Jesus Sits And Waits To Pour Out The Early And Latter Rain

I wanted to share from Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10 verse 11, I believe, Hebrews chapter 10 verse 11. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But he having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet. That word sat down is Jesus. It's contrasted with standing in verse 11. Every priest stands daily ministering offering time after time the same sacrifices over and over again. It's an example of what is what man has to do to try to please God standing, standing, standing, standing daily ministering. It's a perpetual standing daily ministering. And then here comes Jesus. He offers the perfect sacrifice because he never sinned. He took the penalty, the eternal one took the eternal punishment for our sins. And now he has been seated. That's that first big difference between standing, constantly moving around Martha, constantly doing things for God and Mary seated and that's Jesus. He has sat down. There's a place of rest that Jesus has established for us. That is different from all the priests constantly ministering for a constant activity. Jesus is saying, Hey, I've sat down. I'm seated at the right end of God. It is finished. But he's not just seated. He is also seated and he is waiting. So he's waiting from that time onwards until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet. Now, if Jesus took care of all of his enemies on the cross, and when he conquered death, the enemies of Satan and evil forces were defeated, why is he still waiting? You see, he's talking about Jesus in verse 12, having sat down at the right end of God. This is after you went up to heaven. This is after the devil and his forces were defeated. He goes up and he sits at the right end of God. And now he's waiting from that time onward. So the question that we can ask ourselves is what enemies of God, enemies, his enemies still need to be defeated? What enemies are left? And that is one of those verses that also makes it clear to me that there are more enemies beyond the devil and his evil forces. And that is how we know that we have an enemy still not yet conquered, which is our flesh. So when it says that he's waiting for the enemies of Jesus to be made a footstool, he's not talking about the devil, I feel, and his forces, because those are defeated already. But I think there's the flesh within us, our selfish will, that he will wait to be made a footstool for his feet. Now we got to think about that word and think about what is a footstool for his feet? Is that something negative or something positive? It's a source of great pleasure. So he's waiting for the enemies of God, my flesh, to be made a source of pleasure for God, to be made a footstool for his feet, to where Jesus can kick his feet up and relax, can be at home with. We heard that from Hebrews chapter six, sorry, Isaiah 66, you know, this is with whom God dwells and is at rest with, the one who is humble and contrite and trembles at God's word. Now that's a place of rest. And that is what Jesus is seated and waiting for. He's seated and he's waiting for our flesh to be made a footstool, a source of pleasure for Jesus. That's something that's extremely important for us to understand. You know, that word waiting, you know, he's waiting. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 13, right? He was waiting, reminded me of James chapter five, verse seven, no, sorry, Hebrews chapter, sorry, James chapter five, verse seven, if you turn there, you can see that an example of what it means to wait. Another example of somebody who's waiting, James chapter five, verse seven, therefore be patient brethren until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient with it until it gets the early and the late rain. And I wanted to explain to you what I felt the Lord has been telling me about this farmer who is waiting, Jesus who is waiting. Jesus is seated, he's completed the work that he had to do, but now he's waiting like the farmer is waiting for the early and the late rain. And one way I don't, I'm not some theologian expert and all of that, but the way the Lord was speaking to me about the early and the late rain, both those rains are extremely important. And the early rain for me spoke to me about Jesus who has come to save me from my sins. And that's the early rain where Jesus is our savior and he comes to save me from my sins. And that's an extremely important ministry of Jesus, where Jesus comes to save me from my sins. And we see our sins in different ways. We have the old covenant definition of sin, and now we have the new covenant definition of sin, lusting versus adultery, anger versus murder, and so on. And Jesus wants to be our savior. And that's the early rain that the farmer is waiting for. And the soil and the farmer is waiting for this early rain so that we can save us from our sins. But the farmer is not just waiting for the early rain, he's also waiting for the later rain. And what is that later rain? The later rain for me is where Jesus is not just my savior, but where Jesus is my Lord. And where Jesus is more than just somebody who saves me from my sin, but Jesus is my Lord, is the one who gives me fullness of joy. And there's a difference between the two Jesuses. There's a difference between the early rain and the late rain. And the early rain, Jesus waits for some people to say, look, I'm waiting for you to see me as the savior, who's one who can save me from your sins. And he wants to save us from our sins in an increasing way. But it's a false success when we just interact with Jesus as our savior. Jesus wants us, he's waiting from those of us who we interact with Jesus as one who's the savior. He wants the later rain to also fall on us. He wants the early rain to really be absorbed by the soil. And for it to seed to work with the later rain for the early rain, because Jesus has a later rain that he wants to pour on us too. And that's where Jesus is not just saving us from our sins. He's doing more than that. He's giving us a fullness of joy, where Jesus is not just saying, hey, let me pull you out of this, pull you out of this, pull you out of this. He's giving me a sense of joy and fulfillment and pleasure. That's kind of what I was also telling you in that earlier part in Hebrews chapter 10, where it says that Jesus is waiting not for all the enemies just to be defeated. No, he wants the enemies to be defeated so that it can become a source of pleasure, a footstool for his feet. You know, you know, Jesus didn't have the, you know, Holy Spirit didn't have to use that analogy. He could have just said that the enemies are defeated. No, he's not just interested in the enemies being defeated. He wants to be enemies to be defeated and give him pleasure. And the question is, have we experienced, are we seeking not just for the early rain, but also for the late rain, the early rain is where Jesus says, I'm going to save you. But God, Jesus wants us to experience both the early rain, soak that in, soak the early rain in, let the soil be fully absorbed with the early rain. And then say, Lord, I want more. I want more than just salvation from my sins. I want the later rain, which is the pleasure of being with you. The fullness of joy that comes with being in your presence. The prayer of worship that says, I don't want anything besides you. Whom have I in heaven besides you, but you, there's no one I desire on earth besides you. That's a different kind of rain than the early rain, which is just salvation. And God wants us and God is seated and waiting until that whole process is complete. So we must seek to be diligent. We must seek to strive so that we can move past the early rain, take it seriously to deal with sin aggressively in our lives, because we say, Lord, you want us to have much more than just the early rain. You want us to get much more than just the removal of sin. You want us to get the pleasure of being with him, the source of pleasure that's what he's interested in too. And you know that verse in Malachi chapter three, which we heard earlier too. I mean, you see the same thing there as well, where you see that Malachi chapter three, verse two and three, who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like a fuller soap, a fuller is like a cleaner who's putting detergent, right? And then he says in verse three, he will sit as a smelter and purify of the silver and he will purify the sons of Levi. See who is he purifying? He's purifying the ones who have been called to be priests. He's calling ones who have accepted Jesus, they are his people and he's purifying them and refining them like gold and silver. He's sitting down and doing this, but that's not the end of it. He's not doing that just so that they may be pure of all the dirt and the filthiness. He's doing that so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. And then it says in verse four, then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord. And so what God is interested is not vessels that have been refined. He wants vessels that are refined that can offer grain offerings. That's what's written in my margin when it says offerings. He's not talking about specific, any other kind of offering, he's talking about specifically grain offerings and these grain offerings were offerings of gratitude. They were offerings of thankfulness. They were not sacrificing some animal. A grain offering was different from a sin offering or a burnt offering where you killed an animal and there was blood and there's death to self and there's a denial and a crucifixion. That's all there in these other offerings. But a grain offering was offered with grain and oil and frankincense because it was a gift offering. It was an offering of thankfulness. And what God is saying here is I want to refine you not so that you're pure from sin, no much bigger calling from that so that you can make grain offerings, these beautiful, sweet smelling positive offerings to God, smelling of frankincense and oil, a rich aroma to God. That is the purpose with which God is seated. So when I think about God being seated, I want to see this seated God who is trying to refine me from all my sins. That is the early rain. He's trying to pour this early rain on me and saying, Sandeep, get a hold of salvation from sin. See me as my savior. I can save you from all your sin. But he wants me to go beyond that. And we need the Holy Spirit's power to wield the sword of the Spirit to fight all sin. But he's also looking for us to pour upon us the later rain. The later rain is another fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit. It's a fresh immersion of the Holy Spirit where Jesus becomes beautiful to us, where it is the pleasure of Jesus and intimacy with Jesus and the pleasure that the son and the father have with each other. The father relationship with the son, beyond all the work that the son does for the father, beyond all the disciplining of the father has for the son, God wants to say, there's a later rain that I'm trying to get to you, which is sweet intimacy between the father and the son, between the savior who's now become the bridegroom. That's the later rain. So dear brothers and sisters, let us know that Jesus being our savior from all our sins is a critical early rain, but he is seated and he's waiting. He's waiting for the early rain to really be absorbed by the soil, for the early rain to be completely consumed by that soil so that salvation from sin will become normal, where we will live as overwhelming conquerors, that grace will be upon our lives. And that's when he's ready to pour out the later rain to where it is much more about the intimacy with Jesus, where it is about the devotion to Jesus and where our lives have the pleasure of bridegroom and bride, of father and child, just like Jesus lived on his earth. You think Jesus lived a happy life or was it a hard life? Of course there was hardness. He took up his cross. Jesus suffered in the flesh, it says in 1 Peter 4, verse 1. But what characterized his life was not that he was just suffering. He enjoyed sweet intimacy with the father. That was a very happy life. He was the one who was enjoying the early rain and the later rain, free from all sin, but also having deep intimacy with the father. That's what Jesus wants for us too. He is seated and waiting for his enemies, not to be destroyed, but his enemies to be a source of pleasure to him, a footstool for his feet. Anytime if you kick your feet up, dear brothers and sisters, remember what God's plan for you is. He wants you to give him that same pleasure that you're getting from that footstool, to put your feet up after a long day that you've been standing and working. Remember these priests who are constantly offering sacrifices daily, daily. And then you find Jesus who says, I can put my feet up on you through the enemies that were defeated. And I can get pleasure out of your life and you can experience the pleasure that we share together. This is the early rain. And these are the sacrifices that we can offer. These grain offerings that is completely separate from all the blood of our self will. This is just frankincense. This is the sweet wine that we can offer to God and it's all riches of pleasure between Jesus and us. This is the wonderful life calling that God calls us to have. This is the tremendous later rain that God says is possible for us, that we shouldn't stop short and we shouldn't get so bothered by, Lord, there's so much sin, there's so much sin, there's so much sin. Well, deal with it, address it, fight it, find the grace to overcome it. Let us humble ourselves and say, Lord, I want to move beyond Jesus just being my savior. I want to know you as my Lord and as my bridegroom. Of course, sin must be gotten rid of. But Lord, I want this life. I want to move past this Lord, help me to soak in this early rain so that I can have a soil that's ready for that later rain that Jesus can offer. And Jesus is waiting, Jesus is waiting. Who can stand? Before God, as it says in Malachi, who can be prepared to stand before his calling? And Jesus's answer is you can. I'm sitting there and I'm going to refine you, but I'm going to do much more than refine you. I'm going to make it such that grain offerings, sweet, fragrant offerings can be offered to God and you can be pleasing to the Lord. So the causal offense of all our sins are gone, but it's much greater than that. That's God's desire for us. That's what our father's and mother's heart is for every child of ours. Not that they'll stop getting bad grades and not that they'll stop being lazy. No, but they'll give us great pleasure in the way they live their lives. Useful to God, useful to society, useful to their communities, so on. What a horrible insult it is on our wedding day for us to tell our children, yeah, he stopped doing bad things. Really? That's all they did? Yeah, he's not doing a lot of bad things anymore. That's what salvation from sin is. What about if we could stand on our wedding and say, our boy, our daughter is giving us so much pleasure. He's not just stopped doing bad things. He does so many good things for us. He's constantly giving us pleasure. That's the testimony that God wants to have out of our lives. And that's his calling. Let us never forget that. And God has a rich heritage, as we've heard, I think Philippians chapter one, verse six, he will complete the work that he started. What is the work that he has started? That we can offer great offerings, that you can have the later rain, that the enemies of God in our flesh can become a footstool, a source of pleasure. Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you, Lord, for this rich heritage, this amazing calling. We pray, Lord, that this calling will be true. You are waiting. You're not going to get up. You're waiting, Lord Jesus. Do what it takes, Lord, help us to yield to that calling and not lose heart, knowing that you have such an incredible calling for us to taste of the early and the later rain. Thank you that you'll do this in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.