After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His presence. Sermons
Hosea 6:2, 3 (first clause) It is a happy thing that God's love always comes forth to meet man's longings. In the preceding verse Hosea had been urging the people to return to the Lord, but the exhortation would have been useless had he not been able to add the promise in the text. If the soul of man had to struggle unaided to the throne of God and to win a revelation for itself, the task would have been hopeless. But it is not so. We are not like the idolaters who, on Mount Carmel, cut themselves with knives and lancets, and cried again and again, "O Baal, hear us!" while from the brazen sky there came "no voice, nor any that answered; "but we speak to the Father who sees in secret, till the sweet sense of his pardoning love sinks deep into our hearts. The penitent is not like the heathen on pilgrimage to the sacred shrine, who sometimes measures the whole length of his journey by prostrations of his own body on the hot, dusty road, and only arrives at last before an idol too deaf to hear, too dumb to speak; but he resembles, as Christ tells us, the prodigal who starts on his way home, weary, ragged, and heart-sick, whose father sees him when a great way off, and has compassion on him, and runs to meet him, and falls on his neck and kisses him. Such is the thought stirred in our minds by the promise of the text following on the exhortation in the verse preceding it. Here we have a threefold assurance. I. THE PROMISE OF NEW LIFE. (Ver. 2.) (For the different interpretations given to these words, see Exposition.) The obscurity is caused by the seeming definiteness of the words. Too much stress, however, must not be laid on the actual numbers, any more than in the following passages: Job 5:19; Proverbs 6:16; Amos 1:3. The main idea is that in a very short time, and that already determined in the counsel of God, there should come certain revival; and that this should be when to onlookers all seemed most hopeless, as to Mary and Martha when Lazarus had been in the grave "four days" already (John 11:6, 17, 39). No doubt all spiritual quickening finds its center in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and so far the text has reference to that; but mainly to the revival of the spiritually dead, that they may live in God's sight, and walk all day in the light of his countenance. Point out the analogy, so often alluded to in the New Testament, between rising from the corruption of death, and the uplifting of the soul by God's Spirit above the degradation of sin, the darkness of despair, the hopelessness of doubt, etc. Indicate the first signs of such revival, that they may be gratefully welcomed. Insist on such verses as "If ye then be risen with Christ," etc. (Colossians 3:1; Colossians 2:12, 13; Ephesians 3:1). Show the fulfillment of the text in Christ's assurance: "I am the Resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (John 11:25, 26). II. THE HOPE OF THE HIGHEST KNOWLEDGE. "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord." Much and varied knowledge is eagerly sought for in our day. It is a new national ambition to be an "educated" people. With all its advantages, this is not without its perils. The strain of competitive examinations may divert from the culture of character. Knowledge of God's works may supersede knowledge of God. The skilful use of material and mechanical resources may lead to forgetfulness of spiritual forces - righteousness, truth, prayer, etc. It is the highest knowledge of which we are capable promised here. 1. This does not come instantaneously, as in the flash of light to Saul of Tarsus; but gradually, as in the three years of his waiting in Arabia. The knowledge that God is in Christ may be given suddenly; but after that revelation we are to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 2. In following on to know the Lord, the whole man must be absorbed in the pursuit. We learn a problem of Euclid by mere intellectual effort. We know the sweetness of human love by loving a child or friend. We have the enjoyment of appetite by ministering to it; and so forth. But as God is the Sum of all good, all our capacities, the perception of truth, the love of his Law, the submission of our will, the obedience of our life, must be absorbed in knowing him. The light which shows us Christ leads us to love him, and loving brings us more light. Knowing God's will prompts us to do it, so as to embody knowledge in action; and this, again, helps to deeper knowledge. "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine." In obedience, as well as in prayer and thought, we "follow on to know the Lord;" and though as yet we only know in part, that which is perfect shall come, and "then shall we know." III. THE CERTAINTY OF DIVINE INTERPOSITION. "His going forth is prepared as the morning" (literally, "is fixed as the morning dawn"). To those seeking and needing the Lord, he will reveal himself as certainly as the sun rises. Nothing that men can do is able to impede the breaking of the day. Imagine wicked men engaged in some conspiracy or burglary, hoping the darkness may last till their enterprise is complete. A streak el light comes over the eastern hills, the darkness fades, men will soon be stirring; yet how powerless the wrong-doers are to hinder the change. So resistlessly did the Lord appear for Israel in Egypt, for the Jews in exile, and for the soul oppressed by the powers of darkness. Show the application of this to the coming of God in Christ Jesus. The world was in gross darkness. Corruptions prevailed which are described by profane historians, and alluded to by Paul in his Epistle to Rome. When things were at their worst, the angels' song, which told of peace and good will, was heard by the shepherds, and soon the anthem rang over all the world. The great light which illumined the fields at Bethlehem was but the type of that light which now "lighteneth every man that cometh into the world." Christ's going forth from the Father was "prepared as the morning." Show frets the present condition of the world the need for some Divine interposition. Allude, for example, to the wars that prevail; to the standing armies, which are crushing Christendom by taxation, and weakening it by the withdrawal from productive labor of its manly strength; to the conflicts between capital and labor; to the unrest in the minds of those who are asking, "Is life worth living?" etc. Show how all these call for the fulfillment of the text. Because it will be fulfilled we may be hopeful of the future, and believe that the power of God will lie yet so manifest that it shall be as the dawn of a new day to a dark and saddened world. Already to the Church the summons is sent: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." - A.R.
After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight. Let us look, not on the dying side, but on the living side. Each shadow has its light; each valley its height; each night its dawn; each wound of the oyster-shell its pearl; each kind of death its counterpart of life. To have the one is to have both. It is, therefore, a mistake to be ever thinking of what you must give up. Think rather of what you must take in. Follow hard after Christ, to be with Him, for Him, like Him. Let your intimacy with Him be like those closely pointed stones in the old buildings of Thebes, between which it is impossible to insert even a sheet of writing-paper. Obey Him up to the hilt. So will ever new blessings disclose themselves to you; and as you climb to them you will be insensibly drawn away from things that fascinated and injured you. Preaching out after a fuller measure of life, you will hardly realise the cost by which alone you can enter upon its enjoyment. The wrench of death will be less perceptible amid the joy which sheds its light on your face, and the warm glow into your heart.1. Above all, trust the lead of Jesus. "He will revive us; He will raise us up; and we shall live in His sight." He knows every step of the way through the dark valley; because, as the Captain of salvation, He has been obliged to traverse it with each son whom He has brought to glory. He is with you, feeling for you infinitely, though you cannot see Him. It is impossible for Him to take one false step, or inflict one needless stab of pain. Out of your suffering He is going to bring glory to Himself and blessedness to you. He sometimes seems to tarry. His stages of redemption are so slow; but His love is dealing more wisely with thee in its delays, impetuous spirit, than it could in haste! It is hard to wait when heart and flesh are failing; but thy God will be the strength of thy life, and thy portion for ever. He knows the nearest path that will lead thee to it. Trust His hand and purpose running through the circumstances of thy life. 2. And out of all this will come the more abundant life. Suffering at first isolates us;: but afterwards it links us in the closest bonds with all who are sitting on the hard benches of the school of sorrow. We learn to comfort them with the comfort with which we have ourselves been comforted of God. The water streams from the smitten rock. The flower springs from the dead seed. The crystal river flows from the melting glacier. The bright gold emerges from the dark mine and the cleansing fires. When you are sure that Jesus asks aught of you, yield up your will to Him; ask Him to come, and take it and blend it with His own. Be willing to be made willing. Wait for Him. Trust Him. Do not be afraid. He will gently open the door of life, through which you will pass out of the vale of death into wider and more abundant blessedness. And, in the end, when the lesson is fully mastered, we shall find that His going forth has been prepared as the morning; and He will come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain, unto the earth. Abraham shall take his Isaac from off the altar and lead him home; Joseph shall weep tears of welcome on his father's neck; Job shall have more prosperity than before his trial; the young confessors shall emerge from the fire without their bonds; flowers shall grow where the black cinders lay; and where the body was buried in the sepulchre amid tears of hopeless sorrow, there shall be a joyous resurrection. We shall live again, and shall know the Lord as never before. Wait to see the end of the Lord; He is very pitiful; He is human in His tenderness. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.) 1. The power manifested on the third day was a type of the power to be manifested at the general resurrection. 2. Christ's resurrection not only a type of a physical but of a spiritual resurrection. The soul is quickened together with Christ. II. THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST REALISED BY HIS PEOPLE. The risen life is spent in the sight of the Lord. Before the crucifixion the apostles had the bodily presence of the Lord, subject to time and place, e.g., Christ was not with the dying Lazarus, because He was in Peroea. After the resurrection they lived in His presence as they had never lived before. Stephen saw Him standing in the ready attitude of help. He stood by St. Paul; His eye was on His faithful martyr, Antipas. All the disciples went about with a constant sense of Christ's oversight, working under the King's eye. The soul risen with Christ believes that it lives in His sight. Faith in this promised presence will be a source of strength and patience. Remember how Christ's eye is on His servants at their work, in their sufferings, and during their worship. (W. Watters, M. A.) (E. B. Pusey, D. D.) People Adam, Haggai, HoseaPlaces Assyria, Gilead, ShechemTopics Face, Presence, Raise, Restore, Revive, Sight, ThirdOutline 1. Exhortations to repent and hope in God.4. A lamentation over those who had sinned after conviction. 5. Reproofs of obstinate sinners, and threats against them. Dictionary of Bible Themes Hosea 6:2 1656 numbers, combinations Library Our Miseries, Messengers of MercyThree things I must do this morning; first, I must deal a blow, at the old Tempter, who has got the first hand at you; secondly, I will come to reason comfortably with you; and then, thirdly, I must lovingly persuade you, saying--"Come, let us return unto the Lord." I. First then, I must DEAL A BLOW AT THE OLD TEMPTER, WHO HAS GOT BEFORE ME AND HAS BEGUN TO DECEIVE YOU. I cannot tell what is the precise temptation that Satan has been using with you, but I think it is very likely to be one of four. … Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 7: 1861 Nature of Covenanting. The Limitations of Earth's Great Week. The Synagogue at Nazareth - Synagogue-Worship and Arrangements. St Gregory the Great (Ad 540-604) Letter xv (Circa A. D. 1129) to Alvisus, Abbot of Anchin Prayer. The Coming Revival The Strait Gate. Warned against Herod. The Work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate, Jesus Defends Disciples who Pluck Grain on the Sabbath. Backsliding. Divine Calls. Of the Nature of Regeneration, and Particularly of the Change it Produces in Men's Apprehensions. Job's Faith and Expectation Hosea Links Hosea 6:2 NIVHosea 6:2 NLT Hosea 6:2 ESV Hosea 6:2 NASB Hosea 6:2 KJV Hosea 6:2 Bible Apps Hosea 6:2 Parallel Hosea 6:2 Biblia Paralela Hosea 6:2 Chinese Bible Hosea 6:2 French Bible Hosea 6:2 German Bible Hosea 6:2 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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