An In-depth Look
At
Matthew 22:1-10
The Holy Spirit has prompted me that there is far more to
Matthew 22:1-10, than He has shown me heretofore. I was not given the outline
that follows in vision as of yet, but was alerted that these are important
facts to consider as regards Matthew 22:1-10, Ezekiel 5,
The objective of this document is that we might explore
the full meaning of Matthew 22:1-10 in an end-time setting. Ellen White
reapplied these verses in Sermon and
Talks, Vol. 1, pp. 4-9.
It should be observed that in their proper historic
context, these verses were applicable primarily after the close of Israel’s
probation in A.D. 34. Thus, the two calls to the apostate Jewish church were
made after that date.
It should further be noted that the two calls to the Jew
were calls out of the apostate Jewish organization into home churches.
Matthew 22
1 “And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by
parables, and said, 2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which
made a marriage for his son, 3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were
bidden to the wedding: and they would
not come. 4 Again, he sent forth other servants,
saying, Tell them which are bidden,
Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all
things are ready: come unto the marriage. 5
But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his
merchandise: 6 And the remnant [those who did
not return to their farms and merchandise etc.,] took his servants, and entreated them
spitefully, and slew them. 7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he
sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready,
but they which were bidden were not worthy. 9 Go
ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the
marriage. 10 So those servants went out into
the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and
good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.”
Since the two calls were made to apostate Israel after
its close of probation in A.D. 34, any contextual reapplication would of necessity
occur after the close of probation for the apostate new movement Adventist
Synagogue of Satan.
Adventists were bidden in 1844. The Jews were bidden long
before their probation close in A.D. 34. In other words, they were God’s “chosen”
people before that date, just as professing Seventh-day Adventists were bidden
before the date they committed unpardonable sin.
Important Factors
to Consider
1.
The disciples were
told to tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. That
came on the typical Day of Pentecost. Acts. 2:1. They were sitting in the upper
room of a house.
2.
5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men,
out of every nation under heaven. Acts 2:5.
3.
Though the disciples
were to go to the Jews first, there were devout men from every nation who heard
the disciples speak in their own language.
4.
The disciples made
two calls to apostate Jerusalem BEFORE any call was made to the Gentile world.
Matthew 22:1-10.
5.
After the second
call to the Jews was rejected, some of them killed some of God’s servants.
6.
Then the murderous
city (Jerusalem) and the Temple were destroyed in A.D. 70. So the disciples “gathered
out” faithful Jews from the apostate church into home churches from A.D. 31
until A.D. 66. A.D. 31 was 3 ½ years before probation closed for Israel in A.D.
34, which ended the 70 weeks (490 years) of Daniel’s prophecy.
7.
Then, the followers
of Christ went to the highways and called all to the wedding feast.
8.
The temple and the
murderous city were destroyed after the second call to the Jews.
9.
The call to all the
world will not be made until the apostate SDA church is destroyed per Ezekiel
5:9-17.
10.
If you want to know
who the men with destroying weapons are in Ezekiel 9:2, just look as who
wielded those weapons in the last literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 9. It was the
enemies of the Jews—Rome, Babylon.
11. Apostate spiritual Jerusalem, the apostate “SDA” new
movement, and Babylon cannot be destroyed at the same time because it is
Babylon that executes the sentence of Ezekiel 9:6 and Matthew 22:7.
12. The critical A’ha moment here,
is that There were two calls made to come out of A.D.
31-66 apostate Jerusalem. Amazingly, the
first call OUT was made 3 ½ years before Israel’s probation was over in A.D.
34. The second call out was made from A.D. 34-66, at which time all the true
Christians fled to the mountainous region of Pella.
13. The first call was
1844, because the churches then were not fallen Babylon until they rejected the
1844 message. But they did teach apostate doctrines.
14. The next call out of apostate Jerusalem involves apostate
new movement Adventism because it adopted the antichrist teachings of Babylon
in 1955, regarding the nature of Christ and His flesh. Those teachings sweep
away the entire Christian economy. Also, in 1980, it adopted a version of Rome’s
central doctrine, the Trinity Doctrine, which destroys the sacrifice that was
made in the heavenly Sanctuary at the Incarnation, at which time the Son
sacrificed His former state of being—as only existing as Divine Nature Holy
Spirit, to become combined with man forever. This sacrifice gave us the life
that was His, His Divine Nature Holy Spirit, the soul of His life, as a
regenerating agency for overcoming all sin. At this point, the Son’s Holy
Spirit Divine Nature was divested from His humanity in a way that rendered His
Holy Spirit as a third person. This occurred from the foundation of the earth
as part of the Everlasting Covenant.
Without that sacrifice, the “highest good, crowning gift that heaven
could bestow,” there would have been no cure for sin so that we might be
regenerated back into the image of God. The Trinity Doctrine denies this
sacrifice by saying the Holy Spirit always existed as part of the Godhead—without
this sacrifice of all sacrifices before
the cross. Thus, the Trinity Doctrine in all its forms, in all its
variations on a theme, does away with the Sanctuary and the Atonement sacrifice
completed in heaven in that essential part of the Incarnation process there,
before Christ came to this earth as a babe. Thus, as Ellen White saw, the
Sanctuary is rendered as GONE and the Atonement is GONE, thus sweeping away the
entire Christian economy by this heresy alone, just as a heretical teaching on
the nature of Christ and His flesh sweeps away the entire Christian economy by
rendering Him as not being an example for us because the heresy taught is that
He did not partake of our sinful nature and flesh. Scripture says that all who
so teach are antichrist.
15. The apostasy described above is unpardonable sin for it
embraces the teaching of Baal, after the SDA church had the truth. Such
conspiracy with Baal after knowing the truth is indeed unpardonable sin as
Jeremiah 11:9-15 attests. The Jews of that era, the time of their sojourn in
Shiloh, demonstrates that a people may close their probation at any time. I
refer to this as generational close of probation. God said not to pry for them.
That connotes unpardonable sin. Ellen White said that very incident would have
its counterpart at the end-time.
16. The church committed unpardonable sin in the early 1960’s by ecumenical liaison with Babylon’s associations
and confederacies. Isaiah 8:9-13. There can be no doubt of this fact. Word to the Little Flock, p. 14, makes this perfectly clear as well.
17. Matthew 22:7, Ezekiel 9:6 and Ezekiel 5:9-17 are one and
the same event.
18. Laval Picard teaches a time of added probation for Israel
based on Christ’s Object Lessons, p.
218. I deal with the entire context of that statement further along in this
document.
19. Two generations of unpardonable sin occurred within 25
years of one another. In 1955, the antichrist doctrine of Babylon was embraced
on the human nature of Christ and His flesh. Twenty-five years later in 1980,
the church adopted Rome’s central heretical doctrine, which sweeps away the
entire Christian economy, the Trinity Doctrine. The church has continued in
those antichrist heresies for 55 years, nearly three generations now.
20. If we count the time at which Bible Readings for the Home Circle was first altered on the human
nature and flesh of Christ in 1949, unpardonable sin has flourished in the SDA
new movement for over three generations or 61 years.
21. The outpouring of the Early Rain Holy Spirit was manifest
in A.D. 31, 3 ½ years before Israel’s probation closed. At that time the
disciples engaged their first call out message, calling faithful Jews out from
the apostate Synagogue of Satan. So there was a call out message into home
churches 3 ½ years before Israel’s general probation closed. The disciples were
gathered out in A.D. 27, seven years before the general close of probation for
corporate Israel in A.D. 34. Desire of
Ages, 232. Probation can close for any generation of God’s people on a
generational basis, to wit: Jeremiah 11:9-15 and the following Spirit of
Prophecy statement: “The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve
Him. When the Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of life, He took from
them the kingdom of God and gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to
work on this principle with every branch of His work. When a church proves unfaithful to the work of the
Lord, whatever their position may be, however high and sacred their calling, the
Lord can no longer work with them. Others are then chosen to bear important
responsibilities. But, if these in turn
do not purify their lives from every wrong action, if they do not establish
pure and holy principles in all their borders, then the Lord will grievously
afflict and humble them and, unless they repent, will remove them from their
place and make them a reproach." The
Upward Look, p. 131. Those who are unfaithful to the Lord’s work close
their probation when they do so, Jer. 11:9-15 is proof of that.
22. All of the above considerations have some bearing on the
time God allows for the final gospel to go to the world. If He gave the Jews a
call out message 3 ½ years before their probation closed, and for 32 years
after it closed (A.D. 34-66), at which time all true Christians fled to the
mountains of Pella, would He allow only 3 ½ years for the final gospel to go to
all the world, when the final cry to apostate SDA’s should go first after the
outpouring of the latter rain?
23. All 3 ½ year end-time charts allow 75 days at the outside
for the world to respond to the final Loud Cry of the gospel! How so? Because
if the Universal Sunday Law is ENFORCED by at least 75 days after the Sunday
Law comes into legislation, that means all folk with then be forced to take the
mark or else. The people will be given only 75 days to make the greatest
decision possible to make that will affect their eternal destiny. Does that
seem fair to you? Oh, you say, the beast will sit for 3 ½ years or 42 months,
and people will have that long to decide. How would that be when the law will
be ENFORCED at the penalty of no buy and sell and even death for a certain
number of violations (probably 3)?
24. For the above reasons it seem far more reasonable that
the gospel will go freely over the world for at least three and one-half years
after the Sunday law is legislated (not enforced). During this time judgments
will be coming upon the land to awaken all who will be awakened. Then, after that
first 3 ½ year period, the abominations of desolation is seated and we will
have to flee to the solitary places, because a Universal Sunday Law will be
enforced per Matthew 24:14-18. Is this scenario not more like the order of
these verses: 14 And this gospel
of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all
nations; and then shall the end
come. 15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of
desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso
readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea
flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not
come down to take any thing out of his house: 18
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
25.
How could the
gospel go to all the world during a time when we cannot buy and sell? How could
the gospel go to the world at such time as we have to flee to the mountains,
which is what we must do when the abomination of desolation, the antichrist, is
seated?
The Context of
Added Probation for Apostate Israel
Laval Picard, a trained SDA minister who worked in that
capacity, teaches added probation for the apostate SDA church based on the following
chapter of Christ’s Object Lessons. Let’s examine the context of the concept of
“added probation.”
Christ in His teaching linked with the
warning of judgment the invitation of mercy. "The Son of man is not
come," He said, "to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Luke
9:56. "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that
the world through Him might be saved." John 3:17. His mission of mercy in its relation to God's justice and
judgment is illustrated in the parable of the barren fig tree.
Christ had been warning the people of the
coming of the kingdom of God, and He had sharply rebuked their ignorance and
indifference. The signs in the sky, which foretold the weather, they were quick
to read; but the signs of the times, which so clearly pointed to His mission,
were not discerned.
But men were as ready then as men are now to
conclude that they themselves are the favorites of heaven, and that the message
of reproof is meant for another. The hearers
told Jesus of an event which had just caused great excitement. Some of the
measures of Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea, had given offense to the
people. There had
been a popular tumult in Jerusalem, and Pilate had
attempted to quell this by violence. On one occasion his soldiers had even
invaded the precincts of the temple, and had cut down some Galilean pilgrims in
the very act of slaying their sacrifices. The
Jews regarded calamity as a judgment on account of the sufferer's sin, and
those who told of this act of violence did so with secret satisfaction. In their view their
own good fortune proved them to be much better, and therefore more favored by
God, than were these Galileans. They
expected to hear from Jesus words of condemnation for these men, who, they
doubted not, richly deserved their punishment.
The disciples of Christ did not venture to
express their ideas until they had heard the opinion of their Master. He had
given them pointed lessons in reference to judging other men's characters, and
measuring retribution according to their finite judgment. Yet they looked for
Christ to denounce these men as sinners above others. Great was their surprise
at His answer.
Turning to the multitude, the Saviour said,
"Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans,
because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay; but, except ye repent, ye
shall all likewise perish." These startling calamities were designed to
lead them to humble their hearts, and to repent of their sins. The storm of
vengeance was gathering, which was soon to burst upon all who had not found a
refuge in Christ.
As Jesus talked with the disciples and the
multitude, He looked forward with prophetic glance and saw Jerusalem besieged
with armies. He heard the tramp of the aliens marching against the chosen city
and saw the thousands upon thousands perishing in the siege. Many of the Jews
were, like those Galileans, slain in the temple courts, in the very act of
offering sacrifice. The calamities that had fallen
upon
individuals were warnings from God to a nation equally guilty. "Except ye
repent," said Jesus,"ye shall all likewise
perish." For a little time the day of
probation lingered for them. There was still time for them to know the things
that belonged to their peace.
"A certain man," He continued,
"had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit
thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold,
these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none: cut it
down; why cumbereth it the ground?"
Christ's hearers could not misunderstand the
application of His words. David had sung of Israel as the vine brought out of
Egypt. Isaiah had written, "The
vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His
pleasant plant." Isa. 5:7. The generation to whom the Saviour had come
were represented by the fig tree in the Lord's vineyard--within the circle of
His special care and blessing.
God's purpose toward His people, and the
glorious possibilities before them, had been set forth in the beautiful words, "That they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified," Isa. 61:3. The dying Jacob, under the Spirit of inspiration, had
said of his best-loved son, "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful
bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall." And he said, "The
God of thy Father" "shall help thee," the Almighty "shall
bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth
under." Gen. 49:22, 25. So God had planted Israel as a goodly vine by the
wells of life. He had made His vineyard "in a very fruitful hill." He
had "fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with
the choicest vine." Isa. 5:1, 2.
"And He looked that it should bring
forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes." Isa. 5:2. The people of Christ's day made a greater show of piety
than did the Jews of earlier ages, but they were even more destitute of the
sweet graces of the Spirit of God. The precious fruits of character that made
the life of Joseph so fragrant and beautiful, were not manifest in the Jewish
nation.
God in His Son had been seeking fruit, and
had found none. Israel was a cumberer of the ground. Its very existence
was a curse; for it filled the place in the vineyard that a fruitful tree might
fill. It robbed the world of the blessings
that God designed to give. The Israelites had misrepresented God among the
nations. They were not merely useless, but a
decided hindrance. To a great degree their religion was misleading, and wrought
ruin instead of salvation.
In the parable the dresser of the vineyard
does not question the sentence that the tree, if it remained fruitless, should
be cut down; but he knows and shares the owner's interest in that barren tree.
Nothing could give him greater joy than to see its growth and fruitfulness. He
responds to the desire of the owner, saying, "Let it alone this year also,
till I shall dig about it and dung it; and if it bear fruit, well."
The gardener does not refuse to minister to
so unpromising a plant. He stands ready to give it still greater care.
He
will make its surroundings most favorable, and will
lavish upon it every attention.
The owner and the dresser of the vineyard
are one in their interest in the fig tree. So
the Father and the Son were one in their love for the chosen people. Christ was saying to His hearers that increased
opportunities would be given them. Every means that the love of God could
devise would be put in operation that they might become trees of righteousness,
bringing forth fruit for the blessing of the world.
Jesus did not in the parable tell the result
of the gardener's work. At that point His story was cut short. Its conclusion
rested with the generation that heard His words. To them the solemn warning was
given. "If not, then after that thou
shalt cut it down." Upon them it depended whether the irrevocable words
should be spoken. The day of wrath was near. In the calamities that had already
befallen Israel, the owner of the vineyard was mercifully forewarning them of
the destruction of the unfruitful tree.
The warning sounds down along the line to us
in this generation. Are you, O careless heart, a fruitless tree in the Lord's
vineyard? Shall the words of doom erelong be spoken of you? How long have you
received His gifts? How long has He watched and waited for a return of love?
Planted in His vineyard, under the watchful care of the gardener, what
privileges are yours! How often has the tender gospel message thrilled your
heart! You have taken the name of Christ, you are outwardly a member of the
church which is His body, and yet you are conscious of no living connection
with the great heart of love. The tide of His life does not flow through you.
The sweet graces of His character, "the fruits of the Spirit," are
not seen in your life.
The barren tree receives the rain and the
sunshine and the gardener's care. It draws nourishment from the soil. But its
unproductive boughs only darken the ground, so that fruit-bearing plants cannot
flourish in its shadow. So God's gifts, lavished on you, convey no blessing to
the world. You are robbing others of privileges that, but for you, might be
theirs.
You realize, though it may be but dimly,
that you are a cumberer of the ground. Yet in His great mercy God has not cut
you down. He does not look coldly upon you. He does not turn away with
indifference, or leave you to destruction. Looking upon you He cries, as He cried so
many centuries ago concerning Israel, "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I
deliver thee, Israel? . . . I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger. I
will not return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God, and not man." Hosea
11:8, 9. The pitying Saviour is saying concerning
you, Spare it this year also, till I shall dig about it and dress it.
With
what unwearied love did Christ minister to Israel during the period
of added probation. Upon the cross He prayed, "Father, forgive them; for
they know not what they do." Luke 23:24. After His ascension the gospel
was preached first at Jerusalem. There the Holy Spirit was poured out. There
the first gospel church revealed the power of the risen Saviour. There Stephen--"his face as it had been the face of
an angel" (Acts 6:15)--bore his testimony and laid down his life. All that
heaven itself could give was bestowed. "What could have been done more to
My vineyard," Christ said, "that I have not done in it?" Isa.
5:4. So His care and labor for you are not lessened, but increased. Still He
says, "I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment; lest any hurt
it, I will keep it night and day." Isa. 27:3.
Note by Ron: Clearly, the time of added
probation was the time allotted to INDIVIDUALS of apostate Israel after they
had slain their Messiah on the Cross until the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D.
70! Had not the veil between the Holy and Most Holy rent in twain, showing that
probation had closed for the corporate theocracy of Israel? Also, the added
probation was all the time allotted individuals to accept Christ, from A.D. 34
until A.D. 66, when all true Christians fled. Then probation lingered only for
those individuals who would respond to a call out from the apostate Synagogue
of Satan.
"If
it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that"--
The heart that does not respond to divine
agencies becomes hardened until it is no longer susceptible to the influence of
the Holy Spirit. Then it is that the word is spoken, "Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?"
Today He invites you: "O Israel, return
unto the Lord thy God. . . . I will heal their backsliding, I will love them
freely. . . . I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily, and
cast forth his roots as Lebanon. . . . They that dwell under his shadow shall
return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine. . . . From Me is
thy fruit found." Hosea 14:1-8. Christ’s
Object Lessons, pp. 212, 218.
“Christ has promised the
gift of the Holy Spirit to His church, and the promise belongs to us as much as
to the first disciples.” {FLB 53.2}
“We should pray as
earnestly for the descent of the Holy Spirit as the disciples prayed on the day
of Pentecost. If they needed it at that time, we need it more today.” {FLB 53.3}
“The measure of the Holy
Spirit we receive will be proportioned to the measure of our desire and the
faith exercised for it, and the use we shall make of the light and knowledge
that shall be given to us.” {FLB 53.4}
“There are many who
believe and profess to claim the Lord's promise; they talk about Christ and
about the Holy Spirit, yet receive no benefit. They do not surrender the soul
to be guided and controlled by the divine agencies. We cannot use the Holy
Spirit. The Spirit is to use us. Through the Spirit God works in His people
"to will and to do of his good pleasure." Phil. 2:13. But many will
not submit to this. They want to manage themselves. This is why they do not
receive the heavenly gift. Only to those who wait humbly upon God, who watch
for His guidance and grace, is the Spirit given. The power of God awaits their
demand and reception. This promised blessing, claimed by faith, brings all
other blessings in its train. It is given according to the riches of the grace
of Christ, and He is ready to supply every soul according to the capacity to
receive.” {FLB 53.5}
“The Holy Spirit will come
to all who are begging for the bread of life to give to their neighbors.
335
{FLB 334.6}
Loud Cry of the Third Angel
“And after these things I saw
another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was
lightened with his glory. Rev. 18:1.” {FLB 335.1}
“I saw another mighty
angel commissioned to descend to the earth, to unite his voice with the third
angel, and give power and force to his message.” {FLB
335.2}
“A work of worldwide
extent and unwonted power is here foretold.” {FLB
335.3}
“Great power and glory
were imparted to the angel, and as he descended, the earth was lightened with
his glory. The light which attended this angel penetrated everywhere, as he
cried mightily, with a strong voice, "Babylon the great is fallen, is
fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul
spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Rev. 18:2. The
message of the fall of Babylon, as given by the second angel, is repeated, with
the additional mention of the corruptions which have been entering the churches
since 1844. The work of this angel comes in at the right time to join in the
last great work of the third angel's message as it swells to a loud cry. And
the people of God are thus prepared to stand in the hour of temptation, which
they are soon to meet. I saw a great light resting upon them, and they united
to fearlessly proclaim the third angel's message.” {FLB
335.4}
“Angels were sent to aid
the mighty angel from heaven, and I heard voices which seemed to sound
everywhere, "Come out of her, my people." . . . The glory of God
rested upon the patient, waiting saints, and they fearlessly gave the last
solemn warning, proclaiming the fall of Babylon and calling upon God's people
to come out of her that they might escape her fearful doom.” {FLB 335.5}
“The light that was shed
upon the waiting ones penetrated everywhere, and those in the churches who had
any light, who had not heard and rejected the three messages, obeyed the call
and left the fallen churches.”
336
{FLB 335.6}
The Early Rain Came in A.D. 31 at
Pentecost--Acts 2
“In
obedience to Christ's command, they [the disciples] waited in Jerusalem for the
promise of the Father--the outpouring of the Spirit. They did not wait in
idleness. The record says that they were "continually in the temple,
praising and blessing God." (Luke 24:53). . . . {LDE
184.1}
“As
the disciples waited for the fulfillment of the promise, they humbled their
hearts in true repentance and confessed their unbelief. . . . The disciples
prayed with intense earnestness for a fitness to meet men and in their daily
intercourse to speak words that would lead sinners to Christ. Putting away all
differences, all desire for the supremacy, they came close together in
Christian fellowship.”--AA 35-37 (1911). {LDE 184.2}
“It
was after the disciples had come into perfect unity, when they were no longer
striving for the highest place, that the Spirit was poured out.”--8T 20 (1904). {LDE 184.3}
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.
“To
the end of time the presence of the Spirit is to abide with the true church.”--AA
54, 55 (1911). {LDE 184.4}
The Early Rain Produces Conversion. The
Latter Rain Develops a Christlike Character
“At no
point in our experience can we dispense with the assistance of that which
enables us to make the first start. The blessings received under the former
rain are needful to us to the end. . . . As we seek God for the Holy Spirit, it
will work in us meekness, humbleness of mind, a conscious dependence upon God
for the perfecting latter rain.”--TM 507, 509 (1897). {LDE
187.1}
“Many
have in a great measure failed to receive the former rain. They have not obtained all the benefits that God has
thus provided for them. They expect that the
lack will be supplied by the latter rain.
When the richest abundance of grace shall be bestowed, they intend to open
their hearts to receive it. They are making a terrible mistake. The work that God has begun in the human heart in
giving His light and knowledge must be continually going forward. Every individual must realize his own necessity. The heart must be emptied of every defilement and
cleansed for the indwelling of the Spirit. It was by the confession and forsaking of sin, by earnest
prayer and consecration of themselves to God, that the early disciples prepared
for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The same work,
only in greater degree, must be done now.
Then the human agent had only to ask for the blessing, and wait for the Lord to
perfect the work concerning him. It is God who began the work, and He will finish
His work, making man complete in Jesus Christ. But
there must be no neglect of the grace represented by the former rain. Only those who are living up to the light
they have will receive greater light. Unless we are
daily advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we
shall not recognize the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain.
It may be falling on hearts all around us, but we shall not discern or receive
it. {TM 507.1}