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Hosea 11:8-11

 God was so deeply hurt by Israel's spiritual adultery that He said He would send His people into exile... yet in His next breath (verse 8) what do we hear God saying?


Again we see God agonising over His people, like a Father wrestling over the wayward child He loves.
Two place are named in verse 8, Admah and Zeboyim.
What does Deuteronomy tell you about them both?


On the one hand, God cannot deny His justice, for He is just. On the other, He cannot deny His mercy, for God is love.
How do we see these two contrasting points playing out?

In verses 9-10 how will God resolve this tension?


It is only at the cross that we find that God is both love and utterly just, and neither is compromised.

How does, what you're reading about here in Hosea 11, link to the life of Christ in the gospels?


[Activity] Read 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.
How did God reconcile us to Himself?
How was it possible for a just God to not count our sins against us?

Why did Christ have to come down to earth?
What was the result for us?  

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