Hosea 6:1-3

Below is but a small measure of revelation that my father had received from the Lord. I hope this will be a blessing to you. All that is written below are the words of my father.

April 21, 2021 

In loving memory of my father
Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett
July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023

About ten days ago, the Holy Spirit seemed to prompt me to delay for a week the sharing of some gleanings from the book of Hebrews. This message was sparked by listening to a worship song on the internet called "In His Time." I am sure that many of you are familiar with that song. I have been aware for many long years that some of the songs we sing are a little off-tangent in that they contain some non-scriptural wording. "In His Time" is a wonderful, scriptural song which has never been sung in any gathering of the saints when I have been present. The words are ...

In His time, in His time, He makes all things beautiful in His time.
Lord, please show me every day, as You're teaching me Your way, 

That You do just what You say, in Your time.

In Your time, in Your time, You make all things beautiful in Your time, 

Lord my life to You I bring, may each song I have to sing, 

Be to You a lovely thing, in Your time.

The best version I am aware of is by Maranatha. Go to YouTube.com, search on "In His Time," and select the version which has a picture of mountains on the right and a lake on the left. You will be blessed.

If we look at the words of that song, the first line says "In His time," but in the rest of the song we see 12 occurrences of "You" and "Your." That reminds me of a very short prophecy I heard about 45 years ago, as follows: "Why do my people sing about me but do not sing to me?" I can think of only two possible answers. First, because of tradition. We tend to do and say what other professing Christians do and say because we don't want to appear different. Human nature likes the apparent security of a crowd. The other reason is because we do not know the Lord intimately. We only know a lot of things about the Lord. At first, because of the song, "In His Time," I thought that this message would be about time and eternity. But then the Holy Spirit brought to my mind three verses in Hosea 6:1-3, which constitute a special delivery message from the LORD to all of His chosen people over all of time.

"Come, and let us return unto the LORD: 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 shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: 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." 

In those three verses I see a complete picture of the plan of God for His chosen people. Verse 1 speaks of the relationship between God and His chosen people over all of time. That message has never changed. Jesus said the same thing when He preached, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Verses 2 and 3 are prophetic of the last of the last days.

The first thing I want to point out are the two occurrences of "LORD," and the nine occurrences of "He" and "His," which refer to the LORD. Likewise, we see nine occurrences of the words "us" and "we." Therefore, we should not apply this to a single person. By the same token, as individual members in His body, our relationship in this body incorporates both His grace as well as His will. These are the things that not only we as children, but also as co-laborers, as His servants, have a responsibility to answer to ourselves as well as to Him.

Hebrews 10:5, "Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:"

That verse has both a natural and a spiritual meaning. Jesus, as a Man, had a natural body just like ours. His spiritual body is the church, of which He is the Head. The full stature man can only be found in Christ and in His body. This talks about the mystery of Christ. Both Jews and Gentiles leave their identities and find a new identity in Christ.

In Psalm 139:16, the Lord said, "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect [or incomplete]; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance [or day by day] were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." 

This body is being perfected, this body is being fashioned, this body is progressively becoming whole, because this is God's plan and God will have what He desires. The mystery of Christ is all about Wholeness.

The first word in Hosea 6:1 is "Come." That is an invitation.

John 1:35-39, 

35 Again the next day after John stood, and two of His disciples;

36 And looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God.

37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto Him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest Thou?

39 He saith unto them, Come and see.

The two disciples, in those verses, asked where Jesus dwelt physically ... what house or tent. However, Jesus gave them a spiritual answer, and one that they did not understand. That last verse may be translated as, "Come and you shall see!" See what? more scriptural truth? NO! Come to Jesus where He is and you shall see THE TRUTH ... Jesus Himself, the personification of all truth. Pilate looked Truth straight in the eye and asked, "What is truth?" Where does Jesus dwell today? The same place that He has always been ... in the realm of the Spirit. And so the key for us today is the same key that has always been there ... coming to Jesus.

Christianity is not a religion but a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We can read about Christianity all we want, but we will never know the depths of that Man from Galilee until we experience Him, walk with Him, dwell with Him, and understand His ways. It is one thing to understand Scriptural truth. It is quite another to experience THE Truth (the person of the Lord Jesus Christ).

Jesus prayed, in John 17:24, 

"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world."

Note that Jesus did NOT pray that they might be with Him where He would be, but where He was, even before His crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Where was Jesus? in the realm of the Spirit! Man is forever trying to pull Jesus down to where we are, but Jesus wants to draw us, by His Spirit, up to where He is! When Jesus was crucified, we were crucified with Him. When Jesus died on the cross, we died with Him, When Jesus arose from the grave, so did we. In all points we must identify with the Lord Jesus!

It is only by the grace of God that we have been allowed to come to Jesus initially and experience His saving grace.

John 6:44, "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him." 

When we come to Jesus, we must come as a little child, trusting completely in Him.

Luke 18:16, "Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God."

Some wonderful results of coming to Jesus are a quenching of our thirst, eternal life, and rest.

John 7:37, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink".

John 5:39-40, "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life." 

Matthew 11:28, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

This rest that Jesus spoke about is the same rest spoken of ten times in Hebrews, Chapters 3 and 4. That rest is a ceasing of our works and an entering into the works that the Father has ordained for us to walk in from before the foundation of the world.

However, coming to Jesus, except for the initial salvation experience, is not free. There is a price to pay.

Mark 8:34, "And when He had called the people unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."

The second word in Hosea 6:1 we want to consider is "return" ... "Come, let us return unto the LORD ..." That phrase clearly means that at one point in our life we had been following the Lord, but some things happened and we let some things slip ... we neglected so great a
salvation. We slipped into a routine, a traditional rut. Therefore, we became like lost sheep ... not lost in the sense of destined for hell but lost in the sense of losing our way ... of making a wrong turn ... of being on a wrong path. "Return" speaks of repentance ... not a repentance that led us to be born again, but a repentance because we are human beings. We are not sinners because we have sinned. We are sinners because of human nature. That level of repentance happened in the life of Isaiah as recorded in Isaiah, Chapter 6. It also happened in the life of the perfect and upright man, Job, as recorded in Job 42:5-6, 

"I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." 

The next phrase in Hosea 6:1 is, "for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up." First, please note that a colon appears just before this phrase and right after "let us return unto the Lord." A colon in scripture indicates that what follows the colon amplifies or explains what has immediately preceded. In other words, this phrase, "for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up," is the reason why we must return unto the Lord. The Lord is our Healer. He is our Great Physician. Unless the Lord heals us spiritually, no man can heal us.

Now we come 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."

The key word in this verse is the word "revive." Have you ever noticed how many words in the Bible start with the prefix, "re"? Some of these words are renew, restitution, remove, refresh, regeneration, reconcile, replenish, redemption, recall, recover, recompense, return, repent, restore, and revive. The prefix "re" generally means "again." So "restore" or "restoration" means to store again, or to bring back to a former position or condition. People talk about restoring a car or restoring a house. One of the major topics that is dear to the heart of God is restoration ... a restoration of the Church back to something that was always intended in the mind of God before the foundation of the world. Since the Church consists of individual believers, restoration includes healing, as in Matthew 12:13, when Jesus healed a man with a withered hand. Closely related to restoration is the word many evangelists like to use ... "revival." The word "revival" does not occur in the Bible, but the word "revive" occurs 13 times. "Revive" means to bring back or recover new life ... it speaks of a spiritual resurrection.

Returning 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." 

Now it does not take the Lord two days to give us new life. That is instantaneous. Therefore, I strongly believe this speaks of the body of Christ, not any one individual. Note also that "He will revive us." I believe this is prophetic of the history of the church that the Lord Jesus is building. "After two days" refers to the 2000 years of time from His resurrection until His second coming to earth. That will usher in the 1000 years, or the Millenium, when Christ and all the overcomers or remnant rule on earth. At the end of the third day He will raise us up, time will be no more, and all those who have been faithful to Him will live with Him in His sight for an eternity.

Finally, we come to Hosea 6:3, 

"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: 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."

"Then shall we know IF we follow on to know the Lord." "Then shall we know ..." know what? know the Lord intimately. This is another of the many "IF-THEN" conditional promises recorded in scripture.

The Lord Jesus said, 

"and this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." John 17:3.

Hebrews 8:10-11, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest."

The great apostle Paul, after 30 years of ministry, said, in Philippians 3:10-11, 

"That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." 

Similarly, evils came to Israel from not knowing the Lord. 

Romans 1:19-20, "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:" 

Isaiah 1:3, "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: But Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider."

Luke 19:41-44, "And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." 

Jeremiah 8:7, "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD."

Ecclesiastes 9:12, "For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon you."

There is a difference between knowing about someone and knowing that person. In one sense we all know President Biden, but we actually only know a few things about him. His wife knows him very well! Why? Because she has lived with him for many years. She knows his strengths and his weaknesses.

In like manner, the only way we can truly know Jesus is to come to Him, dwell with Him and He with us, be taught by Him, and learn to trust Him.

The Greek word, eido (pronounced i-do) is a wonderful word! It is translated "know" in the New Testament 180 times and 80 times as "see." Conclusion? to see Him is to know Him!

1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." 

Jeremiah 9:23-24, "Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD."

Returning to Hosea 6:3, "His going forth is prepared as the morning;"

How is the morning prepared? From Genesis 8:22, 

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." 

That has been decreed by God and His word is true.

God has His timetable for all things and no man can change it. When Jesus was born by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, His going forth was right on time. 

Galatians 4:4, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law," 

When Jesus was crucified on the cross of Calvary, that event was right on time. When the risen Lord Jesus Christ returns to earth for the second time, He will also be right on schedule, for He is God.

I recently listened on the internet to a song I had never heard before. The title of that song is, "Then Came the Morning," which was written by Bill and Gloria Gaither. The words of that song are:

They all walked away, nothing to say, They'd just lost their dearest friend.

All that He said, now He was dead, So this was the way it would end.

The dreams they had dreamed, Were not what they'd seemed.

Now that He was dead and gone.

The garden, the jail, the hammer, the nail, How could a night be so long.

Then came the morning, night turned into day.

The stone was rolled away, Hope rose with the dawn.

Then came the morning, shadows vanished before the sun.

Death had lost and life had won, for morning had come.

The angel, the star, the kings from afar, the wedding, the water, the wine, 

Now it was done, they'd taken her Son, wasted before His time.

She knew it was true, she'd watched Him die too, she'd heard them just call Him a man.

But deep in her heart, she knew from the start, Somehow her Son would live again.

Then came the morning, night turned into day.

The stone was rolled away, Hope rose with the dawn.

Then came the morning, shadows vanished before the sun.

Death had lost and life had won, for morning had come.

Please google YouTube.com and search for "Then Came the Morning." The best rendition I have found features Guy Penrod, who for many years was chief soloist with the Bill Gaither group. That rendition, which has more than 5 million views, was part of a week-long evangelistic campaign held in a large tent. On the wall behind the platform speakers and singers you will see a large banner which says "Tent Revival." I never knew that a tent needed to be revived! When Guy Penrod sang that song before thousands of Christians at that "tent revival," it clearly stirred the emotions of many people. Every time I listen to it, I start to weep. There is nothing wrong with emotions, which are God-given. However, the real question must always be, "How does a preaching, a teaching, or singing wonderful spiritual songs change our life? I am personally aware of a rather mature minister who started living with a woman, not his wife of many years, and soon divorced his wife. When confronted by two elders, he said, "I don't care what the Bible says. The Lord told me to divorce my wife." Matthew 7:20, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." None of us can hide our actions or our thoughts from the Lord.

Now let us consider the last phrase in Hosea 6:3, 

"and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth."

Like so many other verses in the Bible, the rain in Hosea 6:3 does not speak of natural rain. It speaks of spiritual rain. The former rain that has watered Gods chosen people are all of the overcomers who have gone before us ... like Peter, Paul, and John. Only the Lord knows who they were. Likewise, the latter rain speaks of all of the overcomers who will be alive on earth when Jesus returns.

In 2002, Ken Bennett, a solid man of God, and a close personal friend of ours, began to see, with his natural eyes, "spiritual rain." At one point he told me that he had seen that spiritual rain for 75 consecutive days. When my wife and I stayed with them at a beach house in South Carolina in the late summer of 2002, both of us also saw that spiritual rain. We know at least a handful of other believers also saw that same spiritual rain. Only the Lord knows how many others around the world saw the spiritual rain. It looked exactly like a gentle, slow drizzle or mist of rain, except that no water ever hit the ground. It was easier to see on a clear day. I believe that was the beginning of God's restoration of the spiritual golden pot that had manna, which speaks of prophetic revelation.

Finally, "He shall come to us." Who is "us"? It depends upon who you ask. Almost all evangelicals, denominational folks, and many charismatics would say that "us" refers to every born-again Christian. However, what does scripture say that "us" refers to?

We know, from Hebrews 9:28, 

"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." 

Are we looking for Him?

Also, from John 16:33, Jesus said, 

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." 

We know that Jesus was, and is, the Great Overcomer, who overcame sin, death, and the devil.

Revelation 12:9-11, "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." 

Then, from the book of Revelation, Chapters 2 and 3 ...

Revelation 2:7, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."

Revelation 2:11, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."

Revelation 2:17, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it."

 

Revelation 2:26, "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:"

Revelation 3:5, "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before His angels."

Revelation 3:12, "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name."

Revelation 3:21, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne."

Revelation 21:7, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son."

These beautiful promises are to those who continue to follow the Lord through not just mountain-top experiences but the valleys as well ... not those who just begin the race, but those who finish the race. From 2 Corinthians 2:10, 

"For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us."

All of the promises of the Father are in Christ. Therefore, let us follow on to know the Lord.

Psalm 30:5, "For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." 

These natural bodies of ours were never intended to last forever. Our short time on earth cannot be compared with an eternity with God when we will have new bodies which will never wear out. May the Lord be glorified in all things! Amen.