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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

The Early and Latter Rain: Our Need of the Holy Spirit

Chester Clark

The Early and Latter Rain

We're going to be looking at the Holy Spirit and how the early and the latter reign are to impact us, especially important today.

You know, today we hear discussion about the Holy Spirit, and we hear discussion about, for example, I don't know what you have in this area, but it seems like in Adventism at large the whole Trinity question has arisen again.

It was in the mid-90s, as I recall, it was last a thing, a big thing.

But the question of whether the Holy Spirit is a person or not, as a member of the Godhead.

That's something we're going to be looking at some tomorrow.

I think it's an important question, I do.

I think we're going to be looking at what the Holy Spirit means to us and what it can do for us and all the different roles that it plays in our lives, at least some of them, tomorrow.

But tonight we're going to be looking particularly at the early and the latter reign.

And I think that as we think of the Holy Spirit, We often just sort of, maybe I'm just, maybe this is confession on my part, but I feel like we tend to think, yes, that too.

I mean, salvation and Jesus and all those things are center stage, but the Holy Spirit is sort of a little bit of a sideshow in our thinking.

And maybe that's partly because the Holy Spirit does take a more quiet role, but it's a very important role nonetheless.

And it's a role that I think that we should be aware of and studying.

And as I think of the Holy Spirit, particularly as a pastor, you as a church member, or whatever role you have to play in God's cause, I think too often we do things that are humanly possible and we use human methods and human plans and human ideas, when really, I think if the Holy Spirit had free reign in our churches, it would radically change the way we do business.

It would radically change the types of conflicts that we have and how we work through those conflicts.

It would radically change the way we learn to love each other.

You know, we'll have time to talk more about some of these things, but this evening I want especially to focus on the early and the latter reign.

And so we're going to start with just a little bit of a Bible study.

I hope you brought your Bibles because we're going to look at the Word of God here.

First of all tonight, we're going to look at a number of passages together, and then we're going to be looking also at some spirit of prophecy statements and passages that sort of amplify and illuminate some of the things that we're reading in God's Word.

I believe that this is largely an Adventist campus, Adventist gathering, and so I may use the spirit of prophecy a little more here than I would on a typical Sabbath morning sermon where I'm preaching to a lot of non-Adventists, but this is what we're going to be focusing on here tonight, and I want to use it in an authoritative way as I believe God has given it to be used in that way as we learn about the Holy Spirit here this evening.

So the early and the latter rain, a symbol in the Bible that we find, and I'm going to just ask you to turn in your Bibles.

We'll start in Isaiah chapter 44 and we'll read verse 3.

Isaiah chapter 44 and verse 3 and we're going to look at a number of verses here, this is our first 1 as we get started this evening.

Isaiah 44 and verse 3 And maybe someone could read that for me with a loud, clear voice.

For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground.

I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy offspring.

Okay, so here we find a classic Hebrew literary construction that is being used here.

It's parallel synonymism, synonymism, something like that.

It's 2 parallel thoughts presented twice.

I will pour water on him who is thirsty and floods on the dry ground, I will pour my spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing upon your descendants." So here you have a thought being conveyed, and then another way of stating it right below.

It's a literary form, much like we would use a limerick or some sort of a poetic verse or meter.

The Hebrew writers often employed these parallel and agreeing passages.

Just like rain upon a dry ground, he says, I will pour my spirit upon your offspring.

Now, I suppose here in Southern California, we know something about dry ground, right?

And it's nothing like, there's nothing so rewarding, you might say, or gratifying than a good rain shower after it's been dry for so long, particularly when you have fires and so forth burning.

And here it says, your offspring are going to be that dry ground.

My spirit is going to flood, not just a little sprinkle, like a, forgive me, but a Southern California rain shower is usually more like a sprinkle compared to the tropics, right?

So this is a flood that is promised, a deluge, a downpour, not just a little bit of a sprinkle or a bit of humidity.

Zechariah 10, and we're going to read verse 1.

And if I could invite someone who finds that to read it for me, I would appreciate it.

Zechariah chapter 10 and verse 1, the restoration for Judah and Israel.

Ask ye of the Lord rain at the time of the latter rain, so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain to everyone who asks in the field." Okay, so ask from the Lord rain in the season of rain.

He will cause for you to come down the rain." And if we continue on back, we'll go to the next verse, Ezekiel 34 and verse 6.

I want you to see that this promise of the latter rain, the early and the latter rain, is a thread that runs throughout the Old Testament.

This was not a new thought in the New Testament when Pentecost happened, but Ezekiel 34 and and verse 26.

I thought I would make them in the place to surrender about my deal of blessing, and I will cause the shower to come down in his seas, and there shall be showers of blessing.

What a promise this is, and this is right here from Ezekiel chapter 34 and verse 26.

I will cause, I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing.

I will send down the showers in their season, they shall be showers of blessing." And of course probably the best-known passage on the early and latter rain is found in Joel chapter 2.

And so we're gonna look there real quickly here this evening, Joel chapter 2, and we're going to examine more carefully this passage.

It was quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost as a prophecy that was being fulfilled.

We'll start in verse 23 of Joel chapter 2, and there's multiple verses here.

Joel 2, 23 says, be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given the early rain for your vindication.

He has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain as before." And then it goes on and talks about how this is going to result in blessing for God's people.

There's going to be an overflowing of harvest and so forth, eating of plenty.

Verse 28, and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit." And this is talking, if we look down here, verse 31 makes it very clear, this is talking about before the great and dreadful or awesome day of the Lord.

We believe this is primarily a promise about the latter rain to be poured out just before the second coming, right?

And of course we saw a former rain being poured out there at the day of Pentecost.

1 more verse in the Old Testament before we move on to other passages.

Then shall we know if we fall long to know the Lord, going forth as prepared as the morning.

He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

Okay, so here we find, I like this passage because it gives a little different perspective about the early and the former reign, and there's a following on, isn't there, and a knowledge.

There's something for us to do, there's something for us to participate in this experience of receiving the early and the latter rain.

Now, sometimes when we think of the early and the latter rains, we just think of, well, there's Pentecost and there's some future event.

We tend to sort of isolate or insulate our current environment from the immediacy, the urgency of the former and the latter rains, or the early and the latter rains.

And we're going to find that that's really not what we should, how we should be viewing this subject.

Now, just real briefly here, The climate of Palestine is much like that of right around here in Southern California.

There's a rainy season beginning in the fall and reaching to the spring, and this rainy season begins with what they call the early rain and ends with the latter rain.

The Third Person of the Godhead

Father in heaven, we thank you that you've given to us the promise of your Spirit.

You promised that where 2 or 3 are gathered together, there you will be.

And we know that that is through the personhood of your Spirit.

And so we just want to pray today that as we open your Word, as we study the Bible, that You would send Your Spirit to be here, that it would not just fill this house of worship, but it would fill each of our hearts, and that we might hear His voice speaking to us.

This morning we're going to begin with a little bit of a Bible study, so I'm going to ask you to take out your Bibles, and if you take out your holy iPhones, make sure you're looking at the text and not texting, right?

Just kidding, I don't think there is such a thing as a holy iPhone, but a holy Bible is on the iPhone, and what other device you may have with you at the time.

And we're going to begin by looking at a number of passages today that share with us the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We're going to be looking at how important the Holy Spirit is in its role, in its work, in our spiritual conversion, and in our spiritual life.

So we're going to start by looking at the fact that the Holy Spirit gives power to the believers.

Acts 1 and verse 8, I know this is a familiar text to many of us.

In fact, I suppose we'll cover a number of familiar texts, but we always learn more from the text, don't we?

There's never a time when we have exhausted the Word of God.

Acts 1, verse 8, These are the words of Jesus as He's about to leave His disciples, as He's returning to the Father.

And you know, and we looked last night at some of the promises, we'll look at some of them again today, the promises of the Holy Spirit in His absence.

But Acts chapter 1 and verse 8 says, but you will receive what?

Power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Judea, in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

Now, last night we were discovering how we tend to focus on the power and witnessing.

We tend to focus on the Lord adding to the church as a result of the Holy Spirit.

But there was a whole set of circumstances and we might say conditions, experiences the Holy Spirit brought the church through to the point that they could be powerful witnesses.

It's not so much that the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to go out and say things more eloquently.

That's not the real reason the Holy Spirit gives power.

It's not because the Holy Spirit, you know, somehow, you know, amplifies our voices or something like that.

No, what amplifies is what the Holy Spirit has done in our lives that enables people to see that the religion of Jesus Christ is a life-changing transformative religion.

If your religion does nothing more for you than what you can get from the self-help aisle of a bookstore, It's not the religion of Jesus, because the religion of Jesus is a life-transforming religion.

The religion of Jesus, friends, is miraculous.

And what the Holy Spirit wants to do as it fills each of our lives through an early reign measure, He wants to so change our lives that the words we speak are not just ideology.

They're not just a phrase of nice construction.

They are a reflection of an experience that we personally have had, that we have tasted and seen with Jesus.

We looked at Acts chapter 2 yesterday about how the Holy Spirit made the group united, the early church.

They spent time fellowshipping and eating together and enjoying each other's company and focusing on repenting of their sins and making right wrongs and then the verse says, the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

But sometimes we want to jump to the witnessing, We want to jump to the witnessing.

We want to jump to the adding to the church without experiencing what the Holy Spirit brought in its early reign manifestation to the early church.

And I want to just underscore that this power is not just ability to do evangelistic outreach or deeds.

It is not power to simply hold better evangelistic series and have bigger baptisms.

It is power to change our lives that gives our words credibility and influence.

The Holy Spirit gives us power for victory over conscious sin.

The Bible says in Galatians chapter 5 and verse 16, if we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

If we live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, we won't become high-minded.

It says in Ecclesiastes 5, 25, and 26, and I quote, If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking 1 another, envying 1 another.

If the Holy Spirit is in our lives, then the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives.

And the way it's said in Desire of Ages, I believe it's page 676, she goes on and she says, not 1 will be missing.

The fruit of the Spirit is not fruits of the Spirit, it's the fruit of the Spirit.

And when you have the Spirit, you have the fruit.

You can choose whether you want patience or love or gentleness or kindness.

The fruit of the spirit is what the Holy Spirit does in the human heart in which it dwells.

I don't know about you, but I I would say that having that fruit of the Spirit consistently is a miracle for me.

We need the Holy Spirit for the power that it can give, for the transforming power that it can give to us.

The second thing the Holy Spirit does, let's turn to John chapter 16.

John chapter 16, and we're going to look at a number of verses here today from John chapter 16.

Let's look here in John chapter 16 at verse 8.

John chapter 16 and verse 8, And this is what Jesus says.

And by the way, we'll back up just a few verses and look at some context here.

He has said that he is leaving and so forth.

Verse 7, nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

Now, just keep this in mind for a moment because later we're going to be talking about the personhood of the Holy Spirit.

And I'll be honest with you, I can understand where some of the people have anti-Trinitarian ideas even in Adventism here today.

I understand where some of that comes from, okay?

But I don't understand how you can have Jesus going away, but it's his presence that stays behind.

He's very clear here saying, I am going away.

And it makes no sense to say that the Spirit is going to be His Spirit or His presence that just remains behind.

That is just not a very rational reading of the language that He is using.

If I do not go away, the Helper will not come to me, but if I go, I will send Him to you.

Verse 8, and when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

Now, this conviction is very, very important.

It's not because the Holy Spirit is the only 1 that convicts.

I'll have you know this morning, it's important to note, that the Holy Spirit is not alone in convicting of sin.

There's a distinct difference between the Holy Spirit's conviction of sin and the devil's conviction of sin, however.

When the devil convicts you of sin, he says, you're such a bad sinner, there's no hope for you, you might as well give up.

When the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, he tells you, you're such a sinner, but Jesus died for sinners just like you.

There's a huge difference between the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the conviction of the enemy of our souls.

And without the conviction of the Holy Spirit we would not be able to come to Christ.

We would not know our own need and we would not know the hope that we have in our Savior.

Now we could spend a whole lot of time just on this aspect of the Holy Spirit's work.

There's sometimes confusion between the conscience And conviction, the Holy Spirit's conviction.

There's actually a difference between the 2.

We won't go into a whole lot, I can't spend much time on that because I have a clock that's counting here.

But in summary, you can study it on your own.

Six Reasons Why the Early Rain is Needed

Let's bow our heads for an additional word of prayer as we begin.

Father, we just thank you that your spirit is promised to us.

We have sinful natures and selfish hearts and finite minds, and we are handling spiritual things.

We know that the Spirit can help us understand them, but without the Spirit we cannot.

And so I just pray that you would be with us this afternoon, that you'll bless our time, that it might be profitably used.

So we're going to look at reasons the early rain is needed to begin with.

First of all, there is no latter rain without the early rain.

Last night we talked about the different rains, right?

As the ground was planted, they needed the early rain to bring forth the sprouts, the plant.

And this is what it says, Testimonies to Ministers, page 506, "...the latter rain, ripening earth's harvest, represents the spiritual grace that prepares the church for the coming of the Son of Man.

Do you think we might need some spiritual grace in God's church before we're ready for the second coming?

But unless the former rain has fallen, there'll be no life.

Unless the early showers have done their work, the latter rain can bring no seed to perfection.

This is why it's so important for us to be praying on a regular basis, asking God, like the disciples did after Jesus left and before Pentecost.

They were earnestly praying that God would fulfill His promise.

He promised that He would send power, and they were praying for it, and they were asking for it.

So we need the early rain because without it, we cannot have the latter rain.

And once again, I just want to say, I catch myself thinking the latter rain is just going to change me, right?

There's just going to be something that just comes upon the church, including me, I guess, in that assumption.

The early rain has to do its work first before the latter rain can give that finishing touch.

And that's why it's so important that we be studying and praying for the early reign, the Holy Spirit.

The latter reign can't do what the early reign is to do.

Again, page 507, many have in a great measure failed to receive the former reign.

They have not obtained all the benefits that God has thus provided for them.

They expect the lack will be supplied by the latter reign.

When the richest abundance of grace shall be bestowed, they intend to open their hearts to receive it.

So last night we looked at what they were doing to prepare for the early reign.

Just in Acts chapter 2 we saw how they were coming together, they were fellowshipping, they were studying the Word, they were breaking bread together, they were praising God together, They were willing to sacrifice to help 1 another.

I think we agreed, I agreed, that that is not talking about communism.

That's talking about the willingness to give of your own to help your brother and sister.

And the reason I don't think it's communism is because Ananias and Sapphira, they clearly had personal property and the choice of what to do with their money, right?

So it wasn't that there wasn't personal property being held in the New Testament.

We're not talking about communal living when it says we held all things in common.

It's simply that they were willing to share and to give what they had for 1 another.

And so here you have a church that's united, and it's upon this church that the early rain is poured out.

And it's upon this church that then it says, The Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved.

And frankly, This is simply saying that that work of heart preparation, of humbling ourselves, and of coming to view each other.

Remember it said that each 1 saw each other, the finest graces of the character of Jesus, That's how they looked upon their brothers and sisters.

That's not the work the latter reigns intended to do.

And if the early reign doesn't do its job, the latter reign's not going to do it.

So number 3, we won't recognize the latter reign without having experienced the early reign.

But there must be no neglect of the grace represented by the former rain.

Only those who are living up to the light they have received will, they have will receive greater light.

Unless we are daily advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we shall not recognize the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter reign.

It may be falling on hearts all around us, but we shall not discern it or receive it." This is a passage that always gives me pause.

What if it's falling now and I'm not aware of it?

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The Early and Latter Rain: Our Need of the Holy Spirit

The Third Person of the Godhead

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