ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 Pulelulu ‘Aokosi 30, 2023

The Third Day

Ko e ‘Aho Hono Tolu

2 KINGS 20:5

"THUS SAYS THE LORD, THE GOD OF DAVID YOUR FATHER: I HAVE HEARD YOUR PRAYER; I HAVE SEEN YOUR TEARS. BEHOLD, I WILL HEAL YOU. ON THE THIRD DAY YOU SHALL GO UP TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD."

2 TU‘I 20:5

Foki ‘o lea kia Hesekaia, ko e ‘eiki ‘o hoku kakai, Ko e folofola eni ‘a Sihova ko e ‘Otua ‘o ho‘o kui ko Tēvita, Kuo u ongo‘i ho‘o hū, kuo u sio ki ho lo‘imata: ko eni, te u faito‘o koe: ka hoko hono ‘aho tolu te ke ‘alu ki he fale ‘o Sihova.

Paul writes that Christ "was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:4). This seems odd because there is no direct prophecy of a third-day resurrection of the Messiah. So what did Paul mean? The apostle was referring to the widespread pattern of events happening on the sh'lishi ("third") day. For example, all these events happened on the sh’lishi day: Abraham and Isaac saw Moriah, the place of sacrifice (Gen. 22:4): Yahweh dramatically descended onto Sinai to speak the law (Exod. 19:16); Hezekiah, healed by God, returned to the temple to worship (2 Kings 20:5); and, most significantly, Hosea prophesied that God would raise up Israel "on the third day" (6:2). In the Scriptures, the third day is the When-God-Does-Something-Big Day.

Just as on the sh'lishi day of creation, the Lord caused vegetation to spring from the earth (Gen. 1:11-12), so on the third day, the Creator himself, his body buried like a single grain of wheat in the soil of the tomb, sprang forth from the earth to bear the abundant fruit of giving us resurrection life in himself (John 12:24).

Lord Jesus, who heals the brokenhearted, bind up our wounds and sustain us (Ps. 147:3).