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.”

Therefore will I change their glory into shame. (Hosea 4:7)

Material and spiritual prosperity rarely go hand-in-hand. Apart from some happy exceptions, as a person increases in financial wealth, they usually decrease in spiritual health. So it is with churches and with nations. So it was with Israel: “As they were increased, so they sinned against me” (v. 7).

As the nation grew and expanded under the skillful economic management of Jeroboam, so did their sins. As men and women grew more self-sufficient, they grew away from dependence upon God. Places of idol-worship multiplied and flourished. They gloried in their shiny golden calves at Dan and Bethel which were much more impressive than the blood-stained temple at Jerusalem! And what about our priests and our ceremonies?

“I will change their glory into shame.” God zeroes in on what they especially boasted of and gloried in. He targets what was the greatest source of their pride—their man-made religion—and warns, “I will turn their glory into shame.” God can take what is the greatest source of pride and turn it into our shame. Hanging Haman, grass-eating Nebuchadnezzar, and worm-eaten Herod testify loudly to God’s abilities in this area.

Do you glory in your beauty? God can take glamorous supermodels and change them into bald models of the latest sackcloth (Isa. 3:16–24). How many beautiful women are in hell, their glory turned into their shame. Do you glory in your wisdom? God says, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent” (1 Cor. 1:19). How many clever men are in hell lamenting the glory they gave to their now shamed degrees.

How easily God can change your glory into your shame. So glory not in your children, your career, your church, or your nation. “But let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says the Lord” (Jer. 9:24).

How easily God can turn your shame into glory. He can take you from the lowest and most shameful condition and, through the grace of the Lord Jesus, transform you from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).

Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you. (Hosea 4:6)

God gave Israel more knowledge of Him than any other nation in the world. He gave them His law, His history, His poets, and His prophets. They had hundreds of chapters and thousands of verses. And yet, here God accuses them of “lack of knowledge.” How could they know so much and yet know so little? It was because they had rejected knowledge. They had received it but had rejected it.

Now, there is some knowledge we can do without. There are many subjects in the world that we can be totally ignorant of and yet live safely and happily. The knowledge of God through His Word is not one of them. The consequences of lacking knowledge of God are horrific and horrendous. God laments, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Israel’s deliberate choice to reject the knowledge of God and instead to be ignorant of God had catastrophic effects. And their rejection of knowledge resulted, eventually, in God’s rejection of them. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you.”

Sadly, Israel’s experiences are still being repeated in many nations which God has blessed with His knowledge. The knowledge of God has been rejected, and these societies are in the painful process of inevitable self-destruction. This truth-rejection, self-destruction, divine-rejection cycle can also be seen in many Christian churches, schools, and universities.

But let’s make it personal. Has God given you His truth and are you rejecting it? Are you neglecting to read it? Are you disobeying it? Are you doubting it? This is not just geography or history or biology. This is eternity at stake.

Your schoolteacher imparts knowledge. You receive it. Your lecturer imparts knowledge. You receive it. Your boss imparts knowledge. You receive it. Your President imparts knowledge. You receive it. Your God imparts knowledge. You reject it. God says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you.” In fact, this also has grave consequences for your children. Hosea goes on, “Seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.” Look into the eyes of your children and see the eternal effects of your ignorance. Listen to these solemn words, “I will reject you.” And He will.

I will say to them which were not my people, You are my people. (Hosea 2:23)

When we look out on this world, we see innumerable differences between peoples and nations. We see different nations, different languages, different skin colors, different cultures, different clothing, etc. Who could possibly catalog all these differences? Within one country or even one city, there are so many different personalities and characters. No two are alike and each one demands its own unique file.

When God looks out on the world, He sees more and He sees less. He sees more differences than we ever can, both national and individual differences. But, in some ways, He also sees less difference than we do. Because for all the incalculable variety, God sees just two people groups: “My people” and “not My people.” That’s it. As simple and stark as that. The Lord Jesus had a similar “filing system.” “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad” (Matt. 12:30).

When the Holy Spirit is working in your soul, you will begin to see the world as God sees it. You will get past all the many external differences in people and you will see that there are but two ultimate categories: “My people” and “Not my people.” When this crystallizes for you, alarm bells will begin to ring in your soul as you see that you are in the wrong group; you are not one of God’s people. God looks down on you and says, “Not my people.”

What must you do to be saved? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” He is the passport to heavenly citizenship. He gives you title to belong to God’s people. When God looks down and sees Christ is your hope and sees Christ is in you, He re-classifies you: “My people.” “I will say to them which were not my people, you are my people, and they shall say, You are my God.”

Do you say this? If He owns you as His, will you be ashamed or hesitant to own Him as yours?

I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy. (Hosea 2:23)

“I will not have mercy” are the most terrifying words a sinner can hear from the mouth of the Lord. These words will destroy the souls of the unrepentant sinner on the Day of Judgment. These words will echo round the chambers of hell forever: “I will not have mercy.” And who can argue with them?

Those who spend their earthly days saying, “I don’t want mercy,” can hardly complain when at the end of their days God grants them their request eternally, “You didn’t want mercy, and so you will not have mercy.” These words dash every dream and quash every hope, “I will not have mercy.” Oh, mercy-spurning sinner, will this be your death sentence? Will you ever hear these “No Outlet” words?

Oh, my soul, woe is me! Have I not rejected God’s offered mercy time and again? How many times I have whispered in my soul, “I will not have mercy.” How many times I have stubbornly insisted, “I want merit, not mercy. I want to be a creditor who is owed, not a debtor who can never repay.” And now, here I am hastening to judgment and eternity with neither merit nor mercy. Oh woe, woe is me!

But here is hope, despairing soul. Israel was just like you; she refused mercy time after time. She was judged by the removal of mercy in foreign exile (Hos. 1:6). But God looks down in pity on her merciless condition and says, “I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy.” What a turning point! What tear-drying, heart-rejoicing, dream-fulfilling words of hope!

Go to the Lord and say, “I have not obtained mercy because I did not need nor want mercy. But now I desperately need it and earnestly want it. I abandon all my imagined merit. Oh Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner.” And wait, what do you hear? Can it be, “I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy”?

And dear Christian of many years, recall what turned your life around. It wasn’t your merit or will; it was God’s mercy and God’s will. It was when He said—oh, blessed moment—“I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy.”

I will sow her for myself in the earth. (Hosea 2:23)

What’s the point of a land full of fruit if there are no people to eat it? Having promised to fructify the land in the previous verses, God now promises to populate it. He will not only sow corn, wine, and oil, but people.

Because of sin, Israel’s fields and towns lie empty and still. But that barren and empty land will be filled with produce and people by God’s great “I will.” He will take the remaining seed of His people—few and weak as they are—and sow them in the land again.

Onlookers might scoff at the dim prospects for such a seed in such a land. But in God’s time and with His blessing, that handful of seed will flourish and fill the land again to the astonishment of all. “Look!” says the now startled scoffer. “Look at what God has produced! What a farmer!”

Weak seed plus almighty sowing results in glory for the Sower rather than the seed. I will sow her “for myself” in the earth. When the Lord sows, it is for Himself, it is to His praise and honor.

Barren soul, frail seed of humanity, the divine “I will sow her for myself” is your great and only hope. Plead with the heavenly Agriculturalist to sow you to Him and for Him in the earth. You look at yourself and see deadness and dryness, and you conclude that God can find better seed to work with. This is true. But He is looking for weak and worthless seed. That should be your hope, not your despair.

Reverently argue your poor condition with Him: “Lord, I am poor and needy. Many scoff at me. I scoff at myself. For I am truly hopeless and helpless. But if you will sow me in the earth, all scoffing will be silenced. Think of what they and I will say if you will sow me in the earth with your divine benediction. No more will they mockingly say, ‘What pathetic seed!’ But, rather, ‘What a great Sower!’ O sow me for yourself in the earth. Make me an exhibit of what divine sowing can accomplish with the least promising of materials.”

God always rises to the challenge of this persuasive argument.