HARVEST RAIN

 Is there going to be a last-days revival, a last-days outpouring of His Spirit that will touch the whole world?

Ever since I was a boy I’ve heard evangelists and pastors say that the last-days revival was right around the corner and we would see it soon — very soon.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Charismatic Renewal was often referred to as a significant part of the “last-days” outpouring that was promised in Joel 2:28-32 and Acts 2:17-21. A few years later the Jesus Movement began and again came the declaration, “This is it! This is really it.”

And now, here we are nearly fifty years later. True, there have been some wonderful moves of God’s Spirit in the land but there is currently no national revival in America. The Charismatic Renewal is over and the Jesus Movement was absorbed into the mainstream evangelical church. In truth, Christianity in America is now declining, while it is growing rapidly in other parts of the world. The percentage of the population of the U.S. that attends church grows smaller every year, and every year America becomes more secular and atheistic.

So what are we supposed to believe? Are we in the last days? Is there now going to be an outpouring?

We need to stop basing our thinking on what we hear said on a TV program, or on radio, or through any other form of media. We need to base our understanding and belief totally on what God says in His Word.

A theme that is repeatedly referred to in the Old Testament, and again in the New Testament, is that two rains were vital for a successful harvest — the former (first) rain and the latter rain.

The growing season for grain crops in Israel is different from what it is here in North America. In Israel, wheat was planted in the fall and harvested in the spring. The first rain was needed after the seeds were planted to cause them to germinate. The latter rain was needed just before the spring harvest to cause the grain to ripen and to insure a bountiful harvest.

“Let us live in awe of the Lord our God,
for He gives us rain each spring (the latter rain) and fall (the first rain),
assuring us of a harvest when the time is right” (Jeremiah 5:24, NLT).

Most theologians (which I most assuredly am not) believe the “former/first rain” was the outpouring of God’s Spirit at Pentecost. The first rain watered the Word in the early church and brought about the initial spread of the church throughout the world.

The latter rain, in the natural, was needed to ripen the grain and insure a good harvest — and so it will be in the last days.

Are we going to see the “latter rain” here in America? 

I believe we are!

“Ask the Lord for rain in the spring,

 for He makes the storm clouds.
And He will send showers of rain
so every field becomes a lush pasture” (Zechariah 10:1, NLT).

The spring rain was the latter rain, which brought about the final ripening of the grain and insured a bountiful harvest.

In 1 Kings 18, Elijah had just triumphed over the prophets of Baal. It had been dry in Israel for 42 months — not a drop of rain. First Elijah said to the evil King Ahab, “I hear the sound of a heavy (abundant) rain” (see 1 Kings 18:41).

Elijah then went to prayer and asked God for rain. Six times he sent his servant to look and see if there were any rain clouds in the heavens. And six times the servant returned to say, “Not a cloud in the sky.”

Finally, after looking the seventh time, the servant said to Elijah, “I saw a little cloud about the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea.”

Then Elijah shouted, “Hurry to Ahab and tell him to go back home. Tell him if he doesn’t hurry, the rain will stop him!” (see 1 Kings 18:44).

Let me finish this brief article by saying, in the patience of faith and in my understanding of the Word of God, “I hear the sound of the harvest (latter) rain!”

“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains” (James 5:7, ESV).