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The Parable of the Former and Latter Rains
The parable of the sower is an agricultural parable; Jesus taking what His audience knew in the real world and applying a spiritual connotation to it, as a means of bringing to the minds of His listeners that which they could not see with their own eyes. The parable of the former and latter rains is in the same format and for the same purpose, although it is a parable for our time.
In Palestine and at the time when Jesus was there, the lives of the people was very dependent on the coming of the season, the sunshine and the rain.
The wheat crop was worked like this. The rainy season began lightly before the wheat seed was sown into the ground to soften it in preparation for the sowing. When the seed had been sown in the spring, there was a significant falling of the rain to establish the crop, allowing the seed to germinate and begin its life time up to the harvesting in the autumn, these spring rains being known as the 'former rains'. The wheat grows up over the months until it is time for the latter rains which are like the former ones but their intention is not to grow the wheat but to fill the seed heads full of starch. Then when the rain has done its job, there comes a time a strong sunshine which has the effect of drying out the seed heads, causing them to become hard as nails and white. It is when the crop is white that the harvesters know it is time to begin the harvesting. The wheat has to be white and hard in order to become the flour to make the bread that they will all rely upon for the months to come; the harvest cannot be done when the seed is full of soft starch, as in the time of the latter rains, as it will not be good flour. The harvesting is done by first cutting the stalks of wheat with a sickle, then carrying the bundles of stalks and wheat seed pods into a barn where they are thrashed, that is beaten so that the very hard wheat seed pods fall from their natural outer casings, known as chaff, which the wind blows away to leave the wheat ready for the bread maker.
( Joel 2, verses 23 -24.) 'Be glad, O sons of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord, your God; for He has given the early rain for your vindication, He has poured down on you abundant rain, the early rain and the latter rain, as before. The threshing floor shall be full of grain, the vats overflowing with oil and wine.'
(Jeremiah 5, verse 24.) 'Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in His season; He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.'
(Isaiah 45, verse 8.) 'Shower, O heavens from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may sprout forth, and let it cause righteousness to spring up also; I the Lord have created it.'
The parable starts with the rain softening the ground in which to sow the wheat seed. The rain is the symbol of the Holy Spirit throughout the parable.
(Hosea 6, verse 3.) 'Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord; His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come to unto us as the rain, as the latter and the former rain upon the earth.'
Now it must be understood that Jesus is, in this parable, taken as the wheat seed that is first sown and the beginning of the former rains is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
(Luke 1, verses 66 - 67.) 'and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child be?" For the hand of the Lord was with him. And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel." This is among the first light splattering of the rain of the Holy Spirit, in preparation for the sowing of the wheat seed.
When John the Baptist was conceived, the angel spoke to his father and said.
( Luke 1, 15.) And he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine or strong drink and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb."
( Matthew 3, verse 16.) ' And Jesus, when He was baptised went up straightway out of the water; and lo the heavens were opened up to Him and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lightening upon Him.'
(John 23, verses 23 - 25.) ' And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life shall lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."'
(Matthew 26, verse 26.) 'And so, as they were eating, Jesus took bread and broke it and gave it to His disciples and said, "Take, eat, this is My body."'
Wheat is the basis of the flour used in bread making.
(John 20, verses 19 - 20.) 'Then the same day, at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut for fear of the Jews, came Jesus in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." And when He had said this He showed them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.'
The full former rains begin
.
(Acts 1, verse 4 - 5.) ' And, being assembled together with them, He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father which said He, "You have heard of Me, for John truly baptised with water, but you shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days hence."'
(Acts 2, verses 2 - 4.) ' And suddenly there came the sound from heaven as of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongue as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongue as the Spirit gave them utterance.'
What you must understand is that the wheat grows from the rain that is in the ground, not the rain falling upon it. The water on the surface of the soil can run off but not grow the wheat, only that which is in the ground can do that. So growth for the Christian, comes from within, not from what is without.
The rain that falls from the sky is physically felt but does not help grow the wheat.
(1 Corinthians 6. verse 19.) ' What? Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is within you, which you have from God, and you are not your own?'
The parable of the weeds in the field you must understand and we saw it before.
(Matthew 13, verses 24 - 30.) ' Another parable He put to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among his wheat and went his way. But when the blade sprung up and brought forth fruit, there appeared the tares also.
So the servants of the householder came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in the field? Where have the tares (weeds) come from?' He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants then said to him, 'Do you want us to go and gather them up?
But he said to them,' No, in case in gathering up the tares, you root up the wheat also. Let both grow until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, 'Gather first the tares into bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn."
(Matthew 13, verses 37 - 41.) He answered and said unto them," He that sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be at the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth His angels and they shall gather out of His kingdom all causes of sin and evil doers and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will wail and gnash their teeth. Then the righteous shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. He that has ears to hear, let him hear."
Over the period between the time of the former rains and the latter rains there are times of showers of rain and times of sunshine. Likewise there have been times during the growing of the Christian church when there have been movements of the Holy Spirit as in the falling rain and the sunshine is for those who have held fast to their faith in Jesus, even unto death.
The sun, in this parable, is the symbol of persecution for the Christian church.
'Some fell on the stony places where there was not much earth; and forthwith they sprang up because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away.'
(Matthew 13, verse 20.)
'But he that receives the seed in stony ground, the same is he that hears the word and receives it with joy. Yet because he has no root in himself, but endures for a while; for when tribulation or persecution arise because of the word, immediately he falls away.'
(Colossians 2, verses 6 - 7.) As you therefore received Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk you in Him. Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding therein in thanksgivings.'
It is essential that every Christian grows in his or her knowledge and applies the commandments of Jesus in order to be ready for the burning of the persecution which will most assuredly come in the last days after the end of the latter rains. It is not long away.
(Zechariah 10, verse 1.) 'Ask you of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.'
Please remember that it is not the falling rain that grows the crop but the rain that is now water in the ground next to the roots that grows the crop.
Whether you like the idea or not, the latter rains are the charismatic movement, with all its wonders, heallings, speaking in tongues, interpretation thereof and signs and with even the false signs and wonders performed by the soldiers of Satan.
(Mark 13.verse 22. ) '"For false Christ's and false prophets will arise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect."'
Now is the time that the latter rains cease and the strong sunshine begins. This is necessary so that the starch in the wheat seed becomes a strong mass and will survive the beating of the threshing floor and be solid to make good bread.. So it will be at the time of the coming of the anti-Christ and the persecutions as detailed in the book of Revelation, namely chapters 6, 12 and 13. Also remember the words of Jesus. in Matthew 24 and Luke 21.
The rapture, so called , is when Jesus comes for those who have held their faith in him until He comes with His angles to bring justice for all the troubles that the devil and His followers have wrought on the true believers in Jesus. This is not in secret rapture where Christians are saved from the tribulation (a diabolical concept) but, just as all will see Jesus comes, so will all see the rapture of the faithful.
(Matthew 24, 29 to 32) Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of heaven will be shaken: then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
(Revelation 7, 9 and 13 to 14.) After this I looked and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Then one of the elders spoke to me, saying "Who are these, clothed in white robes and from where have they come?" I said to him "Sir, you know." And he said to me ," These are they who have come out of the great tribulation and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
No, there is nothing secret about the rapture and it will come after the great tribulation, that's for sure. Thus the threshing of the wheat harvest is complete and the grain is now safely in the barn of Jesus himself.
Thus ends the parable of the former and latter rains.
One more thought. As Jesus likened himself to the wheat seed going into the ground, right up to being the bread of life,
(Luke 22, v 19) 'And He took bread and broke it and gave it to them, saying," This is my body that is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
so He is with the Christian from the beginning to the end of his or her walk with him. Never forget that.
Go to Parable of the Sun, Earth and the Moon.
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