That there is a second touch means there was once an earlier touch; like the popular maxim: God formed us, Satan deformed us, but Jesus came to reform us. The first touch was a touch of salvation and transformation from darkness into the glorious light of God. One way or the other, there was a falling away, a slid back into the old ways, the mire, the old nature and gave room to backsliding thriving. But because God has no delight in the sinful ways, He makes out another call, "Come and let us reason together; though your sin be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool..." That was God calling out. That was wisdom, who has might, who has strength. The word of the Lord clarifies it in Hosea 14:4-7, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon."
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