We
Are Living in the “Third Day”
While reviewing the Scripture it is more than just an
interesting coincidence that several important events in man’s history took
place “on the third day”. Some examples are these:
· Genesis
1: 9-13 – The Creation of the Earth: land, seas, grass, herb yielding seed, and
fruit tree yielding fruit
· Genesis
22: 4 – Abraham began his journey with his son Isaac, to offer him as a
sacrifice to the LORD
· Exodus
19: 1-16 – In the third month after
leaving Egypt, the people of Israel came into the wilderness of Sinai, where
they would receive God’s Law. When the people agreed through Moses to obey Him
and keep His covenant, He committed to making them a “peculiar treasure to
Himself, a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” On the third day in
the morning, the LORD came down to Mount Sinai. “There were thunders and
lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the Mount, and the voice of the trumpet
exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.”
· 1
Kings 12: 12 – After the death of King Solomon, his son King Rehoboam was asked
by the people of Israel that he reduce the tax burden that his father had
imposed. The King directed the people to return on the third day while he
considered their request. On that third day he rejected the people’s
request, choosing to reject the advice of his father’s older advisers, after
listening to his younger friends. As a result, Israel became divided into
the Northern and Southern Kingdoms; weakened militarily; and subsequently
conquered by the Assyrians (in the North), and the Babylonians (in the South).
· Ezra
6: 14-16 – This “Third Day” marked the completion of the re-building of
Israel’s Temple, “according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and
according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of
Persia.” This followed Israel’s 70-years of slavery under the Babylonians, and
the Medes and Persians.
·
***Hosea 6: 1-2 –
The Word of the LORD had come to Hosea the Prophet to warn Israel of the
difficult times that were ahead because of their disobedience. In the
Scripture, Hosea says: “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 “.
·
1 Corinthians 15: 3-4 – The Apostle Paul
revealed to his new converts to Christianity the Gospel of
Grace by which they are saved…if they truly believed it. It is the same
Gospel by which we and other Christians today have been (or will be) saved:
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day according
to the scriptures:”
However all that being considered, for Christians the
most significant Scriptural references to the “Third Day” were the actual words
of our Lord Jesus as recorded by His Disciples, or the words attributed to Him
by those Disciples who documented them. Christians and other Bible students are very
familiar with those references to what happened to our Lord Jesus Christ on the third
day following His suffering to pay for our sins and the sins of the world;
His Crucifixion and death on the Cross; and His burial in the tomb. On
the Third Day He was Resurrected !!
We know that that was a highly important event because it
was repeated (for emphasis) in each of the Four Synoptic Gospels (both in the
Lord’s words and in the Disciples’ words; and in the Gospel of John. (Matt
17:23, Matt
20:19, Matt
26:61, Matt
27:63, Mark 8:31, Mark
10:34, Luke 9:22, Luke
18:33, Luke 24:7, John 2:19)
Now I’d like you to stretch your thoughts to consider the
“third day’ from a different perspective. That perspective relates to the
Scripture that brought this different concept to my attention. It was presented
by one of my teachers, Les Feldick (https://www.lesfeldick.org/ ),
who noted: Hosea 6: 1-2.
As background, The word of the LORD had come to Hosea the Prophet to warn
Israel of the difficult times that were ahead because of their disobedience. In
the Scripture, Hosea says: “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 “.
You might recall from one of my earlier blogposts that our
eternal God looks at “time” in a unique way.
The Scripture says: “A day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and
a thousand years as one day.” ( 2 Peter 3: 8) If we translate the past two thousand years
since the Lord Jesus’ resurrection into “two days”, we are now living in
the “third day”. Connecting that
understanding to the prophetic words of Hosea cited above, we know that the
LORD will be returning to resume His dealings with His favored Nation of Israel,
and to establish His Kingdom on the Earth. This will be the culmination of the Abrahamic
Covenant, as previously discussed. (Genesis 12: 1-3)
You might be
thinking, “If we are dealing with blocks of time as large as one thousand
years, what is the interest if we are just entering that next / third
thousand?” The key is that in reviewing
the Scripture, the Lord Jesus Himself spoke to that question…at least twice. In
the Book of Matthew, that Disciple reported: “The Pharisees also with the Sadducees
came, and tempting desired him that He would shew them a sign from heaven. He
answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair
weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today:
for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of
the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh
after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet
Jonas (Jonah). And He left them and departed.” (Matthew 16: 1-4).
The Lord’s reference to the “sign of the prophet Jonas” (Jonah)
was a reference to His own future. At that future time He would sacrifice
Himself for our sins; suffer and die on Calvary’s Cross; and be buried for
three days…as Jonah spent three days in the belly of the whale. (Jonah 1: 17; Matthew
12: 40); (https://www.gotquestions.org/sign-of-Jonah.html )
For the sake of space, I won’t cite the Lord’s other
primary reference to “discerning the signs of the times”, but I encourage you
to read it in Luke: 12: 51-57. However, there is one particular verse (Verse
51) that I’d like you to note, in which the Lord said: “Suppose ye that I am
come to give peace on earth? Nay, but rather division;” He, above all others, knows that Lucifer
/ Satan is and has been the “god / prince of this world” since the fall of
Adam. (John 12: 31; 2 Corinthians 4: 4) All
the world’s negative events that have erroneously be labeled “acts of God”,
have been precipitated by God’s enemy Satan.
Rather than simply removing this Enemy, the Lord allows
him to continue to offer mankind a choice between believing our true God, or believing him / Satan. Choices bring “division”
between individuals and between groups of mankind. Those opposing choices will ultimately
separate those who believe the Gospel of God’s Grace and receive eternal
salvation, (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4; Romans 10: 9-13); and those who don’t.
All this is important to Christians and non-Christians
alike today. The “signs of the times” are very clear, and becoming more so. Look
closely at how our Lord Jesus addressed this issue when asked by His
Disciples. The details are found in
the Book of Matthew, Chapter 24. When you read this scripture you will
quickly see how we are already dealing with His prophetic points personally, locally,
regionally, nationally, and globally. The media (social, print et al.), politicians,
businesses, and others continue to employ “deception” as their device of choice
to mislead others. That was our Lord’s primary caution. Regrettably many, if not most will fail to heed
that advice.
Note also the high prevalence of violence (between individuals,
cultures, nations, pacts, and other groups). The media and national attention
are drawn to the wars between Israel and Hamas; and Russia and Ukraine. Receiving
less attention are conflicts in other parts of the world that are affecting
many more millions of people. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_armed_conflicts ) Add
the effects of earthquakes; (https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=earthquake+trends+last+100+years&fr=mcafee&type=E210US105G0&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fpublication%2F322792893%2Ffigure%2Ffig2%2FAS%3A588481176809472%401517316254504%2FUSGS-earthquake-graph.png#id=3&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.science20.com%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2Fearthquakes%2520usgs%2520graph08.jpg&action=click ); and
pestilences: (for example, do you remember HIV/AIDS? COVID? )
It might be early in the “Third Day”, but there should be
no doubt that mankind is quickly approaching a critical “tipping point”. No one should venture to try to guess when that
will happen. Remember that just before His Ascension to return to our Father (Acts
1: Psalm 110: 1), the Lord's Disciples asked Him: “Wilt thou at this time restore again
the kingdom to Israel?” His definitive response was: “It is not for you to
know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power.”
(Acts 1: 6-7) No one can predict when man’s time in this “third day” will end.
However, the Scripture has prophesied that before the end
of this “Third Day”, other major events must take place…the Rapture of the Church
(1 Thessalonians 4: 13-17; 1 Corinthians 15: 51-54); and the appearance of
the Antichrist and the seven-year period of the Tribulation,
followed by the Lord’s Second Coming. (Fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel
Chapters Seven, Nine, and Eleven; Matthew 23: 23-24; John 14: 29-30; 1 John 2:
15-18; and Revelation Chapter 13; ) (https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Antichrist )
What should not be lost to Christians and others are the
words of our Lord Jesus that He spoke to the Apostle John, who wrote the last Book
of our Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. So that we will not be taken by
surprise when this “Third Day” will end for us (through the Rapture of the
Church or our physical death), the Lord cautioned three times in the
final chapter of Bible scripture: “Behold, I come quickly” (Revelation 22: 7);
“Behold, I come quickly” (Revelation 22: 12); and “Surely I come quickly.”
(Revelation 22: 20)
We should always be ready to meet Him, and acknowledge
that we believed Him.
Dr. W. A. (Bill) Robinson
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