3.) The Latter Rain
/The Day of Atonement in ancient Israel “was the most solemn day of the year. . . .On this day all the sins of the preceding year were finally disposed of in the ceremony of cleansing the sanctuary (Lev. 16). All who did not afflict their souls on that day were cut off from Israel (ch. 23:29). The Day of Atonement was to the Jews a day of judgment. . . .The Day of Atonement services represented cleansing from sin.” 8 BC (S.D.A. Bible Dictionary), p. 93. 1960 ed.
All the services of the sanctuary represented and looked forward to the work and ministry of Jesus Christ in the heavenly sanctuary.
“It was Christ who planned the arrangement for the first earthly tabernacle. He . . . was the heavenly architect who marked out the plan for the sacred building where His name was to be honored.” COL 349.
“Through the sacrifices and offerings brought to the earthly sanctuary, the children of Israel were to lay hold of the merits of a Saviour to come. And, in the wisdom of God, the particulars of this work were given us that we might, by looking to them, understand the work of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary.” EW 253.
“[Isa. 6:6, 7 quoted.] . . . The vision given to Isaiah represents the condition of God’s people in the last days. They are privileged to see by faith the work that is going forward in the heavenly sanctuary.” 4 BC 1139.
“The sins of Israel must go to judgment beforehand. Every sin must be confessed at the sanctuary, then the work will move; it must be done now. The latter rain is coming on those that are pure—all, then, will receive it as formerly. None receive the latter rain but those who do all they can.” GC Bulletin, 1893, p. 179.
For many years we have been looking forward to and praying for the latter rain. Ever since the days of Ellen White, we have been expecting the latter to fall. But how little is comprehended about this vital subject! It seems that the missing piece of the puzzle lies in the lack of understanding concerning the confession of sin, and the purity of heart that is required to be ready for the outpouring of the latter rain. It is no wonder that many people today have succumbed to an easier belief that we will be sinning until Jesus comes and changes our sinful nature. I doubt if anyone believes you can purposefully and overtly live a life of sin and still be saved in the kingdom of heaven. But it is those daily discrepancies, the sins that so easily beset us, the times we fall short of our inward ideal—these are the sins that we feel helpless to overcome; thus it is a temptation to change our theology to match our experience in order to avoid the fear that we may never make it to heaven.
To this belief I would say yes—and no. For those who live their lives and die before Jesus comes, never having to face the judgment of the living, the scriptures make it clear that the grace of God which is available through the atoning blood of Christ is sufficient for every repentant sinner to be forgiven of any and every sin which he (or she) has committed in their entire lifetime. But the judgment of the living has a different and specific purpose in the plan of salvation. To put it in simple terms, the judgment of the living is for those who are to live to see Jesus come. They are to be prepared to live through the time when there is no longer a Mediator in the heavenly sanctuary administering grace and forgiveness. They must be so completely and perfectly connected to Jesus that He can take them with Him by His Spirit through the time of trouble and the pouring out of the seven last plagues. While the sanctuary service was still open, they washed their robes of character (thoughts and feelings combined – 5 T. 310) and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (3 T. 45; Rev. 7:14). Therefore they can and will follow Jesus by faith as He finishes cleansing the sins of His people, leaves the second apartment, and goes to pour out the judgments upon the wicked.
“Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads. . . .They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.” Rev. 14:1-5.
What is different about the judgment of the living than that of those who die in the faith of Jesus before He comes? First of all, the judgment of the dead does not take place until after they die. If they have accepted Christ as their personal Savior and lived their lives to honor and glorify Him as far as they were able to understand, the blood of Jesus which was shed on the cross covers for the conscious sins which they confessed and repented of, and also for the sins which they committed in ignorance (Heb. 9:7). From the thief on the cross to the mighty apostle Paul, everyone who dies must wait for his name to be brought up in the investigative judgment (1 Cor. 4:2-5) when his case will be finally decided.
Even Peter alludes to this in his famous sermon after Pentecost. When his listeners were convicted in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, they cried out, “Brothers, what shall we do?” In answer to their question, Peter replied, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38, 39, NKJV.
Why did Peter, through the Holy Spirit, use that word, “remission”? In medical terms, it means that the symptoms of a disease are no longer evident, but the cause may be lurking somewhere in your body, and could make a come-back later on. In terms of law it means, “to refrain from inflicting of enforcing as a punishment or a sentence; to pardon or forgive a sin, offense, etc; to send back a case to an inferior court for further action; to put off, postpone, defer; a transfer of the record of an action from one tribunal to another, especially from an appellate court to the court of original jurisdiction.” Webster’s Dictionary. In other words, when we first accept Christ, our sins are forgiven and counted as in remission. The record of our lives stands until we are deceased and all the facts are completed. Then Jesus decides our case on the basis of our love for Him and our connection with Him to the best of our ability according to what we knew. He covers sins of ignorance with His blood, blots them out of the record of our lives, and transfers them to Satan, the originator and instigator of all sin.
“At any time during the year when a sinner presented his offering and confessed over it his sins, an ‘atonement’ was made for him. He was forgiven, His sin was symbolically transferred to the sanctuary by the ministration of the blood of the offering. . . .Nevertheless, full atonement had not been made. Though his sin was forgiven he must continue in the way of obedience. Should he fail to do so and neglect to afflict his soul on the Day of Atonement, all his . . . forgiven sins would return upon him and he would die. His only safety lay in enduring to the end.” 1 BC 776. (Not EGW.)
“Though the sin was forgiven, the record of the sin remained until the Day of Atonement, when it was blotted out. And when this had taken place there was ‘an end of reconciling.’” 1 BC 777 (Not EGW.)
“The blood of Christ, pleaded in behalf of penitent believers, secured their pardon and acceptance with the Father, yet their sins still remained upon the books of record. As in the typical service there was a work of atonement at the close of the year, so before Christ’s work for the redemption of man is completed, there is a work of atonement for the removal of sin from the sanctuary. This is the service which began when the 2300 days ended.” GC 421.
“The blood of Christ, while it was to release the repentant sinner from the condemnation of the law, was not to cancel the sin; it would stand on record in the sanctuary until the final atonement. . . .Then by virtue of the atoning blood of Christ the sins of all the truly penitent will be blotted from the books of heaven. . . .no more to be remembered or come into mind.” PP 357, 358.
Now let’s go back to another sermon that Peter preached to a group of people who were in the temple area. He again addresses the need for repentance, but this time he adds some further details:
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, who heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:19-21, NKJV.
Notice that Peter is now referring to the time of blotting out sins and restoration of all things which takes place just before Jesus comes again. Notice also that the blotting out of sin precedes and paves the way for the refreshing, or latter rain, to fall upon the one whose sins have been blotted out.
“Joshua is represented as pleading with the angel. Are we engaged in the same work? Are our supplications ascending to God in living faith? Are we opening the door of the heart to Jesus and closing every means of entrance to Satan? Are we daily obtaining clearer light and greater strength that we may stand in Christ’s righteousness?
“Are we emptying our hearts of all selfishness, and cleansing them, preparatory to receiving the latter rain from heaven? Now is the time when we are to confess and forsake our sins, that they may go beforehand to judgment, and be blotted out.” 4 BC 1178.
At this point I want to become very practical and experiential. In my book, The Seal of God, I tell the story of my experience of entering into the judgment of the living in 1974. I had no one to help me or explain to me what I was experiencing. I had to cling to Jesus and let Him teach me, step by step. During the years since then, God has given me a message and a work to help others to understand and cooperate with Jesus as He goes through their books with them. Fortunately, our whole generation is privileged to have the scientific knowledge that what we are presently experiencing is a result of what has happened to us throughout our lives, from the moment we were conceived. In fact, it is now known that memories of what our forefathers and mothers have experienced are passed on down to us in the DNA of body cells.
How does this scientific evidence help us go through the judgment of the living? It is helpful to understand that what we are experiencing now—our habits, our impulses, our reactions and feelings—in short our characters—are a result of our lifetime of experiences and also come down to us from generations past, just as God has said in the Bible. That is why we sometimes do and say things that we don’t plan to do, or don’t realize we are going to do before it happens! But this too can be cleansed and forgiven by Jesus! Jesus can reveal to us memories from the past and help us to make them right with God and others as far as possible.
“I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Ex. 20:5, 6.
“It is inevitable that children should suffer from the consequences of parental wrongdoing, but they are not punished for the parents’ guilt, except as they participate in their sins. [See Eze. 18.] It is usually the case, however, that children walk in the steps of their parents. By inheritance and example the sons become partakers of the father’s sins. Wrong tendencies, perverted appetites, and debased morals, as well as physical disease and degeneracy, are transmitted as a legacy from father to son, to the third and fourth generation. This fearful truth should have a solemn power to restrain men from following a course of sin.” PP 306.
Until our generation, it has not been understood how the brain retains the memories of everything that you and I have ever experienced. These memories form the basis of our thoughts, feelings and actions. For example, if a child has been abused physically, sexually, or emotionally, the self-protective reactions normal to every human being are set in motion, and become a part of our thinking, feeling and acting. These emotions are stored in the part of the brain called the amygdala. Our amygdala holds all of the emotions we have ever experienced and can pull them up at any time, and thus affect our present thoughts, feelings, reactions, and behavior.
“The amygdala acts as our ‘emotional hard drive.’ It holds all the emotions we have ever experienced and the intensity of those emotions, but it doesn’t include specific information about the events that triggered each emotion. . . .The amygdala doesn’t decipher fear, anger, or joy. . . .To the amygdala, fear is fear, anger is anger, joy is joy, and these emotional experiences are all equally weighted. There is no chronology of emotions in the amygdala.
“The amygdala provides our initial whoosh of emotion. This unfiltered emotional response is based on the amygdala’s data bank of past emotional experiences. Research has shown that it is the amygdala that produces the ‘fight or flight’ response that we share when facing a dangerous or threatening situation.” Eileen D. Healy, E Q and Your Child, 2005.
Now go back and think about the last time you felt that whoosh of emotion. It came suddenly, unexpectedly, probably without warning. Perhaps you acted on it and said something unkind to your wife, husband, child, or friend. When your emotions cooled down, you felt foolish and sad. You hadn’t meant to do it; you didn’t premeditate it, or plan it. It just happened. Later on you asked for forgiveness from God and the person you injured. But why did it happen? And might it happen again? These are questions that plague millions of good Christians. That’s why it has become popular to believe that to stop sinning is impossible, and that we will sin inadvertently until Jesus comes and changes our nature. Unfortunately, that is a lie of the devil! It is unscriptural! The Bible teaches that Jesus will cleanse the remnant of His people and take away the roots of sin that are stored in the amygdala! It is the devil who has placed these roots of sin in our lives and memories, and through them he continues to have access to us and control over us to at least some degree. He tempts us to sin and then accuses us before God (Zech. 3:1). We must be delivered from this process here, for all of our sins must be removed and placed back upon the devil at the end of the sanctuary process.
Some Christians who sincerely desire to follow their Lord have divided the sin problem into two categories—temptations that come into the mind, but are not acted upon, and those that are carried out in behavior. They believe that sinful thoughts and feelings that come into the mind involuntarily and not acted upon are not counted by God as sin, because they spring from the fleshly nature, over which we have no control. It only becomes sin when we dwell wishfully upon it in our minds, or act it out in our behavior.
Again I will say, yes—and no. During the process of sanctification while Jesus is still ministering His grace for us in the heavenly sanctuary, sins that are still hidden from us, buried in the secret memories of our brain, are covered by the perfect righteousness of Christ. They are sins of ignorance. But when Jesus makes the final atonement for sin, He removes all confessed sins and places them on the head of the scapegoat. Thus every sin must be revealed and cleansed by those who represent the whole human race in the final generation who will live through until Jesus comes. Every sin, even stored ones, must be seen and put away.
“Temptation is enticement to sin, and thus does not proceed from God, but from Satan and from the evil of our own hearts. . . .We should pray that God will not permit us to be brought where we shall be drawn away by the desires of our own evil hearts.” MB 116, 117.
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. . . .But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Matt. 12:25, 28.
“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. . . .The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean.’” Matt. 15:13-20.
Jesus is saying here that whatever evil things that the devil has placed in our hearts cause us to have an evil and divided heart. Things come out of us that the devil has placed in us, and these must be cleansed from us in the final work of Jesus for the last generation.
“The work of restoration can never be thorough unless the roots of evil are reached. Again and again the shoots have been clipped, while the root of bitterness has been left to spring up and defile many; but the very depth of the hidden evil must be reached, the moral senses must be judged, and judged again, in the light of the divine presence. The daily life will testify whether the work is genuine. . . .If the tempted soul endures the trying process, and self does not awake to life to feel hurt and abused under the test, that probing knife reveals that the soul is indeed dead to self but alive to God.” 5 BC 1152.
“Here is the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” Eccl. 12:14.
Do you see the thoroughness of the work here? But the good news is that we do not have to bring up all the deeds of the past. When we are participating with Jesus in the Judgment, He is responsible for bringing to our minds the things that need to be cleansed. Notice the above text, “For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing.” We can ask Him to show us anything in our lives that needs healing or prevents us from having victory, and gives Satan access to us to tempt us and bring suffering upon us. He will be happy to help us and bring to our minds anything we need to know for deliverance! The process can be trying, but the result is wonderful, bringing peace, joy, and victory to the troubled soul. The demons who have had control over the life have been cast out, and the presence and love of Jesus banishes everything that would separate us from Him. That is why this cleansed generation can live through until Jesus comes. They have been delivered from the power and presence of the evil one!
“Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us. O Lord, our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor. They are now dead, they live no more; those departed spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them.” Isa. 26:12-14.
May this be the experience of each one of us as we continue to follow Jesus in His work of finishing the cleansing of His people!
“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” Rev. 12:10, 11.
