As previously noted, there are 3 divinely appointed applications of the word of God as expressed through the divine law of the early and the latter rains.

1. First, we have the complete Bible, the inspired word of God. But that inspired word that flowed from heaven ended when the prophesied silence of the Creator began when the early rains of that inspired word ended after the 2nd generation of the Ecclesial Age. John finished that last book of Revelation less than 70 years after the death & resurrection of Jesus. 
2. Jesus is that word made flesh and his two comings are directly identified with the early and latter rains.
3. The 3rd application is the word of God expressed in power. Jesus and Paul both reference the two ‘Ages’ during which the Holy Spirit power will be demonstrated through people. Paul even defines being made a partaker of the Holy Spirit power as “tasting the word of God”. Paul also defines the outpouring of Holy Spirit power to be like rain. Therefore the time between those 2 “Ages” during which the rain-like outpouring of the Holy Spirit gifts would constitute the absence of rain; therefore constituting those 2 Holy Spirit outpourings to qualify as an early and a latter rain. 

The early rain application of all three of these associations was fulfilled at the beginning of the Ecclesial Age. 1) The Bible was completed. There have been no divinely inspired writings since John wrote Revelation. But divine inspiration will begin again following the return of Christ. 2) Jesus came the first time as the early rain to plant the seed of the gospel. He comes again as the latter rain to harvest that fully matured seed in the faithful. 3) The Holy Spirit was poured out from heaven in rain-like fashion at 3 highly significant events during that transition from the 1st Kingdom Age into the Ecclesial Age. That power could also be awarded by the hands of certain Apostles. Those gifts ended after the 2 generations Peter promised at Pentecost. This was the early rains of the word expressed in power. These miraculous powers will be displayed again in the world following the return of Jesus Christ, qualifying as the latter rains. All 3 of these applications of the word of God share the same early rain and latter rain timestamps. 

1. The Early and Latter Rains of the Word of God

God prophesies of a period when He would be silent, when there would be no outpouring of His word from heaven. There would be no new revelations, no Holy Spirit powers displayed and the word made flesh (Jesus) would not be in the earth. 

Micah 3:6-7 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; And it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; And the sun shall go down over the prophets, And the day shall be dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: Yea, they shall all cover their lips; For there is no answer of God. 

Amos 8:11-12  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, That I will send a famine in the land, 

Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. 

This prophesied divine silence is identified as both a sunset and a famine, indicating darkness and a drought of the word of God. This dual identification of the dual application of both early and latter rains satisfies our theme of the dual emphasis in the context of salvation and divine acceptability. That sunset and drought are also significant in correctly understanding other prophecies.

We can very easily and definitively prove when this period of self-imposed divine silence ends. Isaiah makes this perfectly clear. In the context of an obvious prophecy of the introduction of the Millennial Kingdom we read this:

Isaiah 42:13-14 The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: He shall cry, yea, roar; He shall prevail against his enemies. I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: Now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. 

God’s self imposed, prophesied silence will end dramatically at the beginning of the restored Kingdom, following the return of Jesus Christ from heaven with power and glory. The two silence ending parallels of a charging soldier and a woman giving birth are also common Bible expressions referencing the introduction of the Sabbath Kingdom in that 7th Millennium.

This prophesied divine silence, that absence of new revelations of the word of God being poured in rain-like fashion from heaven, is described by Amos as a famine of the word of God. Another validation of this understanding is where Isaiah defines the resurrection of the saints at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom as how Yahweh will go forth as the morning (eliminating darkness) and come to us as the early and latter rains.

Hosea 6:1-3 Come, and let us return unto the Lord: For he hath torn, and he will heal us; He hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: In the third day he will raise us up, And we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is prepared as the morning; And he shall come unto us as the rain, As the latter and former rain unto the earth. 

Notice the 3 sets of dual parallels describing the promise of resurrection: 1) torn/heal, 2) smitten/bind up and 3) revive us/raise us up. This is the language of resurrection and restoration.The timestamp is defined in the dual application of being after 2 days and as well as on the 3rd day. Let’s not underestimate our Creator’s very careful expressions. Our Creator uses surgical redundancy to offer more to those who have while simultaneously taking away from those who have not. We need to remember that a day with the Lord is equivalent to 1,000 years (Ps.90:4; 2 Pet. 3:8). This doubled timestamp for the resurrection of the saints is scheduled for 2 millenniums after the 1st resurrection that took place in 30CE… therefore scheduled for that 3rd divine ‘day’. Pay particular attention to the dual validation of this 2,000 year prophecy from the 1st resurrection to the 2nd, as this specifically references the 2 prophecies of the period of divine silence.  First we see this resurrection frame as being defined as the morning, which is the ending of the divine silence that Micah defines as darkness. Then we see the coming of the Lord being like the early and latter rains, referencing Amos in his definition of the famine/drought of God’s word during the period of divine silence.

2. The Early and Latter Rains of the Word of God Made Flesh

Jesus Christ is defined as the word of God made flesh (Jn. 1:14). The two comings of Jesus, 1st as the sacrificial lamb and 2nd as the lion of the tribe of Judah, are also paralleled to these same early and latter rains.

James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 

 James directly identifies the coming of Jesus to this law of the early and latter rain that brings agricultural bounty and richness of life. Additionally, Solomon describes how the reign of the King’s son would be like rain upon the mown grass and showers that water the earth (Ps. 72:1-11). Interestingly this early and latter rain principle is referenced a 2nd time in that same chapter in James 5.

James 5:16-18 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. 

The 2 rains bookending the 42 month drought prompted by Elijah’s fervent prayer offer this same early and latter rain frame of reference. The 42 month drought between the early rain and the latter rains further validates the subtle divine testimony of how these early and latter rains define the drought of the word of God between the early rain that ended after that 2nd generation of the Ecclesial Age and the latter rain that will begin with the restoration of the Kingdom of God with the ending of divine silence, the return of Jesus Christ and the accompanying outpouring of Holy Spirit gifts. Those 42 months are referenced in the 42 generations in the lineage reported by Matthew from Abraham to Jesus and the 42 encampments from Egypt to the promised land during the 40 year wilderness wanderings. It is also interesting how we see the ministry of Jesus lasting 3.5 years, which is 42 months as well as the political authority of the antichrist (Papal office) is expressed in the similar terms of 42 months (Rev. 13:5). This was fulfilled in the 1260 years (42 months is 1260 days) from 606CE when the Bishop at Rome was first given that political authority and 1866 when Garibaldi effectively took that Papal political power away. 

Those 42 months of drought between the previous (early) and latter rains resulting from Elijah’s fervent prayer are part of a scriptural pattern of 6 seven’s  (6×7=42) that references a beginning to a partial completion. 

We need to remember the Millennial Kingdom is only a partial completion. The Sabbath Kingdom of the 7th millennium (7th divine day) only offers a rest from sin. It is the 8th divine day following the conclusion of the Sabbath Kingdom when we see death and sin completely cut away in circumcision-like fashion. 

Our next post will highlight that 3rd early and latter rain application of the word of God expressed in power, which is the pouring out from heaven of the Holy Spirit gifts. 

brojim@spiritsword.net 

Our observations concerning the extreme ‘dual’ pattern demonstrated throughout the two required witnesses of our Creator (Bible & creation) in the context of divine truths and salvation is also evident in the divine law of the early and latter rains. Our long term goal will be to address the necessary two balancing aspects of every divine principle, as the diminishing of these two aspects into a single imbalanced definition is the broad path of apostasy down which more and more of our enlightened community is traveling in these last days of the Ecclesial Age… as was prophesied repeatedly in scripture. One example is the 2 aspects of the fear of God that was partially addressed in the previous post.

The foundational law of the early and latter rains is presented by Moses in Deuteronomy 11, but is applied in various ways in prophecies and exhortations by Hosea, James, Micah, Amos, Solomon, Jesus, Paul and James. Applying this law of the early and latter rains comprehensively as opposed to selectively will result in correcting the misidentification of the prophesied period of our Creator’s self-imposed silence as being between the Old and New Testaments and also confirm the timing for the conclusion of the availability of the Holy Spirit miraculous gifts as being only 2 generations at the very beginning of the  Ecclesial Age, as originally promised by Peter at Pentecost. 

God points out that the geography and weather patterns of the promised land are intentionally quite different from Egypt, where the enlightened community had been cruelly enslaved. 

Deut. 11:10-17  For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.

It should be noted the next few verses immediately following this law of the early and latter rains exactly match the few verses immediately following the greatest of all commandments back in Deuteronomy 6:5 about loving Yahweh our Elohim with all our heart and all our life and all our strength (Mark 12:29-30). This observation should certainly serve as an underlining emphasis for a dedicated consideration for this law of the early and latter rains. 

The promised land is a land of hills and valleys, dependent on rain for agricultural productivity. As God notes, this is unlike Egyptian’s Nile valley where irrigation channels could be easily run from the river to water crops without worrying about the rain cycle. Note how God parallels the rain from heaven to His word from heaven. If the enlightened community would be obedient and fruitful to the words of God that they been given from heaven, then they would also receive the rain from heaven upon which they would depend for food production for themselves and their animals. There is a direct parallel throughout scripture between rain and the word of God that both pour from the heavens.

Deut. 32:1-2  Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, My speech shall distil as the dew, As the small rain upon the tender herb, And as the showers upon the grass. 

Isaiah 55:10-11 For as the rain cometh down, And the snow from heaven, And returneth not thither, But watereth the earth, And maketh it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: It shall not return unto me void, But it shall accomplish that which I please, And it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 

It should be understood that the heavens and earth God addressed through Moses was Israel, the heaven and earth descendants of Abraham. He was promised descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth and the stars of heaven. The nation of Israel was subsequently addressed many times directly in the context of heaven and earth, particularly in the prophecies by Jesus and Peter concerning the destruction of the nation (Matt. 24:35; 2 Peter 3:7-13) as well as the restoration of that Kingdom (Is. 65:17).

It should also be understood that the offer of rain and the warning about withholding rain is another demonstration of the law of the required 2 witnesses for any judgment. Heaven and earth are appointed as God’s witnesses to the resulting fruit-fulness or fruit-lessness in response to His Words poured out from heaven to the enlightened community. One of the laws of witnessing was that the hands of the witnesses would be the first against the accused (Deut. 17:7). God appointed heaven and earth to serve as witnesses for or against Israel.

Deut. 4:26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. 

Just as the hands of at least 2 witnesses had to be the first to be applied in judgment against the condemned, so the heaven witness appointed by God would withhold the rain from heaven and that 2nd earth witness of God would not yield its bounty… thereby fulfilling the law of the hands of the witnesses being the first to be applied against the one judged as guilty.

Lev. 26:19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass.

Deut. 28:23-24 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

It is important to understand this divine association between rain and the word of God as we look throughout scripture to apply this law of the early and latter rains in the context of that intentionally complex communication pattern of our heavenly Father that gives more to those who ‘have’ within the enlightened community while simultaneously taking away the little from those who ‘have not’, also within the enlightened community (Matt. 13:10-15). 

There are three applications of the word of God that have specific early and latter rain assignments. These are 1) the inspired word of God (Bible), 2) that word made flesh (Jesus Christ) and 3) the word expressed in power (the awarding of the Holy Spirit gifts). Each of these 3 applications will perfectly demonstrate this early and latter rain law in the same historic and prophetic context. But due to the extensive issues to be addressed in order to confidently and 3 dimensionally validate these associations and timestamps this will have to be the focus of our next post.

BroJim@spiritsword.net