Midnight Hour1

The Midnight Hour

Part 1

“The Watch at Midnight”

Mark 13: 35-37

The “midnight hour” has strong significance all throughout scripture.

It was often the hour of God’s judgment.

Exodus 11:4 God told Moses, “About midnight I will go out into the land and every firstborn son in Egypt will die.”

And it happened just that way.

Ex. 12:29 “At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt…”

On the positive side, it was the midnight hour, the hour of extremity, when Paul and Silas prayed and worshipped God in the Philippian jail, and the entire prison was shaken and the prisoners set free.

As I researched this out I discovered that Jesus spoke a lot about the midnight hour in His parables.

In Luke 11:5 in a parable about prayer, “Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread…” The parable pointing out that the midnight hour is the hour of desperate need.

In Matt 25:6 in His parable about the ten virgins, Jesus said, “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” Jesus pointing out that it will be the “midnight hour” when He returns.

In Luke 17:34 “I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left.”

Peter and Paul in their writings said exactly the same thing:

1 Th. 5:2 “…for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

2 Pet. 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat…”

And so in the next few weeks I want to deal with three aspects of the midnight hour:

The Watch at Midnight—Our expectation at His return

The Knock at Midnight—Our ministry at His return

The Cry at Midnight—Our preparedness at His return

But first, what does the MIDNIGHT HOUR actually mean?

Jesus was surely not talking about the actual time of His return being somewhere around midnight on the clock.

Because when it’s midnight in the west, it’s not midnight in the east.

He would have to return several times in a 24 hour period to come at midnight in all the different places in the world.

Jesus was talking about a condition, The Midnight Hour describes the moral and spiritual atmosphere of the world at His return.

First,

The Midnight Hour refers to the loss of opportunities for gospel work due to persecution.

Jesus once warned that “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” (John 9:4)

…Meaning, the time will come when spiritual darkness becomes especially prevalent making gospel work more difficult.

Even today, this midnight condition is growing in our world.

Many doors of evangelism are now being shut.

Authorities are constantly framing new laws that make it more and more difficult to evangelize.

Mentioning the name of Christ in some public venues in America and Europe has now been outlawed.

This is not to glorify the night, or to give it too much credit. But there is a reality we must deal with concerning the Midnight Hour.

Paul encouraged the church to “Redeem the time (make the most of every opportunity), because the days are evil.” (Eph.5:16)

So part of the “Midnight Hour” is when the freedom to share Christ comes under strong attack in an attempt to silence the church.

A second characteristic of the Midnight Hour is:

Spiritual and moral decline

It was a spiritual and moral MIDNIGHT HOUR in Sodom and Gomorrah just prior to God’s judgment.

Speaking of that time, Jesus warned that the world would be just as it had been in the DAYS OF LOT.

Jesus warned, “In Lot’s day in Sodom and Gomorrah, people went about their Daily Business, Eating and Drinking, Buying and Selling, Farming and Building, until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then Fire and Burning Sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17)

In Lot’s day homosexuality had become totally socially acceptable in their Midnight Hour.

Peter says that Lot “was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day.”—2 Pet 2:8

LISTEN: Any time perversion is celebrated and righteousness is castigated, it’s midnight!

In the MIDNIGHT HOUR, truth is placed on the endangered species list.

Isaiah described the Midnight Hour this way, “Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth is fallen in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.” (Is. 59:14)

The truth doesn’t have many friends today.

Truth has fallen in the streets and very few want to pick it up.

You know truth is fallen in the streets when right is called wrong, and wrong called right.

It’s midnight when Light is called dark, and dark is called light.

A nation is in deep trouble when what is Moral is declared immoral, and the immoral are called moral.

Isaiah the Prophet warned, “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.”

In the Midnight Hour there is a “tone deafness” to the warnings of God.

God’s pleadings fall on deaf ears.

His warnings are ignored. His preachers are mocked.

According to Jesus, it will likewise be 'BUSINESS AS USUAL' in a Midnight Hour just prior to His return…

And the Bible further says that, as midnight draws closer…

A scoffing, mocking attitude concerning Christ’s return to the earth will accelerate.

Peter warned, “I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They'll mock, saying "So what's happened to the promise of his Coming? Our ancestors are dead and buried, and everything is going on just as it has from the first day of creation. Nothing's changed."

When mockers and scoffers are told today that there are many signs of the Lord’s soon return (in nature, society, Israel, the church, and other arenas), they say these things have always happened.

They cannot see that the birth pains are increasing and the birth is about to occur...

Many—even within the church—say, “Every generation expected Christ to return in their time, and so far they’ve all been wrong, so why should we now?”

Anticipating this response, Peter wrote: “God isn't late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn't want anyone lost. He's giving everyone space and time to repent.”—2 Pet. 3:9

The Bible couldn’t be more clear concerning Christ’s return:

Job said, “I know my Redeemer lives, and in the end he will stand upon the earth” (19:25).

Malachi 3:2 asks, “Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?”

Mark 14:62 says, “He is coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Acts 1:11 says, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16 says: “the Lord himself will [descend] from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God. The dead in Christ shall arise and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.”

Revelation 1:7 says He “is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.”

When Jesus was born in the manger only a handful of people witnessed His appearing—Mary, Joseph and a few shepherds. 

But when He returns everybody will see Him.  John said, “every eye will see him.”

Think about that!  Every person from Adam to the last person born will witness Christ’s appearing—the righteous and unrighteous, the wise and the foolish, and the rich and the poor.

Those that persecuted the prophets and rejected their words will see His Return.

Pilate and the priests that crucified the Lord will witness His appearing.

The soldiers that nailed Him to the cross will see Him.

Herod, Hitler, Stalin, and Saddam Hussein will witness the brightness of His Coming.

The philosophers, skeptics, and atheists will be present.

In fact, every person that has rejected Christ’s loving offer to forgive their sins will witness His Return.

Nobody will miss the Second Coming of Jesus Christ!

Midnight is spreading across our world.

Increasing attack on Gospel ministry

Spiritual and moral decline

The inversion of truth

Mockers and scoffers attacking Christ’s return

So what should the response of the church be?

Luke 21:28 “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

This describes the “WATCHING” posture of the Lord’s true bride in the midnight hour.

The expectation of Christ's return will characterize those that overcome in the Midnight Hour.

If fact, I have a word from God’s word today--

“Man’s hour of darkness is always GOD’S HOUR OF POWER!”

Those that experience the power of God in the Midnight Hour will be those who…

Stand up for Jesus Christ

Lift up His name

Look up in anticipation of His return!

“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch for Him!’”

NEXT TIME: The Knock at Midnight—Our Ministry at His Return