The Third Day

" 'Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.'

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." - Hosea 6:1-6 ESV

I love these verses. We see in them the same resurrection that Jesus taught and even boasted about. A coming back to life after three days that changed the nature of love for the individual.

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." - Galatians 2:20 ESV

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve." - 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 ESV

Yes. Messiah needed to die. Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 show that so vividly but the scriptures also specify that He would be raised and the time frame is given in Hosea 6 but it is missed because instead of talking about Messiah directly it talks about those who would be raised up with Him.

Us.

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." - Ephesians 2:4-9 ESV

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." - Colossians 3:1-3 ESV

"From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." - Matthew 16:21 ESV

Jesus taught that He would be raised on the third day but it was not a new teaching. What was unique was that He applied to teaching directly to Himself.

"Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and the last fraud will be worse than the first." - Matthew 27:64 ESV

The Sadducee sect spoken of in the New Testament didn't not believe in a bodily resurrection. The Pharisee sect did. Jesus' claim mocked them and if He even seemed to rise then it would be a further mockery.

Yet Here is Jesus in these next verses. He is not only teaching it... He is boasting about it.

"At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, 'Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.' And he said to them, 'Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.' " - Luke 13:31-32 ESV

From angelic lips there is a reminder of the fulfillment of scripture.

" 'He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.' And they remembered his words," - Luke 24:6-8 ESV

"And he said to them, 'O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." - Luke 24:25-27 ESV

The risen Christ revives these men walking away in disappointment just as He revived Mary and the disciples on His third day post resurrection appearances.

Let's read it again...

" 'Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.'

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." - Hosea 6:1-6 ESV

Before we were revived our love was like a morning cloud. It vanished quickly away. God wanted to give us steadfast love that lasts forever not a life of sacrifice after sacrifice but a deep experiential knowledge of God. A death burial, resurrection, ascension and session with Christ.

"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" - Romans 8:29-31 ESV

Justified by grace and glorified by grace... today let's mix faith with that divine reality.

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