The Third Day
The Third Day
The Third Day
After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth. (Hosea 6:2,3)
He replied, "Go tell that fox, 'I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.'" (Luke 13:32)
On the third day he will restore us.
Marvelous things are prophesied concerning the third day. The expression "the third day," or "on the third day," appears several times in the Bible. "On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee," and so forth.
For us personally, I think the third day comes as we are being pruned for the third time. We are pruned somewhat when we first leave the world to follow Christ. We are pruned the second time after we have been saved for awhile, that we might bring forth more fruit.
If God feels we can go on to much fruit, we will be pruned yet again.
Many years ago I wrote a book titled, Three Deaths and Three Resurrections. I am amazed to find this concept coming to fruition in my mind today as I consider the fact that we now are entering the third day.
The first death is death to the world. The resurrection is to the Kingdom of God. It is illustrated by the crossing of the Red Sea.
The second death is death to sin. It is illustrated by the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai.
The third death is death to self-will. It is illustrated by the crossing of the river Jordan.
Historically I believe the third day is beginning now, and those who wish to bear much fruit can enter into Jesus in an even greater way than they have to this point.
There were three great observances of Israel, at which time each male was to come to Jerusalem. On the Passover. On the feast of Pentecost. And on the feast of Tabernacles.
It is my understanding that the personal spiritual fulfillments of the two preliminary observances of Tabernacles, the Blowing of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, are taking place today.
The Blowing of Trumpets signals the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the consecrated believer to declare war against the enemy that dwells in him or her.
The Day of Atonement is the reconciliation to God of the consecrated believer, during which all worldliness, lust, and self-will are removed and Christ comes to full stature in his or her personality.
The feast of Tabernacles, which of necessity must take place after the believer has been reconciled to God in his or her personality, is the coming of the Father and the Son to dwell forever in the transformed individual.
These three aspects of the feast of Tabernacles constitute the "third day" of the Christian redemption.
The three aspects of our personal redemption from sin and rebellion and our total reconciliation to God have begun in our day, I believe. They are at once the most marvelous opportunity and the greatest danger possible to us. They are the greatest danger because there is so much deception operating in the world, as the climax of the Divine redemption approaches us.
The only way we can avoid being deceived is to walk carefully in the Presence of the Lord Jesus, patiently carrying our cross of deferred gratification.
Moses is dead, so to speak. The anointing for leadership is on Joshua. This means Christ, the good Shepherd, is becoming the Lord, strong and mighty in battle. The land of promise stretches before us. It is filled with all the promises of God.
We have not been here before. We must forget the past and press forward in Christ until we attain to the fullness of eternal life. We must learn to live by the Life of Christ, communicating with Him at all times, presenting every aspect of our life to Him that we may gain His wisdom and strength as we come against the enemy in our land.
As you read your Bible, be alert to the expressions "on the third day"; "after three days"; and so forth.
I believe the following passages give us some concept of the opportunities of the "third day":
Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee,and two other disciples were together. "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. (John 21:1-3)
Next Part They caught nothing!