Night of Wrestling
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word could fail; and it was this that sustained him through that fearful
conflict.
Jacob’s experience during that night of wrestling and anguish rep-
resents the trial through which the people of God must pass just before
Christ’s second coming. The prophet Jeremiah, in holy vision looking
down to this time, said, “We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear,
and not of peace.... All faces are turned into paleness. 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 30:5-7
.
When Christ shall cease His work as mediator in man’s behalf,
then this time of trouble will begin. Then the case of every soul will
have been decided, and there will be no atoning blood to cleanse
from sin. When Jesus leaves His position as man’s intercessor before
God, the solemn announcement is made, “He that is unjust, let him
be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he
that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him
be holy still.”
Revelation 22:11
. Then the restraining Spirit of God is
withdrawn from the earth. As Jacob was threatened with death by his
angry brother, so the people of God will be in peril from the wicked
who are seeking to destroy them. And as the patriarch wrestled all
night for deliverance from the hand of Esau, so the righteous will cry
to God day and night for deliverance from the enemies that surround
them.
Satan had accused Jacob before the angels of God, claiming the
right to destroy him because of his sin; he had moved upon Esau to
march against him; and during the patriarch’s long night of wrestling,
Satan endeavored to force upon him a sense of his guilt, in order to
discourage him, and break his hold upon God. When in his distress
Jacob laid hold of the Angel, and made supplication with tears, the
heavenly Messenger, in order to try his faith, also reminded him of
his sin, and endeavored to escape from him. But Jacob would not be
turned away. He had learned that God is merciful, and he cast himself
upon His mercy. He pointed back to his repentance for his sin, and
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pleaded for deliverance. As he reviewed his life, he was driven almost
to despair; but he held fast the Angel, and with earnest, agonizing cries
urged his petition until he prevailed.
Such will be the experience of God’s people in their final struggle
with the powers of evil. God will test their faith, their perseverance,