The title of this message is taken from John 9:4, where it is said:
“Night is coming, when no one can work.”
When we read biblical passages about the last days, one of the recurring themes is what some believers have referred to as the image or metaphor of the night.
In what follows, I will present some examples where the word “night” appears in Scripture in the context of the Lord’s return, and suggest an explanation of this metaphor.
I. “Like a thief in the night” – 1 Thessalonians 5
For example, in 1 Thessalonians 5:1–3 Paul writes:
1 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety”, destruction will come on them suddenly, as labour pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
Here, in the first letter to the Thessalonians, we have one of the instances where the word “night” occurs. Paul writes that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”
When the Bible mentions the Day of the Lord, its primary meaning is the day of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, Yeshua. Of course, this term is often understood in a broader sense, encompassing a whole series of eschatological events that will accompany the Lord’s return.
In Revelation 16:15 it is stated explicitly that it is the Lord Jesus Christ who will “come like a thief”:
15 “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”
This motif of Jesus coming like “a thief” is repeated by Matthew (Matthew 24:42–44), Luke (Luke 12:39–40), Peter (2 Peter 3:10), and twice by John in the book of Revelation (Revelation 3:3; 16:15).
However, what I want to focus on in this message is not primarily how the Lord will return, but when and under what circumstances He will return. In the verses just quoted from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, we are told that the Lord will return at night.
II. Faithful Servants and the Night – Luke 12
This metaphor of the night is also evident in Jesus’ parable of the faithful servants.
In this passage from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus addresses His disciples and tells them:
Luke 12:35–36, 37, 38
35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.”
In this parable, believers are compared to servants who have a master. The master is away. He has gone to a wedding banquet and will return at night. Therefore, the servants are told to keep their lamps burning.
It would not be good if, on the master’s return, he had to wait outside his own closed door while the servants, suddenly awakened by his knocking, first needed to get dressed, light the lamps, and only then go and open to him.
Jesus does not tell us whether the wedding feast is his own or someone else’s. The emphasis is solely on readiness to open the door immediately.
37 “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will make them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.”
The servants whom the master finds ready upon his return will be given a great reward. These vigilant servants will experience a remarkable reversal of roles: the master will serve those who served him.
And in verse 38 we read:
38 “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or towards daybreak.”
Again, we see the suggestion that the Lord will return in the night, and that we must stay watchful and be ready for His return, even if we must wait through the whole night.
III. The Parable of the Ten Virgins – Matthew 25
One of the clearest illustrations of the Lord’s coming at night is found in the Parable of the Ten Virgins.
We must remember that this parable is part of what is called the Olivet Discourse—the main section of Jesus’ teaching about the last days—found in Matthew 24–25, Mark 13, and Luke 21.
We read in Matthew 25:1–13:
1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise.”
Jesus begins this parable in a way similar to other parables about the Kingdom of God, which, according to His teaching, became present in the world at His first coming.
Although the full manifestation of the Kingdom of God will take place at Christ’s second coming, God’s Kingdom is already at work in the world, and people have access to it through the new birth.
Thus, the Kingdom of God is active now, and believers can be compared to the ten virgins.
However, the difference between the wise and foolish virgins will be especially critical at the time of the Lord’s return.
Next we read:
3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
Jesus tells His disciples that the difference between the wise and the foolish virgins is that the wise took an extra supply of oil in vessels along with their lamps.
It is noteworthy that all the virgins brought lamps, and all had some oil to begin with. However, since the bridegroom delayed his coming, the small amount of oil in their lamps was used up.
Only the wise virgins, who had brought an additional supply of oil, were able to refill their lamps.
In Scripture, oil is often symbolic of the Holy Spirit. We can see that every virgin had at least a small “natural” supply of oil in her lamp. Similarly, everyone at the new birth is given a measure of the Holy Spirit.
However, if the virgins did not go to the necessary lengths to ensure that they had a reserve of oil, then—when the bridegroom came—they would not be ready to go with him, as the later part of the parable shows.
We read that “the bridegroom was a long time in coming”. It appears that even at the very end, it will seem as though the coming of the Lord is delayed.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’”
Finally, the bridegroom came. He came at midnight. It was already dark and late, and all the virgins were sleeping from weariness.
As we know, not all the virgins were ready to meet the bridegroom. In the same way, it appears that not all professing Christians will be ready to meet the Lord when He returns.
Part of the problem is that the Bridegroom will come for the Bride during the night.
This night will be a difficult period for many Christians, and not all believers will be sufficiently prepared for it.
IV. The Bridegroom in the Night – Song of Songs
Another illustration of the Lord’s coming at night is found in the Song of Songs. There, too, the Bridegroom comes for the Bride during the night (Song of Songs 3:1).
In chapter 3 we see the Bride longing for her Bridegroom. She cannot wait for Him to come; she even goes out into the streets to look for Him.
Song of Songs 3:1–4
1 All night long on my bed
I looked for the one my heart loves;
I looked for him but did not find him.
2 I will get up now and go about the city,
through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
So I looked for him but did not find him.
3 The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
“Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
4 Scarcely had I passed them
when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go
till I had brought him to my mother’s house,
to the room of the one who conceived me.*
Here, in chapter 3, the Bride is ready for the coming of the Bridegroom. When she finds Him, she will not let Him go.
Next, in chapter 5, we find a description of events after the Bridegroom has gone away for a time.
Song of Songs 5:1
1 “I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride;
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
I have drunk my wine and my milk.” (…)
In this first verse of chapter 5, we can discern several references to Jesus’ suffering and death at His first coming.
In the word “garden” we may see an allusion to Gethsemane.
“Myrrh” points to the suffering and death of Jesus, as myrrh was used in burial.
“I have drunk my wine” recalls Jesus’ words in His prayer to the Father, “may this cup be taken from me” (Matthew 26:39).
So we see the Bridegroom departing, to return later.
However, later, when the Bridegroom comes at night and knocks, the Bride is not ready. She hesitates to rise from her bed and open the door.
2 I slept but my heart was awake.
Listen! My beloved is knocking:
The Bridegroom says:
“Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my flawless one.
My head is drenched with dew,
my hair with the dampness of the night.”
This time, however, the Bride responds:
3 I have taken off my robe –
must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet –
must I soil them again?
Instead of being adorned and ready, she has undressed and is discontent that He has arrived that night.
Her robe represents the garments of salvation. We see her here without this robe.
This image reminds us of the foolish virgins in Jesus’ parable. On this second occasion, the Bride is not ready for the Bridegroom’s coming, just as some of the virgins were not ready.
Let us look at what happens next:
4 My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
my heart began to pound for him.
5 I arose to open for my beloved,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
on the handles of the bolt.
When she finally gets up, the Bridegroom has already gone. Now the Bride is the one dripping with myrrh—she is the one anointed for burial. In this we may see a picture of the Great Tribulation that will come upon believers in the last days.
6 I opened for my beloved,
but my beloved had left; he was gone.
My heart sank at his departure.
I looked for him but did not find him.
I called him but he did not answer.
7 The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
They beat me, they bruised me;
they took away my cloak,
those watchmen of the walls!
The watchmen begin to beat and persecute her.
As I mentioned:
On the one hand, this pictures the persecution of believers in the days of the Antichrist;
on the other hand, it figuratively portrays the fate of those who will not be caught up when Christ returns. The unraptured church will face the same fate as the rest of the world—they will be left for the whole night.
V. “On that night…” – Luke 17
In another passage, when answering the Pharisees’ question about the coming of the Kingdom of God, Jesus says:
Luke 17:34–35
34 “I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding corn together; one will be taken and the other left.”
Again we see a reference to the night in the context of the Lord’s return. The Lord will come for believers at night, and not everyone will be taken.
VI. “What is left of the night?” – Isaiah 21
In Isaiah 21 there is a short and obscure oracle called “A prophecy against Dumah”:
11 A prophecy against Dumah:
Someone calls to me from Seir,
“Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?”
12 The watchman replies,
“Morning is coming, but also the night.
If you would ask, then ask;
and come back yet again.”
“Dumah” may be a poetic short form of “Edom”, a nation south-east of Judah. Seir is another name for Edom. Alternatively, Dumah may refer to a city in northern Arabia. This prophecy has its historical context in relation to those nations, but it also has a prophetic dimension linked to the Day of the Lord and the end times.
The watchman in verse 12 may be a real watchman, asked whether the night has passed peacefully; or he may be metaphorical, standing for the night of oppression under conquerors.
He is asked twice, “What is left of the night?”
The truth is: the night of oppression is coming upon the whole world.
VII. “Night is coming, when no one can work” – John 9:4
The last example comes from the Gospel of John, from which I have taken the title of this message.
John 9:4
4 “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.”
These words of Jesus apply first to His arrest and execution. However, I am convinced that they also refer to specific events of the last days.
We know what happened to Jesus’ disciples after His arrest and crucifixion. They were confused and afraid, hiding from persecution.
It seems that something similar will happen to the last generation of believers before Jesus’ return. There will come a night when no Christian can work.
What Is This “Night”?
What does it mean that Jesus will come in the night?
One possible answer is that “night” signifies spiritual darkness—a darkening spiritual climate at the end of the age.
We only need to look at the world around us. Things are becoming dark. Our world is changing for the worse, growing more evil.
Even in the West, which was once described as the Christian world, society has now become post-Christian.
Having rejected God, modern humanity questions everything that God has created. We live in a world where everything is being turned upside down. Everything unfolds exactly as foretold in the Scriptures.
However, despite this, I believe that “night” refers to more than the general growth of immorality, hostility to Christian values, and rejection of the Christian God.
In its ultimate sense, I believe “night” refers to the period known as the Great Tribulation.
The time of the Great Tribulation is “the night when no believer will be able to work” in the sense of carrying out the work of Christ.
In this part of the message, I want to say something about the Great Tribulation—at least as I understand it.
The Great Tribulation
What is this Great Tribulation of which Jesus warned believers?
In Matthew’s Gospel we read:
Matthew 24:21 (NKJV)
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
When discussing the Great Tribulation, the simplest starting point is to say that it will be the last three and a half years of human history before the establishment of God’s rule over this world, before the Millennial Kingdom of the Messiah.
References to this three-and-a-half-year period appear in many places in the Bible. Expressed in different forms—yet always pointing to the same duration—they are:
-
- 42 months – Revelation 11:2; 13:5
- 1,260 days – Revelation 11:3
- “Half of the week” (half of seven years) – Daniel 9:27
- “A time, times and half a time” (1 + 2 + ½ = 3½) – Daniel 12:7; Revelation 12:14 [1]
Let us read just two of these passages.
Revelation 13:5–8
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling-place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.
The beast referred to here is, on the one hand, the Antichrist, and on the other, his kingdom—his system of control. We are told that he will be permitted to exercise authority over the people of the world for forty-two months (three and a half years).
Similarly, at the end of the book of Daniel (chapters 11–12), we read of the Antichrist’s invasion of Israel.
At the beginning of chapter 12 it is written:
Daniel 12:1b
“There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people – everyone whose name is found written in the book – will be delivered.”
The phrase “time of distress” (Hebrew: עֵ֣ת צָרָ֔ה) is another designation for the Great Tribulation. The same wording is used in Jeremiah in the phrase “a time of trouble for Jacob” (עֵֽת־צָרָ֥ה הִיא֙ לְיַֽעֲקֹ֔ב).
Later, when Daniel asks how long this “time of distress” will last, he is told:
Daniel 12:7
7 The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand towards heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives for ever, saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.”
So we see that Scripture clearly speaks of three and a half years of Great Tribulation.
The Abomination of Desolation
The next point made very clearly in Scripture is that the Great Tribulation will begin with what is called the abomination of desolation.
In Matthew 24, Jesus, speaking about the Great Tribulation, says:
Matthew 24:15–22 (NKJV)
15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”
Jesus is reaffirming what the prophet Daniel had said: that the Great Tribulation will begin when the Antichrist sets up the abomination of desolation in the temple in Jerusalem.
This prophecy of Daniel, to which Jesus refers, is found in Daniel 9:27:
Daniel 9:27
27 “He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven’. In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” [2]
To understand the abomination of desolation, we must go back to the events of the 2nd century BC, where this prophecy had an initial fulfilment, in the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, ruler of the Seleucid Empire, who invaded Israel.
Antiochus IV is the most important prophetic “type” of the Antichrist in the Bible. The events of his rule foreshadow what the Antichrist will later do.
When Antiochus IV came to crush the rebellion in Israel in 167 BC, his forces entered the temple, stopped the regular sacrifices, set up an idol of Zeus, and apparently offered swine on the altar. This was an abomination because it was idolatry, and it brought desolation because it defiled the holy place of God’s temple.
Likewise, the Antichrist will act in a similar way. In the middle of the seven years, he will enter the future temple in Jerusalem and, as I understand from Scripture, set up the image of the beast mentioned in Revelation 13. Moreover—as Paul later writes—the Antichrist will take his seat in this temple, displaying himself as being God.
In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul writes:
2 Thessalonians 2:1–4
1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us – whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter – asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
Paul explains that before the coming of the Lord and “our being gathered to him” (which in 1 Thessalonians he describes as the resurrection and rapture of believers), the Antichrist must first be revealed.
This revelation will occur when he takes his seat in a temple-like structure in Jerusalem and proclaims himself to be God.
We find a similar statement in Daniel:
Daniel 11:36
36 “The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place.”
Jacob’s Trouble and the Persecution of the Saints
In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus teaches that the manifestation of the Antichrist and the desecration of the temple will mark the beginning of terrible persecution of the Jews in Jerusalem and in Israel. Jeremiah calls this “a time of trouble for Jacob”.
Jeremiah 30:4–7 (TLV)
4 Now these are the words that
ADONAI spoke to Israel and to Judah.
5 For thus says ADONAI:
“We heard a sound of trembling,
of dread – there is no shalom.
6 Ask now, and see
whether a man can give birth.
Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins,
like a woman giving birth?
Why have all faces turned pale?
7 Oy! For that day is monumental.
There will be none like it –
a time of trouble for Jacob!
Yet out of it he will be saved.”
We know from the prophet Zechariah that two-thirds of the Jewish people will be slaughtered during this time.
But the Great Tribulation is not only the persecution and murder of Jews. It will also be a time of persecution and murder of believers in Jesus from every nation.
In Revelation 12 we read of a war in heaven and of Satan and his angels being hurled to the earth:
Revelation 12:13–17
13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the snake’s reach. 15 Then from his mouth the snake spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring – those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
The woman is Israel, the Jewish nation. That this is the time of Great Tribulation is indicated by the references to “a time, times and half a time” (v.14) and to 1,260 days (v.6).
As a result of this persecution, many in Israel will flee into the wilderness, where the nation will have its second great encounter with God, after the Exodus.
It is worth pausing at Genesis 32, where Jacob wrestles with God.
In verse 24 we read that “a man” (אִישׁ) wrestled with Jacob all night until daybreak. This “man”, whom Jacob later calls God (אֱלֹהִים), must be the Angel of the Lord—or, more precisely, the Lord Jesus in a pre-incarnate appearance.
After this encounter, Jacob is given a new name: Israel.
Prophetically, Jacob before his transformation symbolises the unbelieving Jewish nation in its present state—without the Messiah, without a true relationship with God.
But just as Jacob “saw God face to face” (פָּנִ֣ים אֶל־פָּנִ֔ים) during that night and was changed, so too the Jewish people will see God face to face in their struggle with the Lord Jesus during the approaching night. And at the end of that night, they too will be changed.
Returning to Revelation 12, we see that after the woman flees into the wilderness, Satan, through the Antichrist, turns “against the rest of her offspring”—those who “keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.”
In other words, the Antichrist will wage war on Christians.
John then sees a great multitude of believers who will be killed during this time.
In Revelation 6 we read:
Revelation 6:9–11
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.
In the next chapter their identity is clarified:
Revelation 7:13–14
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes – who are they, and where did they come from?”
14 I answered, “Sir, you know.”
And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation;
they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
In Revelation 20:4 John also writes of those who were beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and the word of God, those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands.
Scripture tells us that there is a specific number of believers who will be martyred in the days of the Antichrist.
Many believers in the future will have to pay for their faith with either their freedom or their lives.
The Four Horsemen and Global Chaos
The time of the Great Tribulation will be extremely difficult not only for believers, but for the whole world.
Scripture indicates that even before the full persecution under the Antichrist, the world will experience what are commonly called the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
I believe the first horseman symbolises the Antichrist taking control over the world. Thus in Revelation 6:2 we read that “he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.” The Antichrist’s seizure of power will begin through deception but will eventually be enforced by violence.
War will follow; after war, famine; after famine, widespread death—and then the intense persecution of believers.
But that is not all. Scripture also speaks of earthquakes and other natural and cosmic disasters.
Even this does not exhaust the list. The imminent return of the Lord will be preceded by a series of signs in the heavens and on the earth that will further intensify an already desperate global situation.
Continuing His explanation of the circumstances of His return, Jesus says:
Matthew 24:29 (NKJV)
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
It is clear from these words that at some point during those final three and a half years, the inhabitants of the earth will witness terrifying signs in the heavens and on the earth.
Jesus is drawing from Joel’s prophecy:
Joel 2:30–31
30 “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.”
Luke records Jesus’ words in this way:
Luke 21:25–26
25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”
Notice what is said: “nations will be in anguish and perplexity”; “people will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world.”
All these signs mentioned by Jesus are also described in Revelation 6, after the opening of the sixth seal.
We do not know how long this will last. We do not know how long the earth will be in darkness, or how long these cosmic and seismic disturbances will continue.
But at some point, in the midst of this celestial darkness—with the sun blackened, the moon like blood, global earthquakes, and raging seas—the shekinah glory of the coming Lord will appear in the sky.
Matthew 24:30 (NKJV)
30 “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
Suddenly, the darkness of the night—both spiritual and physical—will be pierced by the light of the returning Christ.
We are told that “all the tribes of the earth will mourn.” Unbelievers will mourn in terror, because the One they denied and blasphemed, the One they claimed did not exist, is returning in power and glory.
After His appearance in the clouds, the Lord will rescue those who belong to Him.
Jesus continues:
Matthew 24:31
31 “And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
Paul says the same:
1 Thessalonians 4:15–17
15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever.
Paul, like Jesus, teaches that when the Lord appears in the clouds, visible to the whole world, He will gather to Himself His people—both those who have died and those still alive.
What follows the removal of believers from the earth is the outpouring of God’s wrath upon a rebellious world.
This judgement is portrayed in Revelation as the sounding of the seven trumpets and the pouring out of the seven bowls of God’s wrath.
Thus, the Great Tribulation—understood as the final three and a half years of this age—includes both the persecution led by the Antichrist and the outpouring of God’s judgements on the world.
All of this, including the catching up of believers, will take place within this last three-and-a-half-year period.
In Conclusion
As we approach the time of the Lord’s return, there is no topic more urgent.
Scripture makes it clear that things will become very serious before the Lord comes.
Life will become extremely difficult because of wars, famines, diseases and pandemics, and later the persecution of God’s people.
There will also be diverse natural and cosmic catastrophes.
People will be terrified by what is happening to the world.
Alongside all this, there will be false prophets and false teachers seeking to lead believers away from faith in Jesus.
We must also remember Paul’s warning about the great apostasy—the falling away of many professing Christians in the days of the Antichrist.
Jesus said it will be a time such as has never been since the beginning of creation.
Yet in spite of repeated biblical warnings about this approaching time, most Christians ignore them, convinced that these warnings do not apply to them.
Many Christians say they are waiting for the Lord’s return, yet only a few truly understand the circumstances under which the Lord will return.
The Word of God indicates that the Lord will return at night, but most Christians are not prepared for that night.
They are not prepared because they have been taught that the Lord will come for them before the night. I am persuaded that this is not what Scripture teaches.
Everything I have described will apply especially to the last generation of the Church.
The most pressing question for us is this: if God appoints us to live in that last generation and to face the Great Tribulation, how will we respond to the persecution of believers and to the cataclysmic events shaking heaven and earth?
Will we “faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world”? Or will we, as I hope, remain faithful and lift up our heads, because—as it is written in Luke 21:28—“your redemption is drawing near”?
Footnotes
[1] “A time, times and half a time” was already interpreted by Irenaeus in the 2nd century as 1 + 2 + ½ = 3½ (a year, two years, and half a year).
[2] Where it says “one seven”, the Hebrew text has שָׁב֣וּעַ אֶחָ֑ד (shavu’a echad), meaning “one week”.
Image: “The Deluge” by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851). Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Unported).
I have used “the metaphor of the night” to symbolise the Great Tribulation, drawing inspiration from Jacob Prasch.
Written by Artur Pluta