The Third Day

Take God Seriously

“And Joseph said unto them the third day, ‘This do, and live; for I fear God'” (Genesis 42: 18).

Joseph’s brothers were standing in fear before this “strange man, Joseph” who was second in command over Egypt. The ten brothers stood in great fear because of their past sin against God by selling their child brother from a pit to traveling strangers. Guilt ridden and guilt driven caught up with them (Numbers 32:23).

They lied to their father Jacob and lied to themselves, but their consciences would never allow them to go free. Now they were locked up for three days in Egypt’s prison and they knew God was behind it. On top of that the brothers heard a “pagan viceroy” who mentioned the name of Elohim (God) which troubled their swirling minds and souls.  This brought great dissonance to their whole being.

What was this younger brother doing? Joseph was working it out for his brothers to be reconciled to one another and to confess their sin before God and their father. He was trying to get them to bow before the God of heaven. What a reunion when the boil was lanced.

God has made it possible for you and me to be released from our sins and to be reconciled to Him and to one another. Do we want our sins to catch up with us and find us out? Or do we desire God more than our sins?

The choice is ours. As Joseph said, “This do, and live, for I fear God.” Go to the mercy seat of God and the throne of grace and find help for your soul. Confess your sins before God and you will live. This is the great power of the third day.

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    One of the values of Scripture, for instance, that has always been before us is this matter of being not “yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:14), especially in the terms of the marriage relationship. Of course, this wasn’t an issue when they are only ten, twelve, and fourteen. But since this issue would arise in their lives in a short period of time, as Christians who love our God, we as parents place these values of the sanctity of Christian marital vows before them as they grow.
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  • A Personal Question About Danger

    “And he said unto them, Go, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out demons, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall have finished” (Luke 13:82).

    Herod had threatened to kill the Lord Jesus. The Pharisees wanted Him dead as well. What would the Lord Jesus do? Would He run? Would He hide? No, for He was under divine appointment. His Father and the Spirit of God was leading Him to Jerusalem.

    Herod nor the Pharisees had any control over God’s anointed One. Our Lord was not afraid of any danger. He followed a divine timetable and nothing could harm Him until He gave Himself over into the hands of His enemies. He was on the Father’s schedule.

    There are a lot of Herod’s running around today. A lot of Pharisees who do not have your best interest in mind. A fox was not held in high esteem by the Jews. A fox was known for its cunning ways and it was known to hunt at night. Holy sarcasm was used here to describe the enemies of God.

    My friend there is a God and He has work for us today. We have today, we have tomorrow, and the third day if the Lord wills.

    We have a work to do, a class to teach, people to reach, and others to minister God’s good hand. And we have a family to pray for, sons and daughters to love, and enemies to pour out God’s love upon. There is a world to reach, much money to give, prayers to pray, and God has it planned out for us. Let’s walk in the light while it is still day. Don’t fear the sound of Satan nor the breath of unbelievers.

  • Autonomy

    “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).

    Anytime you and I walk outside of the Spirit of God we are using our own thoughts and actions. We are fraudulent in our true salvation. When we were born again God the Holy Spirit baptized us into Christ. Everything we do should be in obedience stayed upon Jesus Christ.

    If we walk according to the flesh, our old unredeemable nature, then we are walking alone and making decisions without God’s power and presence. Yet, God has prearranged for His children to abide in His Son. Therefore this abiding assures us of God’s mighty work through us by His Spirit.

    The radical part of our salvation is that God saved us, and will save us, and does save us. He saves us from ourselves if we abide in humility and staying power.

    What a great God we have. Practice the presence of Christ today in your life and see if it does not make a great difference. No longer are we running the show, which is worldly, but God is working out His plans and purpose through each of us individually. No autonomy here, just God’s economy.

  • Self Entertainment

    “And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him, and the third day he shall rise again” (Matthew 20:19).

    A disciple of Christ is not doing what we feel is right or what others think we should do. God said that He would reward each accordingly by how we relate to Him. We do not work or do for Christ because we get recognition but because He gives us His strength to do His will. We are all unprofitable servants. No matter the talents or gifts we have God has to use them for His purpose and His time.

    There are only two kinds of workers in the field today: those who want a contract and agree to work for such and such amount, and those who had no contract and agreed to take whatever the Lord thought was right. Sometimes we feel cornered or sequestered because we are not getting our gifts “out there in the world” which usually means the church world.

    God has called each of us to do our jobs well. When we watch others and measure ourself by them then we are measuring with the wrong measure. God’s people are to be walking with Him daily. When we direct the responsibilities entrusted to us for our own good then we are running amok on God. Until a child of God is settled in Christ they will run around trying to feel religious, smug and satisfied in doing good religious things.

    Jesus was delivered by Judas to the high court of Israel. He was mistreated and judged. The Gentiles scourged him, mocked him, and crucified him, but God raised Him up. Don’t go by feelings of what you think you should do but go by God’s power and do what He wants to do through you. The Lord Jesus was on His Father’s timetable and no one else’s. He walked accordingly to His Father’s will and not to His own dictates.

    It is a lesson well learned when we realize it is God who raises His people up from the dead of this world and the tantalizing flesh. It takes a very discerning person to take up his cross and deny himself and walk against the winds of entertaining the flesh. The flesh (the self life) must realize it is crucified and each day we must mortify the deeds of self life. Beware of making self happy instead of dying to self for it is God who determines the reward given. What seems to be first will be last in the kingdom of God.

  • Praying the Bible

    “When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness”  (Acts 4:31).

    On the cross the Lord Jesus only said out loud seven brief things. The Romans had flayed His back until it was ribboned and torn, and was seen by every eye that passed by. Severely dehydrated, His entire body weight hanging on three nails that held Him to the wood, the Lord of love had to push himself upward to be able to talk, and then only briefly before releasing and settling downward.

    Understandably, then, everything Jesus spoke from the cross was important. And as He lifted himself up each time I am convinced that He prayed through the verses of Psalm 22. As He weighed back downward, wrestling on those nails, He continued to pray silently through Psalms 22. Oh! How that pangs my heart. Yet, oh, how, it rejoices my soul! His first prayer from Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The last prayer was from Psalm 31:5, “Father into thy hands I commit my spirit.”

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    “But we hoped that it had been he who should have redeemed Israel; and, besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done” (Luke 24:21).

    A.B. Bruce said, “If crosses would leave us alone, we would leave them alone, too.” The Lord Jesus took up His cross and followed completely the Father’s will. It was the will of the Father for His Son to die upon the very tree that He had planted years before.

    Why do we find it hard to believe that taking up our cross and following Jesus is not the way for us? Why do we not believe that as we die daily to the world and our desires that it is best? We are men just like the ones on the road to Emmaus who did not believe in the resurrection power of Christ.

    We can be so slow of heart and foolish not to believe all that the Scripture gives to us. When we follow our own desires and refuse the intuitive desire of God in us we refuse His life. Hope in the Redeemer of Israel and believe that the third day is the power of resurrection in you. Don’t disregard your cross for today. Report to God ready for His will as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.