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Most people are very familiar with the story of Moses leading the children of Egypt to the Promised Land that God would give them. The Promised Land is the area of present day Israel, and was at first inhabited by tribe of a people called Canaanites. Thus the name Canaan Land. God described the land as "a land flowing with milk and honey," which symbolized the lushness and richness of the land. In fact, when Moses sent over twelve spies to check out the status of the land, they returned carrying large clusters of grapes and were extremely impressed with the size and quality of the fruit grown there.

The land of Israel is primarily surrounded by desert and wilderness area which does not produce very good produce. The reason for such beautiful and productive farming lies in two rains, one at the beginning of planting season, and the other immediately before harvest time. The rain that would come after the end of the long, hot, dry summer was called the "former rain." The rain that would come a few weeks before harvest time, was called the "latter rain." Without the former rain to soften the hardened baked dirt, deep plowing was impossible and the crops would die. Without the latter rain to fortify the crops immediately before the harvest, the crops were pitiful and undernourished. For a good crop to be harvested, both rains were vital! Also there were seven types of roses that grew wild in the land of Israel, and many other beautiful flowers. If either the latter or the former rain did not come, then the roses and other blooming plants would begin to die.

The millions of Israelites living in the Land of Canaan needed good harvests each year to be able to feed their families, thus the former and latter rains were of much importance to the Israelites. The rains came as torrential deluges of day after day of saturating storms, and served not only to revitalize the land, but to also give the Israelites days of much needed rest before resuming their chores. Throughout the Old Testament we find six times that God withheld the rain as judgment against Israel (Deuteronomy 11:17; 28:24 I Kings 8:35 II Chronicles 7:13 Jeremiah 3:3 Amos 4:7). God recognized that Israel could not survive without the rains and when Israel turned away from worshipping Him, and would begin to worship idols, God would simply stop the rain. Israel would then be reminded that they needed God to survive. Remember, God does not change and He still uses these methods today. If you feel like God is not blessing you, and feel like your life is very dry and unfruitful, it could be that God is withholding the showers of blessings to remind you that YOU NEED GOD TO SURVIVE!

Not only did God do this in the past, and still do it today, but He also will continue to do this in the future:

The prophet Zechariah let us know that the nations that survive into the Millennial reign where Jesus Christ rules on earth for 1,000 years after the rapture of the church, and the battle of Armageddon, will be required to come to Jerusalem every year to worship the King. If a nation rebels then God will withhold the RAIN from them! So literally, the judgment of withholding rain will one day apply to the whole earth.

Time will not permit to go through the entire Old Testament and discuss the uses of the former and latter rain except to say that whether or not the rain fell depended upon how faithfully the children of Israel were serving God. While Jesus Christ was upon the earth, He prophesied that the city of Jerusalem, along with it's beautiful temple, would be completely destroyed (Matthew 23:37-38). 41 years after the ascension of Jesus, His prophecy came true in A.D. 70 when following a Jewish revolt, the Roman General Titus marched into Jerusalem and leveled and burned the city. At that time, the Jewish people were scattered throughout the earth from trying to escape the persecution. Unfortunately, even though they remained scattered throughout most of the past two-thousand years, the frequent persecution against the Jews throughout modern history has been well documented, reaching a climax with Hitler's concentration camps and gas chambers during World War II, and still continuing today with the repeated Arab terrorism in the Middle East. The price for rejecting Jesus Christ as the Messiah has been high for the Jewish people, and remember, even for us today, the price for rejecting Jesus Christ as Messiah is much higher than we desire to pay!

The important point to note is that after the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, a miraculous event happened which was at first unnoticed. After the Jews were forced to spread out over the earth, the latter rain -- that important rain that took place right before the harvest -- suddenly became sporadic, missing some years, and eventually ceased! Without the latter rain to fortify it, and with the former rain also becoming very unpredictable, the former area of the nation of Israel became very dry and arid and very wilderness/desert like in geography. The great crops and beautiful roses and flowers ceased to grow and the land formerly known as Israel became a very barren place to live.

Without diving into an in-depth prophecy class today, I'd like to point out two scriptures that these now homeless, persecuted Jews have held close throughout their history! After prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus also told His disciples that one of the signs of the last days would be that the Jewish people would become a nation again (Luke 21:29-31). Moreover, the prophet Isaiah said that one day the "wilderness" and "desert" area of Israel would once again blossom as the rose:

When this happened it would be a sign that God was about to reveal Himself to the children of Israel once again. The Messiah is referred to in scripture as the "rose of Sharon."

In 1948, the first prophecy came true and the present day nation of Israel was formed. When this happened, Jews from all over the world began to move back to the now barren homeland (this also fulfilled Old Testament prophecy). To this day, the nation of Israel survives as an undeniable sign that we are living in the last days!

In our text, James (who was the brother of Jesus) prophesied for the church to be patient that the husbandman (Jesus Christ) would not return until the early and latter rain had returned to the earth and the fruit was ready.

After the nation of Israel became a nation, the former rain became very consistent. This was a miracle in itself because the former rain had been very sporadic and inconsistent. With the return of the former rain, the crops began to improve and people began to try to farm the land once again. Then around twenty years ago, an even more miraculous thing happened! The Latter rain returned to the nation of Israel! The prophesied former and latter rain had returned to the restored nation of Israel! The two consistent rains transformed the desert/arid climate of Israel into a fertile country. Along with the increase of crops also came another miracle: the roses began to bloom and thrive again in Israel! The Roses became more and more proficient until, in 1998, the nation of Israel was the number 1 importer of Roses into the United States!

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In prophecy there is a law of double reference, there is always a natural fulfillment, and a spiritual fulfillment. In other words every prophecy can have an immediate logical fulfillment and a scriptural, spiritual fulfillment. We have seen the natural fulfillment of our text in James, but what about the spiritual fulfillment. Joel also prophesied that in the last days, God would return the former and the latter rain spiritually:

Joel used the rain as a symbol of God pouring out His Spirit! On the Day of Pentecost, when God gave the 120 in the upper room the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues, people all over Jerusalem began to come around to see what was happening. In Acts chapter 2, Peter began to preach to the people about what was happening and quoted this prophecy in Joel:

The outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost was the Spiritual Former Rain that was prophesied by Joel! The Former rain had fallen! The former rain continued to fall throughout the early church. We find 5,000 people receiving the Day of Pentecost experience and then another 3,000. We find Jews receiving the Holy Ghost, Samaritans receiving the Holy Ghost, and then we see Gentiles receiving the Holy Ghost. This Former Rain outpouring continued throughout the next 200 years until the Fourth Century when the government gained control over the church under Constantine. The church then began to change the doctrine of the original Apostolic church and to persecute those that preached the Apostolic message. Slowly, the false doctrine took effect, and the Former rain outpouring became very sporadic, with only occasional groups standing for truth and then subsequently receiving the outpouring of the Former Rain.

Remember, however, James prophesied in our text, that the Lord would not return until the Former and the LATTER Rain had fallen. The Holy Ghost outpouring upon the Day of Pentecost was the FORMER rain! The outpouring for the few centuries after the early church were outpourings of the Former rain. When would the Latter rain come?!? That Spiritual Latter rain that would perfect the harvest and cause the fruit that would be reaped to be well-nurtured and healthy?

In 1901, at a Private Bible College in Topeka, Kansas, a theology instructor by the name of Charles Parham, dismissed classes for Christmas break with this challenge: the students were to fast, pray, and study if the Day of Pentecost outpouring of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues were for today. When the students got back from Christmas break, the instructor would take all of the information from the students and teach their findings to the entire school.

When school convened and the students shared their findings, Parham and the students, believing that the experience was for them, began to seek the Day of Pentecost experience. A lady named Agnes Ozman was the first student to receive the infilling of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance. Eventually, the entire group, including Charles Parham himself, had received the Day of Pentecost Experience! The Latter Rain had began to be poured out! These students, much like the original church, began to turn their world upside down, until it has grown into the modern, Apostolic church. This church today stands today as the fulfillment of prophecy of our text: the spiritual latter rain is now being poured out!

The Former rain was the Day of Pentecost, and the Latter rain is still being poured out today: we are privileged to live in the time of the greatest outpouring of the Holy Ghost in all of History!

Our other text in Hosea talked about plowing up the fallow ground:

Fallow ground refers to shallowly plowed ground. After the long, hard summer had baked the ground into a hardened crust, the Israelites would plow the very top surface of the ground in preparation for the FORMER rain. The ground could not be plowed deep enough to plant anything because of it's hardness, but by plowing it very shallow, the Israelites could cause the ground to be better prepared to soak up the FORMER rain. After the Former Rain fell, the ground could then be plowed deep enough so that the seed could be planted. When the LATTER rain fell, it then fell upon a harvest that was well-planted and well-rooted and caused the fruit to the best it could be!

God wants to give you the Latter rain, the Holy Ghost, today. But we must first obey the words of Hosea and seek the Lord with our whole hearts! If you are here today, then you are hungry for more of God, or you would not be here. God has used all kind of situations in each of your lives to get you here today. You are tired of the HOT Summer season in your life, where it seems that there is no relief, and God has used the various situations in your life to turn over the hard crust of a heart that once did not really care for the things of God, but today you are more open. That shallow plowing has broken up some of the hardness. Today you've heard the scriptures of how the FORMER rain fell upon the day of Pentecost, and throughout the New Testament. Why don't you allow that information to soak into the fallow ground of your heart, and soften up your soul even more! Many people say that the infilling of God's spirit is not for us today, but today you are in the midst of living testimonies of the scriptures that prophesied that it would be poured out! You can break up your fallow ground by Repenting of your sins today, by admitting that you do need God, remember admitting that you must have God in your life is one thing that brings back the rain! The Word of God really is the only way, and as you let the scriptures sink in you are allowing the FORMER Rain into your life. What you feel is God's Spirit trying to break up that fallow ground in your life, let Him take away the hardness, let Him take away the pain! You have not lived until you've lived with Jesus inside of you!

You can receive the LATTER Rain today, but you've got to first accept the Former Rain, the Scriptural accounts of the early church receiving the Holy Ghost. You then must break up the fallow ground and sow in righteousness until God rains the Latter rain in your life!

Hosea also talked about that if we return to the Lord that Created us for guidance in our lives, we must die and then be raised up upon the Third Day. Just as Jesus Christ died, was buried, and then rose again, we must also follow His example! The Plan of Salvation includes the outpouring of the Latter Rain!