Preparation for the Latter Rain
By G. W. White
“Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things.” Joel 2:21. “He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain.” Verse 23. In Deut. 11:14 we have the promise, “I will give you the rain . . . in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain.” We are in the season, or time, of the latter rain; why, then, has not that rain been given to the church? In Zech. 10:1 we are exhorted: “Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain;” and the promise is, “So the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain.” We have for a long time been pleading with the Lord for the rain; and again we ask, Why has the rain been withheld? Let the Scriptures Answer
By referring to Deut. 11:13, 14, we learn that the giving of the latter rain is conditional. Note the clear and distinct condition set forth: “If ye shall harken diligently unto my commandments, . . . I will give you the rain . . . in his due season.” This throws light upon the situation. The rain has been withheld because we have failed to meet the condition set forth; we have failed to harken diligently to God’s commandments. In Jer. 5:25 we read: “Your iniquities have turned away these things [the former and latter rain; see verse 24], and your sins have withholden good things from you.” Here is a very definite answer to our question, a very definite charge laid at our door,—the former and the latter rain has come toward us, very near to us, the prophet seems to say, when lo, the Giver has seen iniquity in our hearts and sin in our lives, and these have turned away the promised blessing,—the Holy Spirit. Again the Lord in mercy speaks to us in answer to this important question: “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Isa. 59:2. We have been asking for the rain, but our iniquities have made our asking of none effect. So again we can see that we have failed to receive, because we have failed to meet the condition, we have failed to harken diligently to his commandments. When Cain and Abel brought their offerings to the Lord, Abel’s was accepted, but Cain’s was rejected. In the conversation which followed, the Lord addressed Cain in these words: “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.” Gen. 4:7. Beloved, if we do well, if we meet the conditions, we shall be accepted, and shall receive the promised blessing; and if we do not receive the blessing, we may be sure that sin lieth at the door, to turn the blessing away from us. Victory Over Sin Necessary
In “Early Writings” (eleventh edition), page 71, we read: “I saw that none could share the ‘refreshing’ unless they obtained the victory over every besetment, over pride, selfishness, love of the world, and over every wrong word and action.” We can not stand in the time when the seven last plagues will be poured out, without having shared in the “refreshing,” and we can not share in that until we have obtained the victory over every sin. O, how important is this work of getting the victory over sin! Upon it depends everything; therefore is given the injunction of the prophet to the watchmen on the walls of Zion: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” Isa. 58:1.5 Can it be that God’s remnant people to-day are trampling upon divine precepts? Are they, of whom it is said, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God,” found to be commandment-breakers? This is expressly declared to be the cause for the delay of the latter rain. “Your iniquities have turned away these things.” Jer. 5:25. This is what the Lord declares. What are the conditions as revealed among the people? Do the conditions show that the remnant people are guilty of violent, outbreaking sins? Are they drunkards, harlots, blasphemers, fierce, traitors, despisers of those that are good, etc.?—No, no. While there are exceptional cases of those who are with us but not of us, as a rule the remnant people are noted for their pure, clean, righteous living. Then— that is causing all this dearth of spiritual power? We must come closer, and inspect the case more critically. In so doing we find that the adversary of souls has so subtly and insidiously woven a net about us that nothing less than the Spirit of the living God can give us sufficiently clear vision to detect it, and reveal its true character. Let us, then, turn upon the situation the search-light of the spirit of prophecy, and see what is revealed as the sin which turns away the latter rain, and keeps divine power from being fully revealed among us. From “Testimonies for the Church” we read: “When the reproach of indolence and slothfulness shall have been wiped away from the church, the Spirit of the Lord will be graciously manifested. Divine power will be revealed. The church will see the providential working of the Lord of hosts. The light of truth will shine forth in clear, strong rays, and as in the time of the apostles, many souls will turn from error to truth. The earth will be lighted with the glory of the Lord.”—Vol. IX, page 46. Ah, here we find the hindering cause! Here is the sin of which we are guilty,—the sin which turns away the fulness of the Spirit of God, and so shortens the arm of God that divine power can not be fully revealed. It is this which robs the church of the greater providential working of the Lord of hosts. In our “indolence and slothfulness,” our spiritual laziness,—for that is what these words mean,—is found the reason why every church-member is not doing all the apostles did, why the light of truth does not shine forth in sufficiently strong rays to turn many souls from error to the truth, and why the earth is not lighted with the glory of the Lord. O, what a reproach is this condition to a people who know that the “Spirit of God is gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth;” who know that “the prophecy of the eleventh chapter of Daniel has nearly reached its complete fulfilment;” who know we are living on the very verge of eternity, and that the curtain is about to be raised, ushering in scenes of fearful import! “Indolence and slothfulness”—laziness! We often think we haven’t time to pray, to study God’s Word, to attend camp-meeting, to canvass with the special REVIEW, etc.; but if the real truth were known and confessed, would it not be revealed that we are too spiritually lazy to pray, too lazy to study God’s Word, too lazy to attend prayer-meeting, too lazy to visit our neighbors and tell them of the nearness of Christ’s coming? Thank God, there is— Deliverance From This Sin
as there is from every other; for we are told that it may be wiped away. And behold the result! When this reproach shall have been wiped away from the church, “the Spirit of the Lord will be graciously manifested. Divine power will be revealed. The light of truth will shine forth in clear, strong rays, and as in the time of the apostles, many souls will turn from error to truth. The earth will be lighted with the glory of the Lord.” See the hosts of Israel, every face flushed with the victory of faith. They have crossed the Jordan, and have encamped in Gilgal—on promised soil at last. Hear the words of the Lord to Joshua: “This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you.” Joshua 5:9. Immediately after this, the Lord appeared unto him, saying: “As captain of the host of the Lord am I now come” (verse 14); and then, in marvelous ways, was the providential working of the Lord of hosts witnessed by his chosen people. Brethren and sisters, let us seek the Gilgal experience, and have the reproach of Egypt (backslidings, murmurings, unbelief, indolence, and slothfulness) wiped away, that we, too, may witness the providential working of the Lord of hosts and the revelation of divine power in our lives. Let us read again from the Testimonies: “Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul temple of every defilement. Then the latter rain will fall upon us as the early rain fell upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost.”—Vol. V, page 214. Let us remedy these defects, that we may be prepared for the promised rain. Let us plead with the Lord earnestly that he will, by his Spirit, reveal to us every besetment, every defilement, every defect, and pray without ceasing for strength to put these sins away, and for a decisive victory over everything that tends to hinder our receiving the latter rain.