" 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 same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee. And he said unto them, "Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected." - Luke 13:31-32
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Remember and Celebrate - Part C
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Here we are ... it is the Third day. The normal weekly Sabbath post Passover.
In the closing days of His ministry, Christ was at pains to tell His disciples .... "Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day." (Luke 9:22). This Sabbath day, approximately 2000 years ago, what do you think was going through everyone's mind?
Here were the people that we KNOW were eyewitnesses of His death... ...present at the foot of the cross (cf: John 19:25, Luke 23:27, Luke 23:27,49 ).
Mary - Jesus' mother, Mary - the sister of Jesus' mother, the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene. We know the disciple John was there, as he was addressed by Christ directly from the cross.
At a distance, however, ... "A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him." "But --all-- those who ---knew--- him, -including- the women who had followed him from Galilee, ---stood at a distance, watching these things--."
Mary (Jesus' mother), knew, from the circumstances of Christ's birth, that these things would happen. That knowledge did not make it any more palatable to watch as events transpired in real time. All the others probably saw it too....
This Saturday is like no other. Their world has changed. What they took for granted (His presence) has been rudely ripped away from them. All they have, are His statements saying that He would rise again ON THE THIRD DAY.
If you have an electronic Bible ( or go to an online one) , type in a search for the words "third" and "day" - we guarantee you will be surprised at the clustering of significant events around a 3rd day...
In Genesis - Land, Sea, Grass, Trees and Fruit appear on the third day. Abraham sees Mount Moriah on the third day of his trip out with Isaac. On the Third day, God comes down on Mount Sinai.
In Leviticus, the flesh of the sacrifice becomes unclean ("And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his ---peace offerings--- be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it: it shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity." - Lev 7:18) This was the rule for Christ who makes peace for us with God!
In Numbers : "He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. He shall purify himself with it {Water, ashes, hyssop etc.} ---on the third day---, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him. "
{ Is this why Christ forbade people to touch Him initially, but then allowed Thomas later.... ? "Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. "}
In the New Testament, the marriage at Cana is on the third day... the day Christ started His ministry!
Like the 7th day Sabbath rest, the Third day is also a day selected by God to hallow to Himself. That is the day He has chosen to CONFIRM our REST from our works, by Resurrecting Christ from the Dead! Here is the Life that was promised to the shepherds on the hills of Bethlehem by angels...
"And the angel said unto them,' Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to ----all people.----------For unto you is born this day in the city of David --a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord---. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger'. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. '" ..........and they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. ----But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart--- . (Luke 2:10-19)
You know everyone was expecting Him to appear on this, the Third day. But He didn't. It did not mean He was not resurrected, He did not appear to His disciples. On the first day of the week, the stone was rolled away, but His body was not there any more! Hallelujah!
This Saturday everyone is wondering if we will ever get back to "normal" again. Some things about the normal are things we miss - friends, family, evenings out, parties and fun - but there are other things that are "normal" that we may wish to consider - walking blissfully in the ignorance of our mortality, uncaring of the wrath we are heaping up against ourselves by constantly sinning against a Holy God, treading His Son's Gospel underfoot, oppressing our fellow man....
Is that what going back to normal means? Buying and selling again... please, please, lets not hurt the oil and the wine!!! ???? Are people wailing that our destruction has come in an 'hour'... that the sea lanes of commerce have fallen silent, that riches and dainties are no longer being transported to our shores? We can go back to ignoring God as if He didn't exist?
The judgments of God are designed to draw people back to Himself, but the unrepentant persist in their hate and blasphemy of Him... in the Book of Revelation we see people persisting in their unrepentant hate of God and His Anointed in the midst of the Trumpet Judgments and the Bowl Judgments.
At the 6th Trumpet! just before the Antichrist is revealed ----
" And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. " - Rev 9:21
At the 4th/5th Bowl Judgments (just before the Glorious Second Coming of Christ)
"And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. " - Rev 16:8-11
God, like Christ, is telling us in advance.... this is what is going to happen, and you are NOT going to be able to see Me in these times, but have faith, I WILL RETURN, like I PROMISED!
Right now there are people laughing at Christians for their faith in a crucified Messiah. They are laughing at the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Not content with laughing, there is filth that emerges from their spirits and mouths, the source of which is from their father, the devil himself.
The times are at hand. The day of our deliverance is dawning - and though this day is long, and the night longer, the Sun of Righteousness will appear to us tomorrow, with Healing in His Wings!!!
Hallelujah!