James 5:7, 8 "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth fo the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth night.
Jesus is talking here about he Second Coming. Of course, Jesus is the Husbandman. He hasn't come yet--that's quite obvious--so He's waiting for some reason or other. What is He waiting on?
The Scripture tells us why He's waiting and what He's waiting for. He's waiting for the "precious fruit of th earth. . .until he receive the early and latter rain." (The precious fruit of the earth means a harvest).
Jesus has not yet received the harvest that is to come. He has not yet received the fullness of the early and the latter rain. Jesus is coming again!! Jesus said He is coming again. The angels said He is coming again. The Word of God teaches us that He is coming again.
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 [or send them] showers of rian, to every one grass in the field."
Among other things, rain typifies a refreshing or blessing. James wrote this letter to Hebrew Christians, who knew about Israel's rains. The early rain came in November, after the autumn harves, to prepare the land for future planting. The latter rain, came in the spring, prior to the harvest, to mature the crop.
Isaiah 60:1-3 "Arise shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people: but he Lord shall arise upon thee, and his GLORY shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light"
In Acts 2, Peter preached a sermon on the Day of Pentecost, referring to the Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection. In Acts 3, Peter's message reached over into the end times; it's a message that applies to us.
In the 19th verse, he said, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when THE TIMES OF REFRESHING shall come from the presence of the Lord."
Acts 3:20, 21 goes on to say, "And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until THE TIMES OF RESTITUTION of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets since the world began."
The greek word translated "restitution" in verse 21 also can be translated "restoration".
Notice that Pter connected times of refreshing witht he Second Coming of Christ. Peter taught us that times of refreshing would come from the presence of the Lord in the time of the Lord's return!
There are two things to notice: 1. times of refreshing, and 2. times of restoration. According to this passage in Acts, before the Lord's return we will experience both.
What do I mean by restoration? I'm talking about the restoration of the "power of Christ, restoration of the authority of Christ, and the restoration of the characer of Christ. God want sall three of these characteristics to be exhibited in the life of the Church and in the lives of individual Christians.
Christ is the Head of the Church. We are the Body. You know your head cannot exercise any authorty exept through your body, so Jesus is not going to personally exercise any authority on the earth except through His Church. Jesus carries out His work through the Church, but members of the Church have been so weak they haven't recognized the authority and power of the Head--the authority that belongs to them. There are many things the Lord wants to do--and He's been trying to do--for many people, but they won't let Him!
Ephesians 4:22-24 "That ye put off concerning the former conversation or the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."
Former conversation literally means "manner of life."
Put on the new man! That new man is Christ in you, the hope of glory! That new man is the man on the inside who has become a new creature in Christ Jesus: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new." Notice here that "HE IS" not he's going to become.
That man on the inside is a new man, created in righteousness and true holiness, as you just read in Ephesians.
Even though Paul said to "put off . . .the old man," we're still living in the flesh, and that flesh hasn't been redeemed yet. Our flesh--our body--will want to go on doing what it's always done. So how do we put on the new man, and how do we "put off" the old man?
Ephesians 4:25, 26, 28 "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath. . .Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth."
Paul continued to talk about the "new man" in Ephesians 5:3 "But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you. . ." By "uncleanness" Paul wasn't talking about taking a bath and using deodorant!!!
Romans 1:24, 26-28 "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the women, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient."
There must be not only a restoration of the power and authority of Christ, but also of the character of Christ.
We need to walk in the light of the law of love and not do things that offend other people. Someone might say, "Well, brother, Paul said to drink a little wine for your stomach's sake". If you lived where the water was bad in Paul's day, you might have done that too. That don't give you the right to be a drunkard today!!!
God's end time plan includes a time of restoration of His glory, a time of restoration of His power, and a time of restoration of His gifts and ministries to the Church. We are going to see more manifestations of the Glory of God in our church services than ever before because God has a people that are beginning to "give themselves over to Him". They are worshiping Him in Spirit and in Truth.
In Ephesians 4:11, you'll find that when Christ ascended on High, He gave gifts to men: some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers for the perfecting of the Body of Christ."
The mistake the Church has made for so long is that we've only recognized three of these gifts: the pastor, evangelist and the teacher. For the Church to ever be what it ought to be, we must have a manifestation of the fivefold ministry. We must recognize the ministry gifts, honor them, and permit them to function in the way God wants them to function.
We must also recognize what we call the gifts or manifestations of the Holy Spirit: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healings, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kind of tongues, and interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Now notices the next verse, "But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." He is not dividing the gifts; He is dividing the manifestation of the gifts.
In conclusion, look at Luke 5:36-38 "and he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles: and both are preserved.
In those days, bottles were made of skins. When they became old, they would soak them in water for a long time. Secondly, they'd take olive oil and rub it into the sking until it became soft and pliable again. Then the skins were like new again; they could put new wine into them and they wouldn't burst.
Jesus was saying that individuals, local churches, or denominations often are just like those old wineskins: old, empty, dead, and brittle.
How can we be soaking in water to be renewed? Paul talking about the Church said in Ephesians 5:26, "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." There must be a fresh saturation of the Word of God. Many of us have been saturated with the Word of God, others need to be. Unless they are, they'll never be able to hold the new wine.
The Psalmist said in the 92nd chapter ". . .I shall be anointed with fresh oil" Fresh oil! That is what we need today! Restoration is in the air, when you get saturated!
