"They said to each other, 'Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:32 nlt
I love this positive heart-burn. Let's say no to cold and lukewarm today. No mo--none of that.
)?
?
?
Do you feel like you've been long wandering around in the wilderness without any passion for the Lord?
God can fix that -- easily.
Spend time with Jesus! "The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13 nlt
Back in the day there were those Israelites in Egypt as slaves. They hated it there and wanted out so they cried out to the Lord. People in Egypt represent the lost, the unregenerate. Egypt in the Bible represents this corrupt world system.
God wants us Christians to come out of the world system and be holy. Yes, to live on-fire passionately for our first-love, Jesus Christ. Everyday!
The Bible says, "Wherefore Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch not the unclean thing; And I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, And ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:17-18
Then there were those out in the desert for a really long time. They and their wanderings represent the defeated spiritual life. Not lost, but not passionate or zealous for God and His will.Then there were those crossing over the Jordan River for conquest. They obeyed the Lord (didn't quite claim all the Land He'd given to them but they did cross over to enter). They in the Bible represent His victory by the Spirit over the flesh, the devil, and the world system. Many think that crossing that river in the Bible represents believers leaving earth to cross over into heaven. But that's not true because they still had some battles before them in the Promised Land. There won't be in heaven for them.
Listen, believer, the rest of your life can be the best of your life! Choices and a spiritually no-compromise faith do matter. And you matter to God. I say it's time to crossover and enter in to the life that God has had planned for you. Because of the cross, and because of the power of the Holy Spirit, we all can enter in.
Three locations to see, but where are you at spiritually?
?
"I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!" Rev. 3:15-16
I see three spiritual temperatures of people in the Bible. What temperature are you, and how about with that church you go to? Has anyone respectfully stuck a thermometer in the Bible teaching Elder's mouths so to speak?
I see three spiritual temperatures of people in the Bible. What temperature are you, and how about with that church you go to? Has anyone respectfully stuck a thermometer in the Bible teaching Elder's mouths so to speak?
1.) Ice cold - that's the person is cold-stone dead in their sins2.) Lukewarm - that's the person is saved but keeps looking half to the world to meet their needs instead of to Christ to meet needs. No pure passion inside.3.) Red Hot - blazing like those two on the road to Emmaus fellowshiping close with Jesus.
Believer, get close to Christ. Live red-hot in Him and in His will for you. Listen, the rest of your life can be the best of your life. No, that isn't from Joel, that is simply true. Choices, faith and obedience matter. And you matter to God. Crossover and enter in to to the life that God has had planned for you.
Have you been looking down and feelin' down because you've felt depressed a little while lately?
Look around and evaluate.
Look within. Examine yourself to see if you're in the faith. Are you cold or lukewarm?
Look up. Send up a prayer up to get right today even, and have the right address attached to that prayer. To the Father in the name of Jesus.
When the outlook ain't so good try the uplook!
Look forward and advance. Wise application? Go forward spiritually by faith. That's what the book of Joshua is all about. KnowGod.org
"Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent." Rev. 2:5
 |
| Karolina Grabowska |
Like me do you sometimes notice 3 in the word?: The three calls of Samuel, three temptations of Jesus in the desert, the Trinity, three days in the tomb (so glad He's alive now!), Jesus' three-year ministry, age 33 is when Jesus physically died before the Father raised Him up.
I'm not "all into Bible numbers" like they are somehow magical, but I'm into knowing and following Jesus, but the number three is interesting along with its compounds occuring hundreds of times is a good study. Most of these display a conventional use such as to mark quantity whether in enumerating persons, things, or activities. For example, Noah had three sons (Gen 6:10) and Job had three daughters (Job 1:2; cf. 42:13).
The Ark of the Covenant contained three sacred objects ‘The gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant” (Heb. 9:4). Solomon’s Palace of the Forest of Lebanon was designed with windows “placed high in sets of three facing each other. All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other” (1 Kgs 7:4-5).
In John’s vision a triple entranceway marked all four sides of the city of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:13). David “bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground” (1 Sam 20:41) and Daniel regularly prayed three times a day giving thanks to God (Dan 6:10, 13). Israelite men were required to appear before the Lord three times in a year: “Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles” (Deut 16:16). Jesus answered Satan’s threefold temptation by citing three scriptural passages Matt 4:1-11). Paul experienced three shipwrecks (2 Cor 11:28) and prayed three times to the Lord for the removal of his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7-8).
Three appears often in measurements of time as well. For example, Moses and Aaron petitioned Pharaoh, “Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God” (Exod 5:3; cf. Exod 3:18; 8:27).22 The fleeing Hebrews went three days without finding water in the Desert of Shur (Exod 15:22). When the Hebrews had traveled from Mount Sinai for three days, the people began to complain (Num 10:33-11:1). When the Hebrews neared the Jordan River they were informed, “Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own” (Josh 1:11; cf. 3:1-4). The men of Timnah were stumped by Samson’s riddle for three days (Judg 14:14) and King Rehoboam gave Jeroboam and the delegation of Israelites a three-day waiting period as he considered their petition for less stringent royal demands (1 Kgs 12:5; cf. 12:12).
Jesus told the Jewish populace at the Temple, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:16), a fact that his disciples later recalled (v. 22).
A three-month period also figures in some matters. Moses’ mother was able to conceal her baby for three months (Exod 2:3; cf. Acts 7:20; Heb 11:23) and the ark remained at the house of Obed-Edom for three months (1 Chron 13:14). In keeping with this the third month is often mentioned as one in which some significant action or event took place. Thus three months after Judah visited the supposed shrine prostitute, he learned that she was really his daughter-in-law Tamar who was pregnant with his child (Gen 38:24). Asa’s reforms were celebrated in Jerusalem in the third month of his fifteenth year of reign (2 Chron 15:10). Support for the priests of Hezekiah’s day was gained by means of a tithe which began “in the third month and finished in the seventh month” (2 Chron 31:7). Ezekiel received a message from the Lord concerning the fate of Egypt in the third month of the eleventh year of his exile (Ezek 31:1) and the Lord revealed through Amos, “I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away” (Amos 4:7).
Jesus’ mother Mary visited Elizabeth, Zechariah’s wife, and stayed for three months (Luke 1:56). Paul stayed in Ephesus for three months and “spoke boldly” in the synagogue there (Acts 19:8), and subsequently stayed three months in Greece (Acts 20:3). Still later after the ship that was carrying him to Rome to stand trial was wrecked in a storm, he and his captives stayed on the island of Malta for three months (Acts 28:11).
A period of three years can be noted in the accounts of several biblical texts. In fact, Beyse suggests that “three years … play a more important role” than a period of three months.
A three year period figures in the instructions to the Hebrews concerning their conduct after they enter the Promised Land: “When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regards its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten” (Lev 19:23). As part of the Levitical stipulations with regard to the year of Jubilee the Hebrews were forbidden to sow or reap, to plant, reap or harvest in the fiftieth year for it was to be a holy year for them. In compensation the Lord promises “I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years” (Lev 25:21). After the slaying of his brother, “Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he stayed there three years” (2 Sam 13:38). During David’s reign a three-year famine caused the king to seek “the face of the LORD” (2 Sam 21:1). David’s adversary Shimei (2 Sam 16:5-14) was spared by Solomon on condition that he was permanently confined to the city of Jerusalem (1 Kgs 2:36-38). Shimei obeyed this restriction for three years, but when two of his slaves fled from him, he left the city to retrieve them, an action that was to cost him his life (vv. 39-46). Every three years King Solomon’s trading fleet returned “carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons” (1 Kgs 10:22).
Isaiah prophesied that “within three years … Moab’s splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble” (Isa 16:14). Isaiah himself went “stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush” (Isa 20:3). Daniel and his three friends were schooled for three years with regard to the language and literature of the Babylonians (Dan 1:3-5). A three-year period appears in some of the accounts of the New Testament as well. It figures in Jesus’ parable of the unproductive fig tree (Luke 13:7). The Apostle Paul spent three years in Arabia apparently to commune with the Lord and receive instruction from him before going to acquaint himself with Peter (Gal 1:18).
Appropriately, the third year is also singled out for special mention. The third year was special in that it was the “year of the tithe” (Deut 14:28; cf. Amos 4:4), which was to be collected for the needs of the Levites and the underprivileged members of society such as the alien, the widow, and the poor (Deut 26:12).25 During the reign of King Jehoshaphat of Judah because “his heart was devoted to the ways of the LORD,” in his third year of reign he sent officials to “teach in the towns of Judah” (2 Chron 17:6-7). The third year was also the year that Jehoshaphat went to meet King Ahab of Israel with regard to their joining forces in an effort to regain Ramoth Gilead from the Arameans (1 Kgs 22:1-5). Still later, during the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem God gave to Hezekiah a sign of deliverance and renewed activity (2 Kgs 19:29; cf. Isa 37:30). “For the third year … there was a direct divine command: ‘Sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat fruit.’ Here was direct assurance that the people might resume normal agricultural activities with full expectation of eating the fruits of their labor. When in the harvest of the third year the people ate in abundance, they would know assuredly that God had been in the entire crisis.”
The number three has a distinct place in matters related to time. Thus Birch remarks, “Three is common in designating significant lengths of time, such as three days, three weeks, three months or three years (Gen. 40:12f., 18; Ex. 2:2; 10:22; 2 S. 24:13; Isa. 20:3; Jonah 1:17; Mt. 15:32; Lk. 2:46; 3:7; Acts 9:9; 2 Cor. 12:8).”
a great many things were certainly said to have happened when the number three was utilized, be it three days, three months, or years. Therefore, such may involve more than mere coincidence.
In some literary genres in which the number three is found a symbolic sense may also be intended. Thus Barr points to the number three as one of the numbers used in a special symbolic sense in John’s Apocalypse.
The number three and its multiple compounds occur more than a score of times in the Book of Revelation.
One frequently encounters a threefold literary pattern in the Scriptures. Indeed, the prophecy of Hosea is replete with the author’s use of a threefold literary pattern. For example, Hosea lists three products of ancient Israel that were not only important to its economy, but were signs of God’s blessing: grain, new wine, and oil (Hos. 2:22; cf. 14:7; Joel 1:10; 2:18-19).
He also puts forward a threefold plea to Judah not to follow in the ways of the Northern Kingdom (Hos 4:15); condemns three areas of Israelite society: priests, prophets, and people (4:4-5) or prophets, people, and king (5:1); and speaks of groups of three cities: Gibeah, Ramah, and Beth-Aven (= Bethel) and three tribes: Benjamin, Ephraim, and Judah (5:8-10).
Metaphorically, Hosea depicts the Israelite king, his advisors, and their deceitful counsel as a baker, a hot oven, and a fire that smolders through the night but “in the morning blazes like a flaming fire” (7:4-7). He also prophesies against the Northern Kingdom by addressing Ephraim, Israel, and Samaria with its king (10:6-7); and portrays the Lord as a lily, cedar of Lebanon, and an olive tree (14:5) as well as picturing the Lord as comparing Himself to a lion, leopard, and a bear robbed of its cubs (13:7-8), while likening His restored people to a lion’s cubs, birds, and doves (11:10-11).
“A cord of three strands is not easily broken” (Eccles 4:12).
In context (vv. 9-12) the point is that there is strength in numbers. This was especially true for the traveler in the ancient Near East. Although a solitary traveler could easily fall victim to robbers along the way, a traveling companion could serve as a possible deterrent to a robber or provide a source of help.
In some cases, the number three may signify completeness or finality.
“The figure three is an evocative image, filled with connotations” so that “three consecutive occurrences of an event serves as a rhetorical signal indicating special significance.”
Agur who spoke of three things that point to a fourth (Prov 30:15-16, 18-19, 21-23, 29-31) a threefold pattern may indicate that with the third in a series the reader is alerted that something special is about to happen. For example, on Mount Carmel Elijah had the sacrifice doused with water three times to demonstrate that there was no human chance that the sacrifice could be consumed. Nevertheless, in answer to his prayer the Lord sent the fire, which “fell and burnt up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and licked up the water in the trench” (1 Kgs 18:38). Those in attendance at that event as well as those who later heard or read of it would naturally assume that Elijah’s actions were pointing to the fact that something significant—even spectacular—could be expected to follow.
Several other examples may be cited. Thus Balaam beat his donkey three times after which he was reprimanded by both his donkey and an angel of the Lord (Num 22:21-35). Further, Balaam later blessed Israel three times as Balak desired, after which Balaam uttered a fourth oracle warning of what lay in the future for Balak’s people (chs. 23-24). Elijah stretched himself over the dead body of the widow’s son while praying for the lad’s revivification (1 Kgs 17:21) and subsequently, “The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived” (v. 22).
Before Peter journeyed to Cornelius’ house, he was instructed via a vision three times to eat animals previously declared to be unclean (Acts 10:9-16). Peter was to realize the significance of the vision and so could later testify, “God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean” (Acts 10:28; cf. vv. 34-35). Still later, Peter’s testimony to those assembled at Cornelius’ house was climaxed with a special visitation of the Holy Spirit (vv. 36-48).
It's about completeness. Jesus’ threefold restoration of Peter (John 21:15-17), who previously had denied Him three times (Luke 22:54-62) even as the Lord had predicted (Matt 26:34; Mark 14:30; John 13:38), tends to underscore the certainty of the Lord’s recommissioning of His disciple. Yet at the same time it provides the basis for further details concerning Peter’s future ministry. Indeed, the Lord went on to reveal the final end of that new period of service in Peter’s own crucifixion (John 21:18-19).
Abraham obeyed the Lord’s instructions and was prepared to offer his only son Isaac on the third day of his journey to Moriah (Gen 22:4). If as might be expected by the mention of the third day in the narrative the hearer/reader anticipated a seemingly better ending to the account, he was not disappointed. For God Himself supplied a substitute for the sacrifice (vv. 9-14) after which He confirmed to Abraham the earlier promises in the Abrahamic Covenant (vv. 15-18; cf. Gen 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 15:17-18; 17:1-22). It was obvious that Abraham truly believed the Lord (Gen 15:6) and put his full trust in Him, doubtless expecting God to provide the means for granting him the vast number of descendants He had promised (Gen 12:1-3; 17:19-22).
“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promise was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even thought God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking he did receive Isaac back from death” (Heb 11:17-19).
“The third day has a ceremonial significance as well … The meat left from sacrifices was to be destroyed on the third day (Lev 7:17-18; 19:6-7).”
"He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us;
He has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.
After two days he will revive us;
On the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence" (Hos 6:1-2).
That Jesus died and rose again bodily on the third day (Mark 16:6; John 20:6-7),
Notice the ten post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, in five instances on the third day alone (e.g., Matt 28:1-10; Mark 16:6, 9-13; Luke 24:1-35; cf. 1 Cor 15:5; John 20:10-23).
"And they said to one another, 'Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?'" Luke 24:32 nkjv
Notice the two who were traveling to Emmaus that day remarked to the risen Jesus (whom they were kept from recognizing) concerning their hope in Christ, “But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place” (Luke 24:21). Still later Jesus reminded his assembled disciples, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:45s46).
"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve" (1 Cor 15:3-5).
So this motif of the third day of course reaches its climax in the fact of the physical resurrection of Jesus on the third day. It is then that the emphasis of the third day as one of spiritual activity and completeness finds its culmination in Christ’s finished redemptive work.
The Ark of the Covenant contained three sacred objects ‘The gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant” (Heb. 9:4). Solomon’s Palace of the Forest of Lebanon was designed with windows “placed high in sets of three facing each other. All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other” (1 Kgs 7:4-5).
In John’s vision a triple entranceway marked all four sides of the city of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:13). David “bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground” (1 Sam 20:41) and Daniel regularly prayed three times a day giving thanks to God (Dan 6:10, 13). Israelite men were required to appear before the Lord three times in a year: “Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles” (Deut 16:16). Jesus answered Satan’s threefold temptation by citing three scriptural passages Matt 4:1-11). Paul experienced three shipwrecks (2 Cor 11:28) and prayed three times to the Lord for the removal of his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7-8).
Three appears often in measurements of time as well. For example, Moses and Aaron petitioned Pharaoh, “Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God” (Exod 5:3; cf. Exod 3:18; 8:27).22 The fleeing Hebrews went three days without finding water in the Desert of Shur (Exod 15:22). When the Hebrews had traveled from Mount Sinai for three days, the people began to complain (Num 10:33-11:1). When the Hebrews neared the Jordan River they were informed, “Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own” (Josh 1:11; cf. 3:1-4). The men of Timnah were stumped by Samson’s riddle for three days (Judg 14:14) and King Rehoboam gave Jeroboam and the delegation of Israelites a three-day waiting period as he considered their petition for less stringent royal demands (1 Kgs 12:5; cf. 12:12).
Jesus told the Jewish populace at the Temple, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:16), a fact that his disciples later recalled (v. 22).
A three-month period also figures in some matters. Moses’ mother was able to conceal her baby for three months (Exod 2:3; cf. Acts 7:20; Heb 11:23) and the ark remained at the house of Obed-Edom for three months (1 Chron 13:14). In keeping with this the third month is often mentioned as one in which some significant action or event took place. Thus three months after Judah visited the supposed shrine prostitute, he learned that she was really his daughter-in-law Tamar who was pregnant with his child (Gen 38:24). Asa’s reforms were celebrated in Jerusalem in the third month of his fifteenth year of reign (2 Chron 15:10). Support for the priests of Hezekiah’s day was gained by means of a tithe which began “in the third month and finished in the seventh month” (2 Chron 31:7). Ezekiel received a message from the Lord concerning the fate of Egypt in the third month of the eleventh year of his exile (Ezek 31:1) and the Lord revealed through Amos, “I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away” (Amos 4:7).
Jesus’ mother Mary visited Elizabeth, Zechariah’s wife, and stayed for three months (Luke 1:56). Paul stayed in Ephesus for three months and “spoke boldly” in the synagogue there (Acts 19:8), and subsequently stayed three months in Greece (Acts 20:3). Still later after the ship that was carrying him to Rome to stand trial was wrecked in a storm, he and his captives stayed on the island of Malta for three months (Acts 28:11).
A period of three years can be noted in the accounts of several biblical texts. In fact, Beyse suggests that “three years … play a more important role” than a period of three months.
A three year period figures in the instructions to the Hebrews concerning their conduct after they enter the Promised Land: “When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regards its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten” (Lev 19:23). As part of the Levitical stipulations with regard to the year of Jubilee the Hebrews were forbidden to sow or reap, to plant, reap or harvest in the fiftieth year for it was to be a holy year for them. In compensation the Lord promises “I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years” (Lev 25:21). After the slaying of his brother, “Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he stayed there three years” (2 Sam 13:38). During David’s reign a three-year famine caused the king to seek “the face of the LORD” (2 Sam 21:1). David’s adversary Shimei (2 Sam 16:5-14) was spared by Solomon on condition that he was permanently confined to the city of Jerusalem (1 Kgs 2:36-38). Shimei obeyed this restriction for three years, but when two of his slaves fled from him, he left the city to retrieve them, an action that was to cost him his life (vv. 39-46). Every three years King Solomon’s trading fleet returned “carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons” (1 Kgs 10:22).
Isaiah prophesied that “within three years … Moab’s splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble” (Isa 16:14). Isaiah himself went “stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush” (Isa 20:3). Daniel and his three friends were schooled for three years with regard to the language and literature of the Babylonians (Dan 1:3-5). A three-year period appears in some of the accounts of the New Testament as well. It figures in Jesus’ parable of the unproductive fig tree (Luke 13:7). The Apostle Paul spent three years in Arabia apparently to commune with the Lord and receive instruction from him before going to acquaint himself with Peter (Gal 1:18).
Appropriately, the third year is also singled out for special mention. The third year was special in that it was the “year of the tithe” (Deut 14:28; cf. Amos 4:4), which was to be collected for the needs of the Levites and the underprivileged members of society such as the alien, the widow, and the poor (Deut 26:12).25 During the reign of King Jehoshaphat of Judah because “his heart was devoted to the ways of the LORD,” in his third year of reign he sent officials to “teach in the towns of Judah” (2 Chron 17:6-7). The third year was also the year that Jehoshaphat went to meet King Ahab of Israel with regard to their joining forces in an effort to regain Ramoth Gilead from the Arameans (1 Kgs 22:1-5). Still later, during the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem God gave to Hezekiah a sign of deliverance and renewed activity (2 Kgs 19:29; cf. Isa 37:30). “For the third year … there was a direct divine command: ‘Sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat fruit.’ Here was direct assurance that the people might resume normal agricultural activities with full expectation of eating the fruits of their labor. When in the harvest of the third year the people ate in abundance, they would know assuredly that God had been in the entire crisis.”
The number three has a distinct place in matters related to time. Thus Birch remarks, “Three is common in designating significant lengths of time, such as three days, three weeks, three months or three years (Gen. 40:12f., 18; Ex. 2:2; 10:22; 2 S. 24:13; Isa. 20:3; Jonah 1:17; Mt. 15:32; Lk. 2:46; 3:7; Acts 9:9; 2 Cor. 12:8).”
a great many things were certainly said to have happened when the number three was utilized, be it three days, three months, or years. Therefore, such may involve more than mere coincidence.
In some literary genres in which the number three is found a symbolic sense may also be intended. Thus Barr points to the number three as one of the numbers used in a special symbolic sense in John’s Apocalypse.
The number three and its multiple compounds occur more than a score of times in the Book of Revelation.
One frequently encounters a threefold literary pattern in the Scriptures. Indeed, the prophecy of Hosea is replete with the author’s use of a threefold literary pattern. For example, Hosea lists three products of ancient Israel that were not only important to its economy, but were signs of God’s blessing: grain, new wine, and oil (Hos. 2:22; cf. 14:7; Joel 1:10; 2:18-19).
He also puts forward a threefold plea to Judah not to follow in the ways of the Northern Kingdom (Hos 4:15); condemns three areas of Israelite society: priests, prophets, and people (4:4-5) or prophets, people, and king (5:1); and speaks of groups of three cities: Gibeah, Ramah, and Beth-Aven (= Bethel) and three tribes: Benjamin, Ephraim, and Judah (5:8-10).
Metaphorically, Hosea depicts the Israelite king, his advisors, and their deceitful counsel as a baker, a hot oven, and a fire that smolders through the night but “in the morning blazes like a flaming fire” (7:4-7). He also prophesies against the Northern Kingdom by addressing Ephraim, Israel, and Samaria with its king (10:6-7); and portrays the Lord as a lily, cedar of Lebanon, and an olive tree (14:5) as well as picturing the Lord as comparing Himself to a lion, leopard, and a bear robbed of its cubs (13:7-8), while likening His restored people to a lion’s cubs, birds, and doves (11:10-11).
“A cord of three strands is not easily broken” (Eccles 4:12).
In context (vv. 9-12) the point is that there is strength in numbers. This was especially true for the traveler in the ancient Near East. Although a solitary traveler could easily fall victim to robbers along the way, a traveling companion could serve as a possible deterrent to a robber or provide a source of help.
In some cases, the number three may signify completeness or finality.
“The figure three is an evocative image, filled with connotations” so that “three consecutive occurrences of an event serves as a rhetorical signal indicating special significance.”
Agur who spoke of three things that point to a fourth (Prov 30:15-16, 18-19, 21-23, 29-31) a threefold pattern may indicate that with the third in a series the reader is alerted that something special is about to happen. For example, on Mount Carmel Elijah had the sacrifice doused with water three times to demonstrate that there was no human chance that the sacrifice could be consumed. Nevertheless, in answer to his prayer the Lord sent the fire, which “fell and burnt up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and licked up the water in the trench” (1 Kgs 18:38). Those in attendance at that event as well as those who later heard or read of it would naturally assume that Elijah’s actions were pointing to the fact that something significant—even spectacular—could be expected to follow.
Several other examples may be cited. Thus Balaam beat his donkey three times after which he was reprimanded by both his donkey and an angel of the Lord (Num 22:21-35). Further, Balaam later blessed Israel three times as Balak desired, after which Balaam uttered a fourth oracle warning of what lay in the future for Balak’s people (chs. 23-24). Elijah stretched himself over the dead body of the widow’s son while praying for the lad’s revivification (1 Kgs 17:21) and subsequently, “The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived” (v. 22).
Before Peter journeyed to Cornelius’ house, he was instructed via a vision three times to eat animals previously declared to be unclean (Acts 10:9-16). Peter was to realize the significance of the vision and so could later testify, “God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean” (Acts 10:28; cf. vv. 34-35). Still later, Peter’s testimony to those assembled at Cornelius’ house was climaxed with a special visitation of the Holy Spirit (vv. 36-48).
It's about completeness. Jesus’ threefold restoration of Peter (John 21:15-17), who previously had denied Him three times (Luke 22:54-62) even as the Lord had predicted (Matt 26:34; Mark 14:30; John 13:38), tends to underscore the certainty of the Lord’s recommissioning of His disciple. Yet at the same time it provides the basis for further details concerning Peter’s future ministry. Indeed, the Lord went on to reveal the final end of that new period of service in Peter’s own crucifixion (John 21:18-19).
Abraham obeyed the Lord’s instructions and was prepared to offer his only son Isaac on the third day of his journey to Moriah (Gen 22:4). If as might be expected by the mention of the third day in the narrative the hearer/reader anticipated a seemingly better ending to the account, he was not disappointed. For God Himself supplied a substitute for the sacrifice (vv. 9-14) after which He confirmed to Abraham the earlier promises in the Abrahamic Covenant (vv. 15-18; cf. Gen 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 15:17-18; 17:1-22). It was obvious that Abraham truly believed the Lord (Gen 15:6) and put his full trust in Him, doubtless expecting God to provide the means for granting him the vast number of descendants He had promised (Gen 12:1-3; 17:19-22).
“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promise was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even thought God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking he did receive Isaac back from death” (Heb 11:17-19).
“The third day has a ceremonial significance as well … The meat left from sacrifices was to be destroyed on the third day (Lev 7:17-18; 19:6-7).”
"He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us;
He has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.
After two days he will revive us;
On the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence" (Hos 6:1-2).
That Jesus died and rose again bodily on the third day (Mark 16:6; John 20:6-7),
Notice the ten post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, in five instances on the third day alone (e.g., Matt 28:1-10; Mark 16:6, 9-13; Luke 24:1-35; cf. 1 Cor 15:5; John 20:10-23).
"And they said to one another, 'Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?'" Luke 24:32 nkjv
Notice the two who were traveling to Emmaus that day remarked to the risen Jesus (whom they were kept from recognizing) concerning their hope in Christ, “But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place” (Luke 24:21). Still later Jesus reminded his assembled disciples, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:45s46).
"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve" (1 Cor 15:3-5).
So this motif of the third day of course reaches its climax in the fact of the physical resurrection of Jesus on the third day. It is then that the emphasis of the third day as one of spiritual activity and completeness finds its culmination in Christ’s finished redemptive work.
 |
Remember, repent, repeat.
When someone bails out a.k.a. backslides.. when they turn away from God, it generally NOT something they do overnight. Could happen, but instead, it’s a little compromise here, a little lowering their guard there. And the next thing they know, they’re slipping.
That’s what was happening to the believers in Ephesus back in the day. Christ told them, “You have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4 nkjv).
That's normally the first step to falling away. These Christians had traded in their pure devotion and replaced it with work a.k.a. duty. They still had motion, but they lost the emotion and fire. They had labor, but they lost the red hot love inside. They had perspiration, but they didn’t seem to have inspiration. Was their focus wrong? Obviously.
Jesus told them what was wrong. but He also told them what to do to make it right: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works” (verse 5 nkjv). In this verse we have the three Rs for getting right with God: remember, repent, and repeat.
Before all else, remember: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen.” We could translate this to say, “Keep on remembering.” Remember where you were when you were at your highest point of commitment close with Christ, and go back to that place. That there is your point of reference.
Be quick to tell on yourself and repent. If there was a time when you were closer to God than you are right now, simply repent. Admit it and quit it -- the sin that distracts you away. It's sad that you’re not as close to the Lord as you want to be so let's see that changed.
Now do what? Repeat. If you want revival, pray and do revival like things. Jesus said, “Do the first works” (verse 5 nkjv). What was it that you used to do when your relationship with Jesus was tight and strong? Maybe you read your Bible every day and listen to praise music and to Bible-teaching podcasts. Maybe you shared the gospel whenever you could. Pray and start to doing those things again. Get your body into fellowship with on-fire believers with your church.
Listen, if you’re not moving forward and cultivating your relationship with the Lord, then your spiritual life will come to a standstill.
When someone bails out a.k.a. backslides.. when they turn away from God, it generally NOT something they do overnight. Could happen, but instead, it’s a little compromise here, a little lowering their guard there. And the next thing they know, they’re slipping.
That’s what was happening to the believers in Ephesus back in the day. Christ told them, “You have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4 nkjv).
That's normally the first step to falling away. These Christians had traded in their pure devotion and replaced it with work a.k.a. duty. They still had motion, but they lost the emotion and fire. They had labor, but they lost the red hot love inside. They had perspiration, but they didn’t seem to have inspiration. Was their focus wrong? Obviously.
Jesus told them what was wrong. but He also told them what to do to make it right: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works” (verse 5 nkjv). In this verse we have the three Rs for getting right with God: remember, repent, and repeat.
Before all else, remember: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen.” We could translate this to say, “Keep on remembering.” Remember where you were when you were at your highest point of commitment close with Christ, and go back to that place. That there is your point of reference.
Be quick to tell on yourself and repent. If there was a time when you were closer to God than you are right now, simply repent. Admit it and quit it -- the sin that distracts you away. It's sad that you’re not as close to the Lord as you want to be so let's see that changed.
Now do what? Repeat. If you want revival, pray and do revival like things. Jesus said, “Do the first works” (verse 5 nkjv). What was it that you used to do when your relationship with Jesus was tight and strong? Maybe you read your Bible every day and listen to praise music and to Bible-teaching podcasts. Maybe you shared the gospel whenever you could. Pray and start to doing those things again. Get your body into fellowship with on-fire believers with your church.
Listen, if you’re not moving forward and cultivating your relationship with the Lord, then your spiritual life will come to a standstill.
