“I AM the True Vine, and My Father is the HUSBANDMAN” (John 15:1)
Our Father in Heaven is a farmer and a tiller of the soil. He is a patient farmer waiting expectantly for the precious harvest from the land. He keeps up His patient vigil over the land until the land receives the early and latter rains. (James 5:7) Our Father, the farmer wants us to receive the early and latter rains into our soil, so we may experience a harvest in the right season. The former rains start in the Fall in Israel around the Feast of Tabernacles. The latter rains begin in the Spring around Passover. The latter rain is essential for the ripening of the barley and other grains.
EARLY AND LATTER RAIN
In the Hebrew Scriptures, there are four different words used for rain. They are “matar,” “geshem,” “malqosh” and “moreh.” Today, I will highlight two of these words: “yoreh” the root word of “moreh, and “malqosh.” May we apply this information to our lives so we bear fruit in this season and receive our full inheritance.
In the fall, the rain is known as “yoreh” or “early rain.” This Fall rain helps to soften the earth so that ground can be broken up (plowed) and the farmers can work the land. “Yoreh” can be seen in Joel 2:23-24. “Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for He has given you the former rain, Yoreh, moderately, and He will cause to come for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month” (Joel 2:23). Yoreh is from the root word Moreh, meaning: “to shoot an arrow, to instruct, to teach.” This rain is a picture of a teacher who can direct information to a student in order to soften their soil (open their minds). When correct teaching comes forth, it is said in the Torah (Deut. 32:2) that it drops as rain. Moses spoke for the LORD saying: “May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb” (Deut. 32:2).
The latter rain is the Hebrew word, “Malkosh.” In the Spring, in Israel, the rain falls harder than at other times of the year. It could cause destruction if there had not been the former rains to prepare (soften) the soil. Hard, dry ground cannot receive enough seed to produce an adequate crop. In fact, hard, dry ground can only produce a famine. We should all study the parable of the soils in Matt. 13:1-8 to make sure we stay connected to the True Vine.
FEAST OF PASSOVER
We must be aware of the season we are in, the “latter rain.” We are in the time of Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits. Joel 2:23 tells us to be glad and rejoice in the Lord because HE gives us the former and latter rain. He causes the rain to come down for us. “And the threshing floors shall be full of grain and the vats shall overflow with juice and oil. And I will restore or replace for you the years that the locust has eaten…” (Joel 2:24 Amp). Do not let anything, including what you are seeing in the political landscape of America cause your soil to be hardened. God’s Word is eternal and He equates rain with blessing. “For I will pour water on thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring, and My blessings on your descendants” (Isaiah 44:3).
Because the Father is the vinedresser (husbandman), the one who prunes, we must continue to abide (live) in Him. He says that “any branch in Him that does not bear FRUIT [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit” (John 15:2 AMP).
My prayer for all of you who read this newsletter is from Leviticus: “If you walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them: Then I will give you RAIN in DUE SEASON, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit” (Lev. 26:3-4). It’s up to us to look toward the future blessing only made possible by the present rain.
