Third Day
Originally scheduled for January 9
In
most study Bibles you will find a series of references by verse
which connect to each other throughout the Bible. One use of these
references is to determine what passage in the Old Testament is a
prophecy of something that happened in the New Testament. We have,
for example, this confirmation of prophecy in First Corinthians:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that
He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to
the Scriptures,
(1 Corinthians 15:3-4 NASB)
In
the notes in your study Bible you will probably find a cross
reference to the Old Testament book of Hosea. The reference might
not seem particularly useful as it will only reference chapter 6,
verse two. Here is a more expanded passage which might make things
clearer.
For I will be like a lion to Ephraim And like a young lion to
the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away, I
will carry away, and there will be none to deliver. I will go away
and return to My place Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek
My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me. "Come, let
us return to the LORD. For
He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has
wounded us, but He will bandage us. "He will revive us after two
days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before
Him.
(Hosea 5:14-6:2 NASB)
You might ask why this particular verse is
given as the prophetic source. The reason is quite simple: there is
no other verse in the Old Testament that even remotely is prophetic
of Christ’s rising on the
third day. A little background will help us here. Hosea is
condemning the conduct of both the northern tribes and southern
tribes of Israel, tagged here as Ephraim and Judah. We might see
three particular points of interest.
·
First, God causes affliction to those
who have turned away from him.
·
The intention of this is to cause
them to repent and return to God.
·
When they do, Hosea tells us that God
will raise us on
the third day.
How, then, do we get from raising Christ on the
third day to raising us? There are number of ways to look at it.
·
Christ is said to be the first fruits
of the resurrection. He is totally human; he is one of us. He is the
first to be raised in the new creation.
·
Like much of Christ’s work, the
resurrection is an example for us. Christ showed us that it will
happen, which should cause us to follow Christ more closely.
·
Christ was raised for our salvation;
his wounds heal our sins. His resurrection therefore inevitably
involves us, as we are its beneficiaries.
·
We are one with Christ in that he is
our advocate before the Father at the great day of judgment this is
going to make up an awful lot of difference to our large number of
people.
·
At the judgment, we “put on” Christ.
The Father sees us not us sinners we are but as the saved through
Christ.
We, like Ephraim and Israel need to return to
God for this to be effective. We do this symbolically in communion,
accepting the bread and cup as his body and blood. The parallel in
our regular life is that we as Christians confess our sins, repent
of them and reconcile with our brothers as quickly as possible. We
take in his body in the form of the bread, we take in his blood in
the form of the cup — and we are changed into those who live as
Christ lived. We are solemnly warned that we are to do this in a
worthy manner. Don’t just go through the motions, rather begin by
examining yourself. If you find something to be corrected, repent
and do what you can to repair any relationships with your brothers.
Thus it is that you join Christ, symbolically sharing in his
sufferings, and in this manner God changes the third day so that it
no longer applies just to Him, but to us. We become like him; He
represents us.
