Hosea, Chapter Six: Third Day

Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. (Hosea 6:1-3)

The Spirit of Christ is revealing here that after two thousand years of tearing and then healing us, smiting and then binding us up, the Lord will come to us as the harvest and spring rains. In so doing He will "raise us up, and we shall live in His sight."

Because of the above passage, and many others in the writings of the prophets, we are of the opinion that the power and blessing of Christ on and in His Church will increase from the present hour until the Lord returns visibly to the earth. The return of the Lord will be the climax of a slowly-building crescendo of revelation, of godly living, and of Spirit-empowered testimony.

The Lord Jesus Himself will come to us as an ever-increasing downpour of rain—both harvest and seed rain. Is this what Peter announced?

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution [restoration] of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:19-21)

Notice there are to be times (seasons; opportunities) of refreshing and times (periods) of restitution (restoration) of all things. Notice also that these opportunities and periods are associated with the coming of the Lord. According to Peter, God through His prophets has announced the periods of restoration ever since the world began.

We see then, in Hosea and Acts, that the revealing of Christ will not be one simple event that will come upon the world but rather will be the high point, the climax of a steadily-increasing issuance of the Holy Spirit to God’s people.

It does not state that the Lord Jesus will send the rain. It states, rather, that Jesus will come as the rain, as the harvest and seed rain to the earth.

"To them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Hebrews 9:28). There have been refreshing rains of the Holy Spirit during the two thousand years of Church history. All of these have been "comings" of Christ to His Church. However, none of the previous "sendings" of Christ can be compared with the glory yet to come.

The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is not for the purpose of saving us from the troubles of the earth, although we shall be gathered to Him before God pours out His fiery wrath on rebellious and disobedient people. Rather, the coming of the Lord Jesus is the bringing of eternal life to the saints by the resurrection of their mortal bodies and the clothing of their resurrected bodies with bodies of Divine glory. The concept here is that the resurrection of the righteous is the climax of the overcoming life of victorious faith.

We shall be delivered from persecution when the Lord is revealed. It is the appearing of the Lord that will destroy the enemy.

The purpose of our resurrection and ascension is not that we may escape the enemy or the necessary lessons God is teaching us in the wilderness of this life.

The doctrine of escape from vexing circumstances by means of the Day of the Lord is something like the idea that graduation from school is an escape from doing your homework. Graduation is a time of rejoicing for the diligent student, but graduation day may be filled with remorse and shame for the student who has been careless in school.

The Day of Christ will be a fearful time of judgment and rewards. Christ is coming to raise the Church and to reward each believer according to his works. He is bringing bodies of life like His glorious body. The more faithful we have been the more life we will receive. There is a reward for diligent, faithful, holy Christian living.

"In the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." Our bodies will be raised on the "third day" and we shall be clothed with resurrection life. The purpose of such Divine impartation is that we may "live in his sight." We shall "live" during the "third day."

The third day: the thousand-year Kingdom Age. The third day is the Millennial Jubilee, the thousand-year period during which the Lord Jesus and His saints will shepherd the nations with a rod of iron. We are being prepared now to be raised at the appearing of the Lord Jesus and to live in His sight—in the throne of God and on the earth at the same time just as He lives in the throne of God and on the earth at the same time.

The thousand-year Kingdom Age will be an era, a wonderful era, and it is close at hand. The "going forth" of Christ is the dawning of the new day the Lord has made for us. The nations of the earth will learn righteousness in that hour, and the Wife of the Lamb will live in His Presence and be purified and transformed by His Glory.

When we observe "all Israel," the whole Church of God, at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age, the effect of the thousand-year work of God in Christ is apparent. She is now ready to descend to earth as the city of God Almighty, being able to gaze in adoration on the Face of God Himself.

The thousand-year Kingdom Age is the subject of much of the writings of the Hebrew prophets. Our position during the Kingdom Age will be that of rulers over cities, just as is true of the evil lords of darkness in the present hour.

The Church will cast down the evil lords of darkness and assume their vantage points of dominion over the earth. This is why the third death and third resurrection are so important. We cannot be assigned such responsibility until it has been demonstrated beyond a doubt that we are to be trusted.

The authority, power, life, responsibility, opportunities for service, discussed in the second and third chapters of Revelation, are "licenses" that give evidence of adequate preparation. We do not earn the licenses by accumulating points. Rather, we allow the Holy Spirit to prepare us for the roles associated with the royal priesthood.

Current Christian thinking is in error concerning the royal priesthood. The concept is that by grace through faith we will be made members of the Bride, of the royal priesthood. This is not at all true. This would be equivalent to saying that those on whom the state has mercy will be given a license to practice medicine.

No person will be made a member of the royal priesthood until he or she has been adequately trained. Mercy and grace are a lifeline to the sinner; but the royal priesthood consists of sons of God who have experienced very difficult training and have passed the most rigorous testing imaginable.

If we are not faithful in this life in that which is least there is no possibility that we will reign with Christ. The teaching that indifferent church-attenders suddenly will be transformed into spiritual kings and priests of Christ proceeds from ignorance of Kingdom realities. We reap exactly what we sow in this life.

We know the parable of the ruler who gave out the talents as he took his leave. When he returned he demanded an accounting of his money. To those who had been diligent he entrusted the oversight of cities.

If we are diligent with the grace of God entrusted to us, giving time each day to the single-minded seeking and serving of the Lord Jesus, He will put us in charge of cities on the earth, just as He promised.

If we are not diligent, having taken the initial step of salvation in Christ but then having spent our days in the things of the world, we assuredly will not be entrusted with greater responsibility. Furthermore we run the risk of having the faith and the opportunity for service that we do have taken from us by the Lord and given to another believer who is employing everything God has given him in the fight to establish the will of God in the earth.

Violent times are just ahead and we will need every bit of grace we possess. So let us be diligent with the things of the Lord.

Let us take heed to ourselves and to what Christ has given us for He will come to us suddenly and demand an accounting. Let us be like faithful Moses, serving Christ with all our heart, soul, mind and strength so that no matter when He comes to us we will rejoice to see Him and will be glad for our earthly conduct as we render to Him an accounting of our actions.

The manner in which we are responding to Christ now is having a direct effect on our lives during the ages to come. If we are faithful warriors we will be numbered among His mighty men, His rulers, when He appears. If we have been careless and indifferent we will be ashamed before Him at His coming.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power [authority], but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4-6)

One of the most important concepts of the "third day" is that of rulership. John beheld "thrones" and "they" sat on them. We understand from Daniel, Chapter Seven, and Revelation, Chapter Three, that "they" are the saints of Christ, the victorious believers. "Judgment" was given to them.

Many passages of both Old and New Testaments inform us that Christ and His faithful ones are coming to judge the heaven and the earth, destroying sin and sinners and extending the righteous rule of Christ throughout the earth.

Another concept is that of discipleship. The rulers and judges of the third day are those who give their lives for Christ in the spiritual sense, and sometimes physically as well. They live their lives in obedience to the Holy Spirit and consistently testify to the truth of the Word of God, no matter what it may cost them in suffering or inconvenience.

They are "living sacrifices" whether or not they live or die in the physical body (Hebrews 11:4). They are not careless Christians but are the dedicated disciples of the Lord Jesus.

They will not worship the God of this age or any institution that Satan-directed man sets up. They are steadfastly for Christ and against Antichrist. They come out from the lust and murder of the world and purge themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. They refuse to serve Satan. They turn away from the pleasures of the flesh.

Whatever sacrifice Christ requires of them they offer with diligence. They count themselves as dead and Christ as their life. They present their bodies a living sacrifice and are changed into the Spirit of the Lord rather than the spirit of the world. They are transformed by the renewing of their mind as they meditate continually in the Word of God.

The work of their hands is dedicated to the service of God, and they cannot be frightened into bondage to the world economic system. They would starve to death before they would deny Christ. They are ready to walk in faith, as the Lord leads, and trust God for their daily bread, their families, their clothes, their shelter.

These rulers and judges have overcome the God of this age and their own flesh, being ready at all times to go outside the camp with Christ, bearing His rejection and humiliation. They esteem "the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt," for they have "respect to the recompence of the reward" (Hebrews 11:26).

"They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." "We shall live in His sight."

We are in the pursuit of Divine life. It is not enough merely to "accept" Christ and then return to our customary way of living. We must spend our days sowing to the resurrection, just as Paul did (Philippians 3:11; Galatians 6:8).

We must make a total effort if we are to lay hold on eternal life. We cannot hold back one particle of our personality but must give all to the quest. There is life more abundantly in Christ. Abundant resurrection life is a prize we gain by sharing the sufferings of Christ.

The "first resurrection" of Revelation, Chapter 20 (not the first of the three resurrections that are the subject of our book) is the resurrection of the conscientious Christians who are faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus. It is the out-resurrection Paul was striving to attain (Philippians 3:11).

Those who attain the first resurrection are "blessed and holy." The second death, the Lake of Fire, has no authority over them.

Perfecting the Church and governing the nations. The ruling saints abide eternally in the consuming Fire. They are made ever more pure in Christ’s image by the Divine Fire because their Substance is Divine gold. Their reward is to be "priests of God and of Christ."

The victorious saints will represent and bring the Presence of God and Christ throughout the creation for one thousand years. During the thousand-year Kingdom Age the whole Church of Christ will be perfected. The nations of the earth, through the Church, will be taught of the Person and ways of God Almighty and of His beloved Son (John 17:21-23).

The perfecting of Israel, the Church of God, is described by the Spirit of Christ speaking through Isaiah:

For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. (Isaiah 51:3)

O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. (Isaiah 54:11-13)

A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time. (Isaiah 60:22)

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. (Isaiah 61:3)

The holy city, the new Jerusalem, the Church of Christ, is being constructed. It will be perfected during the ages to come. As the Church is being perfected by the Lord the members will be busy serving Christ as kings and priests throughout the creation. They will restore everything of worth that has been destroyed. We now are entering the program that is perfecting us in Christ and we are ready to serve Christ throughout the earth as He directs. However, we shall "live" during the Kingdom Age to an extent not available in the present hour.

And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. (Isaiah 61:4)

The members of the Body of Christ will bring redemption to every person on the earth who does not resist the lordship of Christ.

I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. (Isaiah 42:6,7)

The role of the Church is to teach the nations the righteous ways of the Lord.

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:2,3)

The thousand-year Kingdom Age is the "third day" of Hosea, Chapter Six, according to our understanding. The victorious saints will rule as kings and serve as priests of God and Christ throughout the thousand-year period of peace, a peace enforced by a rod of iron. There will be righteousness on the earth.

Our ability to assume such a high level of authority and responsibility depends on our willingness to obey God now. He has three deaths and three resurrections to bring us through. The third death and resurrection, that of victory through consecration and obedience, must be wrought in us if we are to attain the resurrection of more abundant fruit and enormous power and authority to which the Lord has called us in Christ.

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