• 2024-09-20 | Chris McCann
  • Audio: Length: 27:06
  • Passages covered: Hosea 6:2, Genesis 45:26-28, Revelation 11:8,11, Ezekiel 37:7-8,9-11, Habakkuk 3:1-2, John 6.28-29, John 9:1-4, Isaiah 55:6.

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Genesis 40 Series, Part 26, Hosea 6:2

Hello, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis. Today is study #26 in Genesis 40. We have been looking at the word “revive,” and if you have been following along you know we came across references to a three-day period in Genesis 40. After three days the butler was restored, and the baker was hanged. We began to check out references to three days in the Bible, and the Bible has a lot to say about three days. When we get back to Genesis 40, I am going to try to summarize some of the information we have learned concerning three days. For instance, when God breaks it down as “today, tomorrow, and a third day,” or when He speaks of three days without the detail of “today, tomorrow, and a third day,” there is a difference.

For instance when He says, “…sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, And be ready against the third day,” we have to look for the spiritual meaning of that. There were two outpourings of the Holy Spirit over the course of the New Testament era, and the “third day” began Judgment Day. But just a reference to “three days” identifies with judgment, and it doe not necessarily tell us which judgment. But, again, we will look more at that when we return to Genesis 40.

Right now we want to look at one more Bible verse that speaks of “reviving.” As you may recall, we went to 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.

Then the passage goes on to speak of the early rain and the Latter Rain, and that was very helpful in aiding us in understanding what these “two days” had in view. To be revived means to be restored to life, like when the two witnesses were lying dead in the streets, and then after three and a half days they stood on their feet and the spirit of life entered into them.

In our last study we went to Genesis 45, the account where the sons of Jacob had returned from Egypt, having just discovered that Joseph was not only alive and well but he was second in command to the Pharaoh of Egypt. That would have been incredible since his brethren had sold Joseph to Midianite slave traders. They would not have expected this, as they had hated their brother to such a degree that they sold him as a slave. One would have thought Joseph would have had a miserable life and they would never have heard of him again. That would be a reasonable conclusion, except that God was with Joseph, and He worked everything out for Joseph. He was a slave and then thrown into prison, and everything seemed to go from bad to worse.

But in our account in Genesis 40 Joseph interprets the dreams of the butler and the baker, and this will become highly significant in the next chapter. The butler was restored to his butlership and again gave the cup to Pharaoh, and he remembered his fault; that is, he remembered that Joseph was able to interpret dreams, and it came to his mind due to the fact that Pharaoh had a couple of very troubling dreams, and there was no one to interpret.

In Genesis 45 Joseph’s brethren came back from Egypt, and it says in Genesis 45:26-28:

And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.

What a beautiful historical account of a father who thought his dear son Joseph was rent in pieces by beasts, as that is what the brothers had implied when they brought back Joseph’s coat all covered with blood. Jacob thought he was dead, but not only was he still alive, which would be super-wonderful news all by itself, but he was ruling Egypt under Pharaoh. He is the lord of the land. And it so happens that he has great riches, and there is food in Egypt, and he wanted them to come to him. So the wagons were a testimony to what they were saying, as you have to keep in mind that there had been a grievous famine in all the land for two full years, and no nation had food except Egypt, and Joseph was the keeper of it. So the spirit of Jacob revived.

Remember the account of Samson in Judges 15. He did battle with the Philistines using the jawbone of an ass, and he was sore athirst, and then God gave him water through a hollow place in the jawbone, and it quenched his thirst and he revived. We talked about God’s salvation program. During the church age He sent the Gospel which identifies with the early rain. Then there was a famine, not of physical bread and water but a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord, and that is more grievous than a physical famine. When there is a famine of hearing, it means that no one can become saved. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, as it says in Romans 10:17. Faith cannot come when there is a famine of hearing, and no one can become saved. That is the picture with Samson and the water coming forth from the jawbone of the ass after a period of thirst (famine). And it is the picture we saw in Revelation 11 with the death of the two witnesses where they were killed upon the point of Satan’s rising up, which we know was the end of the church age and the beginning of the Great Tribulation when judgment began at the house of God. It says in Revelation 11:8:

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.

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.

There was a period of the ministry of the “two witnesses,” and then they finished their ministry, just like Samson finished speaking and cast away the jawbone. Their ministry was finished, and then they were lying dead for “three and a half days,” figuratively. That is the sequence: rain; then famine; then rain. And the rain began when they stood on their feet after the “three and a half days.” To stand on one’s feet identifies with sending forth the Gospel to the nations, as we read in Acts 26 where Christ told Saul to stand upon his feet.

We also saw Ezekiel 37 that there were two periods of prophesying. God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to dead dry bones, and bones came to his bones. And then the restoration of these dry bones seemed to stop in Ezekiel 37:7, the first period of prophesying that would identify with the early rain. It says 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.

That was the first prophesying. There was miraculous movement toward the building of the army, which we are told later was an exceeding great army. But the movement stopped, and we know that because it says in Ezekiel 37:9 that he was commanded to prophesy again. Do you see how it fits in? There is a second outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Latter Rain. It says in Ezekiel 37:9-11:

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. 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. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel…

It is the whole house, the whole company of the elect, all spiritual Israel. But there were two periods of prophesying, or two outpouring of the Holy Spirit in two seasons of rain. And there is a “reviving” after two days, as it were, and the third day He will raise us up.

One other place I wanted to go to is in Habakkuk 3 where it uses this same Hebrew word translated as “revive” or “live,” in a very interesting verse. We read in Habakkuk 3:1-2:

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. O JEHOVAH, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O JEHOVAH, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.

Let us try to understand this. The first thing we want to understand is the “work” of JEHOVAH. It so happens that the Lord answers that question in John 6.28-29:

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

That is interesting because it said in Habakkuk to “revive thy work,” implying there was an earlier work. And John 7 says that the “work” of God is that you believe, and Christ, who is God, performed the work of you and I believing, if we are children of God. Remember the Bible says that no man is justified by the works of the law, and faith is a work. But we are justified by the faith of Christ. Faith is a work, so we are saved by the work of Christ, the works finished from the foundation of the world, according to Hebrews 4:3. That is when Jesus was the Lamb slain, and that is when He bore the sins of His elect people and died for them. He did it all by faith, trusting God to be faithful, and that atoning work was finished for each child of God. Then there was the additional work of sending forth the Gospel. It says in Isaiah, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation…” But in the New Testament it says in Romans 10:15: “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” That is because Christ preaches the Gospel through His people. It is like Ezekiel 37 where it says that “bone came to his bone,” forming the body of Christ. 

Again, it is the work of God that you believe. It is not your work, but that is what the corrupt false gospels teach. They say that you must do the work of belief in order to become saved. They do not call it a “work,” but Christ said, “This is the work of God that ye believe.” Both 1Thessalonians and 2Thessalonians refer to this “work of faith.” Likewise, it said in John 6:29: “This is the work of God, that ye believe…” It is the work Jesus performed. We also read in John 9:1-4:

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

I hope you can hear this with spiritual ears. Jesus said, “I must work the works of him that sent me.” What is the work of God? It is that you believe. Notice that He must do the work “while it is day,” the day of salvation in which Christ worked the works of God by applying His Word to save the elect. He sent His Word forth, and it was as though He himself delivered it to His elect among the nations. But it was through His people that this was carried out, and He accomplished that work. He finished the work that you believe. And He did this work while it was day, or while it within the boundaries of the day of salvation that spanned many centuries. We were commanded to seek JEHOVAH while He may be found. That statement can be found in Isaiah 55:6:

Seek ye JEHOVAH while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

There is a definite implication that He would not always be able to be found of men. He would not always be near, in that sense, and that is what Jesus said in John 9:4: “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” Again, this is the work of God that ye believe, and that work was done in the 12-hour day, the day of salvation. The Lord said in John 11:9: “Are there not twelve hours in the day?” 

Nothing is insignificant in the Bible. God does not speak like we speak. Sometimes we just talk to be talking, and we have no real meaning to what we say. We are careless with our speech, and certainly everything we say today does not harmonize and fit with what we said yesterday, last week, or at any time in our lives. We are inconsistent, and we contradict ourselves, but this is not the case with God. Everything fits like pieces of a puzzle. 

So Jesus says, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day,” and in another place He says, “Are there not twelve hours in a day?” And in the parable about workers being hired to work in a vineyard for a day, how long did they work? It was a 12-hour work day. Groups were hired at three-hour intervals, but at the last hour, the eleventh hour, the pattern was broken and the last group was hired. We are told this group worked only an hour, but at the end of the day they received equal pay. But it said that the work in the vineyard was performed for 12 hours, and then the work day ended and night came when no man can work. And the “man” who is especially in view is Jesus. He can no longer perform His work. 

You know, we have a work day. For most of the history of the world, man traditionally worked while the sun was shining from 6 a. m. to 6 p. m., and then the work day would be done, so that is a figure God uses that would have been well understood, and it is used to represent Christ’s work day in the world. Once He saved the last person to be saved, He was done. It was night, and there is no work in the night.