Recently a friend in Southern Zimbabwe attended a well-known Sabbath school class where the teacher emphasized that the latter rain is poured out exclusively at the Sunday law. It is at the Sunday law that the latter rain is poured out without measure,but this fact does not preclude that before the Sunday law the latterrain is poured out with measure. As you can see brothers that a lot of people are confused about the Latter rain message some are putting at the Sunday Law Time period not knowing what exactly happened first, lets seethis first then we have to continue with our studies. THE SUNDAY LAW At the Sunday law God’s church is purified as the wheat and tares of Adventism are separated when they receive either the mark of the beast or the seal of God. “If the light of truth has been presented to you, revealing the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and showing that there is no foundation in the word of God for Sunday observance, and yet you still cling to the false Sabbath, refusing to keep holy the Sabbath which God calls ‘My holy day,’ you receive the mark of the beast. When does this take place?—When you obey the decree that commands you to cease from labor on Sunday and worship God, while you know that there is not a word in the Bible showing Sunday to be other than a common working-day, you consent to receive the mark of the beast, and refuse the seal of God. If we receive this mark in ourforeheads or in our hands, the judgments pronounced against the disobedient must fall upon us. But the seal of the living God is placed upon those who conscientiously keep the Sabbath of the Lord.” Review and Herald, July 13, 1897. In Testimonies we are told that the seal “is impressed” when the Sunday law “decree goes forth,” and that “not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them.” “Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul temple of every defilement. Then the latter rain will fall upon us as the early rain fell upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost. . . . “When the decree goes forth and the stamp is impressed, their character will remain pure and spotless for eternity.” Testimonies, volume 5, 214, 216. Some employ this passage to identify that thelatter rain is poured out at the Sunday law as it was at Pentecost without acknowledging that the history of Pentecost identifies a progressive out-pouring of the Spirit. “The act of Christ in breathing upon his disciples the Holy Ghost, and in imparting his peace to them, was as a few drops before the plentiful shower to be given on the day of Pentecost. Jesus impressed this fact upon his disciples, that as they should proceed in the work intrusted to them, they would the more fully comprehend the nature of that work, and the manner in which the kingdom of Christ was to be set up on earth. They were appointed to be witnesses for the Saviour; they were to testify what they had seen and heardof his resurrection; they were to repeat the gracious words which proceeded from his lips. They were acquainted with his holy character; he was as an angel standing in the sun, yet casting no shadow. It was the sacred work of the apostles to present the spotless character of Christ to men, as the standard for their lives. The disciples had been so intimately associated with this Pattern of holiness that they were in some degree assimilated to him in character, and were specially fitted to make known to the world his precepts and example.” The Spirit of Prophecy, volume 3, 243.2 The Holy Spirit was poured out without measure on the day of Pentecost as it will be poured out without measure when the church is purified at the Sunday law, but this truth does not deny that the sprinkling of the Holy Spirit is marked as beginning prior to the day of Pentecost. An unwillingness to carefully analyze the prophetic testimony on this subject develops a false model for the sequence of events that transpire during the latter rain time period. Without acknowledging the sprinkling of the latter rain preceding andleading up to the full outpouring many passages of Inspiration become blurred or vague. Consider the following as an example of this problem. “The great outpouring of the Spirit of God, which lightens the whole earth with His glory, will not come until we have an enlightened people, that know by experience what it means to be laborers together with God.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 11:42:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015