Ask for the Gospel

Ask rain of the LORD in the season of the spring rain.
ZECHARIAH 10:1
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Ask for the Gospel
Because the promise was made . . . that the Gospel would come, therefore prepare for it, and do not merely wait for it but also ask for it. For now it is time to ask for the true spring rain so that you may not be hindered by men's teaching and the works of the Law and be found unprepared for this rain. It will surely come; but it wants to be accepted and not despised; instead, it wants to be desired and received with careful attention. If you act in this way, then enough rain will come for the growing of all the good fruits of the Spirit. Christ Himself speaks very much like this text in Matthew 9:36ff.: "When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.'" These laborers are the preachers . . .. And so the prophets, too, were ready and prepared to give the true rain. And the rain is called a "spring rain," which comes when the grain has sprouted and is shooting forth, and when the soil is dry from the heat. And so the Gospel also comes when the consciences have become hot and thirsty because of the Law.

From Lectures on Zechariah (German text) (Luther's Works 20:299)
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