Hosea Six, Second Day: Revival

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 6:2,3)

God's Holy Spirit always is available to the believer who is under the new covenant. The Scripture indicates that there will be "seasons of refreshing"—special outpourings that will accomplish specific purposes in the Kingdom of God. We are to ask of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain (Zechariah 10:1).

It is time now to pray earnestly for the anointing of the Lord. We can receive a portion if we ask and keep on asking (Luke, Chapter 11).

Keeping in mind that the Holy Spirit always is ready to come in greater measure to the insistent seeker, and that there have been fruitful revivals throughout Church history, it appears that there are to be three major outpourings of the Spirit that will flow from the resurrection of Christ. "He shall come to us as the rain, as the latter and former rain to the earth."

The Christian Era began with the first appearing of Christ and the outpouring of revelation and power on the disciples of the early Church at the first Pentecost. Apparently this outpouring ceased, to a certain extent, after the first century. The writings of the saints after that appear to be not as authoritative in tone or as revelatory in content. We begin to see the mind of man rising in dominance over the mind of the Spirit of God in matters pertaining to the Body of Christ.

The second outpouring began, we believe, with the Protestant Reformers and is slowly increasing in revelation and power to the present day. It is our understanding that the second outpouring is being given impetus in the day in which we live and that the revelation, holiness, and power of this "latter-rain" eventually will exceed all past revivals by a wide margin.

The third outpouring will be during the Millennial Jubilee, the thousand-year Kingdom Age. The Presence of the Holy Spirit in that day will fill the whole earth. It will make the first and second revivals seem like the merest mercy drops by comparison.

Let us examine the second outpouring, the second "day" of Hosea, Chapter Six. Notice the wording, "after two days will he revive us: in the third day he shall raise us up." We believe this to mean there will be two, thousand-year periods (perhaps the days will be shortened!) from Christ's resurrection to His second coming. It appears that during this interval of time there will take place the two major outpourings of the Spirit of God of which we have spoken.

After that, as we understand it, there will arise much sin and trouble and the result will be a worldwide falling away from the Christian faith. Then the Lord Jesus will appear with His army and the forces of wickedness will be destroyed. The appearing of the Lord is the "third day," of Hosea, Chapter Six., Then we shall live "in his sight."

There have been and yet will be several sendings of Jesus to us in the form of "seasons of refreshing." These will increase in revelation, holiness, and power until they are climaxed by Jesus' coming "in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11).

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)

Experience and Scripture seem to point out that every season of refreshing that has come to us as individuals, and to the Church as a whole, has been a sending of Christ to us. But He will not make His full appearance until "the times of restoration of all things." Then He will descend from Heaven in the same manner as He ascended to Heaven.

Just before the descending of the Lord Jesus from Heaven there will be revivals that are so tremendous in revelation, holiness, and power that both the saved and the unsaved will become ripe for harvesting. Jesus will not return to the earth until both righteousness and sin have come to maturity. Then He will descend. The revivals that have been and yet are ahead are for the purpose of causing righteousness and sin to come to maturity.

The glory of the first-century revival was so great that the account in Acts seems a myth. As Christians, we believe the Bible record. However, our spiritual environment is so impoverished that we revere the record of Acts in much the same manner that the adherents of the religions of the world revere their books of beginnings.

The books of beginnings of the religions of the world are largely mythological. The Gospel accounts and the Book of Acts are factual records of people who were no more than perfect than we. The difference between us and them is that they were abiding under a cloud of glory that most of us have not known as yet. The cloud was lifted after the first century. That was the "seed rain," the "former rain," preparing the earth for the sowing of the Seed of Christ.

God began to renew the Church with the revelation of grace that was given to the Protestant Reformers and also by non-Catholic translations of the Scriptures. If one studies Church history from the time of the Reformers it appears there has been a gradual increase of revelation, holiness, and power manifest in the assemblies of the saints. The Divine restoration is like a tide coming in. The waves of glory flow and ebb but the tide is rising slowly and steadily.

There were powerful outpourings of the Holy Spirit in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Revival rains swept Wales toward the close of the nineteenth century. The appearance of tongues and other apostolic gifts characterized the early days of the twentieth century.

Missionary work was given strong assistance by the Pentecostal revival. In the middle of the twentieth century there came an addition to the end-time revival in the form of the spreading of speaking in tongues to the members of the historic denominations.

During the 1960's a revival took place in Indonesia that is reported to have included many of the miracles of the Bible. We have not mentioned other outstanding outpourings, such as the revivals in Nagaland, in Africa, and among isolated tribes in South America and other locations. Our purpose is to point to the fact that from the days of the Reformers to the present hour the tide of revelation, holiness, and power has been rising.

Revival has not as yet reached its destined peak. It will keep on rising until the revelation of God's Word, the holiness of God's people, and the strength of the anointing of power have progressed far beyond the first-century outpouring.

The knowledge of God will increase greatly, and the defense against sin will be established even in "troublous times" (Daniel 9:25). Saints will emerge from the womb of the Church who will perform miracles in the realm of nature—stupendous acts of power comparable to the stopping of the movement of the sun and moon at the word of Joshua.

The result of the extraordinary increase of Divine Presence and power will be the preparing of the Church for the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ from Heaven.

Every valley of the Church will be elevated. The mountains will be brought down and the crooked places will be made straight. A highway of holiness will be constructed on which the weakest of believers will be able to walk without stumbling.

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Isaiah 40:5)

Then the Lord Jesus will come to be glorified in His saints and to be "admired in all of them that believe" (II Thessalonians 1:10).

He has kept the good wine until now. The last days, those just before Jesus appears, will witness the "greater works" that Jesus promised.

The second day of Hosea, Chapter Six is the revival that is available to us now. The present revival will reach a climax, as portrayed by the ministry of the two witnesses, and then God will allow it to abate until sin has attained its foul maturing in the earth.

Finally the Lord Jesus will appear and the enemy will be destroyed. The Lord's appearing will be the "third day," and to those who look for Him He will return without sin, bringing the full blessing of redemption. Then we shall live in His sight—spirit, soul, and body.

We will receive the fullness of the Divine inheritance provided we follow on to know the Lord. He has come to us as the former rain. He now is coming as the latter (harvest) rain. Finally He will return in Person as the glorious morning of the Day of the Lord—the Day that never will end.

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