And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(Rev 13:7)

This scripture alludes to the darkest time of all the ages. There is a coming war against the saints and the saints are overcome. The great tribulation to come will produce this situation which is why the Scriptures warn us over and over again that it is those who overcome, who endure to the end who will be saved. Let us consider a time in history where we see such a darkness over the earth. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.(Mat 27:45) From the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was a gross Satanic darkness that engulfed the world. Somewhere between three hours and four hours. At the end of this Satanic darkness Christ Himself cries out my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Mat 27:45) This is not only the darkest hour materially, but also the darkest hour spiritually.

We who are alive in the great persecution soon to come, will have to face this same kind of Satanic darkness, a period of time where it appears that we have been abandoned by God. It wont be for a few hours, it will more than likely be for a few years. Think not that if the Lord Jesus Himself cried out this agonizing cry in the midst of gross Satanic darkness, that somehow we saints shall avoid coming to this same moment. This three or four hours of Satanic darkness, I am convinced, symbolically represents the time alluded to in Rev 13:7. A time, when we have, just like our Lord, been handed over to our enemies. Judgement begins at the house of the Lord.

Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.(Jer 30:10) God Himself is the affecting agent on Israel as they are taken into captivity to Babylon. The Lord says in verse 11 that I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. If judgment indeed begins at the house of the Lord, and it does, it is necessary for the Lord to do it. Imagine if you will a a man on your street who has spoiled undisciplined children. He then comes across your children doing something wrong and he severely disciplines them. He who does not discipline his own has no authority to discipline others.

God is not like men. He does discipline His children. He scourges those He loves. And so we see in Jeremiah chapter 30 that even although His children are going into captivity, He has not forgotten them. Even although they deserved punishment, lest they lose hope in the midst of their captivity,God promises them that He would save them from afar. At the end of the gross darkness on Calvary, the Lord cries out to God once more and He says “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” You see, He now addresses God as Father. The doubt is gone, the victory is won and the intimacy has returned. We too shall be driven into the deepest intimacy we have ever known as we pass through the valley, the deepest darkest valley ever known.