For I will be like a lion to Ephraim. (Hosea 5:14)

What would you most like to meet, an angry lion or a peaceable lamb? That’s the choice we all face. The Lord Jesus is revealed in Scripture as both the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5) and the Lamb of God (John 1:36). To His enemies, He will be an angry lion, and to His friends, He will be a peaceable lamb.

Hosea foresees this and predicts that, for Ephraim and indeed the whole of unrepentant Israel, the Lord will be as a lion who will tear them and then take them away without hope of rescue. “For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.” Terrifying!

To be torn apart by a lion is surely one of the great human horrors. So, here, the Lord takes this most frightening of fears and says, “This is how bad it will be.” And it was. The brutal Assyrians came, tore them in pieces, and carried them away captive without hope of rescue. And it could have been so different. Through the annual Passover and the daily sacrifices, God was pointing Israel towards the Lamb of God who would take away their sins and give them peace with God. But because they did not want the Lamb, He changes into a soul-tearing Lion.

We will all meet the Lord Jesus one day, either on the day of our death or on the Day of Judgment. So, the question is not, “Will you meet Him?” but “How will you meet Him?” or, rather, “How will He meet you?” Will He be as a Lion or a Lamb to you? Will it be anger or peace? Will the Lion want your blood, or will the Lamb give you His blood? Will you spend eternity being torn asunder without remedy, or will you spend eternity celebrating “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8)? “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”