The Time of Trouble

For Protestants in the United States, a religious revival called the Second Great Awakening was their wake-up call. It culminated with a swiftly growing movement that had predicted Christ’s second coming on a particular date based on prophecies in the book of Daniel. Many holding these new beliefs were excommunicated from their denominations.

On October 22, 1844, these believers, who had been dubbed “Adventists,” eagerly awaited the coming of the Savior. All their hopes hung on this moment. But the day passed, and Jesus did not come. If they had been ostracized before, they were openly ridiculed now, made the laughingstock of society. This wave of humiliation led many to abandon association with the revival movement. But there was a small band who “kept [Christ’s] command to persevere,” who “fought the good fight [and] … kept the faith” through the shame (2 Timothy 4:7).

The Bible predicts that directly before Jesus’ second coming, as the final plagues begin to fall, there “shall come upon the whole world” a similar “hour of trial”: “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation” (Daniel 12:1). This will be the “test” of faith for all those living at the very end of time. It will seem as though God has abandoned His last-day people. But if they will, like the Adventist remnant, endure through this darkest of hours—if they too, like their spiritual predecessors, will have purity of heart, unadulterated reliance upon their Savior, and perfect trust in His promises—they will be able to finally see Christ coming in the clouds of heaven.

When Jesus said, “I also will keep you from the hour of trial” (emphasis added), it does not mean that the faithful will evade all trouble. On the contrary, it means that just as Jesus endured the hour of trial in Gethsemane, He will give us grace to endure through this time of trouble. This was the same experience of the Adventist remnant. By faith, they claimed the promises in the Word of God—and we can do the same.

Lord Jesus, even when it seems that all hope is lost, may I exercise complete faith that You will keep me safe in the time of trouble.

For Further Study: Jeremiah 30:7; Habakkuk 2:3; Hebrews 12:1, 2

Key Bible Texts

Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10 KJV)