ASK FOR THE LORD RAIN IN THE TIME OF THE LATTER RAIN

Zech.10:1 – Ask the LORD for rain

In the time of the latter rain.

The LORD will make flashing clouds;

He will give them showers of rain,

Grass in the field for everyone.

Israel was known as the land flowing with milk and honey. The land was much more fruitful than the surrounding nations, of course this blessing was the favor of the Lord but the instrument He used to bring blessing to Israel was the spring and fall rains, also known as the early and latter rain. When the nation of Israel would turn away from the Lord their rain would stop and the land would become dry and barren. National repentance and prayer would bring the rains again to bring favor upon the land. These rains were spoken of by the prophet Joel as a picture of the outpouring of the Spirit. Peter preached about this on the Day of Pentecost. That first outpouring could be called the early rain, the outpouring to prepare the harvest of souls at the end of the age is called the latter rain. Here is how Matthew Henry describes this.

“We must, in our prayers, dutifully consider the ways of Providence; we must ask for mercies at their proper time and not expect God to change his usual way and method just for us. However, since sometimes God denied rain at the usual time as a sign of his displeasure, they must pray for it now as a sign of his favor, and they will not pray in vain: Ask and it shall be given you. So the LORD shall make bright clouds — which, though without rain themselves, are still signs that rain is coming — “lightnings,” as the margin of v. 1 reads, for he maketh lightnings for the rain. He will give them showers of rain in great plenty, and so give to every one grass in the field, for God is universally good and makes his rain to fall upon the just and the unjust.”

When thinking of the final outpouring of the Spirit before the return of the Lord this passage in Zechariah always comes to mind. This is the season of the latter rain, it is time to ask the Lord to open the heavens and pour out His Spirit. I believe the Lord is calling His church to pray, He is indicating the season of the rain is here, its time for the great outpouring of the Lord on all nations to prepare the souls for God’s final harvest.