APPROACHING THE MIDNIGHT HOUR
By Pastor Jim May
On a lonely hillside outside of a little town of Judah by the name of Bethlehem there sat some shepherds, huddled around a campfire, burning to drive away the cold and the darkness of the night. That darkness was just a symbol of the true darkness that engulfed Israel and all of mankind on that night. 400 years had passed as Israel lay in silence, locked into the dark night of despair, waiting for the Messiah to come. About 4000 years had passed from the fall of man in the Garden of Eden until the time that shepherds sat there.
If you study your Bible you will find that at the close of the book of Malachi in the Old Testament, the nation of Israel is back again in the land of Palestine after the 70 years of Babylonian captivity, but they are under the domination of the great world power of that day, the Medio-Persian empire. In Jerusalem, the temple had been restored, although it was a much smaller building than the one that Solomon had built and decorated with a marvelous glory.
Within the temple the priests under the lineage of Aaron were still worshipping and carrying on the sacred rites as they had been ordered to do by the law of Moses. But the royal line of King David had fallen and there was no king in Israel. The people knew that the rightful heir to David’s throne was Zerubbabel, the royal prince, but their captors would not allow them to have a king. But though they were weak and a formalism had developed in their worship, the people as a nation were still united. There were no political schisms or factions among them, nor were they divided into groups or parties.
But when we look at the New Testament you discover an entirely different atmosphere -- almost a different world. Rome is now the dominant power of the earth. The Roman legions have spread throughout the length and breadth of the civilized world. The center of power has shifted from the East to the West, to the city of Rome.
Palestine is still a puppet state -- the Jews never did regain their own sovereignty -- but now there is a king on the throne, but he was not of David’s lineage, and the high priests who occupy the seat of religious authority in the nation are no longer from the line of Aaron. This is a hired king, willing to bend his judgments in favor of the highest bidder, and these are hired priests willing to sell out truth for power and favor with those who rule over them.
The temple is still the center of Jewish worship, but the building has been partially destroyed and rebuilt about a half-dozen times since the close of the Old Testament. Now the synagogues have been built in nearly every Jewish city and these synagogues have become the center of Jewish life instead of the temple.
Though Israel had entered into this long period of silence as a unified people, they emerge as a nation split many factions that differed greatly upon their interpretation of the Law of Moses and how Israel should observe that Law. There were three dominant religious groups known as the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. The third group, the Essenes, was small in comparison and didn’t carry much clout in the courts of Israel.
A religious spirit, and a supernatural darkness covered the land. It was a darkness that could not be driven away by a campfire. It was Israel’s midnight hour – the darkest hour it had ever known, and the Jews were ripe for the coming of a Messiah that bring light into their lives once again.
While the rest of Israel slept in darkness that night, there was something wonderful that happened on the hillside where those shepherds lay.
The first part of one of the songs we sing at Christmas goes like this:
It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold;
“Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From Heaven’s all gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.
Suddenly, without warning, the angels appeared, with their voices ringing, telling the world that the Light had come, Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
The darkness of the midnight hour was pierced and illuminated with the glorious light of Heaven. Darkness was about to be conquered forever because a baby named Jesus was lying in a manger.
This wasn’t the first time that God had delivered Israel in the midnight hour.
Look back in time at Isreal’s history when there was another 400-year span of time when they were locked into a world of darkness and despair. Because they had failed God, time and again, Israel had fallen into slavery in Egypt. They prayed for a Deliverer to come and lead them out, just as they were praying for a Deliverer on the night that Jesus was born.
God heard their cry. While He may have had to allow them to suffer for a long time to get them to learn their lesson to stop their rebellious ways, God had never forgotten His chosen people. He had a plan for their deliverance all along.
God called Moses, anointed him as the Deliverer of Israel and sent him to speak to Pharaoh as God’s voice saying, “Let My People Go”! Six times Moses went before Pharaoh but Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he wouldn’t admit that Israel’s God was the only true God. But God was not giving up – the battle of wills was already won. God just had to bring one more plague upon Egypt to convince Pharaoh that He was greater than Pharaoh was.
Exodus 11:4-6, "And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more."
Here again we see the Lord doing a miracle at the midnight hour to bring about Israel’s deliverance.
I don’t know why God chooses the midnight hour, but it seems that He often does so.
-Perhaps it’s the midnight hour because God has to let man sink to the very depths of despair before man will turn back to God.
-Perhaps it has to do with the fact that God will not share His glory with any man and when man is locked into the hopelessness of the midnight hour, that’s when God knows that no man can say God didn’t bring about a miracle.
-Some may say that God just has a thing for dramatics and that He wants special recognition for what He does. There may some truth to that, but I don’t think that God will allow mankind to suffer just so He can seem more powerful. That isn’t the picture of a just and loving God.
Whatever the reason, God chose to bring about the final plague upon Egypt at the midnight hour.
Another time when we see something happening in the midnight hour is found in Psalms 119:62, "At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments."
King David knew what it was to be locked in the midnight hour of sin and despair. He knew was it was to feel the pain of sin and the agony of defeat at the hands of the devil. But he also knew how to pray in the midnight hour.
It’s often those prayers, those times when we cry out to God, when we have come to the end of our rope that really touch the heart of God. All of us have prayed at times when we were just going through the motions, but when you really get down to business – when the baby is sick and medicine won’t help; when death is knocking at the door and no one can do a thing to stop it; when all hope of deliverance is gone unless God performs a miracle – that’s when we really do our most sincere praying, and that’s when God really begins to move.
James 5:16, "… The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
Those midnight cries, those wee hours of the morning prayers, when the Holy Spirit is bringing you on your knees before God and you really feel the heaviness of the burden, are the prayers that seem to get the quickest answers.
God chose the midnight hour to deliver a few of His disciples too. In the Book of Acts we find this story.
Paul and Silas had done nothing deserving of the place where they found themselves on this dark night. They were chained to the wall in the depths of a prison under Roman guard just because they had cast the devil out of a young girl.
You won’t always find yourself in the depths of darkness at the midnight hour because of some dark sin in your life. Sometimes it’s just a trap that the devil lays for you and that God allows you to go through for His name’s sake.
I’m sure Paul and Silas wondered why it was happening to them, but they didn’t blame God, get mad and quit the ministry, or curse the guards. They didn’t complain over their cold bread and water, if they even had that. They didn’t murmur because the air-conditioning was just right or the heater wasn’t right, or the lights were too dim. They just started praising God in the darkness and waited for the will of God to be done.
Acts 16:25-26, "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed."
Psalms 22:3, "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." ( That’s where get the saying that God inhabits the praises of His people.)
When the praises go up, the Holy Spirit comes down, and according to 2 Corinthians 3:17, "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Paul and Silas already had liberty in their hearts, but now they were going to experience the liberty that God gives in a very tangible way.
Another time when we see God working in the midnight hour is found in the Parable of the Ten Virgins found in Matthew chapter 5.
Matthew 25:1-13, "Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."
Midnight - a time when we least expect anything to happen; a time when most of the world is asleep or trying to rest to forget the things of the day that has past, and not to worry yet over the things of tomorrow.
It’s the midnight hour, not just 12 o’clock by the clock, but midnight because of the powers of darkness that seem to engulf you, and to engulf the whole world.
As our world is ever growing darker and falling deeper into the darkness of sin, I can’t help but believe that we are approaching the midnight hour for mankind.
We, as Christians, know that Jesus, the Messiah and Deliverer, has already come. He was born in that manger over 2000 years ago, but He died and rose again and is alive forevermore. Though the world grows darker, we see the light. We can hear the angel choirs singing in the realm of the Spirit and we understand what they mean whey they sing, “Glory to God in the Highest and peace, good will to all men.” We hear the Lord saying, “Come unto me and I will give you rest.” We see the “Star of Bethlehem”, not as some light in the sky, but as a light in our hearts for Jesus is that star, the Bright and the Morning Star, that has risen in us to give us the light of the gospel.
But I can’t help but sorrow for the rest of the world that is caught in the darkness of sin. They are approaching the midnight hour. Soon we will hear the trumpet sound, and the midnight cry will go forth, and where will they be when it sounds?
It won’t be only those who have never known Jesus who will remain in this world during its darkest hour.
-There will be church people who will remain who had the religious spirit of the Pharisees and the Sadducees but who really didn’t know Jesus at all.
-There will be those who once were on fire for God but they have allowed the darkness to kill the fire and destroy the light in their souls, and now they will live in that darkness forever.
-There will be those who have ceased to pray, ceased to serve God and ceased to read His Word who will suddenly, and without warning, find that they can no longer pray, serve or read, because Satan will complete the blinding process in their heart and mind.
-There will be those who were once delivered by the power of God as the light of the gospel shone in them, but now they are locked down again, forever chained to the blackness of sin and despair.
There is a midnight cry coming. We are approaching the midnight hour! Right now there are children all across the land who are being told about a fat, red-suited elf, riding a sleigh pulled by 8 miniature flying reindeer. They are told to go to sleep before midnight so he can pass by their house. They are being told that he will give them what they desire.
But I wonder how many of those same children are being told that the very Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is also coming soon, in the midnight hour. I wonder if they are being taught that Jesus is riding on the clouds of Glory, or seated upon the Throne of God, or that He is carried about by the Seraphims of Glory? (Ezekiel saw this image of God being transported upon his throne and described it as a “wheel in the middle of a wheel”.)
We are approaching the midnight hour! Who are you looking for – an elf in a sleigh – or Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? Don’t let the devil lull you to sleep now. The hour is growing late; the midnight hour is approaching; and you want to be found watching and waiting for Jesus’ coming.
If you miss out on a few gifts a Christmas under your tree, it probably won’t matter in a few days when the New Year begins. At worst you can try again next year. But if you miss out on the second coming of the Lord, there is an eternity at stake, and there is no second chance.
