13. To whom will the name Lo-ruhamah then apply, and so who will survive the display of God’s wrath upon the “vessels of wrath”?

¹³ That will be a time for the display of divine wrath upon the “vessels of wrath” and for the display of divine mercy upon the anointed remnant of Christ’s joint heirs who are prefigured by “the house of Judah.” (Rom. 9:22) These will be holding true to the new covenant, the covenant by which Jehovah is married to his spiritual Israel. The remnant being faithful spiritual Israelites, the name Lo-ruhamah (Not Pitied) does not apply to them as it does now to Christendom. (Gal. 6:16; Jas. 1:1; Rev. 7:4-8) It is “by Jehovah their God” that the spiritual remnant will be saved! They will survive!

3. What did Jehovah say to call Gomer’s second child, and why?

³ After Gomer bore to Hosea a legitimate son named Jezreel, how did Hosea’s marriage affairs go in illustration of Jehovah’s affairs with the twelve-tribe nation of Israel? Hosea proceeds to tell the story, saying: “And she proceeded to become pregnant another time and to give birth to a daughter. And He [that is, God] went on to say to him [that is, to Hosea]: ‘Call her name Lo-ruhamah, for I shall no more show mercy again to the house of Israel, because I shall positively take them [the Israelites] away. But to the house of Judah I shall show mercy, and I will save them by Jehovah their God; but I shall not save them [the Judeans] by a bow or by a sword or by war, by horses or by horsemen.’”​—Hos. 1:6, 7.

4. Whom did Gomer’s daughter have as her father, and against whom was her name prophetically directed?

⁴ In the above case, Hosea does not say that Gomer bore “to him” a daughter. So it is generally understood that this daughter who was called Lo-ruhamah was a ‘child of fornication.’ (Hos. 1:2) Such a committing of adultery by Hosea’s wife Gomer matched the course of affairs in the marriage relationship between Jehovah God and the nation of Israel. Of course, in Hosea’s affairs, the vital thing here is the meaning of the name given to Gomer’s daughter​—and the reason why Jehovah told Hosea to call her by that unpleasant, ominous name. The daughter’s name Lo-ruhamah literally means “Not Pitied Female.” Jehovah directed that name prophetically against the spiritually adulterous ten-tribe nation of Israel, with its royal residence at the city of Jezreel. For what reason?

5. In what did Jehovah’s not showing mercy to the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel result, and how will Christendom’s experience be similar?

⁵ In our twentieth century Christendom should listen to Jehovah’s giving of the reason, because the name Lo-ruhamah applies now. The reason He gives applies to Christendom today: “For I shall no more show mercy again to the house of Israel.” (Hos. 1:6) Christendom is now the one unpitied, the one not being shown mercy. Similar to the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, she is given over to spiritual adultery against Jehovah God, with whom she claims to be in marriage relationship by means of the “new covenant” that was mediated by Jesus Christ in the year 33 C.E. (Jer. 31:31-34; Luke 22:19, 20; Heb. 8:6-12) Because, from Hosea’s day onward, Jehovah no longer had mercy upon the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, what resulted? The destruction of that spiritually adulterous kingdom in less than a century afterward, that is, in 740 B.C.E. Similarly, Jehovah’s no longer having mercy upon Israel’s modern-day counterpart will end up in Christendom’s annihilation during the coming “great tribulation” that reaches its climax at Har–Magedon.​—Matt. 24:21, 22.

16. (a) What will Christendom’s rejection as being no part of Jehovah’s people mean for her? (b) What was the second son of Hosea’s wife called, and why?

¹⁶ Now before the outbreak of the “great tribulation” in the near future, is the time for us to avail ourselves of Jehovah’s mercy. Let us never forget: Christendom is to be shown no mercy during the coming tribulation. Hence, we should want to dissociate ourselves from her. At that time her being rejected as being no part of Jehovah’s people will be made known beyond all denial. That will mean destruction for her! She is the Lo-ruhamah (Unpitied One) of today. (Hos. 1:6)