HOT OVEN AND SLEEPING BAKER

“They are all adulterers. Like an oven heated by a baker— He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough, Until it is leavened. 5 In the day of our king Princes have made him sick, inflamed with wine; He stretched out his hand with scoffers. 6 They prepare their heart like an oven, While they lie in wait; Their baker sleeps all night; In the morning it burns like a flaming fire. 7 They are all hot, like an oven, And have devoured their judges; All their kings have fallen. None among them calls upon Me” (Hosea 7:4-7)

An Ancient Oven was a clay or stone cylinder, heated from within. The baker kindled a strong fire, then let the smouldering coals keep the chamber hot for hours. No further fuel was needed; the stored heat was intense and ready to bake bread at any moment. Hosea compares the people of Israel to an overheated oven and a lazy baker, symbolizing their wild sinful passions and the spiritual neglect of their leaders. The baker stops stirring the fire and rests while the dough rises. This is a picture showing how authority figures neglect their duty and allow sin to ferment unchecked until it erupted into destruction. The Overheated Oven is a picture of Israel’s inner desires and sinful passions of adultery and rebellion against God. These are burning hot and are self-kindled. The Lord had bound Himself to Israel by a covenant, as a husband to his wife. Worshiping other gods is spiritual adultery. Israel’s unfaithfulness to the Lord had now become widespread and habitual. Hosea also exposes the heated selfish ambitions, conspiracies, drunkenness, and violence that marked Israel’s rulers and citizens. Sin had become so deeply established that no outside temptation was necessary to sustain it. Like a heated oven, Israel’s heart continued producing evil from within, having rejected the knowledge and fear of God. What was cultivated privately in the heart eventually appeared openly in idolatry, injustice, violence and betrayal. Such corruption will bear bitter fruit in national instability and divine judgment. Selah!

A day intended to honor the king becomes an occasion for indulgence and shame. Israel’s monarchy, established under God’s authority, was meant to uphold His law and guide the nation in covenant faithfulness. Instead, royal celebration exposes the spiritual decay of the court and the nation it leads. The king gives his favour to scoffers rather than resisting their wicked counsel. By sharing fellowship with those who despise righteousness, he strengthens their influence and joins their contempt for God’s ways. The king’s failure stands in sharp contrast to Christ, the righteous King, who received sinners in order to call them to repentance and salvation!

Why did Hosea use the picture of a heated Oven? Because it is an Everyday object: Every home had one, so the picture was instantly clear to Hosea’s listeners. It was a Controlled environment: An oven is designed to hold heat inside, perfect for describing hidden sin. It also shows Sudden intensity: Once the baker opens the door, the heat rushes out; likewise, Israel’s sin erupts when opportunity comes. The Oven is a picture of intense sinful passions. Israel’s leaders deliberately nurtured evil desires until their hearts were heated with passion for deceit, violence, and rebellion. Wickedness was not merely impulsive; they plotted against others in secret. Israel’s history was marked by conspiracies, assassinations, and unstable kings. Bitterness was allowed to remain, growing in the night. What was concealed in the heart continued to burn until it controlled their words and actions, a destructive violence, like “flaming fire”. The image warns that unrestrained anger and secret evil do not remain hidden; they break forth and bring God’s judgment. We must remain alert and prayerful.  Corruption begins inside before it burns the outside. The Pharisees polished exterior hides the same smouldering fire Hosea described. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matt 23:27,28). Jesus point to internal corruption before it erupts. Anger equals murder and lust equals adultery in seed form. The works of the flesh are the coals of fire in the oven heart (Gal 5:19-21). The cure is repentance, being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Lessons:

*Like a Hot Oven, unrepented sin is self-sustained passion. Hearts inflamed with lust and idolatry keep themselves hot without outside fuel. Even without temptation, their hearts are always prepared for the next sin. “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matt 15:19). The result is spiritual adultery, political and social collapse.

*Like the oven, sin can grow and consume us if we do not actively resist it and repent. Guard the heart before the first spark. Sin once tolerated becomes self-fuelling—cut it off early. “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (PV 4:23)

*The baker’s negligence is a warning to spiritual leaders to diligently tend to their flocks, to spiritually nourish them and protect them.

*God’s Call to Repentance: Despite Israel’s unfaithfulness, God’s desire is for His people to return to Him.

*Only God’s Spirit can quench the inner fire of rebellion and kindle holy zeal instead. “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal 5:16).

APOSTLE PAUL CONVICTED OF COVETOUSNESS 

“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died” (Rom 7:7-9). God’s law is not sinful! Rather, it reveals sin. “Therefore, the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Rom 7:12). “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom 3:19,20). The Law’s role is to convict and lead sinners to recognize their need for the Savior, Jesus Christ! The law exposes sin in the heart. When a command is understood, conscience awakens and guilt comes. What once felt normal now is seen as transgression. God’s Law comes without mercy or cure for sin. “The law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression” (Rom 4:15). The law is like a doctor that diagnoses but offers no cure. It “makes sin utterly sinful” (Rom 7:13). It lacks the power to free from sin’s grip. The Law is Like a mirror (Jam 1:23-25), it shows the dirt on the face but cannot wash it off. “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (Jn 1:17). “But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Gal 3:23-25). The Law leads to frustration preparing the heart to accept Christ by Grace alone so to be saved!

This is sin’s strategy thru God’s Holy Law:

*Sin exploits a Holy thing! Sin is an opportunist. Sin takes God’s holy law and twists it into a platform for rebellion.

*Sin awakens forbidden desires against God. The moment the Law said, “you shall not covet”, the dormant flesh is stirred to covet more.

*Apart from the Law sin is dead. It does not mean sin did not exist in the heart, but it was inactive, dormant. Sin is exposed to bring a sinner to Jesus, to plead for mercy and Grace. For example: you tell a child: “don’t eat the cake!” For him, the cake now looks very sweet!

Sin existed before the Mosaic Law, but the law brought its guilt and rebellion into clear view. Without a known command, sin does not confront the conscience with the same explicit transgression or provoke the same defiant response. The law therefore cannot justify sinners; it makes sin known and demonstrates the need for the Savior who delivers from sin’s power and condemnation.

Paul uses the specific example of coveting (one of the Ten Commandments – Exodus 20:17) to illustrate how the law reveals sin. Coveting, an intense internal desire, shows that sin is not only about external actions but also about the heart’s intentions. Sin is an active power that deceives and exploits God’s good command to awaken resistance in the fallen human heart. The prohibition in Eden became the point Satan used to entice Adam and Eve toward disobedience (Gen 3:1–6). God’s law does not create evil; it exposes the rebellion against God already present in man’s heart. The commandment against coveting uncovered desires that had been hidden within Paul. Coveting reaches beyond outward acts to the heart’s discontent with God’s provision and its desire to possess what belongs to another. Such desire becomes idolatry when created things take the place of God as the heart’s supreme treasure (Col 3:5).

Before he got saved, Paul struggled with the sin of covetousness. He is saying that through the strength of Christ, he is able to win his battle against covetousness.  When he doesn’t have anything, no problem. Through Christ’s strength, he can be content and not be greedy.  Likewise, when he’s fully provided for, no problem. Through Christ’s strength, he’s able to defeat materialism. He said: “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:12,13). Through Jesus, he can defeat any temptation! Selah!

This is the Freedom we find in Christ: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:1,2). The law still defines sin, but it no longer condemns those who are in Christ. By walking in the Spirit (Gal 5:16-18) we experience victory: sin loses its power, and the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us.

THE GREEDY JUDAS

Read John 12:1-8. Mary has just anointed Jesus with expensive perfume, an extravagant act of worship. Judas Iscariot objects, pretending religious concern for the poor. Judas’s words sound compassionate, but his heart’s motive was selfish. Greed can hide behind spiritual language. Covetousness damages the conscience. It starts internally, in the heart, but then it manifests thru actions. Judas “used to take” shows an ongoing action. What started as little stealing became a habitual theft, culminating with selling Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Greed damages perception: Judas calls Mary’s worship “waste”. When money become the master, worshipping God looks like foolishness. Jesus said: “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Lk 12:15).  Judas was seated beside Jesus, who is God in the flesh, and still felt entitled to steal. Lesson: unrepented greed deceives the mind, hardens the heart, and ultimately separates us from the Savior. Guard your heart! Be generous! Let love for Christ be greater than all the world!

Jesus: “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.’ Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (Jn13:18-20). The contrast here is between the knowledge of Jesus and the ignorant unbelief of Judas. Jesus knew from the Scriptures that one among those close to Him would betray Him. “Even my close friend whom I trusted, the one who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me” (Ps 41:9). Jesus knew from the beginning that it was Judas. But Judas didn’t know that. Judas was ignorantly following the greed of his own heart, and he was resisting every effort Jesus made to reach him. Now he was at the point of that final act of rejection that would plunge him into the abyss of hell. Judas took the bread from Jesus’ hand. That was the final chance he had to repent. When he did that, Satan entered into him (Lk 22:3). From now on, Judas was no longer his own master. Satan has taken control of him. Jesus understands what will happen. He says:  “I’m telling you this before it happens, so when it does, you will know I am the one this Scripture describes”. Judas, on the other hand, didn’t know what was happening to him, or how he had fallen into Satan’s snare. He was now at the edge of hell. You can see how these two positions stand opposed one to another. Jesus sacrificed Himself to save His disciples; Judas sacrificed Jesus to save himself, but he failed. These two philosophies still dominate the world today. The last word was addressed to Judas: “He who receives me receives Him who sent me (God the Father)”. There is no other way to the Father but by Jesus. This is the truth Jesus declares again, and it is the great truth that Judas sought to avoid. He tried to live his life before God without relating at all to the ministry and salvation offered by Jesus. He wanted God but did not want Jesus!!! He blindly goes on, not realizing that he is facing the most important crisis of his life, and only Jesus can bring him to God. Judas rejected Jesus’ last effort to reach him before it was too late. This is how Judas, once a follower of Jesus, “the son of perdition” (Jn 17:12) went to hell. This is the warning of Love! Worship the Lord!