                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                             The Latter Rain!

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By David Wilkerson
January 9, 1995
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          "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will
          seek to destroy all the nations that come against
          Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and
          upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace
          and of supplications:

          "And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced,
          and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his
          only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one
          that is in bitterness for his firstborn" (Zechariah
          12:9-10).

          This prophecy from Zechariah is about a special
          outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will take place in
          the last days. A similar outpouring is described in
          Joel 2, which I believe to be Pentecost. That passage
          reads:

          "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour
          out of my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your
          daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
          dreams, your young men shall see visions:

          "And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in
          those days will I pour out my spirit" (Joel 2:28-29).

          This is exactly what happened on the day of Pentecost!
          The Holy Ghost came in like a flood as a spirit of
          prophecy, at the Upper Room in Jerusalem. Even poor
          servants and housemaids were gifted with prophetic
          utterances.

          Yet this great outpouring also became a steady watering
          of the Holy Spirit that has lasted throughout the
          centuries. For nearly 2,000 years God has poured out
          His Spirit like showers on His people, daily watering
          His church and protecting it. Isaiah speaks of the
          church as:

          "...A vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep it; I
          will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will
          keep it night and day" (Isaiah 27:2-3).

                      -------------------------------

                     There Is Much in God's Word About
                       Two Rains - Two Outpourings!

                      -------------------------------

          The two outpourings of the Spirit are referred to as
          the first (or former) rain and the last (or latter)
          rain:

          "And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken
          diligently unto my commandments which I command you
          this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him
          with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will
          give you the rain of your land in his due season, the
          first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather
          in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil" (Deuteronomy
          11:13-14).

          The planting and harvest seasons in Israel were just
          the opposite of ours. The first rains fell from October
          to the end of December, just before planting season.
          These rains softened the ground. And the last rains
          fell from March through April, just prior to harvest.
          Those rains ripened the harvest.

          It is important to note that these two outpourings
          always had to do with the harvest: "...that thou mayest
          gather in..." (verse 14). And, beloved, if you want to
          judge any move of the Holy Spirit - to discern if it is
          of God or of flesh - then use this criterion: The
          Spirit's work is always focused on the harvest of
          souls!

          It doesn't matter what kind of manifestations you see
          in any so-called revival. It is not a true movement of
          God unless it is focused on the harvest! The Holy-Ghost
          rains always fall to produce an ingathering of souls.

          1. God poured out His Spirit in the former rain at
          Pentecost, to prepare the ground. This outpouring
          softened the ground for the gospel seed to be sown.
          Spirit-filled sowers were sent out from the Upper Room
          that day into all the world - to Jerusalem, Judea,
          Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth to make
          disciples of Jesus Christ.

          The church has now seen almost 2,000 years of sowing
          and growing - and it's harvest time! All who have died
          in Christ up to now represent the first fruits, or the
          early harvest. But Zechariah prophesies a final harvest
          - and that is the reason Jesus has not yet come. The
          Lord has been waiting patiently for His final, mighty
          harvest of the earth!

          "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the
          Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious
          fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it,
          until he receive the early and latter rain" (James
          5:7).

          2. Zechariah 12:10 is the promised latter rain that
          must precede the final harvest. The Lord is waiting
          patiently until His last rain is outpoured - because it
          will produce the final harvest!

          In the early part of this century, a Pentecostal
          movement began in Canada called the "Latter Rain
          Movement." It lasted perhaps forty or fifty years.
          Today, only a few "Latter Rain" churches remain.

          Yet those who were involved in that movement were
          convinced they were experiencing the Spirit's great,
          final outpouring. Many said, "This is it - we're seeing
          Zechariah 12:10 come to pass!" But the movement
          dissipated. And other such movements have come and gone
          also. Why? It is because they were not focused on the
          harvest!

          Many so-called Holy-Ghost movements vanished quickly
          because they were man-centered - focusing on gifts,
          blessings, self-improvement, happiness. Dancing,
          laughing, roaring, barking or any other manifestation
          attributed to the Holy Ghost is all flesh unless it
          produces a brokenheartedness for the lost and unsaved.
          If it is truly of the Spirit, it will result in a
          hunger and inclination to reach a lost and dying world!

          Jesus tied the harvest to lost souls when He said,

          "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he
          will send forth labourers into his harvest" (Matthew
          9:38).

          Any true outpouring of the Holy Spirit will focus on
          this prayer of Jesus. And the few revivals documented
          as genuine all were blessed with great harvests of
          souls. There is no true revival without great
          ingathering of lost souls!

          Moreover, all the graces and ministries of the Holy
          Ghost in our lives as believers have to do with the
          last harvest. When the Holy Spirit convicts us,
          comforts us, teaches us, sanctifies us, leads us and
          shows us things to come, it is all meant to prepare us
          to gather in the harvest - to make us able laborers in
          His vineyard!

          Consider what happened as a result of Joel 2:28. At
          Pentecost, 3,000 people were saved in one day - and
          souls were added daily afterward! These believers then
          were thrust out into all the world to witness Christ to
          the lost.

          "Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and
          the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful
          field be counted for a forest" (Isaiah 32:15).

          Isaiah is saying here, "When the Holy Ghost comes, He
          produces fruit for the harvest. Lost souls are won in
          abundance!"

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                      A Mighty, End-Time Outpouring Is
                     Promised Upon the House of David!

                      -------------------------------

          "...And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon
          the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and
          of supplications..." (Zechariah 12:10).

          The church has always had grace and supplication. But
          this verse is talking about a mighty infusion. It
          signifies something unusual, mighty, glorious!

          Now, I need to state here that I do not believe in
          replacement theology. In other words, I don't believe
          the New-Testament church is to replace Israel in all
          the prophetic references of the Old Testament. Rather,
          I believe many of these prophecies have dual
          applications.

          I also believe that God is going to pour out His Spirit
          upon the Jews in the last hour. There will be a
          revelation of Jesus Christ to Israel and to all Jews.
          For example, I believe Ezekiel 39:22-29 prophesies an
          outpouring of the Spirit upon the Jews after a great
          attempt by Israel's enemies to destroy her.

          Zechariah 12:10, however, is a prophecy spoken directly
          to the church of Jesus Christ. It speaks of the house
          of David - and that means the church. You see, Christ
          is the seed of David's house. And that house is
          comprised of all believers in Christ, both Jewish and
          Gentile.

          Indeed, there is a new Israel, a body of believers
          today that includes all nations and tongues. And this
          new body is made of faith and not of flesh:

          "For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth
          to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her
          children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which
          is the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:25-26).

          Paul elsewhere warns Gentile believers not to be
          boastful or proud that they have been grafted into His
          body. They are never to disparage God's work among the
          Jews. On the other hand, it is also absolute blasphemy
          to rebuild all the walls that the Cross tore down.
          Jesus broke down every wall between all people:

          "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond
          nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are
          all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then ye
          are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise"
          (3:28-29).

          No one is of Abraham's seed simply because he was born
          a Jew. No - we are heirs of the promise because of our
          belief in Jesus. All nationalities are made one in Him.
          Indeed, we are the Jerusalem from above, the house of
          David of the last days. And we have the promise of a
          latter-rain outpouring of the Holy Ghost!

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                        There Are Two Qualifications
                  Prophesied About This Last Outpouring.

                      -------------------------------

          The Bible says the Holy Ghost will be poured out as
          "...the spirit of grace and of supplications..."
          (Zechariah 12:10). Whenever the Spirit falls, these two
          things are always evident: a spirit of grace and a
          spirit of supplication.

          The book of Titus tells us that grace is given to us as
          power over sin, to enable us to live sober, holy lives:

          "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath
          appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying
          ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
          righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking
          for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of
          the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus
          2:11-13).

          There has been a marvelous measure of this grace in
          God's people ever since Pentecost. The Holy Ghost has
          sent conviction of sin on all nations, teaching
          believers of every race and tongue how to forsake
          ungodliness and worldly lusts. The result has been a
          people who live soberly and righteously in this present
          world and who long for the coming of Jesus.

          Yet, when the Spirit's latter rain comes, we are going
          to witness an even greater grace. God is going to pour
          out on us a spirit of grace that will establish us in
          the truth of our justification. The Lord will have a
          secure people who never doubt their salvation!

          Under this outpouring, the Spirit will move on
          ministers worldwide who have been lukewarm, in
          compromise. God will smite these men with the
          conviction of His grace. The Spirit will show them,
          "The world is coming apart, and soon you will stand
          before Me. So you'd better start speaking to the hearts
          of these people. You'd better have My anointing when
          you stand in the pulpit!"

          This is a convicting spirit of grace that leads to
          repentance, producing godliness and righteousness in
          God's house. Of course, God's grace has been manifested
          to His church for 2,000 years. We have known the
          doctrine of justification by faith. We have been
          sustained by grace. And wherever true grace has been
          preached, it has always been accompanied by a call for
          repentance and holy living.

          Yet I believe Zechariah 12:10 prophesies that in the
          very last hour, the Holy Ghost will fall mightily on
          God's people with a spirit of grace that turns them
          completely from all worldliness. It will produce in
          them a cry for purity of heart!

          Ministers will wake up to true "grace preaching" - the
          kind that convicts people of every hidden thing in
          their lives. And we are going to witness a convicting,
          sin-exposing, repentance preaching beyond anything ever
          seen in history. All unrighteousness, ungodliness and
          foolishness will be exposed. And those in God's house
          will feel a "pressure" to do right!

          A few weeks ago I received a phone call from a dear
          brother in the Lord who heads a certain ministry. The
          leaders of this ministry had been gathering to seek the
          Lord - and soon the Holy Ghost began exposing
          homosexuals and lying spirits in their midst. Several
          team members were dismissed. This brother told me, "Now
          that the Holy Spirit has come down, there is a pressure
          to do right."

          His phrase struck me, and I couldn't shake it off: a
          pressure to do right. When the Holy Ghost comes down
          and exposes sin, Christians who have been lukewarm or
          in compromise become convicted. Those who don't yield
          to the Spirit's dealings ultimately become blind,
          unwilling to surrender. And, eventually, the pressure
          to live righteously drives them out the door. Beloved,
          the pressure to forsake sin and to do right is going to
          get hot and heavy in God's last-day church!

                      -------------------------------

                      God's Spirit Will Also Pour Out
                         a Spirit of Supplication!

                      -------------------------------

          The word supplication is never used in the Bible except
          to denote a cry or prayer that is vocalized. In other
          words, it is not private or merely a meditation.
          Supplication has to do with the voice!

          The Hebrew word for "supplication" signifies "an olive
          branch wrapped with wool, or some kind of cloth, waved
          by a supplicant seeking peace or surrender." These were
          called "branches of supplication." Simply put, they
          were flags of surrender. They signified a cry of total,
          unconditional surrender.

          Picture a battle-weary soldier, ragged and worn, tired
          and overwhelmed, stuck in a foxhole of self-will. He is
          all alone, weary and haggard, and he has come to the
          end of himself. So he breaks a branch off a tree. He
          ties his white undershirt to the end, lifts it, waves
          it and crawls out of his foxhole, crying, "I surrender
          - I give up!"

          That is supplication! It says, "I surrender - I can't
          fight this battle anymore. I'm lost and despairing."

          You see, supplication is not just calling on God to do
          what you want. It is not begging or pleading with Him
          to assist you in your plans. On the contrary, it is a
          total giving up of your will and your way!

          For centuries Christians have called on God while full
          of self-will, begging and crying, "Oh God, send me
          here, send me there, give me this, give me that..."
          Ministers have prayed and pled, "Oh God, bless my
          ministry, bless my projects. Send money and workers for
          my program!"

          But in the last days the Holy Ghost is going to fall
          with great power to produce a sense of spiritual
          bankruptcy. We will wake up to the fact that even with
          all our money, brains, programs, ministries and plans,
          we haven't even touched this world. (The truth is, we
          have lost ground. The church has become weak and
          pitiful!)

          I once preached, "All God requires is a heartfelt cry,
          a desperate calling upon His name." But the Holy Spirit
          has shown me it takes much more than this to touch His
          heart.

          Malachi speaks of God's people "...covering the altar
          of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying
          out..." (Malachi 2:13). Yet the Lord did not receive or
          hear their cries - because the men of Israel were
          dealing treacherously with their wives. They were
          divorcing them and pursuing other women.

          These people didn't come before the Lord with a flag of
          surrender in hand, weeping and crying out, "Oh God, my
          sin has overwhelmed me! I'm tired of fighting it on my
          own, tired of resisting the Holy Ghost. Deliver me!" If
          they had done this, God would have heard them and
          delivered them.

          There has to be a surrender! Our cries must be
          accompanied by a willingness to surrender our sin - to
          give up everything in our life that is unlike Jesus
          Christ.

          Daniel's prayer demonstrates what supplication is all
          about:

          "Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy
          servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to
          shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the
          Lord's sake. O my God, incline thine ear, and hear;
          open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the
          city which is called by thy name: for we do not present
          our supplications before thee for our righteousness,
          but for thy great mercies" (Daniel 9:17-18).

          This is a cry of surrender - of absolute helplessness!
          Daniel was saying, "Oh God, we've sinned against You -
          and we can't do anything about it! We're helpless,
          hopeless. We've rejected You and hurt You. And now we
          appeal to Your mercy. We surrender. We give it all over
          to You. Hear our supplication!"

                      -------------------------------

                       When the Holy Ghost Pours Out
                        a Spirit of Supplication, We
                        Will See Praying Such as the
                          World Has Never Known!

                      -------------------------------

          A missionary spoke to our church recently of great
          awakenings around the world. In every case, the "spirit
          of prayer" is tied to the last harvest. In Vietnam,
          China, Siberia, the Amazon, among the Zulus in Africa,
          God's people are praying with fire and fervency -
          weeping and crying out to God at the top of their
          voice, seeking His face, dealing with sin and turning
          to righteousness. Some prayer meetings last from six in
          the evening until noon the next day.

          You can't manufacture this kind of inclination to pray.
          It is the result of the spirit of supplication! God is
          doing what He promised in Zechariah 12:10. And these
          believers are already experiencing it!

          Not long ago we called for weeks of prayer at Times
          Square Church. And now we also have experienced a small
          taste of this outpouring of the Spirit. Indeed, there
          is a measure of fire and diligence in prayer throughout
          this nation. But we have not yet experienced the
          outpouring of the spirit of supplication!

          Last July 18, I started a prayer journal. My first
          entry read: "A week ago, July 11, the Holy Spirit
          called me to a year of prayer - and I mean intense
          prayer. I will keep this journal to prevent me from
          letting up on my commitment."

          But for the past thirty days I have not written a word
          in that prayer journal. It has been a great test in my
          life! I have been interrupted constantly. I have never
          found it so difficult to stay disciplined in prayer.

          God is showing me through this that even the desire and
          inclination to pray must come from the Holy Spirit. Now
          my dilemma is this: God has promised to pour out a
          spirit of supplication on His church, and I don't want
          to miss out on it. I want to be a part of the genuine
          move of God. So, how can I make sure I am poured out
          upon with this spirit?

          The answer is in Zechariah 10:1:

          "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"
          (Zechariah 10:1).

          We have to ask the Lord for this spirit of
          supplication! Bright clouds in this verse means
          "lightning, thunderstorms." God has promised to give us
          showers! He is telling us in Zechariah, "Ask, and I
          will give you this burden from heaven. But you must
          seek it from Me!"

          Isn't it time we started asking the Lord, "Oh God, pour
          your Holy Spirit on me, that I may learn to pray! Open
          up the fountain. Let me be a part of Your final
          harvest!"

          Once His spirit of supplication showers down upon you,
          you will find yourself praying for holiness, godliness,
          purity. You will intercede for your lost loved ones and
          weep over this dying world. But you have to ask the
          Holy Spirit to do it in you - and trust Him to do it!

                      -------------------------------

                     This Last Outpouring - The Latter
                      Rain of Grace And Supplication -
                     Is Going to Bring God's People to
                               Their Knees!

                      -------------------------------

          I see in Zechariah's prophesy a new vision of the Cross
          of Jesus:

          "...and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced,
          and they shall mourn for him..." (Zechariah 12:10).

          Right now, the Holy Spirit is doing just that in
          Israel. Multitudes of Jews gather at the Wailing Wall,
          weeping for their Messiah to come. But one day soon God
          will remove the veil - and they will know Jesus for who
          He is, and weep over having pierced Him! They will long
          for Him, mourning over their blindness and rejection of
          His Cross.

          Yet, there is another application of this verse that
          has to do with the church. You see, there is soon
          coming a very personal dealing by the Holy Ghost. The
          church of Jesus Christ has so blunted sin - so
          whitewashed and overlooked it - that when the Spirit
          comes down with the spirit of prayer, He will bring a
          purging as well. There will be weeping, mourning,
          brokenness - a reality of how our sins grieve the heart
          of God!

          The Holy Ghost is going to move this way not just in
          congregations, but in families and in every individual
          believer:

          "And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the
          family of the house of David apart, and their wives
          apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and
          their wives apart..." (Zechariah 12:12).

          I ask you: What greater gift could God give His church
          just before He comes than a powerful, convicting
          message against sin? He will bring such piercing
          conviction that we will not be able to tolerate any
          unholy or unclean thing in us!

          In summary, here are the qualifications and marks of
          the latter-rain outpouring of the Spirit. If any
          so-called movement of the Spirit doesn't measure up to
          these, you can know it is of the flesh:

          1. A focus on the final harvest of souls.

          2. A spirit of grace leading to repentance and
          godliness.

          3. A spirit of supplication resulting in surrender and
          an urgency to pray in the Spirit.

          4. A yearning for Jesus, and a mourning, brokenness and
          weeping with godly sorrow for sin. Only after such
          dealings of the Spirit will come the true blessing of
          joy!

          Dear saint, it is possible to miss out on all that the
          Spirit has promised. Even in the midst of His rain, you
          can end up in a desert - dry, withered, empty. All you
          have to do is join the Laodicean crowd - to remain
          lukewarm and be satisfied with halfhearted service to
          the Lord. And the rain that comes to ripen the last-day
          harvest will only water the thorns and thistles in you:

          "For the earth which drinketh in the rain...bringeth
          forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed,
          receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth
          thorns and briers is rejected..." (Hebrews 6:7-8).

          I don't want to miss out on God's last outpouring! I
          have been praying for Him to include me, and I urge you
          to do the same. Pray with me now:

          "Lord, I don't have the discipline needed for Your holy
          work. You have to give it to me! Give me Your burden
          for lost souls. Put Your weeping Spirit in me. You are
          my only hope - so I surrender and turn totally to You.
          I'll do anything You tell me. And I will depend on You
          for everything!"

          Amen!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771, USA.

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