'Ephraim is a cake not turned, (3)

‘Ephraim is a cake not turned, (3)

From the passage in Hosea chapter 7 we have viewed the Situation that Ephraim was in those days of spiritual compromise; next we considered the Slip that Ephraim made in stepping without the camp of Israel and joining the secular spirit of the time. The parallel between Ephraim and Paisleyism has been drawn; it is plain to see how both have succumbed to the subtlety of Secularism.

‘Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.’ Ephraim had become a Spectacle; once a fruitful bough for God, now reduced to a Secular Spectacle. ‘Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not’; the strength that Ephraim once knew through God was now surrendered into secular hands.

Ephraim had surrendered his power to those without the camp of Israel; they had entered into power sharing with the enemies of Israel; they gave the strength of their heritage into enemy hands. Now those that were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel were devouring and destroying the power that Ephraim once enjoyed; and the tragedy was that ‘he knoweth it not’. How could Ephraim be so careless, how could they be so complacent as to not know that they had sold out their power to strangers? What a picture of the spectacle that Paisleyism is today; they handed the power of evangelical Protestantism into the hands of strangers; and they don’t appear to know what they have done; what a ridiculous Spectacle.

Ephraim had changed; ‘gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not.’ Everyone else had seen the change in Ephraim, it was clearly visible; Israel saw it, the strangers saw it, God saw it; but Ephraim had not even noticed. Why? How? Could it be, that it was because they were so busy in criticizing everyone else, that they forgot to take a look at themselves in the mirror of truth? Did they think that no one had noticed? Did they think that a little cosmetic colouring would deceive the onlooker? Ephraim had turned away from their original colour and everybody knew it; yet the Spectacle was, Ephraim would not admit it; what a picture of the spectacle of Paisleyism today.

Finally, Ephraim added to their Spectacle in Hosea7:10 ‘And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.’ Even though God was faithful to Ephraim in showing him his error, yet Ephraim refused to seek God’s mercy. ‘He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy’ (Prov29:1) Ephraim in so many ways is representative of Paisleyism, which is presently a Spectacle or a gazing stock in Ulster.

Rev Mervyn Cotton (Heb13:6)