The time of darkness and light
The Scriptures give us a solid basis for rejoicing. A time of glory and of the Presence of God is coming to the earth because of the love of God for those whom He has created. The Temple of God, Christ—Head and Body, will be that Presence.
No matter how dark the cloud may become that even now is settling on the peoples of the earth, the Glory of God shall appear. All the revivals of past history have been but the merest sprinklings compared with the deluge of harvest rain soon to come.
Economic chaos, famine, the Antichrist, the False Prophet, violence, unbridled lust, and every other abominable work are appearing on the horizon of the earth. The days ahead will be times of shaking, of sin, of judgment, of heavy spiritual darkness, of despair, of men’s heart failing them for fear. God will demonstrate once and for all to both the heavens and the earth the consequences of rebellion against His will.
There will be no sin that wicked spirits can conceive that will not abound in the last days of the present age. Weak, unstable, half-hearted Christians will be tossed about like straw in a hurricane. Some will be saved as by fire. Others will fall away and be destroyed (remember Lot’s wife!). Every Word of Christ will be fulfilled to the letter. It is the great and terrible Day of the Lord.
The days of God go from evening to morning. Man has had his day to show what he can do. Now the Day of the Lord has come upon us. It will begin with an "evening." There is coming a darkness never before known on the earth.
The oppression, pain, and insanity of sin will be intensely horrible. Except those days were shortened by the Lord no flesh would be saved. All life on the earth would perish. The Book of Zephaniah describes the great tribulation.
And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. (Zephaniah 1:17)
For His elect’s sake the Lord will execute His work on the earth quickly (Matthew 24:22; Romans 9:28).
All during the period of coming darkness, even when the oppression reaches its blackest and heaviest, there will be spiritual protection for the true believers, God’s remnant, and for those who go to the remnant for safety. It may be recalled that when God poured His wrath on the gods of Egypt, the land of Goshen was spared (Exodus 9:26). No matter how dark Egypt became, Israel had light in the midst of the darkness (Exodus 10:23).
We find in Revelation, Chapter 12 that the Woman, representing the Christian Church, will be "nourished" from the face of the serpent. "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee" (Psalms 91:7).
There shall be seasons when the saints will be persecuted, thrown into prison, and otherwise suffer for the Gospel. Persecution for the Gospel’s sake is taking place now in some parts of the world. It always has been so with the Church of Christ because we must "with much tribulation" enter the Kingdom of God.
Jesus says to us, "Fear none of the things that thou shalt suffer: behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (Revelation 2:10).
Yet, as far as the Church of Christ is concerned, there always will be light—especially at the height of the darkness (Isaiah 60:1-3). God will not leave Himself without a witness in the earth.
The wrath that will be poured out is the anger of God against the gods of the world, against the spirit of the present evil age that is attempting to carry on the business of the earth apart from the Spirit of God. God will crush and destroy this spirit and all who embrace Babylon. "Babylon" refers to man-directed, institutional religion, including (and especially) the Christian religion.
"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God" (Psalms 9:17). It will be a period of horror until men cry out for death; but death will flee from them.
"The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein" (Psalms 24:1). God will never turn over His earth, Christ’s inheritance, to the wicked one. God will exercise His wrath on the evil spirits in the earth—and they tremble at the prospect! (James 2:19).
Yet, even in the midst of the terrifying judgments that soon are to come, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered" (Joel 2:32). The earth belongs to the Lord and He will not leave it.
The Glory of the Lord will increase in the saints as the Day of the Lord draws near. "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee" (Isaiah 60:1). The remnant of saints will be the source of God’s authority, protection, and blessing for all who seek Christ during the great tribulation.
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.(Joel 2:31,32)
At the climax of the darkness, when the world cries "Peace and safety," having destroyed (so it believes) the testimony of the saints, Christ will appear in glory. The dead in Christ will rise. Those who are alive in Christ on the earth will be caught up together to meet the Lord and to participate with Him in the destruction of the forces of wickedness.
The Church at that time will arise (Ezekiel, Chapter 37). The Church, the army of the Lord, will shine as never before because the Father and the Son will be dwelling in the saints (John 14:23; Joel 3:16,17). The Light of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ, will descend from Heaven and avenge the blood of the saints who have been tortured and martyred on the earth.
Christ will come to tread the grapes of the wrath of God, and all the ungodly will drink of the unmixed wine until they are full.