Introduction
Good morning. Let's continue our study of Hosea, chapter 11. After examining the first ten chapters of Hosea, one might conclude that our God is too harsh! Observing the events of this world closely, one might summarize a phenomenon: God is too fierce, crushing people as if they were ants. Out of six hundred thousand Israelite soldiers, only Joshua and Caleb entered the Promised Land. The rest were killed by God with plagues, tens of thousands by swords, and later, tens of thousands more were struck down in various incidents. Seeing this, we might feel that God is particularly ruthless. If one does not reach this conclusion, one does not know how formidable God is! In these past years, I have personally witnessed many things and I know that God is very powerful. However, in this study of Hosea, chapter 11, God feels that such a conclusion is incorrect. Through this chapter, He speaks the following words.
How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboyim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. (Hosea 11:8)
If you observe deeply enough, you will discover that God has abundant mercy, far exceeding what we ask or imagine. Not to mention you all, even I myself have said many blasphemous things. We unconsciously speak words that blaspheme God. If God were so ruthless, He would have crushed me long ago. So why hasn't He crushed me? Of course, many people have been crushed in this process. Later, I began to wonder if those Israelites who died in the wilderness could have deeply repented, would God have reduced their sentence to twenty years? In fact, God does not truly want to destroy. This chapter speaks of how God will not abandon us!
If you observe a little more deeply, you will conclude that God will not abandon us. God is truly not a triad boss. So consider this carefully, we are all able to turn to God because of His grace. We used to live in sin, in a state of being estranged from God. God reminded us time and time again, but it was like speaking to a deaf person, and it is still the same today. If people do not know that the spiritual realm is real, it is difficult to follow God. Even if they know it now, it is useless if they forget it later.
God Loves Us as His Own Sons
In fact, people all come from God, so God loves us. We are truly the sons of God.
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. (Hosea 11:1)
This sentence may refer to Jesus Christ, who died for us on the cross. We have this grace, that through faith in Jesus Christ we can boldly come before God. In fact, God's plan is truly for us to emulate Him through faith in Jesus Christ, to become children of the living God. If you are willing, you will surely become a child of the living God. God wants to do this, to allow people to return to God and become His children. So Jesus Christ is the firstborn, and we all come before God through the path opened up by Jesus Christ, to become children of the living God.
Since we are truly the sons of God, why does God still kill those people? Are you all confused again? In reality, people are not killed by God as soon as they make a mistake. It is that people make mistakes, are disciplined by God, and then continue to make mistakes and continue to be disciplined by God. There are many people who are disciplined by God even if they do not know Him at all, so that they may experience God. Before the New Year, a sister said that her daughter-in-law had a tumor on her waist. I said: That's great! She can get to know God. But this sister did not think so. However, what I am most worried about is that people focus all their attention on the healing of the sick. I wonder why she doesn't focus on becoming a child of God? She simply doesn't know what a rich glory it is to be a child of God. Have you ever thought about how your illness came about? You see God's work in your home, but you believe in yours and I believe in mine. Isn't there freedom of religion? This time there is no freedom.
A few days ago, the father of one of our co-workers couldn't open his mouth, but he was very blessed. If he stubbornly insisted on going to the hospital, we really couldn't do anything. I told him what to do and built up his faith. I told him it was okay, because I had seen all kinds of strange diseases. When we first started praying, his cheeks swelled up and he spit out a lot of pus and blood from his mouth at night. That meant it was loosening up and getting better. People will be ruined if they have no faith, because God uses cords of kindness and ropes of love to draw us to become children of the living God. There are many such stories.
A sister called from afar and said she wanted to share a testimony. Her younger brother had been rebellious since he was a child. Later, I gave her a trick and she did what I said. Don't think her younger brother is young, he is actually about to retire. She kept emulating God as I said, giving out love, and as a result, the relationship was repaired. Her mother is over ninety years old and especially missed her weak son, to the point that her legs swelled up. Later, after praying, the swelling went down, but after a few days it swelled up again. She was worried about her weak son who was not good at making money and had messed up the family. He was truly the kind of person who was not loved by his uncles or aunts, and lived a very hard life. Now that the relationship has been repaired, the old woman's heart is not so worried. So God's cords of kindness and ropes of love have been drawing us, because He loves us as He loves His own sons.
I led Ephraim with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them. (Hosea 11:3-4)
God constantly sent prophets to call them, and one was killed after another. Doesn't this prove one thing: God does not abandon us? God truly does not want people to actively walk into destruction. What's the point of walking into destruction? A long time ago, my former boss liked to tell his story during the Chinese New Year when everyone was gathered together for dinner. He and two of his closest brothers went to the cemetery at one or two o'clock in the morning to shout: Is there a God? Are there ghosts? No, right? They didn't see any ghosts at the time, but they have been seeing ghosts ever since. So blaspheming God is a very serious matter. Later, one misfortune after another befell him, to the point of being outrageous. In the end, nothing worked and he was about to jump off the building due to investment failure. A relative in his family took him to church, and he later began to believe in the Lord.
Such an arrogant person thought that his eyes could see the spiritual realm. As long as a person is alive, he will definitely experience things in the spiritual realm. People who have lived for thirty or forty years cannot not experience things in the spiritual realm. Those who do not know God and focus all day on work, life, and the little things in the world are miserable. When my former boss went to church, I didn't know God at the time and was still seeking. Later, I also believed in the Lord, and then I found a job there. People are inherently arrogant and don't know the immensity of heaven and earth. In fact, it is ignorance, as the saying goes, Ignorance is fearless.
Why does God heal us and supply us with food, drink, and things to use? Because God wants us to know Him through healing and supply. Regardless of whether people believe in the Lord or not, God will provide for them until they perish. At some stage of God's provision for people until they perish, if a person repents to God, that person will become a child of God. Don't say that old people miss their sons. Is there anyone who is not missed by our God? Especially when God sees a son who is very rebellious and cannot do anything well, He still misses and provides for these people. Even now, there are still many people who think that their money is earned by themselves. In fact, it is all provided by God. It is God who puts food in front of them. If a person cannot conclude in his life that it is God who is providing for him, does not know this God, does not turn to God, and thinks that everything he has is earned by himself, then that is also quite blasphemous.
People Who Forsake God Will Surely Experience Disaster
Don't think that because God does not abandon us and loves us as He loves His own sons, you can be rebellious and not be disciplined by God. If people are rebellious, they will definitely be disciplined by God. You can try being arrogant a few more times, and still murmur in your heart, Where do God and ghosts come from? Before long, ghosts and God will come, and you will surely experience disaster! Even those of us who trust in God are disciplined by God if our thoughts and intentions are occasionally dirty. If you blaspheme God, will God not discipline you?
But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. (Hosea 11:2)
Sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to images will surely suffer.
They will not return to Egypt, but Assyria will be their king, because they refused to repent. (Hosea 11:5)
If you do not turn to God, someone will surely discipline you, and that person will be quite fierce. You finally find a job, but you encounter a particularly fierce boss, then you can only endure it and do it. There is no way to avoid suffering. There are too many stories like this. If I were to tell all the ones I have seen, I would never finish. As soon as people have a little money, they become so arrogant that they don't even know how to walk.
The sword will flash in their cities, it will devour their false prophets and put an end to their plans. (Hosea 11:6)
People who do not trust in God will experience these disasters, and the ending will be very tragic. But everyone must know that God's purpose is not destruction.
God's Purpose Is Not Destruction
Some may ask, haven't many people on earth been destroyed? Observe closely – the world is not short of cases of destruction, even annihilation of entire families. Homes are invaded by gunmen, and seemingly at random, certain individuals are killed. Others are struck and killed by vehicles. These occurrences are not accidental; they are the culmination of a process. Before a person reaches such a point, God would have undoubtedly tried to reach out, called out to them, urging them to turn back and become sons of God. God created many, some of whom become sons of God, while others remain obstinate, vessels manifesting His wrath.
Often, during prayer, I receive requests to pray for someone, such as a request to pray for a woman’s brother who is in a vegetative state after a car accident. If you are familiar with this person, you will gradually see that turning away from God inevitably leads to calamity. This is not a matter of a day or two, but the result of continuous accumulation. Even so, understand that God’s purpose is not destruction. Even when people are in dire straits, they trust in doctors or science. If you observe carefully, you’ll find that what science can cure, God can also cure; and what science cannot cure, God still can. The most perverse thing is that people simply do not want to trust in God.
How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboyim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. (Hosea 11:8)
Are you familiar with the story? During Lot’s time, the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Zeboyim, and Admah were allied as four kings, but were defeated by the five kings led by Chedorlaomer. The Bible does not record what happened after the defeat, but Admah and Zeboyim must have suffered a great disaster. Later, Abraham defeated Chedorlaomer and rescued Lot, the king of Sodom, and their families and followers. As for Admah and Zeboyim, they were hardly mentioned. We do not know what exactly happened there, perhaps they were massacred, but in any case, they were gone.
God says: How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboyim? Meaning that it would be easy for God to destroy a city, but He relents, His compassion is greatly aroused. Repeated discipline is simply to make people realize that they truly cannot rely on themselves. If you still think you are capable, God will give you a true understanding of yourself. I have said this many times: do not think you are great. When you reach the point where you cannot urinate, defecate, drink water, eat, or breathe, nothing you say will matter.
When a person’s eyes cannot see, their ears cannot hear, their legs cannot walk, it is distressing no matter which part of their body fails. So, never think you are very capable, otherwise you will not only suffer, but in the end, you will not be capable at all. God’s purpose is not destruction. Reflect carefully, and you will realize that God actually wants to guide us to His presence, to become sons of the eternal God. God sees human life as empty, and all the efforts to rely on oneself in this life will not amount to much.
God Will Not Abandon Us
Why does calamity repeatedly befall us? Because we push God to a certain extent, and in the end, God sends out old horses to destroy people! These old horses are terrible things. There are many entities like old horses in the heavens. Not only can Lao Tzu’s mount come down and harm people, but any such entities that come down will harm people, enough to cause great trouble. But our God will not abandon us; He calls to us again and again until we are destroyed.
My people are determined to turn from me. Even though they call to the Most High, he will by no means exalt them. (Hosea 11:7)
I have a conviction that a person has a time to be born and a time to die in this life, and before death, we should see if we have the potential to become sons of God. If death arrives and we have not become sons of God, we become vessels of God’s wrath and are destroyed! In common terms, we kick the bucket, unable to even hiccup or fart. God will not abandon us, but you will observe that people abandon God themselves. God calls out again and again, but people simply do not turn to God. God sends a prophet to speak to them, but people do not believe it. Some people do not live well while they are alive. Although there is a time to live and a time to die, they advance their own death because doing bad things shortens one’s life.
During the Tang Dynasty, there was a formidable general named Luo Cheng, who dominated the battlefield from his teens, with extraordinary martial skills. Emperor Taizong of Tang had a strategist named Xu Maogong, who was an unparalleled fortune teller. He predicted that Luo Cheng would live to 73, but Luo Cheng did many harmful things; each harmful act shortened his life by 10 years. After doing five harmful things, his lifespan was reduced to only 23, and he died pierced by a hail of arrows. There is a saying called Luo Cheng’s fortune telling; Luo Cheng told the fortune teller that Xu Maogong predicted he would live to 73.
How could the fortune teller say that Luo Cheng would only live to 23? The fortune teller told Luo Cheng: Every time you do something harmful, your lifespan is shortened by 10 years. You have done it five times, reducing it to 23. Luo Cheng was very unhappy and smashed the fortune teller’s stall. The old fortune teller stood up and transformed, revealing himself as a deity, and Xu Maogong’s mentor. This is a story. Although there is a time to live and a time to die, you must wake up before you die, before God abandons you. Do not abandon God!
I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man— the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath. (Hosea 11:9)
God Still Hopes People Will Turn to Him
They will follow the Lord when he roars like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west. They will come trembling like birds from Egypt, like doves from Assyria. I will settle them in their homes, declares the Lord. (Hosea 11:10-11)
Did you see that God settled them in their homes? It is normal for people to want to own their own homes. God does not ignore your eating, drinking, and housing; in fact, not only food, clothing, housing, and transportation, but everything related to human life can be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Do not live those miserable days anymore. God is calling us, waiting for us to turn to Him. If God did not hope we would turn, He would have crushed us long ago, without waiting for the years of destruction. So, while we are alive, we must observe that God is in control of everything.
Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, Israel with deceit. And Judah is unruly against God, even against the faithful Holy One. (Hosea 11:12)
God hopes that you can turn to Him while you are still alive, but if your heart is hardened and you are unwilling to turn, and you allow your foolishness to continue running forward, then anything can happen. God raised a bastard son, but God still hopes that this person can turn to Him. Carefully observe whether turning to God is good or not. Those who turn to God lack nothing in terms of food, clothing, housing, and transportation. Those who trust in God lack no good thing! God is the God who heals us. Why do we still rely on hospitals? Because you have no faith. However, those who have faith are ultimately healed.
God hopes that people will turn to Him, listing the benefits of being children of God one by one so that you know that you will lack nothing in this life, and you will lack nothing in eternal life. People can come before God until they see God’s face and become children of the eternal God. The most fatal thing for people is that they only see the things right in front of them. If you could see what is beyond the urn, then the things in front of you would all be resolved. Children of the eternal God will certainly not lack anything, whether it is food, clothing, or work, they will certainly not lack. Some people are so muddled, they have just experienced God and then say blasphemous things, complaining to me that they have no time to pray, spending all their time working, thinking that work is their god.
We must all know that God will not abandon us; it is people who abandon God first, because of family, children, life, and the entanglements of this life. There was a couple who were doing well and loved God, but after the woman became pregnant, they thought about trying to save the fetus. But can you guarantee that you can save the fetus by relying on yourself? After a lot of fuss, they could not save it and began to have symptoms of a miscarriage. How can a person guarantee that they can save a fetus on their own? To abandon God in order to save a fetus is foolish and doesn’t add up. Unfortunately, people are like this: when God does not give grace, they are still okay; but when He gives a little grace, they forget God. They simply do not know God’s grace and are too ignorant. When something happens, they remember to find me quickly to pray for them, but I want to tell you that you do not decide whether you can have a child or not; you do not decide whether you can save this child or not; and you do not decide whether this child will be foolish after birth or not.
People just cannot understand and blindly struggle, accumulating wrath for themselves before God, repeatedly struggling until God is enraged. This process is enough to cause great trouble. Everyone must remember this sentence: know that God gives you grace to guide you to repentance, not to make you love the world more, but to make you know God more. God gives you grace not to make you perish, but to give you eternal life!
May God bless everyone.