"On the third day he will raise us up." Hosea was a man who suffered much and who saw his people suffering because of their infidelity. Yet he had the deep faith that taught him that God would not let suffering last forever: "He will revive us after two days": For the present and the foreseeable future we may suffer, but "on the third day he will raise us up." In various places the Bible and in other Jewish writings the "third day" is a day of consolation. Thus "on the third day" there was a wedding in Cana - day of consolation when Jesus took pity on a young married couple and so symbolically began his work of consoling Israel, for Israel at the time truly "had no wine" - they were failing to be God's true vineyard.

The day on which Jesus rose from the dead was truly the greatest "Third Day" in all human history for in that victory of life over death, and hope over infinite despair, God consoled us and renewed us beyond all our hopes and dreams.