Genesis 40 Series, Part 22, Hosea 6:1-2,3
Hello, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis. Tonight is study #22 in Genesis 40. We have been looking at the reference to the “three days” in regard to Joseph’s interpretation of the butler’s dream. The three branch are three days, as we were told in Genesis 40:12.
We started looking at some scriptures that discuss a three-day period, and we saw that there is spiritual meaning involved when God says “today, tomorrow, and the third day.” When we read of the grass that today it is, and tomorrow it is thrown into the oven, we start to understand that there is a definite spiritual meaning regarding “three days.”
We have gone to a passage in Hosea a few times, and we have discussed it a little bit but I want to go back there and talk about a particular word translated there as “revive.” It says in Hosea 6:1-2:
Come, and let us return unto JEHOVAH: 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 it says in Hosea 6:3:
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.
Here we see mentioned two periods of rain: the former, or early rain, and the Latter Rain. We have long understood that the Lord likens the sending forth of the Gospel in the New Testament era to the outpouring of rain. I will not get into all the verses, but you can read James 5:7 where it says, “The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and Latter Rain.” The husbandman is God the Father, as we read in John 15. God waits for the precious fruit, the elect, until He receives the early and Latter Rain. It also said He would patiently wait but once He receives those two periods of rain, the precious fruit will come in, and then He will cease to be longsuffering and patient.
What we have been learning about “today and tomorrow,” and the fact that after two days (today and tomorrow) He will revive us, is that God will send forth the early rain and the Latter Rain, and that is why God puts verse 3 right after the statement about “after two days.” “Today” would mean early rain when the Gospel was going in the churches during the church age, and “tomorrow” would mean the Latter Rain when the Gospel went to the nations at the end of the church age, and when judgment was upon all the world’s churches. During those two periods of rain, God saved His elect and completed His salvation program. There are no more scheduled periods of rain, and that is why we read in Luke 13:25:
When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
He did not say, “I know not who you are,” but He said, “I know you not whence ye are.” It is said twice in that passage, and that is significant because “whence” means “from where?” He is really saying, “From whence group are you?” That is really what is in view. For instance, in Revelation 7 it speaks of the great multitude who came out of Great Tribulation, and they were the fruits brought in via the Latter Rain that the Father waited for, as it says Revelation 7:9.
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Then we read in Revelation 7:13:
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
He is obviously referring to the great multitude. Then it says in Revelation 7:14:
And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Did you catch the statement in verse 13 where it said, “and from whence came they?” This is the same word used in Luke 13:24:
Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
It is repeated because they continued to beseech Him in Luke 13:26-27:
When shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
Why did He use the word “whence?” He was asking them where they are from, and we can see this as we look at it from the Father’s point of view. The Husbandman waited with long patience for the precious fruit of the earth until He received the early and Latter Rain. The Latter Rain brought forth the great multitude, and they are the final fruits. The early rain brought forth the firstfruits. The figure of “144,000” is used in Revelation 14 where we are told they are the firstfruits, and it identifies with the Pentecostal harvest. And in Revelation 7 we read of the great multitude in verse 9, but the previous verses tell us that 12,000 were sealed from each of the 12 tribes, and “12 x 12,000” is “144,000.” They were the firstfruits spoken of in Revelation 14:4 where it said they are the “firstfruits unto God.” So the firstfruits are in view in the earlier verses in Revelation 7, and then it said in Revelation 7:9:
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations…
That is the sequence and order of salvation in the two outpourings of the Holy Spirit. The first outpouring of the Holy Spirit was on the day of Pentecost in 33 A.D. The Pentecost is the harvest of the firstfruits, the figurative 144,000. Then the church age ended in May 1988, and there was a famine of a literal 2,300 evening mornings, and then in the jubile year beginning in September 1994 the Lord stretched forth His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people during the Latter Rain to save the great multitude. “Whence came they?” “These are they which came out of great tribulation.” There is perfect understanding – God knows from whence they came.
But immediately after the Tribulation was May 21, 2011, the beginning of Judgment Day, and the door was shut, as we are told in Luke 13:24: “When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door…” But then others are coming to Him when there is no rain. Of course when there is no rain, there can be no fruit, and they were not fruit. They were merely professed Christians who never became saved, or they could be people of the world that heard the Gospel during that time, but whoever they are, there is no more rain for them. The periods of rain ended, and the fruit had been gathered – there is no more salvation.
That is the point, and that is why we read. “after two days will he revive us.” The word “revive” is Strong’s #2421, and it means “to live.” It is actually translated “live” in the second part of Hosea 6:2:
After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
But to say, “After two days will he live us,” does not make sense in English, so with the Old English they would sometimes use the word “quicken,” which sounds much better: “After two days will he quicken us.” He will make us alive. And that is indicating it is after the early and Latter Rain. Remember Jesus said He would do cures and cast out devils “today and tomorrow,” and that points to the day of salvation: “I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.” The third day is the perfection of the saints, as it says of the saints in Hebrews 11:39-40:
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
On the last day God will raise us up together. He will start with the resurrection of the dead saints in the graves, and then those saints that are still physically alive on the earth will rise up in what is known as the rapture. We will then be totally new creatures in both body and soul. We will be perfected, as we read: “…in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.”
But first it says, “After two days will he revive us,” and that is the first resurrection. Remember what we read in 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…
The true people of God have died in various ways that are described in the “faith chapter” in Hebrews 11:34-37:
Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
So God’s people have died in countless ways down through history, and not just through beheading. John the Baptist was beheaded, and certainly others were beheaded. But why would God use that figure in Revelation 20? Again, it said in 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, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Was it a special category of saints that died in that particular manner? No. It is telling us that this group represents the firstfruits, all the elect saved out of the church age, and the church age came to an end when Satan was loosed. He came up out of the bottomless pit, and we read in Revelation 11 of the “two witnesses,” which represents the witness of the Word of God in the churches. It says in Revelation 11:6-9:
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. 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. 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.
Three times we read of “dead bodies.” The Greek word translated as “dead bodies” is the word “pto'-mah,” which is used five times in the New Testament. We just read three of those times in this passage. One of the other two references is in Matthew 24 in reference to a “dead carcase,” which would identify with the dead carcase of the corporate church. It says in Matthew 24:28:
For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
An eagle is a bird of prey that feeds upon the carcase. Here, it would be Satan and his emissaries. Once the Holy Spirit departed from the churches, the churches became “easy picking” for Satan and his forces: “…for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness.” But they lack the Spirit of God, and they are emissaries of the devil. They are of their father the devil, and they fully identify with his deceitfulness. He was a liar from the beginning, and the father of it. The children of the wicked one are the tares mentioned in the parable of the wheat and tares. The enemy sowed the tares, and the explanation of that parable was that they are the children of the wicked one. They are merely professed Christians, but not true Christians, and they are part of this “dead carcase” that was once God’s church. But the Lord had departed and turned the church over to Satan for its destruction. So the churches are pictured as a carcase.
The fifth time we find the Greek word “pto'-mah” is in Mark 6, and it was the time of Herod’s birthday. I will not get too much into this at this point, but just keep in mind that in Genesis 40 when Joseph interpreted the dreams of the butler and the baker, it says in Genesis 40:16-19:
When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head. And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days: Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.
We were just talking about the carcase and the eagles being gathered together, and this could tie into that, but what is very curious and intriguing is that it speaks of Pharaoh’s birthday. And in Mark 6 we read it was Herod’s birthday. It says in Mark 6:21:
And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;
These are the only two references to birthdays in the Bible – Pharaoh’s birthday and Herod’s birthday. And it so happens that Pharaoh can typify Satan, and Herod can also typify Satan. So it is really pointing to Satan’s birthday, and we will not get into that until we move further on in Genesis 40. But another significant tie-in besides “birthday” is that we know that in this account the daughter of Herodias danced for Pharaoh, and it pleased him, and he asked her what she wanted, and she conferred with her mother, and then she said, “I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.” And he granted her request, and we read in Mark 6:27-29:
And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother. And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.
The word “corpse” is the word “pto'-mah.” Let us consider this. Again, three times in Revelation 11 it refers to the dead bodies of the two witnesses, which are a figure of the witness of the Word of God within the churches during the church age. But their testimony was finished, and the church age was over upon Satan’s loosing. Read that verse again in Revelation 11:7. He came up out of the bottomless pit where he had been bound for a figurative thousand years (the entire church age), and he immediately came up and killed the two witnesses. And in Mark 6:29 God is using the same word “pto'-mah,” so God is telling us that it is as though they were “beheaded.” Again, it was the witness of the Word of God during the church age, and at the end of the church age they lost their head, as it were. They are headless, and of course this would be true because Christ was the head of the church. When He departed He left the churches without a head. That would be the spiritual understanding.
But we see with the baker that within that three-day period, he lost his head, and the birds were feeding upon his corpse, like we saw of the eagles in Matthew 24. So all five places we find this word, it identifies with “headless bodies,” and we can gather that the carcase in Matthew 24 is a “headless corpse.” It is the headless body of the churches. And what does a baker bake? He bakes bread, and the “bread” has to do with the Gospel, and the churches and congregations were the caretakers of the Gospel. That was what they were charged to do. They were to remain faithful to the Gospel, and proclaim it faithfully to the nations through the churches. And yet at the end, their gospel was poison. They became a false gospel, and God came in judgment.