Hosea 6:1-3 – The Third Day

This withdrawal fits the covenant in Leviticus 26. God promised that if Israel disobeyed, He would send disease, pestilence, and enemies. If they repented, He would heal and restore. Hosea 5 shows Israel refusing that covenant mercy. They won’t cry out to God, so He leaves them until they finally acknowledge their sin.

Proverbs 1 shows the result of repentance, if they had repented and turned to God.

Wisdom—representing God—calls to Israel: “Turn you at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you.”

But they refuse knowledge, reject counsel, and despise reproof. Proverbs warns that calamity will come, and though they seek God, He’ll not answer. We saw this in Hosea 5:6, where Israel seeks the Lord but cannot find Him. Yet Proverbs also promises that when they finally do turn, God’ll make His words known and pour out His Spirit. This connects naturally to Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured out in Acts 2, even though the nation quickly rejected those first signs of the regathering of the nation and the kingdom coming.

So now we come to Israel’s future response in Hosea 6:1–3, and you could say that these three verses are a sort of interlude to the subject of God’s controversy with Israel because they break into the subject to remind us that restoration surely will follow judgment.

Since there’re a few controversial issues in these three verses, or rather, misunderstandings, we’ll concentrate on them for a bit.

We’ll read Hosea 6:1-3 as one passage and then break down the passage to get its full meaning. The passage reads:

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.

This is the voice of future repentant Israel.

They’ll eventually confess that God’s torn them, but He’ll heal them; He’s smitten them, but He’ll bind them up. “After two days will he revive us; in the third day he will raise us up.” This passage is popular and loved because it pictures Israel’s national resurrection and restoration, and it also echoes Christ’s resurrection, showing that Israel’s future revival is tied to the risen Messiah.

Verse 3 says, “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.” Israel did not know God in Hosea’s day—Hosea 4:6 says they were destroyed for lack of knowledge. But Hosea 6:3 describes a future day when all Israel will know the Lord.

Hebrews 8:11 quotes this promise:

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.

This is Israel’s New Covenant blessing, not the church’s current-day experience. Hosea and Hebrews speak of the same future kingdom when Israel finally knows the Lord.

Jesus Himself confirms Hosea.

In Matthew 23:37–39, He laments over Jerusalem, saying He wanted to gather them, but they refused.

“Your house is left unto you desolate,” He says; then He says they’ll not see Him again “till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” This matches Hosea 5:15—He goes away until they acknowledge their offence.

In John 14–16, Jesus tells His disciples He must go away to the Father. Only then will the Comforter come.

Israel, however, will reject the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, just as they rejected the Son. Acts 3 shows Peter preaching repentance to Israel: if they acknowledge their offence, God will send Jesus Christ back. Hosea, Proverbs, Jesus, and Peter all declare the same truth: Israel’s repentance happens before Christ’s return and their national restoration.

So, just to recap, Hosea 5 ended with God withdrawing from Israel, who are sick and wounded and under covenant judgment, yet instead of turning to God, they turn to the Assyrian. Because they refuse repentance, God becomes a lion to them—tearing, taking away, and leaving them without rescue. But Hosea 5:15 also promises a future time when Israel will acknowledge their offence and seek His face.

Acts 3:19–21 confirms this.

Peter preaches to Jerusalem: “Repent… that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”

Hosea 6:3 says God will come to Israel “as the rain, as the latter and former rain.”

Peter says the same thing: refreshing comes when the Lord returns. If Israel repents, God will send Jesus Christ back. But heaven must receive Him “until the times of restitution of all things”—Israel’s kingdom promised by all the prophets.

Hosea is one of those prophets, describing Israel’s repentance and restoration after judgment.

Hosea 6:1–3 is the voice of repentant Israel in the future Tribulation: “Come, let us return unto the Lord.”

This is the remnant, believing Israel, acknowledging that God has torn them and smitten them, and that He’s righteous in His judgments.

They confess that He’ll heal and bind them up. “He will bind us up” means bandaging the wounds caused by their sin, repairing the covenant relationship, and preparing them for future resurrection and renewal. God will restore Israel after judgment.

“After two days will he revive us; in the third day he will raise us up.”

This is Israel’s national resurrection and restoration.

The remnant endures judgment (the tribulation) acknowledges their sin, and receives the kingdom blessings promised in the prophets.

The language of Hosea 6 echoes Deuteronomy 32:39, called the Song of Moses:

See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

Moses’ song appears again in Revelation 15, sung by those who overcome the beast during the Tribulation. They sing the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb, acknowledging God’s judgments as righteous.

Hosea, Moses, and Revelation all describe the same moment: Israel finally acknowledging their offence and God returning to save them.

Hosea’s statement “He hath torn, and he will heal us” also reflects God’s covenant promise in Exodus 15.

After Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, God revealed Himself as Jehovah Rapha, “the Lord that healeth thee.” He promised that if Israel obeyed His commandments, He would put none of Egypt’s diseases upon them. Healing was part of Israel’s covenant identity.

Hosea 6 shows Israel finally recognising that the God who afflicted them for disobedience is also the God who will heal them when they repent.

We, you and I today, are not Israel, and we were never given the covenant of Exodus 15.

God promised Israel healing if they obeyed His commandments.

We’re not under that law. Our healing is future—our glorification in Christ. Israel’s healing belonged to their covenant; ours belongs to grace.

During Jesus’ earthly ministry, healing reappears as a sign of the kingdom.

In Luke 7:19–22, John the Baptist sends disciples asking if Jesus is the One who brings the promised kingdom. Jesus answers by healing:

In that same hour that those disciples of John were with Jesus, He cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight.

Then Jesus tells John’s disciples to go back to John and tell Him that what they saw proves He is the prophesied Messiah. He tells them,

Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. That’s the gospel of the Kingdom that was then at hand.

These miracles prove He is the Messiah because God promised Israel, “I am the Lord that healeth thee” in Exodus 15:26.

The kingdom must come with healing, and that’s exactly what Hosea’s prophesying in Hosea 6:1.

Malachi 4:2 says, speaking of the tribulation still to come,

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness [that’s Jesus Christ] arise with healing in his wings;

When asked if He is the One, Jesus gives a preview of that kingdom. But Israel must first acknowledge their offence, repent, believe, receive the Spirit, and endure to the end. This was Jesus’ message to Israel.

Ezekiel 34 also promises healing and restoration to Israel.

Ezekiel 34 is saying all of what Hosea is saying. Ezekiel 34:14-15 says,

I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.

God will gather His flock, feed them in good pastures, and cause them to lie down safely.

This is the “little flock” that Jesus speaks of, the believing remnant of Israel.

God will seek the lost, bring back the driven away, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick. Hosea 6 echoes this when it says: “He hath smitten, and he will bind us up.” God judged Israel because they broke the covenant, but His judgment aims to bring them back.

Lamentations teaches that God doesn’t afflict willingly; He afflicts to produce repentance.

Ezekiel 34:16 shows God healing the sick and judging the proud. The sheep‑and‑goats imagery appears here as well. All of this matches Hosea’s promise that when Israel returns to the Lord, He will heal them and restore them.

Hosea 6:2 says, “After two days will he revive us; in the third day he will raise us up.”

Revival in Scripture always concerns Israel and often involves literal resurrection. It never refers to the church or modern nations like Australia or America. Israel’s revival is their return to life—spiritually and physically. Their rebirth.

Ezekiel 37 explains this clearly with the valley of dry bones prophecy. In Ezekiel 37:11, God explains to Ezekiel that the valley of dry bones represents “the whole house of Israel.” They say, “Our bones are dried, our hope is lost.” God promises to open their graves, bring them up, and restore them to their land. This is national resurrection. Dry bones show they’ve been dead a long time, yet God will revive them.

Hosea 6:2 teaches the same truth: Israel will be raised up and live in God’s sight. Their revival is tied to the Messiah’s resurrection and their future restoration. When they acknowledge their offence, God will return with healing, bind them up, raise them, and restore them according to the covenants He gave them.

Ezekiel 37:14 teaches that when God opens Israel’s graves and resurrects them, “He is the Lord.” Their resurrection leads to spiritual knowledge as well. God says He’ll put His Spirit in them and place them in their own land. This is the New Covenant remnant—Israel restored, Spirit‑filled, and reunited. Ezekiel explains that God will join Judah and Ephraim back into one nation, healing the division Hosea preached against.

John the Baptist echoes Hosea’s call for repentance.

In Matthew 3:9, he warns the Pharisees to “bring forth fruits meet for repentance.” Hosea condemned Israel for refusing repentance, and John confronts the same hardened leadership. He tells them God can raise up children to Abraham “of these stones,” matching Ezekiel 37’s promise that God can resurrect Israel even when they are dead and scattered. God doesn’t need the unbelieving Pharisees; He can raise Israel Himself.

Paul confirms this in Romans 11:15.

Israel’s casting away brings reconciliation to the world through the mystery revealed to Paul. But their receiving—their future restoration—will be “life from the dead”. Paul’s not speaking of Hosea’s era, nor the Babylonian captivity, nor the cross, because Peter was still preaching repentance to Israel after the resurrection.

Israel’s fall occurs in Acts 7, and Paul explains that when Israel returns, it will be resurrection, healing, and worldwide blessing. Hosea 6:2 teaches the same truth: Israel will be raised up and live again.

Hosea says this resurrection happens “on the third day,” meaning not the first or second.

We’ll look at the timing later, but the point’s clear: Israel will be revived and restored. Hosea says, “We shall live in his sight.” This is important because earlier, in Hosea 5:6, God withdrew Himself from them. Living in His sight means holiness, cleansing, and full restoration. First John 3 describes the same New Covenant hope: Israel purified and made like Him, like Jesus.

Hosea 6:3 continues with, “Then shall we know.”

Hosea 4 said Israel was destroyed for lack of knowledge, but in the kingdom they will finally know the Lord. Hosea’s “then” is not the Assyrian captivity, nor the Babylonian return. It’s Israel’s future restoration, and it’s new covenant, when God pours out His Spirit and heals the nation.

Hebrews 8 quotes Jeremiah 31 to describe this New Covenant: God will write His laws in Israel’s hearts, be their God, and they will all know Him. This new covenant is made with “the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” Hosea 6:3 matches this perfectly: when God raises Israel up, heals them, and pours out His Spirit, “then shall Israel know.”

Hosea, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Jesus, and Paul all teach the same truth: Israel’s repentance leads to resurrection, restoration, and the full knowledge of God. After judgment, after the Spirit is poured out, after the remnant endures the Tribulation with the help of the Spirit—then Israel will return to the Lord, be healed, be raised up, and live in His sight forever.

Knowing the Lord in Hosea 6:3 is not evangelism or door‑to‑door preaching; it’s Israel finally becoming the nation God intended—His people restored, Spirit‑filled, and functioning as priests, prophets, and healers to communicate Jehovah to the world. This is the New Covenant promise of Hebrews 8:8–12.

God writing His laws in their hearts gives them supernatural knowledge, and all Israel knows Him by the Holy Spirit.

Hosea 6:3 says, “His going forth is prepared as the morning.”

This means that when Israel repents, God’s promise to restore her is fixed, certain, and life‑giving — as sure as the sunrise and as essential as the rains.

This is the gospel of the kingdom preached by Jesus and John the Baptist: if Israel acknowledges their offence, God will bring the promises made to the fathers—healing, restoration, resurrection, and the kingdom.

Malachi 4 describes this same moment.

Verse 1 warns of a day that burns like an oven when the wicked are judged. But verse 2 promises that to those who fear God, “the Sun [S-U-N] of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings.”

After the dark night of judgment, the Messiah rises like the morning sun, bringing healing and growth. Israel will “grow up as calves of the stall,” refreshed by the rain God sends.

The imagery of sunrise, light, and rain reflects Christ’s return to Israel from the east, breaking the darkness like dawn. God designed the sun, moon, and stars as signs, and Scripture ties Israel’s future restoration to these signs. As long as the moon endures, God will not forget His covenant with Israel, says Jeremiah 31.

Hosea 6:3 continues: “He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.”

This is not Israel going to heaven; it is the Lord coming to earth to dwell with them. In Scripture, rain symbolises blessing, growth, and life. For ancient Israel, a deeply agricultural nation, rain meant far more than it does to most of us today. Rain determined survival, health, and prosperity; the absence of rain meant disaster.

Israel understood the “former and latter rain” literally. These rains were built into their covenant relationship with God. The former rain fell in autumn (October–November), softening the sun‑baked soil and allowing farmers to plough and sow their wheat and barley. Without it, planting was impossible, and famine followed. The latter rain fell in spring (March–April), providing the final moisture needed for crops to mature and ripen, ensuring a full harvest. These two rains bookended Israel’s agricultural cycle and were signs of God’s covenant faithfulness as we see in Deuteronomy 11:13–14.

This context is essential because modern Pentecostal assemblies often teach that the “former and latter rain” refers to the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and a supposed end‑times revival. Hosea 6:3 cannot refer to Pentecost. Hosea is speaking to Israel, not the Church. His message is directed to the Northern Kingdom under the Mosaic Covenant, warning of judgment and promising national restoration. Neither the Church nor Pentecost existed in Hosea’s day; the Body of Christ was still a mystery hidden in God as Ephesians 3:1–9 shows us. The rains in Hosea are physical, seasonal, covenantal blessings symbolising Israel’s future restoration, not outpourings of the Holy Spirit.

Pentecostalism misreads Joel 2 and then imports that error into Hosea, claiming the former rain is the Old Testament and the latter rain is a last‑days Spirit revival. But Joel 2 concerns Israel, the Day of the Lord, and kingdom restoration, not the Church Age. Peter quotes Joel in Acts 2:16–21 because the stage was set for Israel’s prophetic restoration — their Messiah had come. It did not occur because Israel rejected Him. Therefore, the fulfillment of Joel and Hosea’s restoration is postponed until after the present dispensation of grace ends and the Church — the Body of Christ — is caught up to heaven. These prophecies will be fulfilled during Israel’s tribulation and kingdom restoration.

So, Hosea 6:3 is about God’s future coming to Israel, not the Spirit’s coming at Pentecost. The Church doesn’t receive a “former and latter rain”; Israel does. The Church is not Israel, is not under the Law, and is not promised agricultural blessings. The Church receives the Spirit once and for all as Ephesians 1:13–14 says, not in seasonal waves.

The rains symbolise the certainty and abundance of the Lord’s coming restoration. Hosea 2 describes this return: God will allure Israel, comfort her, restore her vineyards, and give her the valley of Achor as a door of hope. Israel will call Him “Ishi,” and God will betroth her forever. When He comes, the earth responds — corn, wine, and oil flourish, and Jezreel (meaning “God sows”) is blessed. This is the earthly kingdom promised to Israel: the Lord comes to them, heals them, restores them, and causes them to grow.

Hosea 6:1–3 is Israel’s future hope: repentance, resurrection, healing, knowledge, and the Lord returning like the morning and the rain to establish His kingdom on earth. Proverbs 16:15 and Psalm 72 use the same imagery — Christ’s return brings life after judgment. Hosea’s promise shows God’s faithfulness: He keeps His covenant exactly as spoken. When God comes as the rain, He brings refreshing, fruitfulness, and kingdom abundance.

So, Hosea 6:1–3 teaches Israel’s repentance, resurrection, restoration, and the Lord’s return — right on time, like the morning and the rain.

Christ is Israel’s Messiah—the Son of David, heir to Israel’s throne, greater than Solomon, and the promised seed of Abraham. According to prophecy, His life, death, and resurrection are tied to Israel’s story. When we preach Christ according to the mystery, as Paul does, we preach Him apart from Israel, as the Saviour of all men and Head of the Body. But according to prophecy, Christ and Israel are deeply connected.

Jesus repeatedly foretold His resurrection on the third day, such as in  Mark 9:31.

Hosea 6:2 also speaks of being raised “on the third day.”

Many people see a connection, but Hosea’s wording—“after two days he will revive us”—never appears in the New Testament about Jesus. The “third day” does, but “after two days” does not.

Jesus Himself tied His resurrection to Jonah, not Hosea. See Jonah 1:17 and Matthew 12:40.

Paul’s statement that Christ rose “the third day according to the scriptures” in 1 Corinthians 15:4 refers to the many prophecies requiring the Messiah’s resurrection, not Hosea 6.

There’s a trap in making Hosea 6:2 only about Jesus and ignoring Israel. Some theologians claim Jesus is the “true Israel,” so all Israel’s prophecies apply only to Him. But Hosea is clearly speaking to the nation of Israel—“revive us,” “raise us up,” “we shall live in his sight.” Removing Israel from the passage is denying and changing the prophet’s context and makes God’s promises meaningless. If Hosea 6 applies to Jesus, it must also apply to Israel.

If Hosea 6:2 is literal, Israel has three days that are important in prophecy that have not occurred yet. Israel has not been revived, raised, healed, restored, or received the kingdom yet as described in Hosea 6:1–3. So if the “days” are literal, they’re future, not the past days of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.

This leads to what’s called the millennial‑day theory.

Some people interpret Hosea’s “days” by using 2 Peter 3:8: “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

They argue that since creation has six days of work and a seventh day of rest, human history must be 6000 years followed by a 1000‑year “Sabbath”—the millennium.

It sounds sort of neat: six thousand years of man, then the seventh thousand as God’s rest, but Peter’s not giving a prophecy formula in this verse.

He’s comforting the remnant of Israel, the same audience as 1st Peter at Pentecost, who wondered why the kingdom had not come yet. He explains that God’s timing is not human timing. Peter’s not telling them to calculate dates.

If creation was around 4000 BC (which is a common conservative estimate), and we add 2000 years since Christ, we’ve already reached 6000 years. That would place us today in the seventh 1000 year period, “the seventh millennium”. But the kingdom has not come.

To fix this, people start adjusting dates—subtracting Jesus’ lifetime, shifting His birth year, or altering genealogies. This shows the problem: the Bible never tells us to calculate world history this way. The numbers have to be forced and twisted to fit the theory, and many date‑setters have tried to do just that.

Medieval mystics predicted Christ’s return around AD 1260. Others expected it in AD 1000. Luther thought it would be no later than 1600. Modern teachers predicted AD 2000. All were wrong.

Also, if you apply the “one day = 1000 years” formula everywhere, it destroys literal interpretation of the Bible. Creation’s six days would become six thousand years, and the millennium in Revelation 20 would become a single day.

The pattern’s simple: people choose dates that are still in the future to them, but once those dates pass, the theory collapses. The Bible promises Christ’s return, but it never tells us the year, the day, or the millennium.

Clearly, Peter’s not giving some sort of universal conversion chart. He’s simply saying God’s perspective on time differs from ours. After all, God’s completely outside of our time dimension.

Jesus Himself told the apostles in Acts 1:7 that it’s not for them to know the times and seasons of Israel’s restoration.

If Hosea 6:2 revealed the date, Peter could have known it. But Jesus says plainly that the Father has kept that knowledge in His own authority.

All this matters for Hosea 6:2, because some apply the “millennial‑day theory” to Hosea’s “two days” and “third day.”

Again, the verse reads,

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

If one day equals 1000 years, then Israel is “dead” for 2000 years and revived in the third thousand—the millennium. That sounds appealing at first because Israel has been spiritually fallen for about 2000 years.

But, using this theory, when were they “dead”? When Assyria took them? In 740 BC? In 722 BC? In later invasions? Depending on which date you choose, your 2000‑year calculation lands in completely different centuries—some already long past.

But Hosea’s context is the northern tribes and in his own day.

This shows the danger: Hosea never tells us when to start counting.

The Bible never tells us to convert Hosea’s “days” into thousand-year days. And history proves that every attempt to set dates has failed.

We’re closer to that day than ever before, but Scripture doesn’t reveal the exact time.

The real issue in Hosea 6:2 is not date‑setting; it’s who the verse speaks about- Israel– and what it promises (resurrection, restoration, healing, and the kingdom). The timing’s secondary. Hosea promises that after judgment, Israel will repent, God will revive them, raise them up, and they’ll live in His sight. This has never happened yet.

It’s in the future kingdom when Christ returns to Israel, heals them, restores them, and fulfils every covenant promise.

The Bible’s message is simple: the third day’s coming; God will do what He said, and we trust Him without forcing numbers. He never asked us to calculate.

The certainty Scripture gives us is that Israel will be restored. The kingdom will come. Christ will return. But the timing belongs to God alone.

Now, Isaiah 11:11 says God will recover Israel “the second time.”

Let’s read Isaiah 11:11,

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

It’s a sad fact today that most scholars, commentators, teachers, and preachers don’t see the dispensations of the Bible and rightly divide the Word of truth into those correct dispensations, as 2 Timothy 2:15 commands.

As a result, many commentators claim that this verse means that the first time was the exodus from Egypt and that the second time it refers to is Babylon, but Hosea’s context doesn’t show that.

In Egypt, the whole nation was enslaved, but Isaiah speaks here of a remnant gathered from Assyria, Egypt, Cush, Elam, and the isles.

Now, if they were gathered the second time from Assyria and Babylon, they would have been in the land now and must have been for many centuries.

But where are they at the moment?

Are they in the land, rejoicing in the kingdom on a refreshed earth with no enemies and all believing in Jesus Christ and preaching Jehovah to the world who comes to them to know God? That would be the picture if Isaiah 11:11 was already fulfilled, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people. No, God left them desolate twice, and they’re still in that second desolation today. They had an opportunity to see this prophecy fulfilled and to enter into that glory when Christ came, but they failed through unbelief, the one thing they could not have if they were to be restored.

Will the Lord leave them desolate again after this next, coming restoration? No. He’ll raise them up, and they’ll receive the rain, the restoration from the Lord. After He recovers them a second time and gathers them from the nations. Which is what Hosea is talking about

That first regathering happened after the Assyrian and Babylonian dispersions.

The second regathering is in the future, when God gathers Israel from all nations after leaving them desolate twice.

Then, as the prophecy says, “After two days [after the two days are completed] will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

And on the third day God will raise them up, and they’ll know the Lord.

Hosea 6 fits this pattern: after two “days” of desolation, the third day brings revival, resurrection, rain, and the kingdom. Israel had glory; they fell; they returned; they fell again; and after the second desolation God will raise them up never to fall again.

That’s the kingdom and the New Covenant and all the promises that are associated with that, finally a reality, after so many centuries of desolation and separation from the full package of the promised land.