Chapter 3

The Witness of the Scriptures

In chapter two we examined some of the scriptures in the New Testament that established the Third Day concept in the ministry of Jesus Christ.

In this chapter we will examine some of the Old Testament scriptures that also witness to the Third Day.  It is not a coincidence that these events occurred on the Third Day.  They are a prophetic revealing of that which has become a revelation to this present generation.  Let us remember the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 15:4  For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

The Lord our God found a man named Abram.  The Most High made a covenant with Abram, and his name was changed to Abraham, which means “father of a multitude.”  Isaac, the seed that was the first of the multitude of promise, was born and then God tested Abraham.

Genesis 22:1  Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."

Genesis 22:2  Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."

Genesis 22:3  So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

Genesis 22:4  Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.

It was on the third day that Abraham saw the place called Calvary.  In John 8:56 Jesus said, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."  Abraham must have seen the three crosses on Calvary.  He must have known that the man in the middle was the Son of God who was like unto the ram caught in the thicket, the One that would become the sacrifice for sin.

Not only did Abraham's Third Day experience point to the Cross of Calvary and the Third Day resurrection of Christ, but it prophetically pointed to the Third Day Church and those who would be found in covenant with God even as Abraham was.

Genesis 22:13  Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

Genesis 22:14  And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of The LORD it shall be provided."

Again, the mount of the Lord represents Zion, the dwelling place of the Third Day Church.  The Third Day will bring the church out of man-made religious bondage into the promised inheritance of liberty and possession of the kingdom of God.  What is about to happen will be like unto what is recorded in the book of Joshua.

Joshua 6:2  And the LORD said to Joshua: "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.

Joshua 6:3  "You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days.

Joshua 6:4  "And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.

It was on the seventh day that the fortified stronghold, called Jericho, fell.  This is a shadow of the Seventh Day of God and the victories that will take place in the Third Day Church.  Resurrection power will destroy the enemy's strongholds.

Joshua 6:20  So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

There are many spiritual parallels in Joshua that relate to the type of victory that the church will have as she crosses her spiritual Jordan and begins to possess Canaan Land.  Joshua's conquest began on a third day.

Joshua 1:10  Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,

Joshua 1:11  "Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, 'Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.' "

The Jordan River represents the anointing of power that comes with the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  This is the spiritual power that is necessary for the church to possess in the Third Day.  This is the power that will defeat the enemy of our souls and bring the walls of Jericho down.  Jericho represents the enemy's strong-holds that stand between God's people and their inheritance.  It is the Third Day, so let us cross over our spiritual Jordan, and let the shouts of prophetic proclamation of victory begin!

The Lord is rebuilding His church in this, the Third Day.  The house of God is being re-established in Jesus Christ (the resurrection power of the Third Day).

Ephesians 2:21  In whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

The church was birthed on the Day of Pentecost in power.  The First Day Church began in power, but within several hundred years that spiritual temple was torn down.  Even so that temple is going to be rebuilt in this, the Third Day.

The foreshadowing of this great event is recorded in the book of Ezra.  Solomon's temple was destroyed, but once the Babylonian captivity was over, the temple was rebuilt, and it was finished on the third day of the month of Adar.

Ezra 6:14  So the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

Ezra 6:15  Now the temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

The Babylonian captivity for the remnant church is over, and the Master is rebuilding His temple, and it will be a glorious temple, a glorious church without spot or wrinkle.

Ephesians 5:27  That He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

This scripture tells us that Jesus is preparing for Himself a glorious church or temple, which is also the bride of Christ.  The Old Testament book of Esther is a foreshadowing of the Third Day Church, the bride.  The church currently finds herself in a time of preparation for the Third Day just as Esther was.  After her pre-paration, Esther was presented to the king in the seventh year.

Esther 2:16  So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

The seventh year of Ahasuerus can be likened to the seventh church dispensation (Laodicea), and the Seventh Day or seventh millennium of God.

The overall characteristic of the present church is distinctly Laodicean, but there is a remnant who will be obedient to the Lord's word in Revelation 3:18, "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see."

The Babylonian church, which is revealed in Revelation chapter 17, will hate the remnant church and desire to destroy her.

Revelation 17:5  And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Revelation 17:6  I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

In the book of Esther, Haman represents the harlot church that wants to destroy God's people.  Victory will come on the Third Day just as it did in Esther's day.

Esther 5:1  Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, across from the king's house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house.

Esther 5:2  So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter.

Esther 5:3  And the king said to her, "What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you; up to half the kingdom!"

It was on the third day that Esther received favor from the king, and because of the king's favor, wicked Haman was destroyed and the people of God plundered the enemy's goods. And so it shall be in this prophetic Third Day.  Once again it shall be according to the pattern given in the Holy Scriptures.  The temple shall be finished on the Third Day, and the bride shall enter into the year of the favor of King Jesus.  Oh, praise His mighty name!