Basic HTML Version
Another Pentecost Coming!, September 5
I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I
will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be
showers of blessing.
Ezekiel 34:26
.
Under the figure of the early and the latter rain, that falls in Eastern
lands at seedtime and harvest, the Hebrew prophets foretold the bestowal of
spiritual grace in extraordinary measure upon God’s church. The outpouring
of the Spirit in the days of the apostles was the beginning of the early, or
former, rain, and glorious was the result.... But near the close of earth’s
harvest, a special bestowal of spiritual grace is promised to prepare the
church for the coming of the Son of man. This outpouring of the Spirit is
likened to the falling of the latter rain.
The great work of the gospel is not to close with less manifestation of
the power of God than marked its opening. The prophecies which were
fulfilled in the outpouring of the former rain at the opening of the gospel
are again to be fulfilled in the latter rain at its close....
Servants of God, with their faces lighted up and shining with holy
consecration, will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from
heaven. By thousands of voices, all over the earth, the warning will be
given. Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and
wonders will follow the believers. Satan also works with lying wonders,
even bringing down fire from heaven in the sight of men.
Revelation 13:13
.
Thus the inhabitants of the earth will be brought to take their stand.
The message will be carried not so much by argument as by the deep
conviction of the Spirit of God. The arguments have been presented. The
seed has been sown, and now it will spring up and bear fruit.... Now the
rays of light penetrate everywhere, the truth is seen in its clearness, and
the honest children of God sever the bands which have held them. Family
connections, church relations, are powerless to stay them now. Truth is
more precious than all besides. Notwithstanding the agencies combined
against the truth, a large number take their stand upon the Lord’s side.
[257]
264