Hosea Six: First 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 : 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)

Three Outpourings of the Holy Spirit.

There are to be three principal outpourings of God's Holy Spirit under the new covenant: the first day, the second day, and the third day.

When we are drawing attention to the overall plan of redemption it is necessary that we do not lose sight of our present opportunities. God's Holy Spirit always is available to the individual Christian as he pursues the will of Christ for his own life. It is not wise to become so involved with the historical acts of God to the point that we are left with the impression that we must wait for some momentous happening before we can seek Christ.

The reason each of us does not have more of God than we do is that we do not take advantage of our inheritance in Christ. We do not possess because we do not ask. Only our lack of faith stands between us and revival in our own life and circumstances. It always is God's will that when two or more Christians gather together in Christ's name that Christ Himself come to bless the assembly with His power and glory. In many instances our deadness and dryness are due to our own lack of faith and obedience.

Nevertheless, it may be helpful and heartening for us to understand the plan of redemption from the historical view, as God works in the earth perfecting the Body of Christ and making the necessary preparations for the establishing of His Kingdom, His will, on the earth.

The three outpourings of the Holy Spirit are as follows:

The first appearing of Christ and the outpouring of power and revelation on the Christian Church of the first century.

The second outpouring of power and revelation, commencing with the Protestant Reformers and continuing to this day. We believe that the second outpouring will increase in intensity and scope until the extent of the Glory of God on the Church will exceed by a wide margin that of the first century.

The second revival, the latter rain, will peak and then be withdrawn for a season. It will be withdrawn for two reasons: so that the sun of persecution and testing can bring the wheat of the Church to maturity, and so that the forces of evil can attain maturity. The wheat and the tares will grow to maturity side by side until the end of the age.

The third of the three outpourings, the Kingdom-Age Jubilee. Just prior to the appearing of Christ from Heaven, and in conjunction with His appearing, the fullness of the Presence of the Godhead will enter the Body of Christ in fulfillment of the Levitical feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:39; John 14:18-23; Isaiah 60:1-3). Then the Lord Jesus will appear in the clouds of the heaven and the Holy Spirit will be poured on the earth to a degree we cannot imagine in the present hour. The Glory of God will cover the earth just as the earth originally was covered with water. The Glory of God will be everywhere.

The new heaven and earth reign of Christ is not really a fourth outpouring of the Spirit; rather, it is "waters to swim in." In the new heaven and earth reign of Christ, the Throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the earth rather than in Heaven. At that time the Holy Spirit cannot come down to earth from Heaven as a "rushing mighty wind" because He will be abiding in His Fullness in the earth for eternity.

The Christian Church is the new Jerusalem. The Throne of God is being fashioned in the hearts of the members of the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit always flows from the Throne of God. The saints will enjoy the fullness of the Presence of the Spirit forever.

Healing commences with tearing.

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. (Hosea 6:1)

The Lord has torn us and He will heal us. He has struck us and He will bind us up. God's process of healing commences with a tearing, His process of binding up commences with a striking.

The Day of the Lord begins with the evening, the darkness. It is in the latter part of the Day that the light and the joy appear. We always must keep that order in mind or we will become discouraged when the darkness is pressing us down.

Each of the three resurrections we are describing in this book commences with a death. There is no route into a deeper phase of redemption other than by the indicated death, the necessary judgment. The three hangings of the Tabernacle portray the three deaths.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. (John 16:20-22)

Whenever the Lord prepares to bring forth an individual or a church into an increase in the joy of His Presence, He causes the individual or the church to go into sorrow and travail. Our deeper experiences with God often are preceded by a period of trial and heart searching. Then the enlargement comes. It can be true also of an assembly of people that God will bring a group of believers through a travail of spirit just before He adds to their spiritual strength.

If we would know the power of Christ's resurrection we must be willing to carry our load of Christ's sufferings.

The glory of the first outpouring.

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. (Hosea 6:2)

So great was the outpouring of the first of the two "days," the first-century outpouring of God's Glory, that the account seems legendary when compared with the condition of the Christian Church during the subsequent centuries.

Nearly two thousand years ago Christ came in the Fullness of God. Christ walked on the earth in the power of the coming Kingdom Age, in the glory of the Kingdom Jubilee. Jesus did not communicate with the people of His day through a ministry or gift of the Spirit as we do. He Himself is the Fullness of the Spirit of power and revelation. Christ does not see dimly as in a mirror. He knows and understands just as He is known and understood by the Father.

Yet, Jesus was tested and required to walk by faith. At the necessary time God turned away from Christ until the sin offering could be made. Then Christ ascended. As part of the power and glory of His ascension He gave gifts of ministry to His Body, the Church. All these gifts are part of Christ Himself. Christ came to the first-century Church through the ministry of the apostles, the prophets, the teachers, the word of knowledge, and so forth.

There was a powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit on the ministries of the early churches, an anointing that resulted in the spreading of the Gospel to the ends of the earth; that resulted also in the writing of the New Testament. The writings of the Apostles have been the judge of all spiritual activity that has taken place since that time.

Then, it appears, the first anointing was lifted.

God knew that mankind was not ready to possess the full flowing of the Holy Spirit just as God knew that Adam and Eve would be unable to possess the Garden of Eden. It is one matter to be visited with the Presence of God. It is quite a different matter to be able to maintain that Presence successfully.

The church of the first century paralleled the life of Abraham. Abraham wandered in the land of promise as in a strange land four hundred seventy years before his descendants crossed the Jordan and began the conquest of Canaan. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not able to occupy so large a territory. Also, the sin of the Amorites had not come to the time of judgment (Genesis 15:16).

Therefore the Lord directed Jacob into Egypt as the place where the children of Israel were to multiply until they were numerous enough to become an invading force, and until the sin of the Canaanites had descended to depths sufficient to merit judgment and destruction from the almighty God.

The first-century revival was a parallel situation. The Church was not spiritually developed enough to occupy the earth. Also, the sin and rebellion of the peoples of the earth had not reached the depths sufficient to justify the judgment and expression of God's wrath that has been determined.

The Apostles and the early Church wandered as Abraham in the land of promise, so to speak. Christ realized that His Church was not strong enough at that time to occupy the earth, which is His ultimate plan. Also, the fierce wrath of God, kindled from before the foundation of the earth, was not ready yet for its awful exercise.

The first-century revival was as a season of planting seed, as well as a first reaping of the earth. The ministry of the early Church was dominated by the Apostles. Christ called multitudes of people out of the bondage of the spirit of the world as He ministered through and with the Apostles. Also, the believers went everywhere preaching the Word.

We understand from Paul's writings that considerable confusion existed in the young churches. Apparently the transition from Moses to Christ gave the Jews severe theological problems. There was dissension even among the Apostles themselves. Peter and James were advocating circumcision while Paul was teaching doctrine so new and complex that some were misunderstanding it and going off into error (II Peter 3:16).

Not all the Christians were certain of Paul's apostleship because he had not been one of the twelve. We find in the beginning of several of the Epistles that Paul felt it necessary to affirm his apostleship. It must have been discouraging to Paul to discover that Judaizers and other misled teachers were following behind him and undoing the work he had accomplished by so much travail and pain.

It seems that Paul was not a popular teacher much of the time and that his physical appearance was not attractive. The attendance at his meetings may have been small. The latter part of his life was spent in and out of custody. Some of the Epistles were written from the confines of a Roman jail.

We may have a mistaken concept of the first-century revival. Although God the Father ministered through and with Christ for three years, it appears that the contemporary historians were not impressed enough with that fact to discuss it. It was accepted for centuries that the historian, Josephus, wrote of Christ. Now it is believed by some scholars that the references to Christ in Josephus are additions inserted several hundred years after the death of Josephus. This may or may not be true.

Rome was the greatest civilization of the world, but Jesus of Nazareth apparently did not accomplish enough visible work to excite the interest of most of the empire, at least not during His lifetime on earth. The same condition of obscurity was true of the first churches. We may think of the early Christian churches as a fantastically popular movement alight with the Glory of God. It is more likely that the early assemblies consisted in the main of small groups of quite ordinary people meeting in homes, making a sincere effort to please God just as we do today.

The stupendous Glory of Christ and of the Church was not visible to the eyes of the unsaved just as the golden Lampstand of the Holy Place of the Tabernacle of the Congregation was not visible to the curious. The Scriptures portray how the working and Glory of God appear to the eyes of the Holy Spirit, not to the gaze of the unconverted.

If we could see with the eyes of the Holy Spirit what is occurring in the Body of Christ today we might notice that it exceeds in glory that which took place in the first century. We need to ask the Lord to anoint our eyes with His ointment so we can see as He sees.

The first "day" of Hosea was a time of planting seed. It was characterized by the ministry of Christ in and with the Apostles and by the spreading of the Gospel throughout the earth. It was characterized also by the establishing of the definitive Scripture, the New Testament writings.

When we contemplate the magnitude of the ministry of the early Apostles it can be seen that the first-century churches were influenced greatly by them—the Apostles being lifted to such high status that "fear came upon every soul."

And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them. (Acts 5:12,13)

The exaltation of the Apostles apparently caused multitudes of believers to be added to the Lord. The supremacy of the ministry of the Apostles was a necessary part of the infancy of the Church.

We do not fall into the temptation of idolizing men if we keep in mind that the ministry of the Apostles was nothing more nor less than the ministry of Christ Himself, God's Apostle, being exercised through them. Peter, James, John, Thomas, Paul, and the rest were ordinary men, as we can observe from the account of their actions. Christ will use whom He will.

This same type of exaltation took place when Moses, another "apostle" of the Lord, was commissioned to wrest Israel from the hand of Pharaoh. Few people have stood on the earth in the power in which Moses appeared before the supreme authority of Egypt. At the word of Moses the land was reduced to shambles. Moses, an imperfect individual, was lifted to a high station of preeminence. The lifting up of a human being was a necessary part of God's plan. Someone had to represent God before the earthly ruler, and Moses was chosen.

Men had to stand before the forces of Satan at the time that God gave birth to the Christian Church. The Apostles were chosen, and called by name.

The conversion of the Apostle Paul is an extraordinary example of the sovereign manner in which God calls leaders in terms of His own purposes and grace. No one could claim that Paul was a righteous man seeking God during the period he was murdering the Christians. Paul was filled with pride, self-seeking, and the frantic energy of an ambitious man seeking the approval of other men so that he may increase in fame and power. This was the spirit of the Pharisees who murdered Christ.

Yet God, in His grace and mercy, according to His own predetermined purposes, struck Paul down and used him to explain the transition from the Law of Moses to the redemption that is in Christ. Also, Paul set forth the concept of the Body of Christ—no other writer uses this term.

We have seen, then, that the first "day" of Hosea typifies the revival of the first century. It was a time of calling Israel out from the spirit of this age, of explaining the mysteries of the plan of redemption, of the ministry of the Apostles of the Lamb.

There were many other ministries given during the first century, and Paul points toward the necessity for the variety of ministries in the Body of Christ. The Apostles in particular stood before "Pharaoh," as it were, and called the people of God into the spiritual wilderness—the proving grounds of the Holy Spirit.

God understood that the first-century Church could no more hold the glory of the new covenant than Abraham could hold the land of Canaan. God dipped into human affairs in the first century, laid the foundation of the Body of Christ, and gave a blessing to His people. Much of the glory withdrew with the death of the Apostles. (God issues His Glory to specific individuals.)

The following generation of church leaders and officials lacked the spiritual power and authority to do more than quote the Apostles of Christ. After a few more generations of Christians had come and gone, the glory and revelation of the first-century Church was a dimming memory and men began to apply to the churches their own notions of what God desired in the earth. The inevitable took place—the Christian Church, that seamless robe of Christ, became fragmented into competing schools of thought.

Let us never lose sight of one fact. The revelation of Christ in the first century was a Divine intervention that occurred in the will of God. The people concerned were no more remarkable, no more holy, no more deserving than we are. At any time God can intervene with a restoration of the same power and revelation or (as actually will occur) with a magnificently greater outpouring of the power and revelation—the promised latter rain of the Spirit.

Following on to know the Lord.

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 6:3)

The way to come to know God is to "follow on to know the Lord." We cannot just read about the Lord and master factual information. We must get up each morning with the intention of being obedient to the Spirit of God.

No person comes to know God in a moment. Considerable time, much seeking, as Paul informs us in the third chapter of Philippians, is required in order to come to know Christ.

The "going forth" of the Lord is as the dawning of the day. We are in the "night" of the Lord in the present hour. The Day is at hand.

How does Christ come to us? He comes to us as the "rain." The seed (former) rains of October soften the clods baked hard by the half-year drought of the summer (in Israel) so the ground can be plowed and planted. The harvest (latter) rains of March bring the wheat to maturity.

We may say, therefore, that the first "day" of Hosea is the day of the seed rain, and the second "day" may include both the harvest rain and also the seed rain (Joel 2:23).

The third "day" is the period when "he will raise us up," the time of our resurrection from the dead.

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