Hos 6:3 | KingComments | STEP | After the resurrection there is new life, a life that fits the resurrection. That new life has only one desire: To get to know Him. But, could one say, once you have new life, you already know Him? That is true. Yet it is only partly true, because in that knowing only one aspect of the Lord Jesus has come to the fore. The people of Israel will be redeemed by the Lord Jesus in the end time. They will get to know Him as Savior. This also applies to everyone who, as a sinner, now gets to know Him. But the Lord Jesus is so much more than Savior. The richness of His Person is infinite. Well, every person who has come to know Him as Savior will long to discover more and more glories in Him. This longing is a proof of the new life. And the more knowledge we gain of God and His Son, the more the foundation will be laid for a life of faith and obedience. If there is the desire to know the Lord, there will also come the effort to know Him. Without effort there will be no increase in knowledge. Truth must be ‘bought’ ( ). A price must be paid for it. That can be a price in the form of time to study God’s Word. That is why it is added in this verse that they want to press on to know Him. This is reminiscent of the desire of the apostle Paul. In his letter to the Philippians he also writes about getting to know the Lord Jesus and pressing on to it ( ). We could say: But Paul already knows the Lord very well, doesn’t he? He does. Yet Paul also knows about the infinite glory of his Savior and Lord and he wants to discover more and more of that. He does anything for that. How is that with us? But there is something additional. Precisely the lack of knowledge is the cause of their downfall ( ). If, however, there is a longing for the true knowledge of God, the result will not be downfall and that God withdraws, but just the opposite. Instead of the night that had to come over the people, “the dawn” will come. The desire of the people will be answered by the fact that the Lord Jesus goes forth as the rising Sun at the dawn, which is the dawn of the millennial realm ( ; cf. ). The result is an abundant rain, through which the land will produce an abundant fruit. A renewed outpouring of the Spirit will take place for the people that ‘came to life’ nationally in 1948 ( ). Then the stone heart will be taken from the people and instead God will give them a heart of flesh and also His Spirit ( ). From then on they will live under the blessing and grace of God in Christ Who will reign as King ( ).

‏ Hosea 6:3

Knowing and Going Forth

After the resurrection there is new life, a life that fits the resurrection. That new life has only one desire: To get to know Him. But, could one say, once you have new life, you already know Him? That is true. Yet it is only partly true, because in that knowing only one aspect of the Lord Jesus has come to the fore. The people of Israel will be redeemed by the Lord Jesus in the end time. They will get to know Him as Savior. This also applies to everyone who, as a sinner, now gets to know Him.

But the Lord Jesus is so much more than Savior. The richness of His Person is infinite. Well, every person who has come to know Him as Savior will long to discover more and more glories in Him. This longing is a proof of the new life. And the more knowledge we gain of God and His Son, the more the foundation will be laid for a life of faith and obedience.

If there is the desire to know the Lord, there will also come the effort to know Him. Without effort there will be no increase in knowledge. Truth must be ‘bought’ (Pro 23:23). A price must be paid for it. That can be a price in the form of time to study God’s Word. That is why it is added in this verse that they want to press on to know Him.

This is reminiscent of the desire of the apostle Paul. In his letter to the Philippians he also writes about getting to know the Lord Jesus and pressing on to it (Phil 3:8 ; 10 ; 14). We could say: But Paul already knows the Lord very well, doesn’t he? He does. Yet Paul also knows about the infinite glory of his Savior and Lord and he wants to discover more and more of that. He does anything for that. How is that with us?

But there is something additional. Precisely the lack of knowledge is the cause of their downfall (Hos 4:6). If, however, there is a longing for the true knowledge of God, the result will not be downfall and that God withdraws, but just the opposite. Instead of the night that had to come over the people, “the dawn” will come. The desire of the people will be answered by the fact that the Lord Jesus goes forth as the rising Sun at the dawn, which is the dawn of the millennial realm (Mal 4:2; cf. Psa 19:6a).

The result is an abundant rain, through which the land will produce an abundant fruit. A renewed outpouring of the Spirit will take place for the people that ‘came to life’ nationally in 1948 (Joel 2:28-30). Then the stone heart will be taken from the people and instead God will give them a heart of flesh and also His Spirit (Eze 36:26-27). From then on they will live under the blessing and grace of God in Christ Who will reign as King (Pro 16:15).