Let’s press on to know the Lord

In Hosea chapter 6, verse 3, the prophet declares:

“So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.” (NASB)

You see, the revelation of this is only granted to those who press on to know the Lord. Those who stay content with mere outward appearance do not see this truth. It's a truth that's reserved for those who press on to know the Lord.

And then there's a further picture of the resurrection of Jesus. "His going forth is as certain as the dawn." The resurrection was like the dawn after the long dark night. And then it says, "He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth." The spring rain and the rain coming down on the earth is a picture of the coming down of the Holy Spirit used many times in the Bible.

Here we get a preview, not merely of the resurrection, but of that which took place 50 days after the resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit. So this scripture in Hosea shows us that Jesus was to die, was to be buried, was to be raised the third day, but that we were to be identified with Him in death, in burial and in resurrection from the dead, and that as we followed on to know, we would not only know the dawn of His resurrection but we would know the rain of the coming of the Holy Spirit. So there is the essence of the New Testament message contained in those three verses in Hosea chapter 6.

There is one specific act by which God requires us and enables us to be identified with Jesus in death, in burial and resurrection. This outward act of identification is the act of baptism. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 6:3-5:

“Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”

Being baptized is being buried with Christ. It's being united with Him in His death and the scriptures gives us the guarantee, if we are united with Him in burial, then we will also follow through with Him into resurrection, into a new life. So we're identified with Jesus, first in His burial and then in His resurrection. We go down into the water for burial. We come up out of the water for resurrection. We are symbolically united with Jesus in burial and in resurrection. It’s like standing in an elevator. We're in Christ and wherever the elevator goes, we're going to go with Him : in his death, burial and resurrection!