“Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; establish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” James 5:7, 8.
These stirring words of Inspiration apply just now. They follow the accurate pen-picture of divine revelation of the very world scenes so common to every person now living. Rich men are nourishing their “hearts as in the day of slaughter,” disregarding the rights of the poor whom they are oppressing, as well as the solemn truth that God will bring to judgment the use made of the great power of wealth entrusted to their care. But the instruction of God to the “brethren” is, Be patient; wait just a little for the coming of the Lord. Then the crooked paths shall be made straight, and the dark things made plain.
The attention of God’s people is called to what He Himself is to do. The apostle reminds them that they are to depend upon the power of God as revealed in the bestowal of heavenly life and energy upon the believers, shed forth in the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is spoken of as “the early and latter rain.”
This illustration was a familiar one in the land of the disciples. There, the harvest was wholly dependent upon the early and latter rain. Refreshing showers were required, and came at seed-time and just before harvest. Let it be carefully noted that Inspiration has joined the early and latter rain together. The husbandman is to wait with patience for the latter rain. Inasmuch as God unites the early and latter refreshings, may we not confidently look for an example of what the latter rain is to be in the experience of the giving of the “early rain”?
The Early Rain of God’s Spirit.
The early rain was bestowed upon the church—and thus upon the world, for the church is but the light of the world—on the day of Pentecost. This was the refreshing Christ promised from the Father Himself just before He left His disciples.
That some might be in readiness to receive this great gift of the Spirit, this power from on high, a preparatory work was necessary. Jesus Himself said, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send Him unto you.” John 16:7. Thus we see that Christ taught that it was best for the church that the Comforter come, not depreciating at all the benefits of His own presence. Yet He held up this gift as the highest bestowal of God’s favor and blessing that possibly could be given the believers, because it would be general, while His personal presence was local.
The Preparatory Work of John the Baptist.
In the great prophetic period of the twenty-three hundred days (or years) of Dan. 8:14, God’s great clock struck the appointed hour for the first event to take place on our earth preparatory to His sending to us His beloved Son. God commissioned Gabriel, that mighty angel beside His throne, with a message for our earth, and at once he sped with joy and delight to deliver it. It was to Zacharias, a priest of God, and Gabriel appeared to him at a time when he was offering incense, with all the people who were outside the temple, “praying.” No doubt it was on that most solemn of all days of the year, the day of atonement.
“And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias; for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.
“And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just: to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
In due time, this promised messenger before the Lord, after careful preparation by the parents, and himself communing with God in the wilderness, showed himself unto Israel. His words were words of power. They were directed with burning earnestness against sin. Men and women flocked to hear the messages warm from high heaven. He spake with authority. At last, so great was the interest aroused by his wonderful work that the Pharisees began to fear for their own influence and power. Consequently, they sent a message to John: “Then said they unto him [after he had denied being the Messiah], Who art thou? that we may give an answer unto them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?” The prompt answer is returned, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord.” He emphatically told them, “I am not the Christ;” but goes on to say, “There standeth One among you, whom ye know not: He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.”
Thus, at the exact time indicated in the prophecy, John appeared, and prepared the minds of Israel to receive the Son of God, who was to come and do His work, and be cut off in the midst of the last week of the great prophetic period allotted to ancient Israel.
When John had the attention of the people, he could easily have deceived them by himself claiming to be the promised Messiah. But he confessed to the truth. He told them plainly that the coming One was preferred before him; that He was to increase, while he himself was to decrease. What an example! John directed the attention of the people to the Lamb of God, standing among them, whom they knew not—yet ought to have known—who was to bear the sin of the whole world.
[The next article concludes a consideration of John’s work, the work of Christ, and the early rain.]
