This is a collection of writings on the Holy Spirit as the promised dew from heaven that would fall on His people and bless them.

1. THE HOLY SPIRIT AS DEW
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
BIBLICAL Horizons, No. 4
May, 1989
Copyright 1989, Biblical Horizons
The Hebrew word for dew (tal) refers both to morning dew and nighttime mist. Dew was
important to Ancient Near Eastern agriculture. The climate was so hot and dry that often only the
dew kept vegetation alive during drought and heat. According to the New Bible Dictionary,
"Dew is beneficial to summer crops. This has been proved conclusively by agronomical field-
studies since 1937."
It is thus not surprising that the Bible uses dew as a symbol of God’s blessings in general. It is
among the blessings that Jacob received as the firstborn; Isaac promised Jacob that as the earth
would produce its fatness of grain and new wine, so also the heavens would produce dew (Gen.
27:27-29). Hence, when Jacob’s faithful remnant is restored to God’s favor after the exile, they
receive again the blessings of Jacob, including the promise of dew (Zech. 12:8). As a symbol of
blessing in general, it is fitting that dew is depicted as coming out of heaven, since all blessings
come down from the Father of lights.
Just as dew is a symbol of blessing, its absence is a symbol of cursing. Esau was to be "away
from" (Heb., min) the dew of heaven (Gen. 27:39). Dew was withheld along with rain from
Israel during the ministry of Elijah (1 Ki. 17:1). Because the restoration community left the
temple in disrepair, God withheld the dew from them (Hag. 1:10).
This symbolism adds an additional dimension to the insanity of Nebuchadnezzar. Throughout
Daniel 4-5, it is emphasized that the beastly king was "drenched with the dew of heaven" (Dan.
4:15, 23, 25, 33, 5:21). Nebuchadnezzar thus represents all rebellious men, who defy God like
wild beasts, all the while literally drenched with blessings from heaven. As with
Nebuchadnezzar, God continues to send down dew upon the just and unjust, so as to drive them
to repentance and thanksgiving.
What specific kinds of blessings are associated with dew? First, as we have already noted, dew
comes from above. It comes, according to the biblical worldview, out of heaven, from the clouds.
This reminds us of the glory-cloud from which God sends His blessings. More generally, dew is
a gift from a superior to his subjects. It is thus not only associated with God’s favor and love, but
with the favor of a king (Pr. 19:2; cf. Ps. 72:6). Because it is a symbol of the favor of our King
and Judge, dew is a reminder of the sovereignty of God’s grace.
Second, dew is a symbol of the resurrection in Is. 26:19. Just as the earth brings forth its dew, so
also it shall bring forth the dead to new life. Dew thus is a symbol of the redeemed and
resurrected people of God. God’s saints are those that are raised with Christ in baptism (Rom.
6:4), and thus become partakers of the first resurrection. Dew is a fitting reminder of our baptism

2. into Christ’s death and resurrection, since it pictures by its renewal of the earth the "washing of
regeneration."
The connection of dew with baptism is strengthened when we note that dew is associated with
the anointing of the priest. In Psalm 133:2-3, a parallel is drawn between the oil that is poured
over Aaron’s head and the dew that falls on Mount Zion. This passage links dew with baptism in
two ways. First, the priest is like the mountain, and the dew that falls is parallel to the oil of
ordination. Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture. Thus, dew is connected with
the outpouring of the Spirit, which in turn is symbolized by the pouring of water in baptism.
Moreover, the anointing of the head is the rite of induction into the priesthood — in the New
Covenant, baptism. Baptism is also our induction into the Body of Christ. Psalm 133 stresses the
unity of God’s people as they are ingrafted into the priesthood of the Greater Aaron, and share in
the "one baptism" — the baptism of Christ. The fact that the Mountain can symbolize God’s
people as a whole (Heb. 12:22-23) adds a collective dimension to the imagery of Psalm 133. The
baptism of the Mountain-priest is by extension the baptism of the Mountain-people.
Third, dew is associated with manna, and thus with food (Ex. 16:13-21). It is also noteworthy
that Moses prays that his inspired words would be like dew (Dt. 32:2). Manna too is compared to
the Word of God (Dt. 8:3), and Jesus compares manna to His own Body that is offered for the
life of the world (John 6:49-51). Dew daily refreshes the plants and the earth, and recalls the
refreshment of God’s Word and Sacrament. Fittingly, dew is also associated with the strength of
youth (cf. Ps. 110:3). It is through communication in Word and Sacrament that our strength is
renewed like the eagles’, and we are equipped for our struggle with sin and Satan.
Fourth, dew is a symbol of the ministry of the people of God in the world. Micah compares the
remnant of Israel to dew among the nations (Mic. 5:7). The heavenly people of God goes into the
world to bring refreshment and new life to a sinful world. Throughout the Proverbs, a wise man
is compared to a fountain and tree of life, whose words and deeds refresh and encourage. It is
worth noting that the Micah 5 begins with a prophecy of a ruler coming from Bethlehem, who
will deliver and shepherd Israel. We are therefore entirely warranted in seeing Micah 5:7 as a
prophecy (at least secondarily) of the New Covenant Church.
This also takes us back to the blessing of Jacob: Jacob was not only promised the dew of heaven,
but also that he would rule over nations. In this context, Micah 5:7 is associated with Proverbs
19:2, which compares the favor of the king with the dropping of dew. The parallel between these
passages is strengthened by the fact that both also speak of the wrath of the lion (Mic. 5:8). Like
the king of Proverbs 19:2, the remnant of Israel is like dew, but also like a lion: a blessing to
those who bless, and a curse to those who curse. To say that Israel (and the Church) will be like
dew, therefore, is also to say that the saints will reign on the earth (Rev. 5:10), through their
kindness and service.
Hosea uses the symbolism of dew in a different manner. He compares the fair-weather loyalty of
Ephraim and Judah to the dew that evaporates in the heat of affliction (Hos. 6:4). In 13:3, dew,
chaff, smoke blowing away, and a morning cloud are all used as symbols of Israel’s
unfaithfulness. The book ends, however, with a promise that God Himself will become the dew
of Israel, causing Israel to blossom like a lily and take root (14:5-7).
Dew is a window on the whole of the Christian life. It symbolizes the unmerited favor of our
heavenly King; our induction into the covenant through baptism; our continuing refreshment in
Word and Sacrament; and our task of ruling the earth through works and words of mercy.

3. Finally, the evanescence of dew is a sobering reminder of our sin, our faithlessness, and
encourages us to perseverance.
The Holy Spirit as the Dew
Canon Morse.
Hosea 14:5-7
I will be as the dew to Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as
Lebanon.…
The Holy Ghost came down on the day of Pentecost. He comes down now also, though not
in any extraordinary manner, or with any remarkable manifestation. Quietly, calmly, but
mightily, now as then He comes, the Lord, the Giver of Life, to quicken the dead soul and
to revive the drooping, The manner of His ordinary coming is likened to the falling of the
dew, and the various effects of His coming are likened to the luxuriance of the most
beautiful plants of an Eastern climate. —
I. THE COMING OF THE SPIRIT IS AS THE DEW.
1. As the dew all day long hangs suspended in the atmosphere waiting only for the fitting
moment to form itself into sensible drops upon every blade of grass which is thirsting for its
fall, so is the blessedSpirit of God ever moving on all sides around us, unseen indeed, but
not altogether unfelt, waiting for the hour when the glare of this world shall have gone
down, and man's heart, as in the coolness of the evening hour, be prepared-to receive Him.
The Spirit is everin contact with our hearts, gently yet strongly, inclining them to receive
Jesus as their Lord, and to live for Him. Above, beneath, around, within you is God the
Spirit, and every moment He is striving with your conscience to lead you on to God.

4. 2. There is a likeness in the seasons when the dew falls, and when the Holy Spirit most
sensibly comes. The dew settles in drops upon the herbs at evening. The Spirit's seasons
come when the gathering night-clouds of sickness or of sorrow, or the calm still hours of
Sabbath meditation, have shut out the glare of earthly things and cooled down the heart.
You were still and calm in your own spirit, and so inclined to receive the impressions of the
blessedSpirit of God.
3. The manner in which the dew falls. Gently, and again and again. So while the Spirit
humbles the heart of the stoutest sinner, He does not overwhelm the spirit of the most
timorous and feeble disciple. He settles on our hearts, and shows us the things of Jesus.
4. The dew falls much more fully on the grass which thirsts for it than on the stones which
have no longing for it. The Spirit is about us all, but His fulness of grace comes to those
who really need.
II. THE EFFECT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AS PICTURED BY THE GROWTH OF
PLANTS WHEN WATERED BY THE DEW. The prophet illustrates by the beauty of the
lily, the fruitfulness of the olive, and the deep-rooted strength and far-spreading sweetness
of the cedar of Lebanon. Each one has its own peculiar properties, but each of these
properties is nourished and brought to perfection by the dew. To Jesus the Spirit was given
without measure; and therefore in Jesus all graces and all gifts are combined; each is in
perfection, and no one clashes with another. In meekness alike and in firmness, in depth of
thought and in activity of work, He stood alone, the perfect man, and in Him alone the
words of the prophet are completely fulfilled.
(Canon Morse.)
The Heavenly Dewfall
A. Rowland
Hosea 14:5

5. I will be as the dew to Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as
Lebanon.…
The former part of the chapter describes the experience through which a Church or a soul
must pass before the fulfillment of this promise. The repentance, the vows, the hopes of the
penitent are here crowned by Divine goodness. With a startling and sudden transition, in
the fourth verse, Jehovah is represented as interposing amidst the prayers of those
returning to him. So our Lord describes the father as unable to listen to the close of the
prodigal's confession, before he breaks forth in a gush of generous pardon and blessing.
How encouraging the truth this suggests for all who turn to God! We accept our text as a
figurative description of the revivifying and beautifying influence of the Holy Spirit upon
the human heart. Let us notice, therefore, some of the characteristics of the dew.
I. DEW IS UNSEEN IN ITS COMING. We see its effects when every leaf and flower
glitters in the early sunshine; but the dew came unperceived, when darkness was over the
earth.
1. Probably the most powerful forces are those which are unseen. The noblest part of man
is hidden from human gaze, and of him who is the directing Power of the universe it is said,
"No man hath seenGod at any time." If it be argued that because God is, and always has
been invisible, he must be non-existent; it may also be argued that the conscious ego does
not exist, because it has never been seen. It is true that no research or analysis in the
natural world has discovered God; it is equally true that no investigation of the human
body, living or dead, has ever revealedthe subtle consciousness of whose existence each
man is, however, certain. Both are beyond the range of experimental science. We do not
know how the Spirit of God affects us; we cannot discover the nexus by means of which
holy thoughts and impulses from above becomes ours, yet we are confident that they are of
God and not of us. In our holiest and best hours the Holy Spirit comes to us, but secretly,
"as the dew lighteth upon the grass."
2. The evidence of the work of the Spirit is to be found in its effects; e.g. the conversion of
Saul of Tarsus; the profound teaching of the unscholarly writers of Holy Scripture; the
triumph of Christianity through the influence of such men as were its first representatives;
the moral transformation of some we ourselves have seen. One example of genuine

6. conversion will do more to prove the work of the Spirit than all the tomes of theology ever
written.
II. DEW IS SILENT IN ITS FALL. We can hear the pattering of rain or the rippling of
streams, but the dewfall does not disturb an insect's sleep.
1. The Church, as well as the world, depends too often on noise and bustle, as the signs or
the causes of success. The preacher whose eloquence attracts the multitude, around whom
are clustered societies and organizations to do all manner of work, is not always the man
most richly blessedof God. Be that as it may, the signs that the work is of God are to be
found, not in the outward, but in the inward - in truer thoughts of sin and holiness, in a
loftier standard of Christian integrity, in the generosity and self-sacrifice of Christ's
disciples, in the purity and love which are being silently inwrought by the power of the
Holy Ghost. Hence we should be slow to measure success in our own efforts or those of
others.
2. As a rule, spiritual blessing is richest when outward joy is least. The dew falls not during
sunshine, but in the night. Note the spiritual richness and power of the Church in times of
persecution. Referto the development of Christian faith, peace, hope, devoutness, in the
dark seasons of affliction. The world must be hushed that we may hear God's voice. Earth
must be darkened before the dew of heavenly blessing falls.
III. DEW IS REVIVING IN ITS INFLUENCE. We see nothing comparable to that with
which Hoses was familiar, living as he did in a land where no rain fell for months together,
and where the withholding of dew meant the death of vegetation. Without it corn would not
reach maturity, and olives and vines and fig trees would yield no fruit. A more terrible
curse than that pronounced by Elijah in Ahab's reign could not have been inflicted. Christ
Jesus foresaw the dearth of comfort arid hope and energy which would prevail in his
Church if his disciples were left to themselves. Hence he gave the promise of the Comforter,
whom he would send from the Father, to lead his disciples into all truth, and to convince
the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. The garden, glittering and beautiful
after its dewy baptism, may illustrate such spiritual refreshment as we see in Peter coming
from the upper room at Pentecost, or in John rejoicing even in the exile of Patmos. What
are the graces and gifts - the fruits of the Spirit in us, which need the heavenly benediction?

7. Whence their impoverishment? Where their source of revival? "Ask, and ye shall receive,
that your joy may be full."
IV. DEW IS REPEATED AND ABUNDANT IN ITS FALL. Its departure, as well as its
coming, is rapid and secret. Hence Hosea elsewhere uses it as an illustration of transient
religious feeling. To give a dewfall once in a seasonwould be of little use.
1. It comes night after night, and tags is in accordance with the Divine method. Thus God
gave the manna, which could not be hoarded or stored up for future use. By this means the
people learnt their constant dependence on God. Still we are taught to pray, "Give us this
day our daily bread" - a prayer which includes spiritual as well as temporal sustenance.
Israel could not live on yesterday's manna. You cannot live on the relics of your old faith.
Your character will break down if it rests on the memory of your past experience. The
feeling aroused when you first thought of God was enough to bring you to him, but not
enough to keepyou near him. The prayer which brought pardon must be daily repeated
for purification from sin. And in our weakness this is necessary, lest we should lapse into a
prayerless life, and go on our way in a spirit of presumptuous self-dependence.
2. It is not that God cannot give grace abundantly, or that he willingly withholds from the
feeblest and most worthless what they want and can receive. He does not stint the world of
dew. The humblest flower has its drop; unsightly things are baptized with that blessing; the
rough bracken shares it equally with the rose, and the tiny flower on the window-sill of the
pauper is as much blessedas the garden of the peer. Free to all, it is a fit emblem of the
fullness of the Holy Spirit which God will in nowise withhold from him who seeks. "I will
be as the dew unto Israel."
CONCLUSION. If God is prepared to give, are we prepared to receive? Let us not make a
mistake about the Holy Spirit similar to that which men formerly made about the dew,
which represents him. They supposed that the moon and planets poured it down upon the
earth, regardless of its condition. But at the beginning of this century, Dr. Wells, by three
years' experiments, established the theory which, as Dr. Tyndall says, "has stood the test of
all subsequent criticism, and is now universally accepted." It was demonstrated, in short,
that dew was not dependent on the condition of the heavens only, but on the condition of
the earth; ay, and of the various things upon the earth. It was shown that the aqueous
vapor condenses on things which are cooled by the radiation of their own heat, and on

8. those only; so that if anything, a cloud, for example, comes between them and heaven,
which prevents the giving off of their heat, the dew does not come; or, if they do not
themselves freely give off their heat, though all around are blessed, they are not. Carry the
thought into the higher sphere of which we have spoken. If there be no outgoing of warm
earnest desire on your part, if there be not an honest putting away of any cloud, be it of
doubt or of sin, which lies between your soul and heaven, though others may be blessed,
you will fail to receive the fulfillment of the promise, "I will be as the dew unto Israel." -
A.R.
28 Bible verses about dew.
Most Relevant Verses
Judges 6:36-40
Then Gideon said to God, "If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken,
behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only,
and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as
You have spoken." And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the
fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water.read more.
Daniel 4:25
Verse Concepts
that you be driven away from mankind and your dwelling place be with the beasts of the
field, and you be given grass to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven; and
sevenperiods of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler
over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.
Daniel 5:21
Verse Concepts
"He was also driven away from mankind, and his heart was made like that of beasts, and
his dwelling place was with the wild donkeys He was given grass to eat like cattle, and his
body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the Most High God is
ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets overit whomever He wishes.
1 Kings 17:1
Verse Concepts

9. Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD,
the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain
these years, except by my word."
Deuteronomy 33:13
Verse Concepts
Of Joseph he said, "Blessedof the LORD be his land, With the choice things of heaven,
with the dew, And from the deep lying beneath,
Genesis 27:39
Verse Concepts
Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, "Behold, away from the fertility of the
earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above.
Genesis 27:28
Verse Concepts
Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an
abundance of grain and new wine;
2 Samuel 1:21
Verse Concepts
"O mountains of Gilboa, Let not dew or rain be on you, nor fields of offerings; For there
the shield of the mighty was defiled, The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.
Job 38:28
Verse Concepts
"Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
Haggai 1:10
Verse Concepts
"Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its
produce.
Proverbs 3:19-20

10. The LORD by wisdom founded the earth, By understanding He established the heavens. By
His knowledge the deeps were broken up And the skies drip with dew.
Deuteronomy 32:2
Verse Concepts
"Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As the droplets on the
fresh grass And as the showers on the herb.
Hosea 14:5
Verse Concepts
I will be like the dew to Israel; He will blossom like the lily, And he will take root like the
cedars of Lebanon.
Psalm 110:3
Verse Concepts
Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power; In holy array, from the womb
of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew.
Isaiah 26:19
Verse Concepts
Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for
joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed
spirits.
Zechariah 8:12
Verse Concepts
'For there will be peace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its
produce and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to
inherit all these things.
2 Samuel 17:12
Verse Concepts
"So we shall come to him in one of the places where he can be found, and we will fall on
him as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men who are with him, not
evenone will be left.

11. Exodus 16:13-14
So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the
morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew evaporated,
behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on
the ground.
Job 29:19
Verse Concepts
'My root is spread out to the waters, And dew lies all night on my branch.
Numbers 11:9
When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.
Psalm 133:3
Verse Concepts
It is like the dew of Hermon Coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the
LORD commanded the blessing--life forever.
Proverbs 19:12
Verse Concepts
The king's wrath is like the roaring of a lion, But his favor is like dew on the grass.
Isaiah 18:4
Verse Concepts
For thus the LORD has told me, "I will look from My dwelling place quietly Like dazzling
heat in the sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."
Hosea 6:4
Verse Concepts
What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your
loyalty is like a morning cloud And like the dew which goes away early.

12. Hosea 13:3
Verse Concepts
Therefore they will be like the morning cloud And like dew which soon disappears, Like
chaff which is blown away from the threshing floor And like smoke from a chimney.
Micah 5:7
Verse Concepts
Then the remnant of Jacob Will be among many peoples Like dew from the LORD, Like
showers on vegetation Which do not wait for man Or delay for the sons of men.
Exodus 16:13
Verse Concepts
So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the
morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
Judges 6:37-40
behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only,
and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as
You have spoken." And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the
fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. Then Gideon said to God,
"Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a
test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on
all the ground."
Percy Gutteridge
"We have considered several subjects having to do with that most blessedand glorious
Person, the Holy Spirit, who indwells God’s children. We have looked at the Holy Spirit as
oil, and as fire. Now we want to understand that wonderful figure of the Holy Spirit as
dew.
What a lovely series of poetic figures God gives us about His people in this wonderful
chapter of Hosea! God says of Himself, “I will be as the dew unto Israel.” Having spoken

13. of Himself as dew, God then describes Israel in a series of beautiful plant similes: like the
lily; casting forth roots as a cedar of Lebanon; spreading branches; beauty as the olive
tree; a fragrance like that lovely scent of the cedars of Lebanon (verses 5-6). Israel “shall
revive as the corn”; “grow as the vine”; and give off the scent of the wine of Lebanon (verse
7). How many ways God depicts His Israel—a lily, a cedar of Lebanon, an olive tree, corn,
and the vine. And then He says His people are “like a green fir tree” (verse 8), that is, they
remain green evenin the winter. When God tries to describe His people, they have so many
beauties that He cannot put them all under one figure. So that is why He has given us all
these successive beauties, lest we should say, “Well, He’s spoken about trees, but cedars of
Lebanon don’t have fruit.” True, but there’s the vine that does have fruit; and God says,
“From Me is thy fruit found” (verse 8).
All of the plants that God mentions are living, growing things. Note how the Lord says they
will grow: They “shall grow as the lily” (Hosea 14:5). The Lord Jesus once said about the
lily (because the Lord often quotes from the Old Testament), “Consider the lilies; how they
grow” (Luke 12:27; Matthew 6:28). The mind of a well-informed Jew would have gone
back to our passage in Hosea, where the Lord had said, “He shall grow as the lily.” So we,
too, should take Jesus at His word and consider how lilies grow. Lilies and the beauty of all
flowers and trees owe a tremendous amount to the dew that God sends. The dew keeps
things fresh. Psalm 110, that lovely Messianic Psalm, speaking about Jesus, says:
1The Lord said unto my Lord,
“Sit thou at My right hand,
until I make Thine enemies thy footstool.”
3Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power,
in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning:
Thou hast the dew of thy youth.
Psalm 110:1,3
When Caleb was eighty-five years old, he came to Joshua, who was judging Israel, and
said, “You remember that when you and I went out over forty years ago to spy out the
land, God made us a promise that we would come through into Canaan, and here we are.
Now, my strength is the same to go out and to come in before the Lord as everit was.”
Joshua assentedand gave Caleb a special mountain as his inheritance, and Caleb
conquered it (Joshua 14). At eighty-five years of age, Caleb had “the dew of his youth.” It’s
wonderful to have the dew of your youth! Young people get rather concerned sometimes,
and hope they’ll never grow old. You will! You can’t help it. But with age will come a
tremendous advantage; if you are sensible, the older you get, the wiser you will get. Young

14. people cannot have experience. You can learn a lot from books, but you cannot gain
experience from books, and wisdom is always associatedwith experience. But isn’t it
delightful, when, instead of finding a crusty old man or a nervous, garrulous old lady, you
find an older person who has the dew of youth? They are still fresh and young in their
minds. You must pray, brothers and sisters, that as you grow older, which is inevitable,
that God will keepyou fresh, so that you have the dew of your youth. It’s most attractive to
meet one who has grown old with Jesus, who has the dew of his youth, the freshness and
the anointing of the Holy Spirit added to the wisdom that he or she has accumulated down
through the years. Similarly, every tree owes a very special debt to dew, this most blessed
cause of the tree’s freshness and beauty.
In the very beginning, and for centuries after the creation, it did not rain. There was only
dew. It’s often overlooked by people that in the beginning it was not God’s order that there
should be rain on the earth; but there was a very plentiful dew. Let me remind you of it. It
says in Genesis 2:4-6:
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the
day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it
grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man
to till the ground.
But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
So, originally, there was no rain, but there was dew. Have you seenGod’s wonderful
provision in that? Rain continually leaches the goodness out of the ground and washes it
into the brooks, into the creeks, into the rivers, and into the sea. So as the earth gets older
and older, the ground gets more and more impoverished, while the sea gets richer and
richer. That’s why some people take kelp in tablet form, because they feel that kelp is very
nourishing. And I guess it, is for it is always being enriched by the richness of the land,
whereas the land is getting poorer and poorer as time goes on. God’s early provision kept
all the goodness in the ground because it wasn’t leached by heavy rain. Wasn’t that
intelligent and sensible of God? Our God is beyond intelligent and sensible—He is
omniscient (that is, knowing everything) and all wise.
Now dew is condensed water vapor. Water vapor that is in the air will condense on cool
surfaces, and there it collects. Dew, also, is a mixture of the breath of the plants and the
flowers. That’s why dew is so healthful. There is a process called guttation3 whereby the
flowers breathe out. When the Bible says, “Let every thing that hath breath praise the
Lord,” you may think only of human beings; but God says, “Every thing that hath breath.”
All living things breathe, such as trees, and plants, and herbs, as well as animal life. They
praise God in their way. And that lovely dew, which is so sweet on an early summer’s

15. morning, is not only coming from atmospheric moisture; it’s the very essence of those
flowers and herbs. (I’m sure we’d be a far healthier people if, instead of spending billions
of dollars in foisting cancers on rats and monkeys and dogs, we studied the herbs that God
has given to us, for the Bible says in Psalm 104:14 that God gave the “herb for the service
of man.” I am certain that God has enriched herbs with health, and we are great losers
because we prefer man-made medicines to God-given ones.) These lovely, glorious plants
that God has made, even the trees, are constantly giving out this wonderful breath which
congeals and condenses. Perhaps that’s why the old nature healers used to tell people to
walk barefoot in the dew of a morning, because they believed the feet would absorb the
healthfulness of the dew and it would be of tremendous benefit to people.
Now some substances collect dew more than others. What are they? Well, there are two
factors that have to be considered, without getting too scientific. Those substances which
are poor conductors of heat, but good radiators of heat, collect dew more than others.
What do we mean by good and poor conductors of heat? Let me give you an example:
Suppose you were making jam, which can be exceedingly hot because of its syrupy nature.
Would you be so foolish as to stir it with a copper spoon? If you did, you’d immediately
drop the copper spoon because it would be too hot. Copper is such a rapid conductor of
heat that the heat would be conducted up the copper spoon into your hand, and it would
burn you. Why do you use a wooden spoon? It’s because wood is a poor conductor of heat.
So the heat of the jam you are stirring does not come up the handle of the wooden spoon
into your hand and burn you. (You never dreamed I’d give you a hint on jam making, did
you? And it’s all free!) So there are your examples of a good conductor of heat (copper)
and a poor conductor (wood).
What about radiation? Radiation of heat refers to heat being given off. Wood is a good heat
radiator. Whatever heat it has it freely gives away. Wood is an example of a substance that
is a poor conductor, but a good radiator. It doesn’t convey heat along itself, but what heat
it has it gives away. The substances which have these characteristics are the ones which
collect the dew. Animal substances like wool, hair, and vegetation rapidly give away their
heat, but are very poor conductors of heat; so they collect the dew. Isn’t that a wonderful
provision of God? This is another instance of the great wisdom of the Most High.
Let’s think about sheep. Sheepare covered with wool on their backs. I have told you that
wool is a poor conductor, but a good radiator. If you were a sheep, you’d appreciate that.
Sheep have to be out under the hot sun in the summertime. The sun shines upon them, and
if their wool were a good conductor, it would take the heat of the sun rapidly to their bodies
and the poor little things would become fried mutton! But because their wool is a poor
conductor, it doesn’t take the heat of the sun to their bodies; and since the wool is a good
radiator, it gives off the heat of their bodies. This is the handiwork of our great Creator
God, whose ways are past finding out. We’re all the time finding sweetly wonderful things

16. about Him. If you love Him, He will open to you some of the secrets of nature. Scientists
generally have thrown away the key to nature, which is the recognition of God being
Creator; they think everything comes by chance, so they miss it all. Foolish men! But if you
believe that God is the great Creator, you will always be looking at nature and finding
some wonderful truth of God.
With what we understand about wool and dew, let’s reconsider the story of Gideon and the
fleece. Do you remember, in Judges 6, how Gideon posed God with a problem? God had
told him he would deliver Israel (Judges 6:11-16), but Gideon couldn’t believe it. So
because he was a doubter, and not a believer, he challenged God to do something that
would prove to him that God was sending him. Now I know that some of you say, “I put a
fleece out,” and I fear that some of you do so because you think it sounds scriptural and
“spiritual.” But Gideon put this fleece of wool out before God because of unbelief! If God
has told you to do something, what do you want to put a fleece out for, please? If God has
told you to do it, go and do it! Don’t put a fleece out and test God like Gideon did.
Remember what Gideon said? “Gideon said unto God, ‘If Thou wilt save Israel by mine
hand,’”—if, if, if! “If” is the very mark of doubt.
If Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand as Thou has said, behold I will put a fleece of wool on
the floor. If the dew be on the fleece only and it be dry on all the earth beside, I shall know
that Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand.
Judges 6:36-37
So Gideon put a fleece out on the threshing floor which was completely bare (that is, dry
earth), and of course in the morning he found that the fleece was full of water and there
was no dew on the ground beside it. You say, “How wonderful!” No, not so wonderful!
That’s where you’d expect the dew to be, on the wool. Dew doesn’t go on bare earth. God
wants His dew, so refreshing and sweet, to be on the plants, on the animals, not on bare
earth. So, then Gideon had a thought. I guess the devil came to him and said, “Gideon,
don’t you see it would have happened normally? Haven’t you ever noticed that sheep
always have dew on their wool? And haven’t you noticed that the bare ground doesn’t have
dew on it? Oh, Gideon, what a fool you’ve made of yourself. It’s only the ordinary course of
nature; God didn’t do it.” Perhaps that’s what the devil said to Gideon. Therefore Gideon
went to God again.
And Gideon said unto God, “Let not Thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but
this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only
upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.
Judges 6:39

17. “Upon all the ground let there be dew”—oh, that would be something! “Let it be dry only
upon the fleece”—oh, that would be a miracle! And God consented. So the next morning
the fleece was completely dry; and the ground was wet—both most unnatural. God
performed the miracle, and Gideon couldn’t argue any more. He obeyed and delivered
Israel. And now you can better appreciate how God worked so wonderfully in this story,
because of what you understand about dew.
Oh, the blessings of dew! The plants that need the most, get the most. And plants are
always giving out to form dew. This illustrates God’s great principle: “Give, and it shall be
given unto you” (Luke 6:38). How wonderfully God teaches us in what He has created!
Dew is like the incense of praise from the earth ascending up to God. And we are like the
plants of God’s creation, joining our breaths with all the praise going up to God from all
His creation heavenward in blessing.
Now to have dew, there must a clear sky for good radiation. Dew never collects in stormy
weather. Dew won’t collect if there’s wind; it has to be calm. God is telling us by this that
the Holy Spirit is quiet, beautiful, dove-like, and gentle. People who are usually loud, noisy,
and outwardly emotional won’t have the blessing of the dew of God upon them, which is
most precious. That sweet, quiet, gentle sensitivity is gone from them. In their insensitivity,
they often hurt others, so you can’t go to them for counsel and comfort. It’s to those quiet,
anointed brothers or sisters that you go, because you sense that the Holy Ghost is upon
them.
There are many churches which believe in the true baptism in the Holy Ghost. They believe
that the gifts of the Spirit are to operate in the worship services. Yet how many of them
consistently miss God’s greatest anointing because they never have a quiet time in their
services! With too many it has to be noise, noise, noise all the time. I have been present
when “tongues” has driven the Holy Spirit away when the Holy Spirit wanted to minister
to the people. I remember preaching some time ago in England at a Pentecostal convention;
I knew the history of the church because that brokenhearted pastor had confided it to
me—the church secretary had been going out in secret with the wife of the church
treasurer. The pastor had confronted the man and woman with their sin and they each had
confessedit. The woman begged the pastor not to tell her husband, because her husband
would have half murdered her if he had found out. Now this woman had a lovely voice. At
that convention the pastor askedher to sing, and she sang her testimony. Just before I
spoke she sang her testimony:
Let me burn out for Thee, dear Lord,
Burn and wear out for Thee.
Don’t let me rust nor my life be

18. A failure, my God to Thee.
Use me and all I have, dear Lord.
Get me so close to Thee
That I feel the throb
Of the great heart of God
Until I burn out for Thee.
[From Bessie F. Hatcher’s classic
Let Me Burn Out for Thee]
As she sang in repentance the Holy Ghost came down. I was standing there to speak. I
couldn’t do anything else but weep, and I’m not that kind of character. If an Englishman
weeps, or a Dutchman weeps, it’s because they’re moved by the Holy Ghost. We are not an
emotional people. And God moved me with Holy Ghost tears as I inwardly knew by the
Spirit that that woman was singing her repentance to God and dedicating herself to Him.
And, oh, the glory! I felt the Holy Ghost coming down upon the assembly. Down and down
He came as she sang. That’s why I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t open my mouth for the awe of
the blessing of God upon the meeting. Revival was coming! A break! And then some foolish
person, some foolish Pentecostal brother, bawled a so-called message in tongues. You see,
unfortunately, the only moving of the Spirit some Pentecostals know is tongues. They are
rightly called “the tongues-people.” God wanted to speak to us. We’d have broken down in
tears, all of us. And God would have come down. The pastor, who was absolutely, fully
Pentecostal, immediately came forward. Under normal circumstances he welcomed
tongues. But he begged there would not be an attempt to interpret. “God is here,” he said.
“The Holy Ghost is come. Don’t try to interpret it.” But some other foolish Pentecostal
ignored the pastor’s admonition, and bawled a so-called interpretation in tongues. Sadly,
when the tongues began, I felt the Holy Ghost begin to hover like a dove and ascend; but
He paused when the pastor spoke. Then, when the so-called interpretation was given out,
the Holy Spirit ascended and left. At the time I knew He’d gone, and my eyes were as dry
as though I’d never wept. And I had to preach in that meeting after the Spirit departed.
That assembly lost the moving of the Holy Ghost.
Oh, brothers and sisters, the blessing of dew! The blessings of quietness! The blessings of
listening to the Holy Ghost! I’ve heard messages in tongues that have been right from
heaven, coming at the right time, and God has given the interpretation. I’ve also heard
messages in tongues and the usual “interpreter” has given the so-called interpretation,

19. which we all know by heart: “Thus saith the Lord, ‘O my people, I will surely bless you.’”
You’ve heard it many times, haven’t you? But in circumstances in which a mis-
interpretation was given, and God had given me the true interpretation, would I be so
foolish as to say, “Now, that’s the wrong interpretation”? Not at all! God showed me what
to do under all these circumstances where there was a true message in tongues and the
usual interpreter had given the mechanical so-called interpretation. If God gave me the
true interpretation, I would wait and give the message out as prophecy. No one would know
any different, but they would have received the word of the Lord. Oh, for wisdom!
Oh, that we might know that God wants us to be quiet before Him! Why do these dear
young people carry about little transistor radios with them all the time?4 Why is it that
when they’re doing their homework, they have to be listening to rock ‘n’ roll? It’s lest they
should hear God. Lest God should speak. That’s why the devil’s done it; he knows that the
glorious Lord is the quiet One. Those voluble, emotional people who must be doing and
saying and shouting all the time do not have the freshness of their youth; they don’t know
the blessing of dew.
Over a hundred years ago, John Greenleaf Whittier penned a poem called The Brewing of
Soma. Now soma is an herb grown in India that is dedicated to the worship of Soma, a
moon goddess. This herb has a milky juice which is brewed with barley, producing an
intoxicating drink. And the brewed soma in this alcohol produces a wild passion, an unholy
ecstasy. This is how the poem goes:5
As in that child-world’s early year,
Each after age has striven
By music, incense, vigils drear,
And trance, to bring the skies more near,
Or lift men up to heaven!
…
And yet the past comes round again,
And new doth old fulfill;
In sensual transports wild as vain
We brew in many a Christian fane6
The heathen Soma still!
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,

20. Forgive our foolish ways!
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.
In simple trust like theirs who heard
Beside the Syrian sea
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word
Rise up and follow Thee.
O Sabbath rest by Galilee!
O calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
The silence of eternity
Interpreted by love!
With that deep hush subduing all
Our words and works that drown
The tender whisper of Thy call,
As noiseless let Thy blessing fall
As fell Thy manna down.
Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.
[From Whittier’s The Brewing of Soma]

21. “Drop Thy still dews of quietness.” You see, there has to be stillness, else the dew will not
collect. God will not speak in the earthquake and the wind and the fire. Recall the account
in 1 Kings 19 of Elijah running away from the wrath of Jezebel. God had used Elijah to
confront and confound the priests of Baal, and God had proven His acceptance of Elijah’s
sacrifice by sending fire from heaven. Yet a day later, Elijah ran scared, starting a long
journey which brought him to a meeting with God on the mount. There came a great wind
which rent the mountain. It was like a bomb blast that shattered the very rocks, so fierce
was the wind; but God was not in the wind. Then there was an earthquake, but God was
not in the earthquake. There followed a fire that came raging by, but God was not in the
fire. Finally, after the fire, came a still, small voice; and Elijah knew that it was the voice of
God. There is a lovely hymn that we delight to sing:
Speak, Lord, in the stillness
While I wait on Thee;
Hushed my heart to listen,
In expectancy.
Speak, O blessèdMaster,
In this quiet hour,
Let me see Thy face, Lord,
Feel Thy touch of power.
…
Fill me with the knowledge
Of Thy glorious will;
All Thine own good pleasure
In my life fulfill.
Like “a watered garden”
Full of fragrance rare
Ling’ring in Thy presence
Let my life appear.
[From Speak, Lord, in the Stillness

22. by E. May Grimes]
“Speak, Lord, in Thy stillness.” Amen!
So, stillness is required for dew to form. What other condition is necessary? There must
also be an open sky for the dew to come. Under an open spiritual sky, when there is nothing
between us and our Savior, we get the blessedassurance that our God has accepted us. Oh,
the blessing of assurance, to know my sins are forgiven, to know I have peace with God, to
know that God is my Father. As one writer put it,
To know Thou tak’st me for Thine own,
O what a happiness is this!
[From Antoinette Bourignon’s poem
Come, Savior, Jesus, from Above]
One of those great, early, English Methodist preachers, who as a youth knew John Wesley,
was a man of God named William Dawson. He loved a great hymn of Isaac Watts:
Begin, my soul, some heavenly theme.
Awake, my heart, and sing
The mighty works, and mightier name
Of our RedeemerKing.
Tell of His wondrous faithfulness
And sound His power abroad.
Sing the sweet promise of His grace,
The quickening Word of God.
[From Begin, My Soul, Some Heavenly Theme]
Because Dawson loved the Word, one verse of the hymn was particularly precious to him:
“Proclaim salvation from the Lord
To wretched, dying men.
His hand hath writ the sacred Word
With an immortal pen.

23. Engraved as in eternal brass
The sacred promise shines,
Nor can the powers of darkness ’rase
Those everlasting lines.
On one occasion the truth of those words was impressed on his heart in a special way. As
Dawson was walking through the town where he lived, he spied “a boy, weak of mind,”
doing a strange thing. Using a rag which he clutched in his hand, the boy was rubbing away
at the raised brass letters on a nameplate of one of the “worthies” of the town. Dawson
stopped to watched the boy, and he finally said to him, “Son, what are you doing?”
“Oh,” said the boy, “I am rubbing out the name.”
Later, Dawson related his reaction. “Little was the poor boy aware, that the more he
rubbed, the brighter it shown. So it is with Satan, who wishes to obliterate the word of God
from the memory, as well as every impression of its internal evidence from the
understanding and from the heart. But
Engraved as in eternal brass
The sacred promise shines,
Nor can the powers of darkness ’rase
Those everlasting lines.”
Walking away from the scene, Dawson exclaimed, “Rub, devil, rub! But all is in vain; the
evidence only brightens by the attempt; for of the Lord it may be said,
His hand hath writ the sacred Word
With an immortal pen.”
What a blessing assurance is! How wonderful to have a clear sky. How glorious to have
nothing between our souls and God!
All to Thee is yielded,
I am Thine alone.
Blissful, glad surrender,
I am Thine alone.

24. [Also from Speak, Lord, in the Stillness
by E. May Grimes]
Thank God for a clear sky, for the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sin. Thank God
for the Holy Ghost who witnesses with our spirit that all is right between our soul and God.
Thank God for the greatest witness of all, which is the inner witness, not an external one,
whereby the Holy Ghost witnesses that He has come, that He abides. And all the demons of
hell and the wisdom and follies of man can’t erase that most blessedand blissful experience
from our hearts. If there is something between your soul and God, you won’t have a clear
sky and you won’t have that blessedwitness of the Spirit.
How silent is dew! How quietly it collects, and then so swiftly vanishes as the sun rises in
the sky, drawing the dew up after itself. Through Hosea, God says, “I will be as the dew
unto Israel.” So let’s consider how dew comes at different seasons in the land of Israel. Dew
always begins to collect and fall before the rains begin, at the end of the dry season. We
don’t see the clouds; they aren’t there. But because of the increased water vapor in the air,
the dew begins to collect. So a sign of coming, outpoured latter rain is always the dew
collecting. Then for a month or two after the rains have ceased, because of the moisture in
the earth and air, the dew comes again. Then follows the dry period.
I don’t know, brothers and sisters, in what period we find ourselves in the history of the
Church; I only know that dew is a necessity for the poor parched leaves and flowers. Are
we living in the time of dew after the rains, or are we living in the time of the dew that
comes before the rains? Are we living in the last anointings of the revival that God sent
some years ago? Or are we beginning to feel again the freshness of the dew of coming
revival? I hope that it is the latter. I have a witness, a feeling in my heart, that God is going
to send an abundant revival. But it is going to be on the lines of holiness, not on the lines of
extra or more gifts of the Spirit. Wherever the Holy Ghost works, He’ll always do works of
wonders and supernatural signs, but that’s not what He comes for. He comes to make us
like Jesus. He comes to make us holy. “By their fruit ye shall know them,” not by their
gifts. Oh, we thank God that there’s not an either/or decision. God doesn’t ask, “Will you
have gifts or fruit?” Where the true fruit is, there the gifts are always manifested. Where
the fruit is not present, the gifts are imitation. They are psychic and not spiritual; and only
a spiritual man or woman can tell the difference between psychic imitations, that is,
humanly worked-up imitations, and true Holy Ghost gifts of the Spirit. What a blessing it is
to see the glorious truth that in revival the Holy Ghost comes to perfect the Church.
When I was speaking to the Lord one day about revival, He said to me such a simple thing.
He always speaks to me in simplicity. He is always plain and clear, because the Lord wants
us to understand. The Lord never hides things in mysteries. That’s what the devil does. If
the Lord wants to tell you something, He’ll tell you so plainly you won’t miss it. That’s

25. intelligent too, isn’t it? And so the Lord just said to me, “I am coming to My church before
I come for My church.” He didn’t have to say any more, because I understood perfectly.
When He comes to His church, He never comes in person; it’s always in the Holy Ghost.
When He comes for His church, it’s the Second Coming; then He’s coming in person. He
has never yet come for His church. That is still in the future. It’s still that blessedhope.
And when He comes, He’s coming physically, in like manner as when He ascended. But
whenever He comes to His church, He always comes by the Holy Ghost, in Spirit. Oh,
thank You, Lord. I understand. The Lord explained to me that the Church is not going
home like some poor snuffed-out candle. It’s going home in a blaze of glory. Jesus is coming
for a sanctified people! So I’m expecting an outpouring of the Holy Ghost. Yes, there will
be signs and wonders, but oh, He’s coming to perfect His people! And the great emphasis
will be on holiness, personal holiness, “without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews
12:14).
This revival, this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, will be amongst the lowly, amongst the
humble, amongst the people who confess that they don’t have it. Otherwise, the Lord will
say, “Well, if you have it, you don’t need it.” That’s what the Pharisees said. “We have no
sin. Why do we need to repent? We have no sin.” And the Lord Jesus said, “Because you
say you have no sin, therefore your sin remains. I can’t do anything for you.” If you say
you are a revived people, then you’re saying that you don’t need revival. I’ve preached at a
number of Pentecostal churches that have announced they are the revival center. That’s
the last place the Holy Ghost is going to come in revival, because they say they’ve got it.
Oh, for humility! How lowly is Jesus, and how gentle, humble, and dew-like He longs for us
to be!
Making us dew-like is the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit as dew; and the outworking of
that transformation can be seenin a wonderful picture of what comes just before the dawn.
An hour before the dawn, all nature is still, and only just one or two early birds are
beginning to sing. The light is now only a pearly light. The darkness is gradually giving
way. Out toward the east you can see just a few soft, balled clouds, tinted first with pearl,
then with gold. Just at the edges the clouds are turning red, and the gold is increasing.
Then, right on the horizon there is an increasing glory. At last the lip of the sun appears
over the horizon. And, look, now you can see it! All around you are a million, million
diamond drops — dew drops waiting, waiting, waiting for the Sun of righteousness to arise
with healing in His wings. Now the sun is lifting above the horizon. And look! Every one of
those diamond dew drops individually reflects the sun. They’re each a complete reflection
of the sun. And they’re all individuals as God wants them to be. They’re not collected yet.
They’re all individuals. Some are clustered together on one leaf. So they are a leaf full of
individuals, but they are individuals still, and all looking directly and only to the rising sun,
not to each other. And all are as precious to the Son as any one of the others. But now the
sun is rising, and look! There’s a trembling. The heat of the sun’s coming upon them! The

26. great drawing power of the sun is upon them, and they’re gone! Caught up to be forever
with the Lord—blessed dew drops of Jesus! They are anointed, perfected, formed by the
Holy Ghost, waiting as perfect images of their Beloved, having nothing of themselves; and
then suddenly, just as the sun shines upon and draws up the dew, so they are drawn up.
As the Psalmist says in Psalm 133:3, “As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that
descended upon the mountains of Zion,” so the Holy Spirit as dew comes down from the
glory and makes us like Him. Then when Jesus appears, the dew all goes up. We “shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we
everbe with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians
4:17-18).
Amen!
(Many thanks to Heidi Coley Zochert
for the original transcription.)
Footnotes:
Copyright held by Finest of the Wheat Teaching Fellowship, Inc. Edited and annotated by
Jim Kerwin. Co-edited by Denise Kerwin. ↩
Image of dew is copyright by and used under license from 123RF.com / vencavo78. ↩
guttation is a botanical term given to the process in which water is given off in liquid form
by plants. ↩
Or, later, a Walkman? Or an iPod or an MP3 player? Or a smartphone transmitting to
Bluetooth earbuds stuffed in the ears? The technology changes, but the principle doesn’t.
↩
Pastor Gutterige does not quote the entire poem here, but it is commended to the reader
because of its spiritual insight. Whittier’s verses carry us from fleshly foreign frenzies to
our own, more familiar pews; more thoughtful readers will discern the connection and the
poet's purpose. See The Brewing of Soma. ↩
Fane is an old English word meaning church, derived from the Latin fānum (sanctuary,
temple). ↩

27. AUTHORS UNKNOWN
"Like the Dewfall"
The quiet early hours of the morning are a time when God shows us how the Holy Spirit works
in our lives. In those hours, the dew covers the ground and soaks it. Water comes to the ground
in various ways, such as rainfall and snowfall which are easily seen, and also dewfall, which is
when water covers the ground in the form of dew. Dewfall is a quiet process: it forms silently
and gradually.
There is a something mysterious about dew. You can be outside in the evening when the ground
is dry, but go outside in the morning and find it is wet. Unlike rainfall, you do not hear dewfall.
You may ask yourself, "Did it rain last night again?" But it was not rainfall; it was dewfall.
Dewfall Reveals God’s Love
God used dew to reveal His love to the Jewish people when they left slavery in Egypt and
journeyed through the desert to the Promised Land. He showed His love by sending dew every
morning, and after it evaporated, the people found bread called “manna” which nourished them.
In the morning there was a layer of dew all about the camp, and when the layer of dew
evaporated, fine flakes were on the surface of the wilderness, fine flakes like hoarfrost on the
ground. On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, “What is this?” for they did not know what
it was. But Moses told them, “It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat (Exodus
16:13-15).
How Does the Holy Spirit Come To Us Like the Dewfall?
It is true that the Holy Spirit can come like a "mighty wind" with explosions of light, glory,
power, and visible miracles. But He also comes to the interior of your heart like the dew: quietly,
gradually, and surprisingly -- until after a while of friendship with the Holy Spirit, you are
soaked with God’s love like dew on the grass. Everything is different. Like a well-nourished tree,
you produce the "fruits of the spirit:" love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
During the day, water evaporates into the air. From lakes, ponds, rivers, etc. Warm
air can hold more water vapor (water as an invisible gas) than cooler air. During the
night, the air temperature goes down as heat is lost. Air also cools as it rises to
higher elevations, but through a different process. The cooler air no longer has the
capacity to hold this water vapor. When air is cooled to a certain temperature, the
water vapor is releasedas tiny water droplets. This is called condensation. It is why

28. we get clouds high in the sky. It is why we get fog early in the morning. The
temperature at which all this happens is called the dew point temperature.
Think of the air like a sponge. You can only add so many drops of water to a sponge
before it is saturated and cannot hold another drop. The it drips. Same with air. It
can only hold so many molecules of water vapor before it is fully saturated.Then the
water vapor has to go somewhere, so it comes out of the air as water droplets. The
temperature of the air determines how much it can hold.
So when objects, such as the windshield of a car, or blades of grass cool faster than
the surrounding air, the air that comes into contact with them is cooled to its dew
point temperature and condensation occurs so that the water droplets form on
them. We call this water dew. And the formation of dew is called dew fall. Dew has
to form on something. This is the same reason that a glass of ice water "sweats" on a
hot summer day. The cold glass is cooling the surrounding air and the water from
the air is condensing on the outside of the glass. This is the same as dew fall. If
condensation occurs when the temperature is below freezing, the water vapor
becomes frost instead of dew.
Clearly, in inviting the Spirit to descend like dew fall, so to change the bread and wine into
the Body and Blood of Christ, the Spirit is being invoked and celebrated as the agent of
change. A Jungian analyst told me that the Catholic Church must never abandon the
Eucharistic understanding of Transubstantiation, as there is nothing in our culture any
longer which invites transformation in people. Transubstantiation is the teaching that the
bread and wine become the substance of the Body and Blood of Christ.
What may strike us at once is that the dew is very beautiful . Indeed, it makes what is
already beautiful, evenmore so. We might say then that the Spirit of God, descending like
dew fall, comes to us as beautifier.
THE HOLY SPIRIT LIKENED TO DEW
“At that time there was faith that brought answers to prayer–faith that had respect to the
recompense of reward. Like showers of rain upon the thirsty earth, the Spirit of grace
descended upon the earnest seekers. Those who expected soon to stand face to face with
their Redeemerfelt a solemn joy that was unutterable. The softening, subduing power of
the Holy Spirit melted the heart as His blessing was bestowed in rich measure upon the
faithful, believing ones.” –The Great Controversy, pp. 402, 403.
GERMINATION, GROWTH, AND RIPENING
1. What parable explains how God’s power brings about germination, growth, and fruit
bearing?
Mark 4:26-29 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seedinto the
ground; 27And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seedshould spring and grow

29. up, he knoweth not how.28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade,
then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. 29 But when the fruit is brought forth,
immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.
1 Corinthians 3:6. I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
“The parable of the seedreveals that God is at work in nature. The seedhas in itself a
germinating principle, a principle that God Himself has implanted; yet if left to itself the
seedwould have no power to spring up. Man has his part to act in promoting the growth of
the grain. He must prepare and enrich the soil and cast in the seed. He must till the fields.
But there is a point beyond which he can accomplish nothing. No strength or wisdom of
man can bring forth from the seedthe living plant. Let man put forth his efforts to the
utmost limit, he must still depend upon One who has connected the sowing and the reaping
by wonderful links of His own omnipotent power.” –Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 63.
2. What element is absolutely essential for a plant’s growth and for its fruit to ripen? What
power is essential also for us to grow in Christ?
Deuteronomy 11:14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first
rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
John 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive
ye the Holy Ghost.
“The germination of the seedrepresents the beginning of spiritual life, and the
development of the plant is a figure of the development of character. There can be no life
without growth.
“The plant must either grow or die. As its growth is silent and imperceptible, but
continuous, so is the growth of character. At every stage of development our life may be
perfect; yet if God‟s purpose for us is fulfilled, there will be constant advancement.
“The plant grows by receiving that which God has provided to sustain its life. So spiritual
growth is attained through cooperation with divine agencies. As the plant takes root in the
soil, so we are to take root in Christ. As the plant receives the sunshine, the dew, and the
rain, so we are to receive the Holy Spirit.” –God’s Amazing Grace, p. 197.
3. What does the Lord constantly provide in the natural world for life? How do the early
rain for germination and the latter for ripening provide essential elements for life?
Isaiah 55:10, 11 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth
not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give
seedto the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my

30. mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it
shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Joel 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath
given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the
former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
“In the East the former rain falls at the sowing time. It is necessary in order that the seed
may germinate. Under the influence of the fertilizing showers the tender shoot springs up.
The latter rain, falling near the close of the season, ripens the grain and prepares it for the
sickle. The Lord employs these operations of nature to represent the work of the Holy
Spirit.
“As the dew and the rain are given first to cause the seedto germinate, and then to ripen
the harvest, so the Holy Spirit is given to carry forward, from one stage to another, the
process of spiritual growth. The ripening of the grain represents the completion of the
work of God‟s grace in the soul. By the power of the Holy Spirit the moral image of God is
to be perfected in the character. We are to be wholly transformed into the likeness of
Christ.” –Last Day Events, p. 183.
The Dew of Heaven
"His heavens shall drop down dew."
(Deuteronomy 33:28)
What the dew in the East is to the world of nature,
that is the influence of the Spirit in the realm of grace.
How greatly do I need it!
Without the Spirit of God I am a dry and withered thing.
I droop, I fade, I die.
How sweetly does this dew refresh me!
When once favored with it I feel happy, lively, vigorous, elevated. I want nothing more.
The Holy Spirit brings me life and all that life requires.

31. All else without the dew of the Spirit is less than nothing to me: I hear, I read, I pray, I
sing,
I go to the table of Communion, and I find no blessing there until the Holy Ghost visits me.
But when He bedews me, every means of grace is sweet and profitable.
What a promise is this for me! "His heavens shall drop down dew."
I shall be visited with grace.
I shall not be left to my natural drought, or to the world's burning heat,
or to the sirocco of satanic temptation.
Oh, that l may at this very hour feel the gentle, silent, saturating dew of the Lord!
Why should I not!
He who has made me to live as the grass lives in the meadow will treat me as He treats the
grass;
He will refresh me from above.
Grass cannot call for dew as I do.
Surely, the Lord who visits the unpraying plant will answer to His pleading child.
Do The Dew (Of Heaven!)
Contributed by Maurice Mccarthy A sermon talking about spiritual experiences that are
more comparable to dew than downpours. Dew falls silently, saturates and penetrates,
satisifies completely, and is just as valid as a spritual downpour.
Ho 14:4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away
from him.
Ho 14:5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as
Lebanon.
A parishioner who passed away came to me often for counseling, and his complaint went
along these lines:

32. "Pastor I backslid a few years ago, but now I have come back to the Lord, and I just don’t
feel the Lord like I used to."
That lack of "feeling," produced anxiety about his salvation, and doubts about whether or
not God had accepted him back. I guess if you read the story of the prodigal son enough,
and the party he got when he got back home, and if you read where it says the angels
rejoice when a backslider returns (Lk 15:20), you can come away with the idea that when a
person repents they should "feel," like a party is going on in heaven about them.
Today I want to talk to you about a salvation experience that is not marked by spiritual
downpours of joy, but by the dew of heaven saturating and penetrating your soul and your
walk with God. So this is how we will proceed this morning. First I will show water as a
symbol of God’s work. Secondly I will show how dew is shown to be a blessing from God.
Finally I will show the characteristics of dew, how they relate to a real and genuine work of
God in our heart.
The text we have chosen for today is especially poignant for this discussion. God says in
connection to the healing of backsliding, that He will be as the dew, and not as a
thunderstorm.
First, quickly, I want to show a few scriptures that demonstrate water to be an emblem of
the Holy Spirit, and spiritual cleansing.
Water used as an illustration of a cleansing agent:
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word...
Water used as an illustration of a cleansing agent, and of the Holy Spirit:
Tit 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he
savedus, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
.
Water used as an illustration of the Holy Spirit:
Joh 7:37 ¶ In the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any
man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water.
Joh 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for
the Holy Ghost was not yet [given]; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
This last text we have cited is an interesting one because it suggests that there should be
some feelings involved in the salvation experience because of the use of the word, "rivers."
How could someone have rivers flowing out of your innermost being and you not feel it? If
you think that way you have divorced the text from its intended meaning. The meaning is
not that you will feel something, but that God will give a super over abundance of the Holy
Spirit, Jesus never says anything about what you may or may not feel.
If you judge your salvation by your feelings, you will be saved one day and lost the next. It
doesn’t work that way. Take for example marriage, if you don’t feel love today that doesn’t
mean your marriage covenant is null and void. Salvation is the same thing, it is a covenant,
not a feeling.

33. So we have talked about water as emblematic of cleansing and the Holy Spirit, now lets talk
about one specific form of water, and that is dew.
In our text in Hosea, God says He will be as the dew to Israel, and more especially to
backslidden Israel when they have returned to Him.
Dew is used in the scriptures as an example of the blessing of God. Isaac prophetically
pronounced a blessing over Jacob that included dew:
Ge 27:27 And he came near, and kissedhim: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and
blessedhim, and said, See, the smell of my son [is] as the smell of a field which the LORD
hath blessed:
Ge 27:28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and
plenty of corn and wine:
In an arid climate, moisture is an especially valued commodity. The dew Isaac spoke of is
the, "dew of heaven," in a desert land all water is believed to be God given. So when He
gives it, it is viewed as a blessing and a sign of His favor.
Dew withheld, likewise, is considered a curse or judgment:
1Ki 17:1 ¶ And Elijah the Tishbite, [who was] of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab,
[As] the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain
these years, but according to my word.
Hag 1:9 Ye looked for much, and, lo, [it came] to little; and when ye brought [it] home, I
did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that [is] waste, and
ye run every man unto his own house.
Hag 1:10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed[from]
her fruit.
Hag 1:11 And I called for a drought upon the land...
Dew is used as an example of being blessedby the word:
De 32:2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small
rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
Too many Christians get hung up wanting, "Showers of Blessing," and don’t understand
the value and greatness of the, "Dew of Heaven". So to help with that lets talk about some
of the qualities of dew and how they relate to a real and genuine work of the Holy Spirit.
First, let us notice that dew falls silently.
Commenting on dew, Spurgeon said, "You will notice, first of all, that grace, like the dew,
often comes down imperceptibly into man’s heart. When did the dew tell us that it was
about to fall? Who everheard the footsteps of the dew coming down upon the meadow
grass? Who ever knew when it was descending? We see it when it has fallen; but who saw it
come? And so with Christianity: it is very often imperceptible in its operations."
A scripture that comes to mind is in Luke 24, and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.
They meet Jesus and converse with Him for quite a while and don’t realize who it is. Later
their eyes are opened, He leaves, and when rehearsing the event among themselves, they
realized the whole time He was there and opening the scriptures to them, their hearts were

34. burning. (My doctrine shall distill as the dew.) Spending time in the word, allows the dew
of heaven to saturate you in ways that may not be perceptible at first.
One more point about the validity of dew like experiences in God. Some people think that
only loud and exuberant worship is genuine, a scriptural example would be:
Ps 47:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. O clap your hands, all ye
people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
But the next example is just as valid an experience in God:
Ex 34:8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
It is not the volume that matters to God, but the sincerity of heart. It’s not about whether
or not you lift your hands during worship. A quiet person can worship, as great or greater,
than the loudest singer in church. In fact Jesus described some of those outspoken
worshippers as complete frauds. (Mt. 23:14)
2ndly dew is cooling and refreshing to the tenderest of plants. As opposed to the potential
dangers of a torrential downpour. The drooping plant it will be revived, without being
overwhelmed. The root systems on some plants can’t handle a downpour, additionally dew
often satiates more completely. It feeds, it produces growth, it sustains, it completely
satisfies the plants needs without overwhelming.
Thirdly dew is penetrative. A visitor to Mt. Hermon said the dew penetrated everyone and
everything and saturated everything, the floor of the tent was soaked, their beds were
covered, guns were dripping and dew drops hung everywhere. The area around Mt.
Hermon is drought stricken yet its base is clad with beautiful orchards and gardens,
because of the dew in that area.
"Mr. Maundrell says that "with this dew, evenin dry weather, their tents were as wet as if
it had rained the whole night." (Clarkes commentary). Don’t ever underestimate the power
of God’s dew to meet your needs as fully as His downpours!
Fourthly dew usually falls in times of low visibility. It falls most generally in the pre-dawn
hours, while men are asleep, and at the darkest part of the night. Even in our dark times
God is moving. Even when we can’t see the hand of God, His dew is forming and
moisturizing in unseen and quiet ways.
The dew of heaven is just as important and valid as the rivers of living water. The man I
spoke of in the beginning of this message was the biggest evangelist in my church at that
time. He was a fanatic about passing out tracts and witnessing to people. The last thing he
did in this life was to invite his upstairs neighbor to church on a Saturday evening. He
passedaway that night. He may not have felt like he did in his earlier walk with the Lord,
but God healed his backsliding with the dew of heaven.
I trust by now you have a much greater appreciation for the blessing Isaac pronounced
upon his son, when he said, "God give thee of the dew of heaven..."
Close: It is not how you start out, it is how you end up. Paul said, I have finished the
course. You may be surprisingly very close to the end of your race...

35. Archbishop John C. Nienstedt
Many of you know that my second assignment as a pastor was to the National Shrine of the
Little Flower in Royal Oak, Mich. As such, I was the seventh “unworthy” successorof
Father Charles Coughlin, the famous radio priest of the 1940s and ’50s.
My successor, Msgr. William Easton, is a good friend and a man with a very solid, pastoral
heart. He has a great capacity of listening to the needs of his people.
In a recent bulletin column, he addressed a question of vocabulary in the new Roman
Missal. I was so impressed, I wanted to share his insights with you:
“‘Make holy these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall.’
— Eucharistic Prayer II
“I have been askeda number of times:
• What is dewfall?
• Why do we say dewfall?
• Why is dewfall used in the prayer of consecration?
“Dewfall is an ancient powerful image of the presence of God. For people in the desert, dew
is an important source of water, sometimes the only source. It signifies life. The quiet early
hours of the morning are a time when God shows us how the Holy Spirit works in our lives.
In those hours, the dew covers the ground and soaks it.
“Water comes to the ground in various ways, such as rainfall and snowfall which are easily
seen, and also dewfall, which is when water covers the ground in the form of dew. Dewfall
is a quiet process: It forms silently and gradually. There is something mysterious about
dew.
“It was with the dewfall that God gave the people of Israel manna in the desert. The dew
formed on the ground and as it dried the flakes of manna appeared. This was the bread of
the people for the 40 years they wandered in the desert.
“We know the Eucharist completes the meaning of the manna in the desert because Jesus
said, ‘I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this
is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the
living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and
the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world’ (John 6:48-51).
“It is through the power of the life-giving Spirit that bread and wine become the Body and
Blood of Christ. In the desert, God sent the dew first, and then the manna. At Mass, God
sends the Holy Spirit, and then the bread and wine become Christ’s Body and Blood. A
miracle happens, and Jesus is with us, hidden under the form of bread and wine.
“The Holy Spirit comes into our lives as well. Sometimes the Spirit comes as a roaring wind
as at Pentecost. More than likely the Spirit comes more often as a quiet mysterious
dewfall.”
There is something here to think about! God bless you!

36. Holy Spirit, fill us now,
While beneath the cross we bow;
Fill us full of peace and love,
Holy Spirit from above. Holy Spirit, full of grace,
Show us now the Father’s face,
Brightly shining from on high,
Through a bright and beauteous sky. Holy Spirit, full of love,
Coming like a gentle dove,
Come, baptize our hearts anew,
Sweetly, gently, like the dew. Holy Spirit, keepus still,
Help us do the Father’s will;
Give us grace and strength each day,
Keep us in the living way.
Dear Yahweh…
how can we understand
a closer walk with You…
if we are not even…aware
of Your…Spiritual Dew?
I mean, if one has never heard of
its presence and reviving touch…
never known or experienced its…
nurturing comfort…as such
then it stands to reason…
and should be well understood
that one would never lament…
the lack of its…hood
but thank You for Your Word
that says this dew exists
a fact that never fails to arouse…
curiosities…quite a bit

37. for we desire to know Thee better
to feel…Your Love…deeper than depths of sea
reaching…to a place where creed matters not…
to a Perfected Bond where You call us…’we’
help us…please…to seek Your Promise
by sincerely praying for more of You
then our present walk will be…surpassed
when You fill us with Your…Spiritual Dew…
Dear Yahweh
Deut 32:1-2, Lk 24:49, Jhn 14:16-18 & 26, Act 1:8 & 2:17, Heb 2:4
copyright; jmsbell 11/8/2018
Lyrics:
1. Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
Come, O Father of the poor!
Come, O Source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine!
Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
2. You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul's most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.
Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
3. O most blessedLight divine,
May that Light within us shine,
And ouR inmost being fill!
Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
In your absence, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,

38. Nothing free from taint of ill.
Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
4. Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:
Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.
Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
5. On the faithful who adore
And confess you ever more,
In your sevenfold gift descend;
Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
Give them virtue's sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end,
Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
Jen Ferguson.
2. Dew: a symbol of refreshment and blessing
Mount Hermon, with an altitude of over 9,000 feet, would have seensome dewy mornings,
much to the envy of those living in barren, dry Jerusalem.
It is like the dew of Hermon, Descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord
commanded the blessing— Life forevermore. (Psalm 133:3)
The Dew of Heaven
by Ronny H. Graham
In the vast array of God's creation, how many times have we studied an object and
wondered, "How did God think of that?" or perhaps, "What possible purpose can that
thing serve?" More often than not, when we dissect one of God's creations, we begin to see
the infinite wisdom of His mind.
Here is one of those natural wonders: Have we ever stopped to think of the many types of
precipitation God has made? The earth's atmosphere produces rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog,
mist and dew—maybe evena few more kinds as well. These creations that God designed to
water the earth also come at different times and in varying amounts depending on the
region of the world.
Arid regions receive very little rain and rarely, if ever, see snow. Tropical regions receive
regular rains and probably never have an ice storm. Arctic regions endure heavy snowfalls,

39. yet may never have had a rainstorm. Many of us live in temperate climes that receive a
mixture of all the different types of precipitation.
Except for possibly the frigid arctic regions, all the other areas receive some amount of
dewfall. Most of the people on earth have some experience with dew, so it makes a good
vehicle for illustrating spiritual principles. What lessons does God want us to learn from
examining the use of dew in Scripture?
What Is Dew?
Dew is a deposit of water droplets, formed at night by the condensation of water vapor
from the air, onto the surface of objects exposed to the sky. It forms on clear nights when
the air is calm or winds are light. The process that produces the dew begins as the sun
begins to set and night begins to fall. Objects exposedto the open air cool faster than the
air around them, and if it is sufficiently humid, water vapor condenses out of the air and
covers the object. Dew may also be drawn from the ground. Another type of dew,
"hoarfrost," occurs when the air temperature reaches the freezing point.
When the processes of precipitation occur, a common result is that they cover everything.
Whether it comes in the form of rain, snow, dew or frost, if something is in the open air, the
precipitation will cover it. While walking in the forest behind our house on a cold winter
morning, I can see that the dew has frozen, totally encapsulating everything in sight in a
crystal-white jacket of hoarfrost. It is sometimes so thick it almost looks like snow. Who
can paint a more beautiful landscape than God can?
Scientists have attempted to measure dewfall, and research suggests that on any given
night, dewfall may be as much as 3/100ths of an inch. In some cases, dewfall may be as
much as three inches annually. In wilderness areas of Palestine and Syria, dewfall is
essential to maintain any vegetation and animal life at all. Rainfall from April to October is
very scarce, and life in these areas would cease without the dew. This is true for many other
regions of the world as well, but these two are of particular interest because of their
relationship to biblical times.
As the dew covers a plant, the plant absorbs the life-giving substance through its leaves,
giving it what it needs to survive another day. Without this daily source of water, plants
will not endure until the latter rains in the autumn. We can perhaps relate this analogy to
the timeframe of the spring and fall holy days, when we receive plenty of spiritual food to
last through the long, hot days of summer or a long, cold winter.
From a biblical point of view, what does "dew" mean? Dew is used to refer to blessings,
favor, prosperity, resurrection, long life, and to describe how an army covers the earth. It
can also describe how an eagle covers her young or how God covers His people. We can see
a well-known example in Isaac's blessing of Jacob in Genesis 27:28: "Therefore may God
give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine."

40. BIBLEHUB.COM
This website has the most and the best that can be found on the Holy Spirit as due. I check
it out for every study I do. Check it out for yourself as you have to be impressed on what
this site has to say on this issue of the dew. From here to the end all is from biblehub.com.
Divine relationship and human responsiveness
W. H. Tetley.
Through the picturesque forms and utterances of Hebrew .prophecy there breaks a very
deep and generous sympathy with the world of nature. For Israel itself, fallen and debased
by grievous backslidings, smitten as with a plague of shameless apostasy and spiritual
corruption, yet sorrowful, repentant, and growingly responsive to the exhortations of
Jehovah's servant, no simile could more vividly illustrate the effect of Divine influence on
the degenerate nation, or the restoring impulses it would give to its better life, than that to
which Hosea turned. "I will be as the dew unto Israel."
I. I WILL BE AS THE DEW UNTO ISRAEL. A more tender and beautiful comparison for
God's association and fellowship with His people is not to be imagined. The points of
correspondence are very obvious, and can scarcely be invested now with any sense of
novelty. The silent stealth of the dew to its resting-place, its reviving and invigorating effect
on fields and gardens, its plenteous supply of moisture for the bosom of the earth, and its
most beneficent adaptation to needy physical conditions, are all so many well-worn and
widely accepted lines of interpretation. What a sense of impenetrable mystery there is
about the dew! Who shall make plain to us the process of its generation? And yet how mild
and familiar this mysterious economy of nature has become, inspiring no dread, arousing
no suspicion, creating no fear, but simply accepted as a gracious providential arrangement
that, despite the fact that it is so incomprehensible, may be safely left to its close and
constant contact with our earthly life! What marvellous combination of force and
gentleness there is in the dew! It does not strive nor cry, nor lift up any contending voice
among the powers of nature. See again the service of the dew in replenishing nature's waste
of fertilising power. The very existence of the dew indicates a loss sustained by nature, and
a pro vision in nature for repairing that loss.
II. FERTILITY IS BEGOTTEN OF THE DEW. Where it was given it was natural to
expect growth. The response of fields and vineyards to its productive presence was
fruitfulness and plenty: and so, in a figure, the result is applied to Israel in this splendid
picture of human responsiveness to God's gracious influence. "He shall grow as the lily."
There will be growth, stability, breadth, usefulness, and fragrance — the pervading

41. sweetness of the holy life, a characteristic of our growth before God, which must ever be
most pleasing to Him.
(W. H. Tetley.)
The dew of the Holy Spirit
Joseph Jowett, M. A.
I. TO WHOM THE BLESSING IS PROMISED. To Israel. Not Israel only after the flesh.
The name Israel brings before us Jacob, concerning whom there are two remarkable
circumstances recorded.
1. God's special choice of him.
2. His power with God in prayer.
II. THE NATURE OF THE BLESSING SET FORTH. "As the dew."
1. Dew is refreshing and fertilising.
2. Dew is, in many Eastern lands, the only means for producing these effects.
3. Dew is mild and grateful in the manner of its influence.
4. Dew is generally imperceptible in its approaches.
5. Dew comes only in the night.
(Joseph Jowett, M. A.)
Dew to Israel
E. B. Pusey, D. D.
Before, He had said, "his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up." Now
again He enlarges the blessing; their supply shall be unfailing, for it shall be from God;
yea, God Himself shall be that blessing. "I will be the dew; descending on the mown grass,"
to quicken and refresh it, descending, Himself, into the dried and parched and sore hearts
of men, as He saith, "We will come unto him, and make our abode with him." The grace of
God, like the dew, is not given once for all, but is day by day waited for, and day by day
renewed. Yet doth it not pass away, like the fitful goodness of God's former people, but
turns into the growth and spiritual substance of those on whom it descends.

42. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
The Lord as the dew
D. Davies.
(a talk with children): — When there are clouds to lessenthe heat of the sun, there is less
need of the dew at night, and so God ordains that if clouds cover the heavens, there is little
dew to be found. The clouds prevent the escape of heat from the earth, and therefore it
does not get cold so rapidly, and thus the evaporated moisture that is in the air does not so
readily condense into dewdrops and settle on the grass. When there has been a burning sky
all day, and it continues clear evenat night, the heat escapes rapidly from the earth, and
the moisture that is in the warm air when it touches the colder earth condenses rapidly,
and so the dews are generally profuse. Thus there is a very wise provision made by God.
According to the burden and heat of the day, as a rule, is the amount of dew at night. The
dew does not descend upon all things equally. The moisture does not condense to rapidly
upon the gravel paths as upon the grass. The grass needs it most. The dew in descending
makes no noise. It is a gracious blessing that comes silently without trumpeting of any kind.
It visits every bud and blade of grass. It does not visit the big trees and forget the tender
little plant. God provides for the little ones as well as the great ones. The dew comes so
gently that the feeblest blade can bear it. It takes hours to develop a dewdrop. No blade can
be injured by the dew. Even the most beautiful bloom on the fruit would not be damaged
by it. I want you to feel that as God is so gentle and loving and kind, your sin against Him is
all the greater for that. But evenwhen you sin, He comes gently still, so patient and long-
suffering is He. He comes to refresh your strength when you get tired and sad and
impatient. God is constantly coming like the dew: not once, but time after time. It is
according to the need that the dew comes. So the Saviour comes to us even in the darkening
hour when no one seems to expect the blessing; comes and refreshes our strength so that we
may be the better able to bear the heat and burden of another day. As you grow up to be
men and women you will have special need of strength: you will have new cares, new
duties, new sorrows. But if God refreshes your strength and fits you for every duty as it
shall come, all is well. Your duty and privilege is just to wait upon God, and trust in Him
for every needful blessing.
(D. Davies.)
Divine influence
John Dunlop.

43. The dew is the emblem of Divine grace.
I. DIVINE INFLUENCE, LIKE THE DEW, IS UNSEEN. The greatest things we know of
are unseen.
II. IT IS SILENT. The most delicate ear cannot hear the descent of the dew. So is it with
the coming of Divine grace.
III. IT IS GENTLE. It falls upon the weakest flower without hurting it. Gentleness is a
property of Divine grace. Every true believer is ready to say, "Thy gentleness hath made
me great."
IV. IT IS REVIVING. The source of many and great blessings. So Divine grace, upon a
soul withered up by sin, imparts a freshness and a beauty to its faded life.
V. IT IS ABUNDANT. It bespangles all the fields, forests, and gardens of our beautiful
world. The humblest flower has its own drop of dew. In Christ there is grace to enlighten,
to pardon, to strengthen, to comfort, to glorify every human spirit.
VI. IT IS FREE. It falls as freely on the barren rock as on the fertile soil; as sweetly upon
the rough fern as upon the delicate rose. The most precious temporal blessings we possess
are free to all. Even so Divine grace is universally free. The jewel of Divine grace is as free
to all as the light, the air, the water, or the dew.
(John Dunlop.)
The measure of blessing in spiritual influence determined by human disposition
E. Aubrey.
Dew is but very sparingly deposited on hard metals, while on glass, straw, grass, cloth, and
similar substances it forms abundantly. The nature of the substance determines the amount
of moisture that rests upon it. And the nature of our feelings towards God, and the
disposition of our spirits towards holy things, determine the amount of God we are
privileged to enjoy. Too often men blame their surroundings and accuse others of being
responsible for their spiritual poverty. But our environments are not so responsible as are
our own dispositions. The callous, unbending, resisting spirit is but little blessed, while the
soul that is submissive to the Divine will, lovingly disposed towards God and His ways, and
possessing a sympathetic affinity to the Divine, is saturated with rich and satisfying
blessings.
(E. Aubrey.)

44. God's silent blessings
H. C. M'Cook, D. D.
I. THE DEW IS A TYPE OF THE SILENT BLESSINGS OF GOD. He descends with
spiritual graces, coming silently evenas the dew falls upon the tender grass. God works no
less mightily because He works in silence. This mode of Divine working is profoundly
effective. There is something strangely impressive in perfect silence. Man's heart is a tough
and stubborn piece of mechanism. Nevertheless it is susceptible to the influences of
gentleness, persistingly and lovingly laid upon him, and by these influences God is
constantly working.
II. THE DEW TEACHES THE TIMELINESS OF THE DIVINE BLESSING. The dew
comes in just where and when it is most needed, adding greatly to its benefits by the
timeliness of its coming. And this is in accordance with the modes of Divine working among
the children of men. The souls who most need the Master's tender care are those whom He
most seeks to bless. God does not seek us because we are saints, but to make us saints.
Human sorrow is small attraction to men, but is the lodestone that draws to us the Spirit of
God.
III. THE DEW TEACHES THE TRANSIENT CHARACTER OF MUCH HUMAN
GOODNESS. "As the early dew it goeth away." Of how many persons may this sad
complaint be spoken? How many resolves made since this year was born have already been
dispelled as dew by the morning sun! The dew vanished and left a blessing. These broken
resolves, do they leave the heart any better? Nay, the heart is harder and the mind more
perverted because of these failures to fulfil vows.
(H. C. M'Cook, D. D.)
Christ is as the dew
Philip Henry.
This comparison of the dew is made use of for illustration in sundry places of Scripture
(Hosea 6:4; Psalm 110:3; Micah 5:7; Psalm 133:1, 3).
I. WHAT LIKENESS IS THERE BETWEEN JESUS CHRIST AND THE DEW? The dew
has six properties, all fitly applicable, without straining, to the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. The dew is Divine and heaven-born.

45. 2. The dew descends, comes down.
3. The manner of the descending of the dew is not observable. It descends silently, makes
no noise.
4. It is the nature of the dew to softenas far as it goes.
5. The dew moistens.
6. The dew makes fruitful.
II. WHO IS THE ISRAEL TO WHOM HE WILL BE AS THE DEW? There is a twofold
Israel spoken of. Israel the person, Israel the people: this includes Israel according to the
flesh, and Israel according to the spirit. Understand this latter.
1. Of the Gospel Church in general, and
2. Of particular believing souls.
III. WHEN ESPECIALLY HAVE WE NEED OF THIS DEW?
1. We have all need of it while we are in an unconverted state and condition.
2. When the conscience is parched at any time with the sense of guilt, through some wilful
omission or commission.
3. Under the withdrawings of the light of God's countenance.
4. When a fit of barrenness prevails, through the stirrings of some corruption, the success
of some temptation, or through the want of quickening means and ordinances, the Word,
sacraments, Sabbaths, solemn assemblies.
5. In a time of outward trouble and calamity.
6. When we come to die.
7. When we go to an ordinance. The dew is necessary to prepare the ground for the plough.
8. When we have been to an ordinance.
IV. WHAT IS OUR DUTY IN REFERENCE TO THIS?
1. Mix faith with it, as a Divine truth; that there is certainly such a thing as this dew, and
that the Lord Jesus Christ is in it.
2. Be more sensible of your need of it every day in everything.
3. Ask it of God; and having askedit, expect and wait for it, in the use of appointed means.