For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear" (Matt. 13:15, 16).
Last month in my message to the church about our need for the Holy Spirit, I stressed the urgency with which God calls us to prepare for the latter rain so His work can be finished here on earth. Ellen White conveys this urgency to us: "A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work.1 Although she wrote these words 103 years ago, they are as true today as they were then. This revival is still our greatest and most urgent need, and it will come only as God's people prepare to receive the latter rain.
Are we repeating Israel's history?
If Ellen White is the prophet of God to His remnant church, which I believe she is, then we have a direct command from God staring us in the face. "To seek this should be our first work." How are we, as God's people, going to respond to it? As we read the Bible, we often shake our heads at the behavior of ancient Israel God communicated with them through His prophets, but all too often the people ignored or rejected the messages. I have said to myself as I have read the biblical accounts, "If I had lived in those days, I think I would have listened. I would not have turned a deaf ear to the prophets of God." Yet God has given us explicit instructions through a prophet, and we have reacted no differently than did ancient Israel. To fault them for their failures is to point an accusing finger at ourselves.
The prophet Hosea points out a second reason for Israel's failure: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). God's will for Israel was readily available to all who wished to know, but disinterest in the messages of God's prophets left the people ignorant of His plan for their lives. History appears to be repeating itself! Again the messages from heaven are largely unknown, although they are available to all. Those who profess to be God's people today ignore what He is saying to them. As a result, many of God's professed people lack the knowledge that would prepare them for the reception,of the latter rain.
Conditions for receiving the latter rain
Within the very paragraph in which Ellen White tells us to make the seeking of a revival of true godliness our first work, she, lays out the .conditions upon which we may receive the latter rain.
After assuring us that God wants to be stow this gift upon the church, she says: "But it is outwork, by confession, humiliation, repentance, and earnest prayer, to fulfill the conditions upon which God has promised to grant us His blessing." 2
Would it be fair to. say that the vast majority of our brothers and sisters do not know that God has laid down these conditions? The church needs to know of them. Like Israel of old, we lack knowledge not because God has not given us the instruction we need, but because we have ignored what He has said through His prophet.
Here, then, is our situation. God has told us that we can have the power of His Spirit now. This is a promise. He has also told us that we are to seek for this power, to pray for it, and to believe that He will keep His word and give us this power now, I ask again, How are we as a church going to respond to this? Are we going to reject what the prophet has told us? Are we going to hear and yet ignore God's instruction? Or are we going to respond by following the instruction? It is evident that the destiny of the church depends upon how we respond.
If it is by confession, humiliation, repentance, and earnest prayer that we are to seek the latter rain if these are the conditions upon which God has promised to give us this gift then how are we to fulfill these conditions? God has given us two models that demonstrate how we can meet the conditions. One model, laid out on pages 35-37 of The Acts of the Apostles, is set within the context of the ancient apostolic church. The second model, described in Testimonies for the Church, volume 8, pages 104-106, involves the modern church.
Apostolic model
To begin with, we will look at the model given to us by the apostles. During the 50 days between the ascension of Jesus and the day of Pentecost, the disciples met together in the upper room in Jerusalem. This was a time of intense activity. The followers of Jesus were preparing themselves for the gift that Jesus had promised to send them. Ellen White says, "It was by the confession and forsaking of sin, by earnest prayer and consecration of themselves to God, that the early disciples prepared for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The same work, only in greater degree, must be done now."3
The instruction is clear. To receive God's power, the church today must make the same preparation as did the apostles. Note the seven preparatory steps Ellen White mentions:
1. "In obedience to Christ's command, they waited in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father the outpouring of the Spirit. They did not wait in idleness. The record says that they were 'continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.' " 4
To be prepared, we must be willing to testify of the love of God. How does this tie in to preparation for the latter rain? There is a spiritual principle that states that it is our willingness to share what we have received that determines the measure of the power of the Spirit we are given. The apostles' experience demonstrates the working of this principle. Be fore Jesus ascended to His Father, "he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (John 20:22). At this point the disciples received an infilling of the Holy Spirit. But this was not the end of the matter, for on the day of Pentecost, having made the necessary preparation, they received a second, more abundant infilling of God's Spirit (Acts 2:1-4).
But the disciples didn't rest satisfied with this evidence of God's blessing; they didn't just sit back and enjoy the spiritual refreshing they had received. Instead, they used the power that God gave them at Pentecost to witness for the Lord. And because they willingly shared what they had received, God continued to pour His Spirit upon them. Acts 4 records a third infilling of the Spirit one that came after Pentecost: "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness" (verse 31).
The same spiritual law operational in the disciples' time exists today. Share what the Spirit has given you, and you will receive more.
2. "They also 'met together to present their requests to the Father in the name of Jesus."5
One of the conditions for the latter rain is earnest prayer. Since I have already discussed the importance of praying for the latter rain, I won't say more except to note the Ellen White says, "A revival need be expected only in answer to prayer."6 The hundreds of prayer groups that are presently meeting and praying for the latter rain are following the model that God has given to us.
3. "As the disciples waited for the fulfillment of the promise, they humbled their hearts in true repentance and confessed their unbelief.'' 7
This is exactly what God has said we must do if we wish to receive the power of His Spirit. But there is more to this step than one might imagine. I will have more to say about true repentance and confession in a later article. Right now I simply want to emphasize the fact that repentance and confession were important parts of the preparatory process that the apostles went through as they waited for the outpouring of the Spirit.
4. "As they meditated upon His pure, holy life they felt that no toil would be too hard, no sacrifice too great, if only they could bear witness in their lives to the loveliness of Christ's character."8
As we will see later, this desire of the disciples to witness of Christ is a natural outgrowth of step 3.
5. "Putting away all differences, all desire for the supremacy, they came close together in Christian fellowship. "9
The Gospels make it clear that the apostles were ambitious, self-serving men. Each strove for a position above the others. Suspicion, jealousy, distrust, and hard feelings divided them, preventing them from receiving many of the blessings that Jesus wished to share with them. As long as the hearts of these men were in this condition, God could not trust them with the power that He wanted to give them. Fortunately, the experience that they shared at Jesus' crucifixion and the portion of the Spirit that He gave them before He ascended hum bled them, enabling them to set aside their personal ambitions. As they sought to make amends for their past behavior, they pressed together in Christian fellowship and mutual support. Because their changed attitudes meant that they would not use God's power to satisfy their selfish desires, He could trust it to them.
6. ' 'These days of preparation were days of deep heart searching. The disciples felt their spiritual need and cried to the Lord for the holy unction that was to fit them for the work of soul saving. They did not ask for a blessing for themselves merely. They were weighted with the burden of the salvation of souls. They realized that the gospel was to be carried to the world, and they claimed the power that Christ had promised. " 10
Again we see the apostles in prayer—seeking God for the Spirit that would make them efficient soul winners. God longs to give the unction of His Spirit to His church today so that its members might preach the third angel's message with power and efficacy. As you pray for the latter rain, make yourself available to God, to be used according to His purpose. Each prayer group must become a working group as well. Choose some out reach activity, pray for the efficiency of the Spirit, and be prepared to be over whelmed with what God is able to do through you and your group.
7. ' 'During the patriarchal age the influence of the Holy Spirit had often been revealed in a marked manner, but never in. its fullness. Now, in obedience to the word of the Saviour, - the disciples offered their supplications for this gift, and in heaven Christ added His intercession. He claimed the gift of the Spirit, that He might pour it upon His people."11
As the day of Pentecost approached, the disciples took one last step. They prayed specifically for the fulfillment of the promise that Jesus had made to them. Similarly, God has promised us who live in the closing moments of history that we do not have to wait for the latter rain we can have it now. We must act upon our belief in this promise. We must pray specifically for the latter rain.
The issue before us
We who are God's representatives in this end time have related to God in much the same way as did Israel. God has given instructions to us as He did to them. But—to use biblical terms—we have been stiffnecked and rebellious. We have resisted doing what the prophet has told us to do. As a result, we have stayed in this world of sin much longer than we needed to.
It is time for us to turn to God in repentance and confession, admitting that we are a stiffnecked people and that when He spoke through His prophet we have refused to listen. It is time for us to be come aware of His instruction and to respond to it.
God has laid down conditions to be met before we can receive the power of the latter rain. No one can now plead ignorance in this matter. We as a church face a question: Will we respond to the instruction given to us and with the help of the Holy Spirit make an effort to fulfill the conditions? Once we commit our selves to doing what God has asked of us, His blessings will come upon us in ever-increasing measure. We will receive the latter rain. God has promised.
Again I urge the church—leaders and lay members alike—to study the conditions and the model given to us and to act upon them under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Join me in preparing for the latter rain.
1. Selected Messages, book 1, p. 121.
2. Ibid.
3. Testimonies to Ministers, p. 507.
4. The Acts of the Apostles, p. 35.
5. Ibid.
6. Selected Messages, book 1, p. 121.
7. The Acts of the Apostles, p. 36.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid., p. 37.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
