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The Time of Jacob’s Trouble, September 21
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of
Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Jeremiah 30:7
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I saw that the four angels would hold the four winds until Jesus’ work
was done in the sanctuary, and then will come the seven last plagues. These
plagues enraged the wicked against the righteous; they thought that we had
brought the judgments of God upon them, and that if they could rid the
earth of us, the plagues would then be stayed. A decree went forth to slay
the saints, which caused them to cry day and night for deliverance. This
was the time of Jacob’s trouble.
As Satan influenced Esau to march against Jacob, so he will stir up
the wicked to destroy God’s people in the time of trouble. And as he
accused Jacob, he will urge his accusations against the people of God. He
numbers the world as his subjects; but the little company who keep the
commandments of God are resisting his supremacy. If he could blot them
from the earth, his triumph would be complete. He sees that holy angels
are guarding them, and he infers that their sins have been pardoned; but he
does not know that their cases have been decided in the sanctuary above.
He has an accurate knowledge of the sins which he has tempted them to
commit, and he presents these before God in the most exaggerated light,
representing this people to be just as deserving as himself of exclusion from
the favor of God. He declares that the Lord cannot in justice forgive their
sins and yet destroy him and his angels. He claims them as his prey and
demands that they be given into his hands to destroy.
As Satan accuses the people of God on account of their sins, the Lord
permits him to try them to the uttermost. Their confidence in God, their
faith and firmness, will be severely tested. As they review the past, their
hopes sink; for in their whole lives they can see little good. They are fully
conscious of their weakness and unworthiness. Satan endeavors to terrify
them with the thought that their cases are hopeless, that the stain of their
defilement will never be washed away. He hopes so to destroy their faith
that they will yield to his temptations and turn from their allegiance to God.
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