THE TWO RAINS
"Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord." (5:7) and in 5:8 James says: "for the coming of the Lord is at hand."
Funny in a way, to read these words about two thousand years later!
An airline would not have many customers if it told them that the next flight was "at hand" and then explained that this meant the next flight would arrive in about 2000 years time! This is what we could call a 'Biblical expression".
It is a way of saying something which is special to the Bible, and needs to be understood through the Bible.
Another expression James uses has to do with a farmer waiting for "the early and latter rain."
Why does he compare the return of Christ with a farmer waiting for rain?
The answer: because the famer waits patiently. He does not become stressed out. He trusts the seasons. The rains will come, on time, and the crops will grow.
From God's point of view, there is a very short space between the first and second comings of Christ. The world seems to be going along, century after century, and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight, but from God's point of view the Plan He has worked out is exactly on time.
Kingdoms come and go, dictators rise and fall, the wicked gain power for a while but they die and new generations take their place. Through the passing centuries Christians also live and die. Each of us has a small season to do what we can for Jesus - then we too sleep in the dust until that great Day of the Lord.
Whether we live or die, that Day will come. For those who sleep it will be but a 'blink' of time between their death and the awakening. To us who are still alive, time speeds by, and we must be patient.
Whichever way you view it,
the end result is inevitable.
