house. And He called to the man clothed with linen [the sealing angel], which had the writer's inkhorn by his side; and the LORD said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry [that are upset and working] for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

And to the others [those with slaughter weapons] He said in my hearing, Go you after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have you pity. Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women, but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house".

4SP.293.002
The true followers of Christ do not wait for truth to become popular. Being convinced of their duty, they deliberately accept the cross, and thus remove the greatest obstacle to the reception of truth, - the only argument which its advocates have never been able to refute. It is weak, inefficient world-servers that think it praiseworthy to have no principle in religious things. We should choose the right because it is right, and leave consequences with God. To men of principle, faith, and daring, is the world indebted for its great reforms. By such men must the work of reform for this time be carried forward.

4SP.293.003
Thus saith the Lord: "Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation." [ISA. 51:7, 8.]

Hebrews 3:15-19; 4:1-4
"Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was He grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned [in persistent rebellion], whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His [Sabbath] rest, but to them that believed not?"

"So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."

"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest [from our own attempts at righteousness], any of you should seem to come short of it. For to us was the gospel preached, as well as to them: but the word preached [look and live] did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into [Sabbath] rest, as He said, 'As I have sworn in My wrath, if they shall enter into My rest': although [because] the works were finished from the foundation of the world. [Revelation 13:8]. For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, "And God did rest the seventh day from all His works'."

Great Controversy 457.002
The history of ancient Israel is a striking illustration of the past experience of the Adventist body. God led His people in the advent movement, even as He led the children of Israel from Egypt. In the great disappointment their faith was tested as was that of the Hebrews at the Red Sea. Had they still trusted to the guiding hand that had been with them in their past experience, they would have seen the salvation of God. If all who had labored unitedly in the work in 1844, had received the third angel's message and proclaimed it in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts. A flood of light would have been shed upon the world. Years ago the inhabitants of the earth would have been warned, the closing work completed, and Christ would have come for the redemption of His people. [These words were first published in 1884 in Vol 4, Spirit of Prophecy page 291.001]

GC.458.001
It was not the will of God that Israel should wander forty years in the wilderness; He desired to lead them directly to the land of Canaan and establish them there, a holy, happy people. But "they could not enter in because of unbelief." Hebrews 3:19. Because of their backsliding and apostasy they perished in the desert, and others were raised up to enter the Promised Land.

In like manner, it was not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be so long delayed and His people should remain so many years in this world of sin and sorrow. But unbelief separated them from God. As they refused to do the work which He had appointed them, others were raised up to proclaim the message.

In mercy to the world, Jesus delays His coming, that sinners may have an opportunity to hear the warning and find in Him a shelter before the wrath of God shall be poured out.

What is the solution?

To wait with infinite patience and treasure every one with everlasting love

while pleading with all who will listen

to enter fully into the Sabbath rest!

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