354. Rain Righteousness
Hosea 10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
The Lord will come and rain righteousness upon you. When Jesus came to earth he earned righteousness so that the Lord could rain His righteousness upon us, for the righteous shall live by faith, Since we could not claim our own righteousness or set it up for ourselves, God Himself, in the person of the Son, came to earth as a man to earn it and give it to us freely. Faith receives it.
After the death and resurrection of Christ, Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit upon all people like rain from heaven. The rain of the Spirit gives life to lifeless souls, whom the Spirit has led to accept Christ as Savior. The Spirit continues to pour out righteousness like rain until we become saturated, nourished, and saturated again and again with the righteousness of God. In this faith we are accounted righteous, purified from sin, and fit to live in God’s presence eternally. Jesus, who is now ruling all things from the right hand of God, continues to pour out the rain of the Spirit who fills us with God’s life.
The conditions of this promise of the coming of the rain include sowing, plowing and seeking. The conditions listed together equal faith in Jesus. Jesus uses the farming metaphor many times to describe the kingdom of God. The farmer, who is God, sows the seed, which is the Word of Gospel. Then the farmer plows the fallow ground to break it up so that the seed may sink into the ground and take root. (Modern day farming reverses this process, plowing first and then planting.) The fallow ground is hard ground after a long winter, which cannot receive the seed. The hard ground is the soul, which is hardened to God’s Word by its Enemies. The Spirit uses the experiences of life connected to the Word to bring about repentance and softness ready to receive Jesus. To all those who did receive Him (believe in Jesus) He gave the right to become the children of God. Then we seek the Lord, that is, cultivate the soil of the soul, wait for the rain, and look for the harvest of righteousness. This is the promise that the Lord will fulfill in each believer’s life.