Genesis 40 Series, Part 24, Hosea 6:2-3

Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis. Today is study #24 in Genesis 40. We have been looking at the “three days” in Genesis 40, and we went to various scriptures discussing “three days” as used in the Bible, and that led us to Hosea 6:2-3:

 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 JEHOVAH: 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.

We saw that the three days is a figure used in Luke 13, Exodus 19, and other places. Jesus said in Luke 13:32:

…I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Today and tomorrow are two days, and that is what it said Hosea 6:2: “After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up.” Also, we read of the early and Latter Rain in Hosea 6:3, which identify with the two outpourings of the Holy Spirit during the New Testament era in which the Lord Jesus Christ did His “cures,” or the salvation of souls. He saved His elect people during those two periods of time.

Then we began to follow the word “revive” in the Bible, which is also translated as “live” or “lived,” and that took us to Judges 15 where Samson took hold of a jawbone of an ass and slew 1,000 men. Then it says in Judges 15:16-17:

And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men. And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.

And the name “Ramathlehi” means “jawbone of the high place,” and that is significant. We were beginning to get into the spiritual meaning of Samson casting away the jawbone. In this passage Samson is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He put his hand into the jawbone, and the “hand” represents the will of God, and he utilized it to slay 1,000 men. When the Bible is proclaimed it does act as a destroying weapon. The saints carry the Word, and it is said to be a savour of “life unto life” for those that are saved, and “death unto death” for those who are not saved. So here Samson used the jawbone to slay 1,000 men, representing the completeness of men.

The first usage of the jawbone points to Christ using men within the churches and congregations over the course of the church age. Then the church age ended and He simply cast it away. He was done speaking, as it were. The reference to “speaking” ties in with the testimonies of the two witnesses that carried out their period of testimony over the church age. It says in Revelation 11:4-5:

These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

It is just like Samson used the jawbone of the ass to kill. It goes on to say in Revelation 11:6:

These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

It is really speaking of the witness of the Word of God over the 1,955 years of the church age. It sounds like the Word did much damage just like that jawbone, does it not? Then it says in 11:7:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

The Word is done speaking, and they are cast away. The casting away of the jawbone, or the end of speaking of Samson (Christ) after the slaying of the 1,000 Philistines, points to the end of the church age. I mentioned last time that “Ramathlehi” means “jaw of the high place.” It is significant because God came to judge the churches and congregations because of their high places, the doctrinal errors that were built into their confessions and creeds which they refused to change. God gave space for the churches to repent and to return to their first love, but they did not do so, and the Lord cast them into the bed of great tribulation and brought judgment upon them. The high places had much to do with it, as it was at the location of the high place that Samson, a type of Christ, finished speaking and cast away the jawbone. Then it says in Judges 15:18:

And he was sore athirst, and called on JEHOVAH, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

Now let us think about this. There was great activity in battle as he slew 1,000 of his enemies, and then he was done speaking and cast away the jawbone, and immediately he was thirsty. Historically, we can understand this. He was a very powerful man, as God gave him the strength, and physically he slew 1,000 men, and this would have been a great feat, and then Samson thirsted. But spiritually, what came immediately after the end of the church age? It was a (spiritual) famine. We are told about the famine in Amos 8:11:

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord JEHOVAH, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of JEHOVAH:

That is, it was a famine of hearing and a thirst of hearing the Word of JEHOVAH, and that was the result at the end of the church age because the Spirit of Christ departed out of the midst of the congregations in all the world, and Satan was loosed, as we read in Revelation 11. rising up out of the pit to smote the two witnesses. He entered into the churches to rule there, and there was no more Gospel water.

Samson was athirst, and as a figure of Christ, it was as if Christ was thirsting. What does it mean that Christ, who is Almighty God, thirsted? Christ’s Spirit was in the midst of the churches, and then once the church age ended Christ was thirsting spiritually. Is that what I am saying? Some might say, “That does not make any sense.” But it does make sense when we go to Matthew 25 where Jesus separated the sheep from the goats. It says in Matthew 25:34-35:

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink…

Then it says in Matthew 25:37:

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

The response is in Matthew 25:40:

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

God’s elect were in the world at the end of the church age but many were not yet saved. They needed water and food, the drink and bread of the Gospel. So there was a thirst and a hunger after righteousness, and Jesus is Righteousness. That is the language of the kingdom of heaven. The elect that were out there needed the Gospel in order for God to fulfill His salvation program. 

So after the casting away of the jawbone and the end of His speaking, then He was thirsty. There was a famine of hearing and a famine of drinking for 2,300 evening mornings. From the end of the church age on May 21, 1988 through September 7, 1994, there was “thirst” for the Lord, and yet there was more (salvation) to come. And that is what we go on to read in Judges 15:18-19:

…and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day...

The name “Enhakkore” means “fountain of One calling.” The fountain is water. The water came out of the hollow place of the jaw. Where was the jawbone that he had cast away out of his hand? It was lying on the ground. You see, this is typifying the Latter Rain. The Lord was athirst and His thirst was quenched…not His own thirst but the thirst of His brethren, the elect. So the saints came again with the Gospel (outside the churches) and gave drink, and it was as though we had done it unto the Lord.

So that is the picture. Someone might say, “Well, it still used the jawbone, and you said the jawbone identified with the churches.” So let us go back again to Revelation 11 where the two witnesses were killed, and they are lying dead, and then it says in Revelation 11:8-9:

And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

They are corpses, just like the jawbone of the ass was dead on the ground. And it is the same case here. The “two witnesses” were dead, and then we read in Revelation 11:10:

And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

Notice that here it says, “two prophets,” and that is because the “two witnesses” are typified by Moses and Elijah, and that is the reason for the language here: “And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies.” In the Old Testament, what prophet called down fire from heaven? It was Elijah, as he called down fire against the captains and their fifties. Then it said in Revelation 11:6:

These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy…

And Elijah did this, historically. Then it says in Revelation 11:6:

…and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

And who turned waters into blood? God did but who did He use? He used Moses. Who brought the plagues upon Egypt? Moses did it through the power of God. So Moses and Elijah represent the law and the prophets. The two witnesses are the witness of the Word of God, but in Revelation 11:6 God is no longer calling them “two witnesses” but “two prophets.” Then it says in Revelation 11:11:

And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

Notice that it says that the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet. This is the second part of the Great Tribulation, the Latter Rain period. And standing upon one’s feet is language that identifies with the sending forth of the Gospel. We can see that in Acts 26 when the Apostle Paul was recounting his encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in Acts 26:15-18:

And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

He was told, “stand upon thy feet,” and he was sent to the Gentiles, or nations, to witness the Gospel that they might have forgiveness of sins. During the Latter Rain the Spirit of God had left the corporate church but the Gospel was going out to all the world outside of the churches and congregations. That is in view in Hosea 6:2:

After two days will he revive us…

The Spirit of life entered into them, and they stood upon their feet. Does that sound familiar? It should if you remember Ezekiel 37 concerning the valley of dead, dry bones, like the jawbone of the ass that was cast to the ground, and like the two witnesses that were lying dead in the streets. Then they stood upon their feet. In the case of the valley of dry bones, the Lord commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones, in Ezekiel 37:7-8:

So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

A miracle was taking place, and their bones came together and the flesh came upon them. That was the first command to Ezekiel to prophesy. Keep in mind that Jesus said that He would do cures today and tomorrow, and after two days He would revive us, the early and Latter Rain. “Today” was the early rain, and “tomorrow” was the Latter Rain. There is always two. Remember when we went to Revelation 20, and we were discussing Revelation 20:4:

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God….

The two witnesses were “beheaded” for the Word’s sake. Here, it is referring to their souls, the souls of the elect that were saved over the course of the church age. They were the firstfruits. Regarding the “two witnesses,” we read three times of their dead bodies that were lying in the streets, and we talked about their dead bodies, which is the Greek word “pto'-mah,” a word used of John the Baptist’s headless corpse. So the “head,” who is Christ, departed from the churches at the end of the church age, leaving a “headless corpse.” 

Here, the souls of them that were beheaded represent the figurative “144,000” saved over the church age. Then it says in Revelation 20:5:

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

There are two groups, the souls that were beheaded are those saved during the church age, and then there is the group that is mentioned in verse 5. Once the figurative thousand years ended (the entirety of the church age), and then Satan was loosed and reigned in the Great Tribulation, and God saved the great multitude, “the rest of the dead” that lived not again until the thousand years were finished. Then it says, “This is the first resurrection,” and it is a sweeping statement covering both group saved during the first and second outpouring of the Holy Spirit to those saved during both the early and Latter Rain. It concluded the salvation of all the elect once “the rest of the dead,” the great multitude were saved. Then everyone whose names were recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life had become saved. Therefore the “first resurrection,” the salvation of the souls of men, was complete. This was the first resurrection: “After two days will he revive us…” We have been revived in our souls, and all the elect have been born again in their souls, and salvation is complete, although there will be a “second resurrection” of the body.

Going back to Ezekiel 37, after the first command to prophesy, we read in Ezekiel 37:9:

Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

This was the second command to prophesy, and Ezekiel obeyed, as it goes on to say in Ezekiel 37:10:

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

And the word “lived” is the same word as “revived.” Are you seeing these things? I hope you are seeing how it all fits together, and the consistency with the “two days,” today and tomorrow. Remember Exodus 19:10-11:

… sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, And be ready against the third day

There were two outpourings of the Holy Spirit in Hosea 6 in the context of His reviving us after two days. And here Ezekiel prophesied, and there was definite movement toward the completion of the body of Christ, the whole company of elect, and, finally, they stood upon their feet. Again, the “two witnesses” were killed, and after three and a half days (as typified by the thirsting of Samson, the famine of 2,300 evening mornings following the end of the church age), and then the “two prophets” stood upon their feet, and that means they were being sent to prophesy to the nations. And the result was this exceeding great army that stood upon their feet.

We will look at some more things concerning this Greek word translated as “revive.” There are a couple more passages I want to go to, and then we will go back to Genesis 40 to try to understand the “three days” and the events that took place when the butler was restored to his butlership, and the baker was hanged. We will see how those things tie in.