After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. – Hosea 6:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 14, 2014): Hosea 6

Thomas Edison once commented that “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” One of the truths of our lives is that we learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. It is a truth that few of us really want to embrace. After all, it is our successes that we believe define us. Yet, successes seldom come without first failing. We usually need to learn the lessons from failure before we can make the adjustments that need to be made in order to succeed.

Hosea prophecies that there are hard times ahead for Israel. The reality was that Israel in its present state was politically and spiritually dead. And for a time the misery of death – literally the shell of death - would reign. But that suffering would be short lived. God was unwilling to leave Israel in its current state. What God desired for Israel was that they might live. And he was already at work toward that end.

There are several theories about how this might be accomplished. Israel has gone through several periods when it was for all intents and purposes dead – the most recent of these extended from the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E. until 1948 when the nation was once again brought back to life. But others would point out that the resurrection of Israel cannot be complete until the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem is completed– the Temple that is a dream in the hearts of the Israeli people and is destined to someday become the third temple (following Solomon’s Temple which was destroyed in 587 B.C.E and Zerubbabel’s temple destroyed in 70 C.E.) – a temple that would be rebuilt during Hosea’s third day.

But for the Christian, there is the eerie shadowy figure of Christ that is found in these verses – the one who was torn to pieces in our place and spent two whole days in the grave – only to be raised back to life on the third day. Hosea’s words are reminders of maybe a different reality – and a different temple. It might be that, in a way, the Third Temple has already been completed, in the person and worship of Jesus Christ. And only through him can we have the life that God desires for us, life that Hosea says can only come on the third day – and only through him can we truly know God’s peace.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Hosea 7