FRIDAY MORNING MANNA
January 10, 2014
Nathaniel Fajardo
Email:[email protected]
Are We Preparing for the Latter Rain?– Part XII
THE INDISPENSABLE INDIVIDUAL EARLY RAIN EXPERIENCE
Apostle Paul says: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.” Philippians 2: 12, 13.
Having become “bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh” (As Adam said of Eve, Gen. 2: 23) through the “great mystery of Godliness in the incarnation, God Creator “ manifest in the flesh,” “Immanuel, “God with us” (Matt. 1: 23)–is each individual sinner’s personalizedSavior for: “He was tempted in all points as we [individually] are yet without sin.” Heb. 4: 15.
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer (permit, margin) you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.” 1 Cor. 10:13. See Hebrews 2: 10, 11, 14, 16-18. “For in that He Himself suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.” V. 18. Christ, God incarnate, “is not ashamed to call us brethren.”! verse. 11.
All who, in high places, past, present, and future condemn all who follow Christ and keep His commandments as “heretics” and are worthy of death, stand self-condemned in God’s tribunal for Jesus is not only the Elder Brother of the fallen human race but gave His life for the world, not took away the lives of those who did love or obey Him!
God in Christ deals and treats you and I in perfect love, mercy, justice, and righteousness as though we were the only persons in the world. However, this we must understand: no matter how clear and convincing every ray of light of truth that the Holy Spirit shines into our minds, it will fail to sanctify the person—our soul—and fortify and strengthen us in all our conflicts with sin and Satan unlessthe truth is infused into our life. “Truth is no truth to those who do not practice it.”
To be sanctified then is to become a partaker of the divine nature in our sinful nature. It is only through the agency of the Holy Spirit, operating in the Word that the new principle of mental and spiritual power is brought to the penitent sinner. It is by a daily, constantly growing dependence upon the imparted divinity through the Holy Spirit that we become one with God!
Preparing to be candidates for the latter rain requires as much moral character renovation, preparation, and daily spiritual growth as for the following:
(1) the soon-coming final test of mankind in the long-anticipated prophecy of the final union of church and state resulting in the man-made sabbath by the “image of the beast” formed in and beginning in America. Revelation 13; Great Controversy, p. 445.
(2) the close of our individual probation at death.
(3) the end of earth’s probation when Jesus ceases His work as merciful Intercessor and High Priest in the most holy of the heavenly sanctuary, the close of the pre-advent judgment of the antitypical Day of Atonement begun in 1844.
(4) the reception of seal of God or “the name of the Father in the forehead.”
(5) the blotting out of sins of all who are determined by the investigative judgment as worthy of eternal life “according to their works,” Rev. 22: 12.
(6) the “time of trouble, such as never was since there was nation even to that same time.” Dan. 12: 1, 2. This is the outpouring of the seven last plagues on all “who worship the beast and his image,” when the four winds of strife are finally let loose.”
(7) and finally, the glorious second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
And so we understand that: “The work of preparation is an individual work. We are not saved in groups. The purity and devotion of one will not offset the want of these qualities in another. Though all nations are to pass in judgment before God, yet He will examine the case of each individual with as close and searching scrutiny as if there were not another being upon earth. Everyone must be tested and found without spot or wrinkle or any such thing [Eph. 5: 27].”- E. G. White, Great Controversy, 1911, p. 490.
Gordon Collier points out that (p. 41): “The purposes of the Early Rain are entirely different from the purposes of the Latter Rain. It is extremely important for us to clearly understand this. The Early Rain is given to lead each individual:
(1) into all truth about God and His individual will for us, to a complete knowledge of ourselves—out true individual spiritual condition—our faults, deficiencies, and weaknesses of moral character, including our unknown and unconscious sins, and our constant dependence upon God,
(2) to a thorough repentance, confession, and forsaking of all our sins
(3) to a perfect surrender of our will to God’s will; to a whole-hearted obedience to all that God asks of us
(4) to gain the complete, unbroken victory over every besetting sin in order to reflect the image of Jesus fully, to become fully mature men and women in Christ Jesus.”
At the end of our individual earthly journey at death, and at the end of the pre-advent judgment and of earth’s probation, not a single person in the whole world can plead the excuse that he did not know what sin, according to God’s definition, is, and how to overcome it. Jesus spelled out in detail the nature, work, and office of the Holy Spirit in the plan of redemption of the Gospel in John 14: 16-18, 26; 15: 26, 27; 16: 5-13: In verse 8 He says:
“And when He [the Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict [reprove, K.J.V.] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” In John 14: 26 He continues: “He shall teach you all things.” In 1 John 2: 20 John says: “But you have an anointing [unction, K.J.V.] from the Holy One [Holy Spirit], and you know all things.” “When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” Prayerfully consider the following:
“It is the Spirit that convicts of sin, and with the consent of the human being, expels sin from the heart.” –Ibid, Our High Calling, p. 152. “If the sinner responds to the quickening influence of the Spirit, he will be brought to repentance, and aroused to the importance of obeying the divine requirements.”- Ibid, My Life Today, p. 43.
“It is through the mighty agency of the Holy Spirit that the government of Satan is to be subdued and subjected. It is the Holy Spirit that convinces of sin and expels it from the soul by the consent of the human agent. . . . Through the merits of Christ man may be able to exercise the noblest powers of his being and expel sin from his soul.” – Ibid.
“The conversion of Saul [the persecutor, to Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles] is a striking evidence of the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit to convict men of sin.”- Ibid,
“Whatever may be the nature of your defects, the Spirit of the Lord will enable you to discern them, and grace will be given you whereby they may be overcome.”-Ibid, Sons & Daughters, p. 349.
“He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire’ [ ] . . . To sin, wherever found, ‘Our God is a consuming fire.’ Heb. 12: 29. In all who submit to His power, the Spirit of God will consume sin.” – Ibid, Desire of Ages, p. 107.
“He will reveal to them their defects of character, and to all who seek His aid He will give strength to correct their errors.”- Ibid, Patriarchs & Prophets, p. 633.
“Those who really desire to glorify God, will be thankful for the exposure of every idol and every sin, that they may see these evils and put them away . . .”- Ibid, Vol. 4 Testimonies, p. 354.
“Every provision has been made in behalf of every soul who shall seek to be a partaker of the divine nature [2 Pet. 1: 4] and be complete in Jesus Christ. Every defect is to be discerned and cut away from the character with unsparing decision.”- Ibid, In Heavenly Places, p. 201 (Letter 117, 1896).
“Sufficient light has been given to this generation, that we may learn what our duties and privileges are and enjoy the precious and solemn truths in their simplicity and power.” “-Ibid, My Life Today, p. 42.
“It is the office of the Holy Spirit to reveal to the mind the character of the consecration that God will accept.” – Ibid, RH Jan. 30, 1894.
“Having brought conviction of sin, and presented before the mind the standard of righteousness, the Holy Spirit withdraws the affections from the things of this earth, and fills the soul with desire for holiness.”- Ibid, Acts of the Apostles, pp. 52, 53.
“It is mercy that the Lord reveals to men their hidden defects. He would have them critically examine the complicated emotions and motives of their own hearts, and detect that which is wrong, and modify their dispositions and refine their manners. God would have His servants become acquainted with their own hearts. In order to bring them to a knowledge of their condition, He permits the fire of affliction to assail them, so that they may be purified.”- Ibid, My Life Today, p. 92.
(Continued next week)