The Time of Trouble
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Those who exercise
little faith now, are in the greatest
danger of falling under the power of
satanic delusions and the decree to
compel the conscience. Moreover, even
if they endure the test they will be
plunged into deeper distress and
anguish in the time of trouble,
because they have never made it a
habit to trust in God. The lessons of
faith which they have neglected they
will be forced to learn under a
terrible pressure of discouragement.
We should now acquaint
ourselves with God by proving His
promises. Angels record every prayer
that is earnest and sincere. We
should rather dispense with selfish
gratifications than neglect communion
with God. The deepest poverty, the
greatest self-denial, with His
approval, is better than riches,
honors, ease, and friendship without
it. We must take time to pray. If we
allow our minds to be absorbed by
worldly interests, the Lord may give
us time by removing from us our idols
of gold, houses, or of fertile lands.
The young would not be
seduced into sin if they would refuse
to enter any path save that upon
which they could ask God’s
blessing. If the messengers who bear
the last solemn warning to the world
would pray for the blessings of God,
not in a cold, listless, lazy manner,
but fervently and in faith, as did
Jacob, they would find many places
where they could say: “I have
seen God face to face, and my life
preserved.” Genesis 32:30. They
would be accounted of heaven as
princes, having power to prevail with
God and with man.
The “time of
trouble,” such as never
was,” is soon to open upon us;
and we shall need an experience which
we do not now possess and which many
are too indolent to obtain. It is
often the case that trouble is
greater in anticipation than in
reality; but this is not true of the
crisis before us. The most vivid
presentation cannot reach the
magnitude of the ordeal. In that time
of trial, every soul must stand for
himself before God. “Though
Noah, Daniel, and Job” were in
the land, “as I live, saith the
Lord God, they shall deliver neither
son nor daughter; they shall but
deliver their own souls by their
righteousness.” Ezekiel 14:20.
Now, while our great
High Priest is making the atonement
for us, we should seek to become
perfect in Christ. Not even by a
thought could our Savior be brought
to yield to the power of temptation.
Satan finds in human hearts some
point where he can gain a foothold;
some sinful desire is cherished, by
means of which his temptations assert
their power. However, Christ declared
of Himself: “the prince of this
world cometh, and hath nothing in
Me.” John 14:30. Satan could not
find nothing in the Son of God that
would enable him to gain the victory.
He had kept His Father’s
commandments, and there was no sin in
Him that Satan could use to his
advantage. This is the condition in
which those must be found who shall
stand in the time of trouble.
It is in this life
that we are to separate sin form us,
through faith in the atoning blood of
Christ. Our precious Savior invites
us to join ourselves to Him, to unite
our weaknesses to His strength, our
ignorance to His wisdom, our
unworthiness to His merits.
God’s providence is the school
in which we are to learn the meekness
and lowliness of Jesus. The Lord is
ever setting before us, not the way
we would choose, which is easier and
pleasanter to us, but the true aims
of life. It rests with us to
co-operate with the agencies that
Heaven employs in the work of
conforming our characters to the
divine model. None can neglect or
defer this work but at the most
fearful peril to their souls.
The apostle John in
vision heard a loud voice in heaven
exclaiming: “Woe to the
inhabitants of the earth and the sea!
For the devil is come down unto you,
having great wrath, because he
knoweth that he hath but a short
time.” Revelation 12:12.
Fearful are the scenes that call
forth this explanation from the
heavenly voice. The wrath of Satan
increases as his time grows short,
and his work of deceit and
destruction will reach its
culmination in the time of trouble.
Fearful insights of a
supernatural character will soon be
revealed in the heavens, in token of
the power of miracle-working demons.
The spirits of devils will go forth
to the kings of the earth and to the
whole world, to fasten them in
deception, and urge them on to unite
with Satan in his last struggle
against the government of heaven. By
these agencies, rulers and subjects
will be alike deceived. Persons will
arise pretending to be Christ
Himself, and claiming the title and
worship that belong to the
world’s Redeemer. They will
perform wonderful miracles of healing
and will profess to have revelations
from heaven contradicting the
testimony of the Scriptures.
As the crowning act in
the great drama of deception, Satan
himself will personate Christ. The
church has long professed to look to
the Savior’s advent as the
consummation of her hopes. Now the
great deceiver will make it appear
that Christ has come. In different
parts of the earth, Satan will
manifest himself among men as a
majestic being of dazzling
brightness, resembling the
description of the Son of God given
by John in Revelation. Revelation
1:13-15. The glory that surrounds him
is unsurpassed by anything that
mortal eyes have yet beheld. The
shout of triumph rings out upon the
air; “Christ has come! Christ
has come! The people prostrate
themselves in adoration before him,
while he lifts up his hands and
pronounces a blessing upon them, as
Christ blessed His disciples when He
was upon the earth. His voice is soft
and subdued, yet full of melody. In
gentle, compassionate tones he
presents some of the same gracious,
heavenly truths that the Savior
uttered; he heals the diseases of the
people, and then, in his assumed
character of Christ, he claims to
have changed the Sabbath to Sunday,
and commands all to hallow the day
which he has blessed. He declares
that those who persist in keeping
holy the seventh day are blaspheming
his name by refusing to listen to his
angels sent to them with light and
truth. This is the strong, almost
overmastering delusion. Like the
Samaritans who were deceived by Simon
Magus, the multitudes, from the least
to the greatest, give heed to these
sorceries, saying: This is “the
great power of God.” Acts 8:10.
However, the people of
God will not be misled. The teachings
of this false Christ are not in
accordance with the Scriptures. His
blessing is pronounced upon the
worshipers of the beast and his
image, the very class upon whom the
Bible declares that God’s
unmingled wrath shall be poured out.
And, furthermore,
Satan is not permitted to counterfeit
the manner of Christ’s advent.
The Savior has warned His people
against deception upon this point,
and has clearly foretold the manner
of His second coming. “There
shall arise false christs, and false
prophets, and shall show great signs
and wonders; insomuch that, if it
were possible, they shall deceive the
very elect… Wherefore if they
shall say unto you, Behold, He is in
the desert; go not forth; behold, He
is in the secret chambers; believe it
not, For as the lightening cometh out
of the east, and shineth even unto
the west; so shall also the coming of
the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:
24-27, 31; 25:31; Revelation 1:7; 1
Thessalonians 4:16, 17. This coming
there is no possibility of
counterfeiting. It will be
universally known – witnessed by
the whole world.
Only those who have
been diligent students of the
Scriptures and who have received the
love of the truth will be shielded
from the powerful delusion that takes
the world captive. By the Bible
testimony, these will detect the
deceiver in his disguise. To all the
testing time will come. By the
sifting of temptation the genuine,
Christian will be revealed. Are the
people of God now so firmly
established upon His word that they
would not yield to the evidence of
their senses? Would they, in such a
crisis, cling to the Bible and the
Bible only? Satan will, if possible,
prevent them from obtaining a
preparation to stand in that day. He
will so arrange affairs as to hedge
up their way, entangle them with
earthly treasures, cause them to
carry a heavy, wearisome burden that
their hearts may be overcharged with
the cares of this life and the day of
trial may come upon them as a thief.
As the decree issued
by the various rulers of Christendom
against commandment keepers shall
withdraw the protection of government
and abandon them to those who desire
their destruction, the people of God
will flee from the cities and
villages and associate together in
companies, dwelling in the most
desolate and solitary places. Many
will find refuge in the strongholds
of the mountains. Like the Christians
of the Piedmont valleys, they will
make the high places of the earth
their sanctuaries and will thank God
for “the munitions of
rocks.” Isaiah 33:16. However,
many of all nations and of all
classes, high and low, rich and poor,
black and white, will be cast into
the most unjust and cruel bondage.
The beloved of God pass weary days,
bound in chains shut in by prison
bars, sentenced to be slain, some
apparently left to die of starvation
in dark and loathsome dungeons. No
human ear is open to hear their
moans; no human hand is ready to lend
them help.
Will the Lord forget
His people in this trying hour? Did
He forget faithful Noah when
judgments were visited upon the
antediluvian world? Did He forget Lot
when the fire came down from heaven
to consume the cities of the plain?
Did He forget Joseph surrounded by
idolaters in Egypt? Did He forget
Elijah when the oath of Jezebel
threatened him with the fate of the
prophets of Baal? Did He forget
Jeremiah in the dark and dismal pit
of his prison house? Did He forget
the three worthies in the fiery
furnace? Or Daniel in the den of
lions?
“Zion said,
The Lord hath forsaken me, and my
Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman
forget her sucking child, that she
should not have compassion on the son
of her womb? Yea, they may forget,
yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I
have graven thee upon the palms of My
hands.” Isaiah 49: 14-16. The
Lord of hosts has said: “He that
toucheth you toucheth the apple of
His eye.” Zechariah 2:8.
Though enemies may
thrust them into prison, yet dungeon
walls cannot cut off the
communication between their souls and
Christ. One who sees their every
weakness, who is acquainted with
every trial, is above all earthy
powers; and angels will come to them
in lonely cells, bringing light and
peace from heaven. The prison will be
as a palace; for the rich in faith
dwell there, and the gloomy walls
will be lighted up with heavenly
light as, when Paul and Silas prayed
and sang praises at midnight in the
Philippian dungeon.
God’s judgments
will be visited upon those who are
seeking to oppress and destroy
God’s people. His long
forbearance with the wicked emboldens
men in transgression, but their
punishment is nonetheless certain and
terrible because it is long delayed.
“The Lord shall rise up as in
Mount Perazim, He shall be wroth as
in the valley of Gibeon, that He may
do His work, His strange work; and
bring to pass His act; His strange
act.” Isaiah 28:21. To our
merciful God the act of punishment is
a strange act. “As I live, saith
the Lord God, I have no pleasure in
the death of the wicked.”
Ezekiel 33:11. The Lord is
“merciful and gracious,
long-suffering, and abundant in
goodness and truth, …forgiving
iniquity, transgression, and
sin.” Yet, He will “by no
means clear the guilty.” The
Lord is slow to anger, and great in
power and will not at all acquit the
wicked.” Exodus 34:6, 7; Nahum
1:3. By terrible things in
righteousness He will vindicate the
authority of His downtrodden law, the
severity of the retribution awaiting
the transgressor may be judged by the
Lord’s reluctance to execute
justice. The nation with which He
bears long, and which He will not
smite until it has filled up the
measure of its iniquity in God’s
account, will finally drink the cup
of wrath unmixed with mercy.
When Christ ceases His
intercession in the sanctuary, the
unmingled wrath threatened against
those who worship the beast and his
image and receive the mark
(Revelation 14: 9, 10), will be
poured out. The plagues upon Egypt
when God was about to deliver Israel
were similar in character to those
more terrible and extensive judgments
that are to fall upon the world just
before the final deliverance of
God’s people. Says the
revelator, in describing those
terrible scourges: “There fell a
noisome and grievous sore upon the
men which had the mark of the beast,
and upon them that worshiped the
image.” The sea “became as
the blood of a dead man: and every
living soul died in the sea.”
And “the rivers and the
fountains of waters…become
blood.” Terrible as these
inflictions are, God’s justice
stands fully vindicated. The angel of
God declares: “Thou art
righteous, O Lord…because Thou
hast judged thus. For they have shed
the blood of saints and prophets, and
Thou hast given them blood to drink;
for they are worthy.” Revelation
16: 2-6. By condemning the people of
God to death, they have as truly
incurred the guilt of their blood as
if it had been shed by their hands.
In like manner Christ declared the
Jews of His time guilty of all the
blood of holy men which had been shed
since the days of Abel; for they
possessed the same spirit and were
seeking to do the same work with
these murderers of the prophets.
In the plagues that
follows, power is given to the sun
‘to scorch men with fire. And
men were scorched with great
heat,” Verses 8, 9. The prophets
thus describe the condition of the
earth at this fearful time: “The
land mourneth; …because the
harvest of the field is
perished… All the trees of the
field are withered: because joy is
withered away form the sons of
men.” “The seed is rotten
under their clods, the garners are
laid desolate…. How the beasts
groan! The herds of cattle are
perplexed, because they have no
pasture…. The rivers of water
are dried up, and the fire hath
devoured the pastures of the
wilderness.” “The songs of
the temple shall be howlings in that
day, saith the Lord God: there shall
be many dead bodies in every place;
they shall cast them forth with
silence.” Joel 1: 10-12, 17-20;
Amos 8:3.
These plagues are not
universal, or the inhabitants of the
earth would be wholly cut off. Yet,
they will be the most awful scourges
that have ever been known to mortals.
All these judgments upon men, before
the close of probation, have been
mingled with mercy. The pleading
blood of Christ has shielded the
sinner from receiving the full
measure of his guilt; but in the
final judgment, wrath is poured out
unmixed with mercy.
The people of God will
not be free from suffering; but while
persecuted and distressed, while they
endure privation and suffer for want
of food they will not be left to
perish. That God who cared for Elijah
will not pass by one of His
self-sacrificing children. He who
numbers the hairs of their head will
care for them, and in time of famine,
they shall be satisfied. While the
wicked are dying from hunger and
pestilence, angels will shield the
righteous and supply their wants. To
him that “walketh
righteously” is the promise:
“Bread shall be given him; his
waters shall be sure.”
“When the poor and needy seek
water, and there is none, and their
tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord
will hear them, I the God of Israel
will not forsake them.” Isaiah
33: 15, 16: 41:17. “Although the
fig tree shall not blossom, neither
shall fruit be in the vines; the
labor of the olive shall fail, and
the fields shall yield no meat; the
flock shall be cut off from the fold,
and these shall be no herd in the
stalls,” yet shall they that
fear Him ‘rejoice in the
Lord” and joy in the God of
their salvation.” Habakkuk 3:
17, 18.
“The Lord is thy
keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon
thy right hand. The sun shall not
smite thee by day, nor the moon by
night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil: He shall preserve thy
soul.” He shall deliver thee
from the snare of the fowler, and
from the noisome pestilence. He shall
cover thee with His feathers, and
under His wings shalt thou trust: His
truth shall be thy shield and
buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror of night; nor for the
arrow that flieth by day; nor for the
pestilence that walketh in darkness;
nor for the destruction that wasteth
at noonday. A thousand may fall at
thy side, and ten thousand at thy
right hand; but it shall not come
nigh thee. Only with thine eyes,
shalt thou behold and see the reward
of the wicked. Because thou hast made
the Lord, which is thy refuge, even
the Most High, thy habitation; there
shall no evil befall thee, neither
shall any plague come nigh thy
dwelling.” Psalms 121: 5-7; 91:
3-10.
Yet, to human sight it
will appear that the people of God
must soon seal their testimony with
their blood, as did the martyrs
before them. They themselves begin to
fear that the Lord has left them to
fall by the hand of their
enemies. It is a time of
fearful agony. Day and night, they
cry unto God for deliverance. The
wicked exalt, the jeering cry is
heard: “Where now is your faith?
Why does not God deliver you out of
our hands if you are indeed His
people?” However, the waiting
ones remember Jesus dying upon
Calvary’s cross and the chief
priests and rulers shouting in
mockery: “He saved others;
Himself He cannot save. If He be the
King of Israel, let Him now come down
from the cross, and we will believe
Him.” Matthew 27: 42. Like
Jacob, all are wrestling with God.
Their countenances express their
internal struggle. Paleness sits upon
every face. Yet, they cease not their
earnest intercession.
Could men see with
heavenly vision, they would behold
companies of angels that excel in
strength stationed about those who
have kept the word of Christ’s
patience. With sympathizing
tenderness, angels have witnessed
their distress and have heard their
prayers. They are awaiting the word
of their Commander to snatch them
from their peril. However, they must
wait yet a little longer. The people
of God must drink of the cup and be
baptized with the baptism. The very
delay, so painful to them, is the
best answer to their petitions. As
they endeavor to wait trustingly for
the Lord to work, they are led to
exercise faith, hope, and patience,
which have been too little exercised
during their religious experience.
Yet, for the elect’s sake the
time of trouble will be shortened.
“Shall not God avenge His own
elect, which cry day and night unto
Him… I tell you that he will
avenge them speedily.” Luke
18:7, 8. The end will come more
quickly than men expect. The wheat
will be gathered and bound in sheaves
for the garner of God; the tares will
be bound as fagots for the fires of
destruction.
The heavenly
sentinels, faithful to their trust,
continue their watch. Though a
general decree has fixed the time
when commandment keepers may be put
to death, their enemies will in some
cases anticipate the decree, and
before the time specified, will
endeavor to take their lives.
However, none can pass the mighty
guardians stationed about every
faithful soul. Some are assailed in
their flight from the cities and
villages; but the sword raised
against them break and fall powerless
as a straw. Others are defended by
angels in the form of men of war.
In all ages, God has
wrought through holy angels for the
succor and deliverance of His people.
Celestial beings have taken an active
part in the affairs of men. They have
appeared clothed in garments that
shone as the lightening: They have
come as men in the garb of wayfarers.
Angels have appeared in human form to
men of God. They have rested, as if
weary, under the oaks at noon. They
have accepted the hospitalities of
human homes. They have acted as
guides to benighted travelers. They
have, with their own hands, kindled
the fires at the altar. They have
opened prison doors and set free the
servants of the Lord. Clothed with
the panoply of heaven, they came to
roll away the stone from the
Savior’s tomb.
In the form of men,
angels are often in the assemblies of
the righteous; and they visit the
assemblies of the wicked, as they
went to Sodom, to make a record of
their deeds, to determine whether
they have passed the boundary of
God’s forbearance. The Lord
delights in mercy; and for the sake
of a few who really serve Him. He
restrains calamities and prolongs the
tranquility of multitudes. Little do
sinners against God realize that they
are indebted for their own lives to
the faithful few whom they delight to
ridicule and oppress.
Though the rulers of
this world know it not, yet often in
their councils angels have been
spokesmen. Human eyes have looked
upon them; human ears have listened
to their appeals; human lips have
opposed their suggestions and
ridiculed their council; human have
met them with insult and abuse. In
the council hall and the court of
justice, these heavenly messengers
have shown an intimate acquaintance
with human history; they have proved
themselves better able to plead the
cause of the oppressed than their
ablest and most eloquent defenders.
They have defeated purposes and
arrested evils and would have greatly
retarded the work of God and would
have caused great suffering to His
people. In the hour of peril and
distress “the angel of the Lord
encampeth round about them that fear
Him, and delivereth them.” Psalm
34:7.
With earnest longing,
God’s people await the tokens of
their coming King. As the watchmen
are accosted, “What of the
night?” the answer is given
unfalteringly, “The morning
cometh, and also the night.”
Isaiah 21:11, 12. Light is gleaming
upon the clouds above the
mountaintops. Soon there will be the
revealing of His glory. The Sun of
Righteousness is about to shine
forth. The morning and the night are
both at hand – the opening of
endless day to the righteous, the
settling down of eternal night to the
wicked.”
As the wrestling ones
urge their petitions before God, the
veil separating them from the unseen
seems almost withdrawn. The heavens
glow with the dawning of eternal day,
and like the melody of angel songs
the words fall upon the ear:
“Stand fast to your allegiance.
Help is coming.” Christ, the
almighty Victor, holds out to His
weary soldiers a crown of immortal
glory; and His voice comes from the
gates ajar: “Lo, I am with you.
Be not afraid. I am acquainted with
all your sorrows; I have borne your
griefs. You are not warring against
unseen enemies. I have fought the
battle in your behalf, and in My name
you are more than conquerors.”
The precious Savior
will send help just when we need it.
The way to heaven is consecrated by
His footprints. Every thorn that
wounds our feet has wounded His.
Every cross that we are called to
bear He has borne before us. The Lord
permits conflicts, to prepare the
soul for peace. The time of trouble
is a fearful ordeal for God’s
people; but it is the time for every
true believer to look up, and by
faith, he may see the bow of promise
encircling him.
“The redeemed of
the Lord shall return, and come with
singing unto Zion; and everlasting
joy shall be upon their head: they
shall obtain gladness and joy; and
sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
I, even I, am He that comforteth you:
who art thou, that thou shouldest be
afraid of a man that shall die, and
of the son of man which shall be made
as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy
Maker…and hast feared
continually every day because of the
fury of the oppressor, as if he were
ready to destroy? And where is the
fury of the oppressor? The captive
exile hasteneth that he may be
loosed, and that he should not die in
the pit, nor that his bread should
fail. However, I am the Lord thy God,
that divided the sea, whose waves
roared: The Lord of hosts is His
name. And I have put My words in thy
mouth, and I have covered thee in the
shadow of Mine hand.” Isaiah 51:
11-16.
“Therefore hear
now this, thou afflicted, and
drunken, but not with wine: Thus
saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God
that pleadeth the cause of His
people. Behold, I have taken out of
thine hand the cup of trembling, even
the dregs of the cup of My fury; thou
shalt no more drink it again: but I
will put it into the hand of them
that afflict thee; which have said to
thy soul, Bow down, that we may go
over: and thou hast laid thy body as
the ground, and as the street, to
them that went over.” Verses
21-23.
The eye of God,
looking down the ages, was fixed upon
the crisis that His people are to
meet, when earthly powers shall be
arrayed against them. Like the
captive exile, they will be in fear
of death by starvation or by
violence. However, the Holy One who
divided the Red Sea before Israel
will manifest His mighty power and
turn their captivity. “They
shall be Mine, saith the Lord of
hosts, in that day when I make up My
jewels; and I will spare them, as a
man spareth his own son that serveth
him.” Malachi 3:17. If the blood
of Christ’s faithful witnesses
were shed at this time, it would not,
like the blood of the martyrs, be as
seed sown to yield the harvest for
God. Their fidelity would not be a
testimony to convince others of the
truth; for the obdurate heart has
beaten back the waves of mercy until
they return no more. If the righteous
were now left to fall a prey to their
enemies, it would be a triumph for
the prince of darkness. Says the
psalmist: “In the time of
trouble He shall hide me in His
pavilion: in the secret of His
tabernacle shall He hide me.”
Psalm 27: 5. Christ has spoken:
“Come, My people, enter thou
into thy chambers, and shut thy doors
about thee: hide thyself as it were
for a little moment, until the
indignant be over past. For, behold
the Lord cometh out of His place to
punish the inhabitants of the earth
for their iniquity.” Isaiah 26:
20,21. Glorious will be the
deliverance of those who have
patiently waited for His coming and
whose names are written in the book
of life.
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