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.