Surely this is true for the Jews even today. Few indeed of them know who Jesus is and have accepted him as their Lord. So the overwhelming bulk of the Jews on earth will have to live through the horrors of the Tribulation; Jews living in Jerusalem will have to suffer all the horrors described about that time in Zechariah 14 and elsewhere.
But this verse also applies to some believers in Jesus today who just do not know all that God is and what he has for us. So many are just unwilling to spend the time studying or reading the Bible and being guided by the Holy Spirit. They prefer to attend church like going to a theater, to watch and hear what some other person has to say. Even if that person is an excellent teacher and preacher, he has only a limited amount of time in these formal services to teach a point.
Without knowledge, so many of God’s believers do not know all the tools he has for our protection. They do not know the reality of divine healing. They do not have revelation of what is happening and soon to happen. And they make life decisions without the divine guidance that is so crucial and valuable.
I know of a very famous pastor who was led into his life’s work by the above verse. He was sitting in an audience at some type of religious service. People were called forward for some reason, and as they went forward he saw them as stick figures, as line pencil drawings. He was horrified and called out to God, what is this? God answered with the above verse from Hosea. And his ministry really was born.
In the book of Jeremiah, God describes his people then (the Jews, for there were no Christian believers then) as being foolish, not knowing him, being stupid children, not having any understanding (Jeremiah 4:22) . The book of Isaiah explains why the northern Israeli tribes had gone into captivity by saying they have no knowledge (Isaiah 5:13).
In this most difficult of times in which we are living, do your best to read and meditate about the Bible every day. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your understanding, reveal truths, even to guide you to the specific section you should be reading at a particular time. Use our materials and those of other serious Bible based ministries to help. You don’t want God applying Hosea 4:6 to you.
Copyright © 2026 by John Newlin
January 2026
Please
forward copies of this to whomever you would.
KEEP YOUR
EYES ON JESUS!
JOHN NEWLIN MINISTRIES
P O BOX 1038
CARY, NC 27518
https://johnnewlinministries.org
email: john@johnnewlinministries.org
X.com/johnnewlinmin
Blog: johnnewlin.blogspot.com
tel 910 395 1465
Please forward copies of this to whomever you would.
