We're going to look this morning
at the promise of the latter and former reign. You've heard
that phrase before. It's used numerous times in the scriptures.
The former and latter reign. And we're going to begin in Hosea
5, the last verse, which some writers indicate that it's not
a good chapter break and it actually goes with chapter 6 verse 1,
2, and 3. So we're going to read verse
15 in chapter 5 and then 1, 2, and 3 in chapter 6. The Lord is speaking here in
this first verse, verse 15, and then the church responds in verse
1, 2, and 3. I will go and return to my place
till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face. in their affliction,
they will seek Me early. Come, let us return unto the
Lord, for He hath torn, and He will heal us. He hath smitten,
and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive
us, in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live
in His sight. Then shall we know 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. Let me reread this in the amplified
version. It reads very, very good. I will return, this is verse
15, to my place on high. until they acknowledge their
offense and feel their guilt and seek my face. In their affliction
and distress, they will seek, inquire for, and require me earnestly,
saying, come, let us return to the Lord, for he has torn so
he may heal us. He has stricken so that he may
bind us up. After two days, he will revive
us, quicken us, give us life. On the third day, he will raise
us up, that we may live before him. Yes, let us know, let us
recognize, be acquainted with and understand Him. Let us be
zealous to know the Lord, to appreciate, to give heed to and
cherish Him. His going forth is prepared and
certain as the dawn, and He will come to us as the heavy rain,
as the latter rain that waters the earth. The Lord, as I said,
is speaking in verse 15 in chapter 5. Then we go into chapter 6,
verses 1, 2, 3. The church is responding. The church is speaking. In the
scriptures and Bible historians tell us In Palestine, in this
world which the scriptures is being written, this place, in
the Palestine area, there are two, there are several rains,
but there's two main rains. Two main rains. There's the first
rain, or the former rain, it's called Jarrah, and it comes,
not like it does here, their planting time is in the fall.
It comes in their planting time, in the autumn. That's the first
rain, the former rain. Then there's another rain, it's
called the latter rain, it's called Malkish. And it comes
in the spring, March through April, and it gives needed watering
to the plants because they're getting close to harvest or before
harvest and so they need this boost to make that final growth,
that final growth. After April, all the historians
in Bible customs and Bible scholars I read after April, there's hardly
any rain going on at all. This rain, therefore, this He
shall come to us as the rain, as the latter and former rain
unto the earth. This rain, therefore, was absolutely
critical for a healthy, hearty existence in such a parched environment. Turn with me to Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy chapter 11. Deuteronomy chapter 11. And verse 10. Deuteronomy 11
verse 10. Moses is speaking to the children of Israel, and he's
explaining the land of Egypt in this first verse. For the
land, whether thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land
of Egypt, from whence you came out, where there soweth thy seed,
and waters it with thy foot as a garden of herbs. So they had
to, the Egyptians were very proud of the Nile. And that's how they
got their water supply. When it flooded, It came over
the banks and it gave the land, kind of like the alluvial in
southern Illinois, it came up and it gave the land its rich,
it watered the land, it deposited other nutrients and stuff like
that. But when you wanted something,
you had to go by foot. It says, where thou sowest thy
seed, you waterest it with your foot. You had to get out. and
water it, not so in the land that he was going to give them,
because look what it says, but the land where they go to possess it is
a land of hills, valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of
heaven, a land which the Lord thy God careth for, The eyes
of the Lord thy God are always upon it from the beginning of
the year until the end of the year. Okay, so that shows the
difference between how they got water in Egypt and how they're
going to get water when they enter into this land to possess
it. What can we take away on this former and latter rain? What can we take away for our
use and edification from this former and latter rain? Let us
again consult the scriptures, Deuteronomy 32, before we come
back to our text in Hosea. Deuteronomy 32, verses one through four. Give ear, O ye
heavens, and I will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my
mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the
rain. My speech shall distill as the
dew, as the small rain upon which the tender herb, and the showers
upon the grass, because I will publish the name of the Lord,
ascribe you greatness unto our God. He is the rock, his work
is perfect, for all his ways are judgment, a God of truth,
and without iniquity, just and right is he. He's saying in verse
two that his doctrine, drops like the rain. And this is, in
the Jewish mind, they're thinking about the former and the latter
rain. It drops His doctrine. And what does He say? He will
publish the name of the Lord, ascribe you greatness unto the
God. He will drop His doctrine, the Gospel. So this rain, former
and latter rain, could be likened unto the Gospel. Psalms 72. Psalms 72. And there's a bunch more of these,
but we won't look, but about three or four more. But it's
just to get the point across that when God spoke about rain,
that Israelite, the believer, in this case, us, we think about
not so much the rain, though it was needful for food and for
health in this parched area. But we thought about spiritually,
we think about what this rain signifies. Psalms 72 and verse
6, he shall come down like rain upon the mown grass as showers
that water the earth. They understood what this rain
meant. Proverbs chapter 16, Proverbs
chapter 16 and verse 15, In the light of
the king's countenance is life, and his favor is as a cloud of
the latter rain. So he's directly drawing the
analogy of the light of the king's countenance. In our Lord Jesus
Christ, there's life, and it's just like the cloud of the latter
rain. Joel chapter two, Joel chapter
two. Joel chapter 2 verse 23. Be glad then, you children of
Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for He giveth you the
former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you
the rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first
month. Be glad and rejoice. Because
the Lord in times of judgment he would withhold these. And
you're talking about perhaps a major famine. If he withheld
the former rain, which was in autumn, and you know what rain
does, it breaks up clods, it breaks up the earth, they were
waiting for that rain, they would plow and put their crops in,
and then it would rain throughout the, what we would call the winter
months, it rained, and then start to get dry, and it's like, I
don't know, and then all of a sudden, that latter rain, and then it's
the crops, And it was going to be a good year. And so they depended
on this in their agrarian society. But I like how this is worked.
Be glad and rejoice, you children of Zion. Rejoice in the Lord
your God, for He hath given you the former and the latter reign.
Zechariah chapter 10. Zechariah. Zechariah. Chapter 10. And verse one, ask
ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain. So the Lord
shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain to
every one grass in the field. Ask ye of the Lord rain in the
time of the latter rain. And so shall he make bright clouds
and give them showers of rain. Now back to our text in Hosea. So this, when When the, speaking
of rain, the former rain and latter rain, the Israelite, they
knew that life depended, life hinged on it. These rains, the
former and the latter, can be likened unto, first, the gospel
message, secondly, the Lord Jesus Christ, and thirdly, in Christ,
his promises to his church. First, the rain likened unto
the Gospel message. What did the rain do for the
Israelites? What did it do? It refreshed,
it breaks down the fallow ground, and it causes us to rejoice in
its message and in its theme. The fact that it's raining, you
can rejoice in that happening. They could. They're waiting.
They're waiting. They're waiting for the first
and then they start to plow and then they plant the seed. They're
waiting. If it didn't come, it didn't get planted. The ground
wasn't broken up. He says, break up your fallow
ground. How is that done? Well, we have no power, no authority
to do it through the preaching of the gospel. Through the preaching
of the gospel. Come let us return for he hath
torn and he will heal. Says verse 1 in Hosea 6. He hath
smitten, he will bind us up. Isn't that just like the fallow
ground? That's done through the preaching of the gospel. We need
that rain. We're dependent upon that rain. We rejoice in its message and
in its theme. The message that we believe the
gospel is, is Christ and Him crucified. It's not God trying
to save anybody. It's not God loves everybody.
It's not, if you only will accept, that's not a message. That's
not a message of hope. Rain, in the agrarian society
back then, rain brought hope. Brought hope. And so does the
gospel matter. Every time, everywhere the gospel
is preached, We're preaching hope. We're preaching hope because
the ground's being broke up by God. His Word does not return
void. It's what He says in another place. Secondly, this rain, former
rain, latter rain, it's likened unto the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
looking at chapter 3 in Hosea 6. His going forth is prepared as
the morning. He shall come to us. as the rain,
as the latter rain and former rain unto the earth. He, it's
a person. It's a person. He. Who? Christ. His going forth. I love how it's
set here in this chapter. His going forth is prepared. It's predestinated. He was the
lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. The gospel, man's
sin in the garden, it didn't come up and catch God by surprise.
He's always been the lamb slain from before the foundation of
the world. To seek and to save his people. To die for his people. As he says, In verse 2, the third
day, He will raise us up. Resurrection is in Christ. He
does these things. He's the first begotten of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was the first one raised,
led captivity captive. He's the captain of our salvation.
So even this verse 2 indicates the resurrection. So Christ,
His going forth is prepared. It's predestined. It's sure. It's absolute. He shall come
to us in the person of the Holy Spirit. He comes to us in salvation,
like the rain. You may remember the first time
that He revealed Himself to you. You may not. But it could be
likened to rain. The clods had to be broken. The
ground had to be prepared. And then you heard this message,
this message of hope, this message of liberty, this message of grace,
not of works, lest any of us should boast. And you rejoiced. It's like you're just sitting
there, the rain's a nice warm rain beating on your face. You
don't want to go in. It's not a cold. There's nothing
harsh about it, in a sense, other than washing away our sins and
keeping us and cleansing us from all unrighteousness. He came
to us through the gospel, his person, he came in salvation,
complete and without alteration. He came to us in righteousness,
which he alone has given to us by the sacrifice of himself on
Calvary's tree. He came to us, this rain, this
former rain, in mercy, undeserving to us-ward, yet full and free
on our behalf and in our beloved. He came to us in satisfaction,
God completely satisfied, law honored. We now in him are brought
nigh unto his presence. Like the rain, like the first
rain, he came. And thirdly, this rain is like
His promise to us in Christ. Turn to Job chapter 29. Job chapter 29. Job 29 verse 23. And they waited
for Me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for
the latter rain. And I remember as a child, When
it first snowed, my brother and I, we would, you know, we'd have
to beat, so everything's a competition. We'd try to beat one another
outside to catch snowflakes. Not with our hands, but with
our tongues. And this is what we're waiting.
We're waiting. He's already given, has he not? He's already given the form of
rain. He's already given us repentance
unto life. He's already given us a sight
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we fleed from unrighteousness
and laid hold upon Him. Like Joseph, I'm not going to
let you go until you bless me. That's the first reign. In our
text, He says, as the latter and former reign, He shall come. If He's done a good work, He's
not going to abandon that good work. He's faithful and just.
He'll continue that good work. We wait upon God for His reigns,
refreshing times of grace. We pray, we read, we labor. We
come unto Him continually, all the while waiting upon His word,
upon His promises, like the latter rain. And it's coming. We don't
know when. We may die first, but we may
come and we'll be together with Him in the air. We'll always
be with Him. He quenches, we live, yet not
I, says Paul, but Christ liveth in us, and we do so by the faith
of the Son of God. He quenches our parched lips
in such a dry and anti-gospel, anti-God times and ages as these
are. It's a parched area. Everywhere you go. Everywhere
you go. People talking about anything
and everything but God. And then when they talk about
God, it's not the God of the scripture. It's parched. His people have
heard His voice, they know His voice because they've received
by His grace that former rain. And that's all we're waiting
for is the latter rain. And according to this passage
and every passage of Scripture, for His people, it's coming. And everything in between. Everything
in between. He is given in regeneration and
in conversion, the first reign, he will most certainly give us
the latter reign because we are kept by the power of God and
one day he'll usher us into glory in his presence. He's promised
because his going forth is prepared. He shall come unto us as the
reign, as the latter and the former reign unto the earth. And because He does so, verse
2, we shall live in His sight. That's what we desire to do.
His eyes are everywhere. And it scares a lot of people.
Our God is a God of vengeance, a God of wrath. But to us, He's
a God of mercy and a God of grace. And He's always been that way. So, again, look at verse 3. Then shall we know. We follow
on to know the Lord. Now that word if is in the italics,
it's not in the original. It's like we talked about this
last Wednesday. This word if does not belong.
It almost looks like it's a condition. If we do this, we do that. No.
Then shall we know. We follow on to know the Lord. We shall know. This is his children's
bread. This is the church's meat and
drink. This is a statement of true faith
by every child of God. We've been made to see, we've
been to seek him in verse 15 and we'll go and return to his
high place. Acknowledge their, when they
acknowledge their offenses, seek my face. In their affliction,
they'll seek me early. That's what we do. We've been
made to see Him and to seek Him. We've been called to return.
Come, let us return unto the Lord, for He hath torn. He'll
heal. He is smitten. He'll bind us up. And why would we even doubt Him?
As Bruce made a comment this morning, we've seen His grace
day in and day out. Not giving us what we deserve,
but giving us mercy. through the blood-bought righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, we've been called to return. We've been made to see God, all-sovereign,
ruling, reigning, and us as torn and smitten, because we must
be empty before we can be filled. We must be wounded before we
can be healed. We must be made to see the utter foolishness
of our ways, our deeds, our works, outside of His grace. Now, The
first rain has come, and we live in his sight. And living in his
sight, we are waiting with our mouth wide open to receive the
latter rain. Or as the Bible says, Enoch,
who walked with God. That's what he was doing. He
was walking with God. Or as King Nebuchadnezzar, after
he being humbled, he began to extol the glories virtues and
character of God our Savior, or as Joseph, we now see that
God means all things for our good and we see the glory of
God in it. We may not understand it. We
don't understand it when we're in that pit. We may not understand it
when we're pulled out of that pit and sold into slavery. We
may not understand it when we're promoted and go to Potiphar's
household and then get thrown in jail by false accusation and
then get forgotten. by the cook and the baker and
all these. But then we realize, people mean things to evil all
the time, every day. But God overrules that for our
good. This is what it is. These are three examples. Enoch,
King Nebuchadnezzar, Joseph. These are just three small examples
of these men were waiting for the latter rain. Because they
had experienced by God's grace, not by their works of righteousness
which they had done, They had experienced the first rain, the
first rain. Can we not expect to see, feel
and experience and know for certain this last rain? It's prepared, it's certain,
it's sure. He'll come to us as the rain,
as the latter and the former rain unto the earth. As the old hymn writer expressed
it, when he comes, our glorious king, all his ransom home to
bring. Then anew this song will sing.
Hallelujah. What a savior. Yes, my brethren. Yes, indeed.
He shall come just like he did at the first by pure, free, discriminating
grace. So too shall he come. back for
us, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." And now I know that's
certain because it's in the Word. But just in case we missed something,
close will turn to Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. I'm going to read the Amplified on this one
too. It's beautiful. Isaiah 43 and verse 13. Yes, from the time of the first
existence of day and from this day forth I am he and there is
no one who can deliver out of my hand. I will work. I will reign, both the former
and the latter reign. I will work, says God, and who
can hinder or reverse it? It says in the King James, who
will let it? That means who will reverse it?
Who can stand before Him? He just got done saying. He is,
well, even before that, in verse 11 I even I am the Lord beside me. There's no Savior. I have declared
and have saved and showed When there was no strange God among
you therefore you are my witness said the Lord that I am God Yay
before the day was I am he and there was none that can deliver
out of my hand I will work and who will turn it back He's already
sent the first ring We're just we're here We're here,
we're doing, we're laboring, we're working, we're witnessing,
we're doing good, trying to do good to folks as we can, as the
Lord enables us. We're here. We're not here to
make money, we're not here to do any of this other stuff. We're
here, waiting with our mouths open, like you said, Job, for
the latter rain. And it's coming. I don't know
when. But may we be desirous to see it. May we tell others
about that desire. And may we just wait and look
to Him. The Lord bless. Bruce, would
you close us please?