And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: and all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the first-born of cattle. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there hath not been, nor shall be any more. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast; that ye may know that the Lord doth make a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel. Exodus 11:4–7.
The twelfth chapter unfolds the wonderful story of the inauguration of the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread: And it came to pass at midnight, that the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said. Take both your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, to send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We are all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And they despoiled the Egyptians. Exodus 12:29–36. Thus it was that Israel left Egypt. Not scurrying away as slaves or fleeing terrorized, they went out proudly, with all the gold and silver and the beautiful raiment of the Egyptians. It is significant that the hour was midnight.
The Scriptures give a number of interesting accounts that mention time. In Acts 2, when Peter stood to preach, it was early in the morning. The sun was well up, and people were running through the streets of Jerusalem to the temple because they heard fantastic things were happening in an upper room. Jews from twenty-seven different nations heard the languages that were being spoken and said, “These are Galileans but they are speaking many different languages.” Some said, “They are drunk with new wine.” Peter stood up and said, “These are not drunk with new wine; it’s only nine o’clock in the morning.” (Acts 2:5–15).
In Acts 3, their system of time was brought up again. At the peak of the afternoon, during the hustle and bustle of the workday, the markets were busy; people were buying food to take home to prepare for the night. Then Peter and John, coming to the temple to pray, stopped and healed a crippled man lying at the Gate Beautiful. Leaping and praising God, he went into the temple with them. Thousands were converted that day. What an amazing experience it was. The time was three o’clock in the afternoon, the hour of prayer.
There are several midnight stories in the Bible. Luke must have witnessed this one, for he stressed how long Paul was preaching to the believers at Troas: “… prolonged his speech until midnight.” And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow: and prolonged his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered together. And there sat in the window a certain young man named Eutychus, borne down with deep sleep; and as Paul discoursed yet longer, being borne down by his sleep he fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him and embracing him said, Make ye no ado, for his life is in him. And when he was gone up and had broken the bread, and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. Acts 20:7–11.
One day at Philippi, as Paul and Silas went down the street preaching, a girl followed them. She kept crying, “These are the servants of the Most High God.” (We don’t need the devil to advertise us, nor do we want him to praise anything we do. Let him stay on the other side of the fence and fight us.) Paul was grieved. He put up with it as long as he could, then turned and said, “In the name of Jesus, come out of her.” The next time she had to tell a fortune, the devil she had used was gone. When her masters realized what had been done, they yanked Paul and Silas into the square, charged them falsely, had them thoroughly beaten and thrown in jail. That night they were fast in the stocks, and suddenly there was an earthquake. The door sprang open, the stocks were loosed and Paul and Silas were set free (Acts 16:16–26). It was midnight.
The most significant reference to midnight is in the story of the wise and the foolish virgins. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were foolish and five were wise. For the foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lumps. Now while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. But at midnight there is a cry, Behold, the bridegroom! Come ye forth to meet him. Matthew 25:1–6.
Jesus warned, “You don’t know when I’m coming: whether at even, or midnight, or at the cock crowing; just be ready” (Mark 13:35). In a sense, we have reached into the new day, but chronologically it is the midnight hour when the bridegroom comes, ready to usher in a new day. The cry goes out, “Come forth to meet Him.” Until this time, they had all slumbered and slept; but it is from this time on that a distinction is made between the wise and the foolish. The wise had oil in their lamps and in an auxiliary vessel, but the foolish had only a little oil in their lamps and said, “Our lamps are going out.”
I am impressed that a time is coming that will be like an invisible chronological line: after we pass over it we will not make it if we haven’t made the preparation. It is deadly in this walk to think, “No rush, I’ll get the blood on the doorpost by and by.” If the Israelites had neglected to put that blood over the doorpost, it wouldn’t have done any good at one stroke past midnight; their first-born would have been dead.
There is a time, as with the wise and the foolish virgins, when the midnight hour comes and then it doesn’t make any difference what you try to do. The Lord pointed out that all were virgins; all were waiting for the bridegroom. Some had made preparation for the event; others had not, for their lamps were flickering out. They said, “Give us some of your oil.” The wise replied, “No, there is not enough for us and you too; go to them that sell.” They rushed out, and while they were gone the bridegroom came. When they came rushing back, the door was shut. They cried for him to open to them but he replied, “I know you not.” There are some who will give lip service or mental consent that this is the walk of the spirit and that God is in it, yet look at it from afar off. But the day will come when suddenly, irrevocably, events will move to their conclusion, and there won’t be time enough to get ready then.
I feel desperate over time. I feel the greatness of what is coming, and the time is so limited. It seems that we have waited too long now; too many things are overdue. And we ask ourselves, “Oh, how do I redeem the time? I can’t be one of those foolish virgins. There are so many things to enter into.” We don’t seem to have the time or the strength to press in like we should.
We must rise up in God in this hour, like Joshua did. We’ve entered in to clean out every Canaanite stronghold; we’ve entered into one realm of deliverance after another—the day has come that we’re up against kings and have them on the run. We see the sun moving down, and something rises up within: “Our opportunity will end before the job is done.” Then we know what Joshua meant when he said to the sun, “Stand still until I finish the job of this day.”
God is putting the faith of Joshua in us. We see the days becoming more evil, the door of opportunity closing; and we have so much to publish, so much to say: a word, a witness. We are a prophetic voice for the end time; we have to say it. There must be something that stops the sun, so that we have a day long enough to do the job. Yet chronologically, the days are becoming so evil that God says they will be shortened—if they are not, there would be no flesh saved alive. So with the days shortened we have no choice but to press in with all of our hearts.
At the midnight hour the cry came, “The Lord is coming, we must be ready. Oh, but our lamps are going out. Well, we know what to do: we have to get oil, we have to get all set,” and while they were gone to do it, it was over all. We don’t have much time to get spiritual, to become overcomers. Those who intend to play around for another ten years with their problems will be sitting by the wayside. Unless there are drastic changes in some people’s lives, they will irrevocably miss God’s will. The time of preparation for this generation is very limited. All we have is but a fleeting little moment sandwiched in at the end of all the ages in human history; one little focal point about which all of the prophets prophesied since the world began—the day of restoration.
I am impatient and sick at heart at the rate of restoration we are attaining. There are realms we haven’t touched. We haven’t seen anything like the early church witnessed: the power of their shadows healing the sick, raising the dead. We haven’t seen anything like Philip being transported. We have seen God working in the hearts of the people to prepare them, but I am burdened that it be done faster. Let’s press in. We will be so sorry if we begin to coast along. When the devil hits with a withdrawing spirit, if we sit by the wayside and let someone else run, we will grieve so much. Sometimes the pressure is so great, but we must break through.
It is as if we are rising up to penetrate an invisible wall that no one has been able to come through for generations. We must break through it, we must come into the new realms. The time is short and there will have to be a renewal of strength, a renewal of vision, breakthroughs into divine health. We have had partial answers but nothing complete. We must have them.
In due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not. Is not the Lord with thee that thou shalt not be discouraged or dismayed within thyself? For thou shouldest persevere in that which the Lord layeth in thy hand to do and speak forth faithfully the words He has given unto thee to speak, Thou shalt minister in that which He hath given thee to minister. And if the season seems to be long, and behold the Lord seemeth to tarry, yet in due season thou shalt reap, if ye faint not. And yea, the Spirit saith, “Is this not the due season? Is it not the time that the Lord hath ordained?” Therefore ye shall rejoice, and if there be weariness upon thee because of the many labors, because of much intercession, because of much travail before the Lord, yet behold how sweet shall be the victory that the Lord bringeth unto thee. And if thou hast labored long, thy reward shall be great, for the Lord shall look upon the faithfulness of thy heart and shall He not cause thee to prevail and shall He not bless thee in the prevailing? Amen.