Hos 11:6 | KingComments | STEP | The sword of war in the hand of the king of Assyria, their enemy, will strike them. He will overcome them. Their gate bars, i.e. the fortresses and other defenses, will not ultimately keep the enemy outside their gates. This will happen “because of their counsels”, which seems to indicate that it is precisely through their self-conceived solutions, through which they believe they can stop the enemy, that they give the enemy access to within their walls. The human being who does not take God into account is always playing into the hands of the enemy. We have an example of ‘self-conceived gate bars’ in the rules set up by some local churches about separation from evil. Boundaries are meant to keep evil out of the church. But if more and heavier bars are devised than Scripture indicates, then what God wants to see in the church as His testimony on earth is ‘demolished’. Believers who live with the Lord and in obedience to His Word are refused to take part in the Lord’s Supper because they do not conform to “their counsels”, which are the counsels of that local church. Such a fellowship loses the hallmark of a church of God.

‏ Hosea 11:6

The Downfall Is Certain

The sword of war in the hand of the king of Assyria, their enemy, will strike them. He will overcome them. Their gate bars, i.e. the fortresses and other defenses, will not ultimately keep the enemy outside their gates. This will happen “because of their counsels”, which seems to indicate that it is precisely through their self-conceived solutions, through which they believe they can stop the enemy, that they give the enemy access to within their walls. The human being who does not take God into account is always playing into the hands of the enemy.

We have an example of ‘self-conceived gate bars’ in the rules set up by some local churches about separation from evil. Boundaries are meant to keep evil out of the church. But if more and heavier bars are devised than Scripture indicates, then what God wants to see in the church as His testimony on earth is ‘demolished’. Believers who live with the Lord and in obedience to His Word are refused to take part in the Lord’s Supper because they do not conform to “their counsels”, which are the counsels of that local church. Such a fellowship loses the hallmark of a church of God.