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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

The Third Person of the Godhead

Six Reasons Why the Early Rain is Needed

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.

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Series

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

The Early and Latter Rain

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Preparing For Rain

44m

The Three Angels’ Messages and the Latter Rain, Prayer, and Revival

1h 30m

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

The Third Person of the Godhead

51m

GYC 2011 Seminar: The Prophetic Significance of the Early and Latter Rain

What, and Who, Are You Praying For?, Part 2

55m

Alan Parker ~ Biblical Holiness: A Guide for Sinners

Radical Holiness: Steps to a Sanctified Life

55m

Refreshing

39m

Acts

Persecution, Prayer, and Power

53m

Dave Steward: Prayer Inspiration Weekend

Pentecost, Prison, and the Power of Prayer

44m

Final Events

06 Praying for the Latter Rain

1h 14m

WYC 2008 Plenary Sessions

Better Hope

45m

How to Prepare Your Church for the Latter Rain

41m

Sound Doctrine