COME AND LET US RETURN UNTO THE LORD

After a period of backsliding and departure there is such a thing as the prayer of repentance. This is the case with Israel here. In today’s reading it is the humility and sorrow of heart, preceding the prayer of repentance, that we see in these poignant words.

This section properly belongs to the end of chapter 5, where God deals in severe judgement with Ephraim and Judah. The outcome of this discipline is the repentant cry, ‘Come, and let us return unto the Lord’. In the immediate context this repentance was shallow, as the Lord’s response in verse 4 indicates, ‘Your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away’. But viewed as a Messianic statement, and a figure of Israel’s future national restoration, it has far-reaching significance.

Many see in the words of verse 2 a reference to Christ’s death and burial as a consequence of bearing the divine judgement, and His resurrection on the third day ushering in life, the true knowledge of God, and the refreshing of the Spirit which followed. KELLY says, ‘Can it be doubted that the passage does refer to the resurrection of Christ?’. However, its immediate reference is to the Messianic people, Israel. See first of all the rending of Israel in disciplinary judgement, cp. 5. 14, 15. This leads to their reviving in ‘two days’, v. 2 and the resurrection and raising of Israel on the third day, v. 2, in which they experience that renewal of knowledge that unveils the true identity of their Messiah. And finally, the refreshing of a new dawn, and the abundant watering of the outpoured blessing of Jehovah.

How significant this prophecy is in light of 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 8, where a thousand years are as one day to the timeless God head. After dark Calvary and the rejection of their Messiah, Israel have been ‘torn’ and under Jehovah’s frown for ‘two days’. The ‘third’ Millennial ‘day’ will be ushered in by the terrible rending judgements of the Tribulation period, followed by the nation’s repentance, 6. 1, and resurrection. They will ‘know’ their true Messiah and follow Him into the glory and refreshing of that long anticipated Millennial glory, Ps. 72. 6, 7; 2 Sam. 23. 4. Let us pray today for that glorious coming ‘peace’ of Jerusalem, Ps. 122. 6.