What Is the Rain and What Is the Crop?

What Is the Rain and What Is the Crop?

“For the earth which drinks in the rain which often comes upon it, and bears a crop useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.”

God makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. How much sun and rain we receive does not prove whether we are pleasing to God. God is not partial.

What, then, are the sun and the rain? We read prior to the above quote: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come . . . .” This is the sun and the rain which God gives to those who pray and believe and seek Him. However, you can receive it in vain. We can read further in 1 Corinthians 1:4-7 how they had received sun and rain: “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Seeing that the church was so enriched one could believe that they were spiritual, and almost all of God’s people today are living in this deception. Paul gives them a totally different testimony. He says they were carnal and babes and behaved like mere men. Ch. 3:1-4.

The Corinthians had ended up in this deception. Now that they had received so much rain that they had all knowledge and all the gifts, they had become satisfied and rich; they had become lords, but they did not have fellowship. 1 Cor. 4:8. They had become lords without Paul.

What, then, is a useful crop, and what are the thorns and the thistles? A useful crop is the fruit of the Spirit. Gal. 5:22. It is the virtues of Christ. 1 Pet. 2:9. You can be blessed with all the other things, but not with the fruit. A useful crop is the result of obedience. Therefore we read that Jesus learned obedience by the things which He suffered. He also had to go through a development, and we are to follow Him. “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him . . . .” Heb. 5:8-9.

The gardener can bless the fruit trees by cultivating them well, but he cannot give them the fruits. He can look after all the trees equally well, but the quality of the fruit reveals whether the tree is good or bad. The gardener defines himself by the kind of care he gives to the trees, but the fruit of the various trees define what kind of trees they are.

We read what the thorns and thistles are in Galatians 5:19-21. They are the works of the flesh, and they who do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. The more sun and rain they have received, the more responsibility they have, and the greater will be the curse when they bear thorns and thistles.

When you attend a normal religious meeting or prayer meeting, what do you hear? Just listen, and you will hear that they are seeking rain and sunshine—glorious experiences and blessings. They speak about the baptism of the Spirit and the gifts, but they consider obedience and the fruit of the Spirit as bondage. When it is testimony time, they speak about glorious experiences and color them as well as they can. They speak about the rain and the sun they have received, but they do not consider the kind of fruit they bear. God’s people are apprehended of experiencing the sun and the rain—especially healing—but not the virtues of Christ. They do not realize when they bear thorns and thistles while testifying about healings and glorious experiences that they testify against themselves.

The result of this deception is unavoidable. It is envy and jealousy, love of money, strife and division. They may have been believers for many years, yet without having had fellowship. Old preachers have spoken about God’s goodness for many years, and yet they are still lonely. This proves that they have not followed Jesus on the way of obedience. They have lived for themselves. Jesus saw this deception and spoke about it with all seriousness.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” John 12:24.

To go the way of obedience is to forsake your own life. Then you allow yourself to be led by the Spirit, and you bear the fruit of the Spirit. There is fellowship among such people, and the useful crops will increase because of God’s rain and sun. This causes fellowship to become deeper; it becomes more and more glorious to be together, and it is most glorious to listen to the elder brethren among us who have gone on this way.

God was not partial regarding any of those who left Egypt. He baptized them with the same baptism, and gave them the same food and drink. “But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” 1 Cor. 10:5. It is just the same in our days. Therefore wake up from the deception of the times so you can be soil that bears a useful crop. Then you will be ready when Jesus comes.