Imrah Ministries

By Sidharth Mohandas

He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. [Deuteronomy 11:14]

In ancient Israel, the yearly seasons included the “early” or “former rain” and the “late” or “latter rain”. The early rain falls in the months October-November, while the latter rain falls in the months of March-April. The early rains helped the seed to germinate and grow, while it was during the latter rain that the crops matured and were ready for harvest. Anyone who has studied the Scriptures would agree that the rain symbolizes the down pour of the Holy Spirit. And I believe that we are living in the season of the latter rain, where God has released an ocean of His Presence upon His people. Take heed, the Lord of Harvest is nigh, and He’s coming sooner than many think He will.

God faithfully poured out the early rain upon the early Church for the first few centuries. The Church grew as the Word increased, and God manifested His Presence through the gifts of His Spirit. But then looking back into Church history, we find a period of total darkness, a period of thousands of years where no one heard the message of His Gospel as man’s traditions and his opinions took the place of God’s Word. What happened to the crop? Something ate the crop up for sure. The Spirit of God describes these years as being eaten by locust:

“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.” [Joel 2:25]

Why did God send such an army? Because the seed that was planted during these years, was not the seed of the Gospel. But God promised to restore the years. How did He say He’d do this? The answer lies in Joel 2:23:

” Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.”

God Himself tells us what this rain is:

“And I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh…” [Joel 2:28]

The rain is God’s remedy. He said He would come to us like the rain, like the spring rain [latter rain] watering the earth [Hosea 6:3]. But notice, before God sent the rain to us He started planting the seed. It’s beginning can be traced back to the discovery of salvation by faith alone by Martin Luther in the 16 th Century. From then you find God planting more of the truths of His Word through various servants of God like Zwingli, Calvin, Wesley and others. God was patient. He slowly changed the mind-set of His people to receive His latter rain. In 1901, God started pouring out His Spirit as on the day of Pentecost. Ever since millions and millions have received this down pour of God’s Spirit and have operated in the gifts of the Spirit. With the Charismatic movement in the late 1950s, these gifts were even distributed in the main line churches as they believed in God’s promise of His Spirit. In fact, it is said that there has been no other movement that has impacted the world more than the last two. I say again, we are the generation of the latter rain. He’s pouring Himself out to all people as He did in the early rain or the beginning of the Church. But unlike the early rain, there’s a warning that comes with the latter rain: “THE HARVEST IS NIGH!”

James said in his epistle, Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains .[James 5:7] We who are witnessing this latter rain must realize that His coming will follow it. He is sending His angels with the sickle to gather His people from the fields.

As I sit and write this, it’s raining heavily here in Trivandrum. The Lord interrupted me a while back and told me, “Get out and get under the rain!”. Now, the Lord sometimes tells us to do things that may seem stupid to us, but the end result is always to bless us. I got under the rain and He demonstrated how He was pouring out His Spirit in our time. His outpouring became real to me.

Many of us have built roof tops over ourselves, and we prevent His outpouring- roof tops of ignorance, roof tops of wrong beliefs and disbelief, roof tops of unforgiveness and disobedience. God tells us, “Get out and get under the rain!”. Friends, you won’t have the reality of the latter rain, unless you come out of your houses and get under it. If it requires you to come out of an organized church, do that! But get under the rain!

When the New Covenant was written, Jewish wedding customs included a betrothal period before the wedding ceremony. The bride gave her consent and the parties involved established the terms of the marriage contract (ketubah). When the covenant was sealed with the bride and groom drinking from a cup of wine, the couple was betrothed and legally bound to one another, usually for one year. It was forbidden to consumate the marriage until after the actual wedding ceremony. Both the bride and the groom had specific responsibilities to prepare for the marriage.

Throughout the year following his betrothal, the groom worked hard to prepare the bridal chamber, often by adding a room in his father’s house. The bridal chamber was where the couple would have their honeymoon for seven days following the wedding ceremony. The bridal chamber did not have to be a palace but it was no inferior work either. The groom’s father gave the final inspection and decided when the bride and groom could enter the chamber (chuppah). It was a lengthy and difficult procedure.

In addition, the groom or his father usually paid the bride’s father a handsome price (mohar) for the bride. (Refer to Genesis 34.) Often, the bride price was not tendered just with cash but by work or other means. Genesis 29 records that Jacob worked seven years for Rachel. 1 Samuel 17:25 records that King Saul promised one of his daughters to anyone who could slay Goliath. This gift was a requirement by law. It symbolized the exchange of the giver’s life for the bride, much like a blood covenant, creating a strong bond between the two families.

While the groom worked on the bridal chamber, the bride prepared by purification and anticipation.

In Jewish law, various circumstances required both men and women to immerse in a ritual bath to purify the body. Every adult woman took such a bath monthly which made her ceremonially clean. This bath also symbolically insured the betrothed woman’s virginity and prepared her for the groom’s arrival. In addition, the bride wore a veil in public to signify her betrothal.

The groom, best man, and other male escorts would leave the Jewish groom’s father’s house and conduct a torch light procession to the home of the bride. As a result of the bride not knowing the exact time the groom would come for her, the groom’s arrival would be preceded by a shout forewarning the bride to be prepared for the coming of the groom.

Each day, the bride waited in anticipation. Every night before bed, the bride prepared her oil lamp in case her groom returned for her after dark. Night after night she listened for the shofar, the ram’s horn, that signaled the arrival of the groom. At any hour, the young groom might return for his bride. The bride’s oil lamp would help light the way as she headed with her attendants through the dark streets of the village to meet him.

Yeshua had these marriage customs in mind when He told the parable of the 10 virgins. In this story, He spoke of the five wise virgins who were ready for the groom’s arrival and the five foolish ones who had failed to prepare. The wise virgins took their lamps and enough oil to light their way when the bridegroom arrived. The foolish virgins did not have enough oil for their lamps. (Matthew 25:12)

Every aspect of the Jewish wedding ceremony has a symbolic parallel in the wedding of Yeshua to his bride. G-d paid the bridal price by sending His Son. (Romans 8:3-4) Yeshua’s sacrifice on the cross paid for the sins of His bride. The New Covenant sealed and confirmed the agreement and conditions for marriage between Yeshua and his bride.

While we wait for His return, Yeshua is preparing a place for us as is written in John 14:1-3 and He will return for us, just as the Jewish groom comes for his bride. Yeshua has spared no expense in His preparations. We shall enjoy a week of days with the L-rd in the bridal chamber.

Yeshua waits for His Father’s word and the angels’ shofar blast that will announce His return for His bride. Like a thief in the night, the bridegroom will come for His bride. As we await His return, Yeshua reminds us to be prepared, like the five wise virgins.

It shall be a glorious time for those who have believe and accepted the Bridegroom, HaShem/The Lord, Yeshua Hamashiach/Jesus Christ. Will you be there?