Three farmers gather daily during a horrible drought. The men are down on their knees, praying the skies will open and pour forth much-needed rain. The heavens are silent, however, and the petitioners become discouraged. Nonetheless, they continue to pray every morning. One morning, a stranger asks the men what they are doing. They say, “We’re praying for rain.” The stranger looks at each of them and shakes his head. “I don’t think so.” The first farmer says, “We are down on our knees, pleading for rain. Look around; see the drought. We haven’t had rain in more than a year!” The stranger says their efforts won’t work. The second farmer says, “We need the rain; we aren’t asking only for ourselves, but for our families and livestock.” The stranger still isn’t impressed. “You’re wasting your time,” he says. The third farmer in anger says, “What would you do if you were in our shoes?” “You really want to know?” the stranger asks. “We really want to know!” the farmers say. “The future of our farmlands is at stake.” The stranger says, “I would have brought an umbrella!”¹ God moves on the outside, that is in the natural, through the principle of saturation. In the Bible, it’s called the Former and the Latter Rain.

[Tweet “Ministering on the glory of God brought forth physical rain every time during a two-year stretch.”]

Rain from Heaven: A Scriptural Account

• Here are some verses to establish the concept of the rain of God.

James 5:7 (ESV) 7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.

Hosea 6:3 (KJV) 3 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.

Joel 2:23 (ESV) 23 “Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before.

Deuteronomy 11:14 (ESV) 14 he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.

The Former and Latter Rain

• Rain comes in due season, at the right time.
• Harvest is the result of rain.
• The former and latter rain was seasonal rains which came to Israel.
• You understand the fact that Israel was an agricultural society and so their prosperity was heavily dependent upon these rains that would come.
• The former rain referred to the predictable spring rains which came right at planting time each season to provide the right amount of moisture to cause the seeds to germinate and grow.
• The latter rain was the autumn rains which came in large amounts just before the time of reaping and which caused the fruit to come forth in great quantity, thus assuring a bountiful harvest.
• Both of these rains could be counted on to arrive with clockwork regularity.
• Now, why is this such an important thing for us to know about?

The Law of Double Reference

• There is a spiritual principle called the ‘law of double reference.’
• That is there are certain scriptures that have a double meaning.
• One of the meanings is natural and one of them is spiritual.
• We see this in the life of David as he spoke about his own troubles and difficulties.
• We see him using language which describes not only what he was experiencing but what the Messiah would be experiencing.
• Take for example Psalms chapter 41.

Psalm 41:9 (ESV) 9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.

• David was referring to 2 Samuel 15:12 where his friend Ahithophel double-crossed him.

2 Samuel 15:12 (NKJV) — 12 Then Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city—from Giloh—while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy grew strong, for the people with Absalom continually increased in number.

• Naturally, this betrayal references the story as is.
• That is, it is about David and his longtime close counselor Ahithophel.
• In the spiritual though, there is another application, a double reference.
• David was, in fact, prophesying forward in Psalm 41:9 about the relationship between Judas and Jesus.
• There are a great many scriptures in the Bible like this; scriptures which have a double meaning.
• These scriptures on the latter and former rain are scriptures are of this caliber.

The Law of Double Reference and the Former and Latter Rain

• In James 5:7, the rain which generates a harvest is, in the natural, a physical harvest.
• But, it also has a future spiritually application, a harvest of souls for the Kingdom of God.
• What happens in the natural realm is often a sign of what is taking place in the spiritual realm.

Ministering on the Glory and Rain

• Sharon and I traveled and ministered on the road full time for two years.
• During the two years, in those places where the Spirit of God instructed us to teach on the Glory, it rained physically in every one of those meetings.
• It didn’t fail to rain, not even one time.
• In fact, we were deep in Texas for one meeting and it was hot and it hadn’t rained and there was no sign of rain – nothing.
• I remember when we were driving to the meeting.
• I was in the back seat of the car and thinking is it going to happen this time?
• And God is my witness, out of nowhere, and I mean nowhere, a rain cloud came and dumped a tiny bit of rain on us.
• Ministering on the glory of God brought forth physical rain.
• It happened every time during that two-year stretch.

The Rain of God and Israel

• During a five year stretch in Israel, from 1986 to 1991, there was no rain.
• Drought filled the land.
• There was no former rain and no latter rain.
• The population of Israel was swelling because of the Russian Jews who were returning from the collapse of communism.
• Strict water rations were enacted even to the point of regulating flushing toilets.
• The Israeli newspapers were reporting that the greatest threat to Israel was not all the Arab enemies of Israel but rather the severe drought.
• It was so severe that the water supply was next to nothing.
• Then, a miracle took place.
• It began to rain, and not just some shower.
• The rains came in buckets and sheets and it wouldn’t quit.
• It kept on raining.
• The Hebrew newspapers reported MIRACLE, MIRACLE, across the front pages.
• It rained from October to March, it never stopped.
• The former rains and the latter rains came together.
• It broke every rain record they had.
• Do you suppose all this rain in the natural in Israel is a sign of something else?
• Is it a double reference: a sign of what might be a flood of spiritual power and glory about to be manifested on planet earth?
• It’s excitably possible.

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