The Midnight Hour

 It has been cold this past week here in southern Mississippi. It feels like winter, like Christmas time. This morning, I was reading the passage in Luke about Jesus' birth. I was reminded that on a hillside outside the little town of Bethlehem, shepherds gathered around a campfire, yearning to drive away the cold. It was, as the song proclaims, "a midnight clear." Midnight was just a symbol of the condition, the darkness, that engulfed humanity that night.

A religious spirit and a supernatural darkness covered the land. It was a darkness that a campfire could not drive away. It was Israel's midnight hour – the darkest hour it had ever known, and the atmosphere was ripe for the coming of Messiah to bring light into the world once again. While the rest of the world slept in darkness that night, something incredible happened on that hillside where those shepherds lay.

Suddenly, the angels appeared with their voices ringing to announce that the light had come because a Savoir had been born in Bethlehem. The glorious light of Heaven broke the darkness of the midnight hour. Sin was about to be conquered forever because God had robed himself in flesh; a baby named Jesus was lying in a manger!

It wasn't the first time God brought deliverance in the midnight hour. God called Moses and 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 God hardened Pharoah's heart, and he wouldn't admit that Israel's God was the only true God. But God was not giving up – God had already won the battle of the wills. God brought 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 anymore."

Here again, we see the Lord performing a miracle at the "midnight hour" to bring about deliverance. I don't know why God chooses the midnight hour, but He often does so.

Perhaps it's the midnight hour because God must allow man to sink to the very depths of despair before man will turn to Him. Maybe it has to do with the fact that God will not share His Glory with any man. 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. Whatever the reason, God chose to bring about the final plague upon Egypt at the midnight hour.

Another time 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 what it was to feel the pain of sin and the agony of defeat at the hands of the devil. But he also learned how to pray in the midnight hour.

It's often those prayers when we cry out to God when we have come to the end of our rope that touch the heart of God. All of us have prayed, at times, when we were going through the motions, but when you get down to business – when your grandchild is sick, and medicine won't help when death is knocking at the door, the doctors have said there is nothing that they can do when all hope of deliverance is gone unless God performs a miracle – that's when we really pray, 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 brings you to your knees before God. You feel the heaviness of the burden are the prayers that get the quickest answers.

Paul and Silas had done nothing deserving of the place where they found themselves on this 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 midnight 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 am confident that Paul and Silas wondered why it was happening to them, but they didn't blame God, get mad, 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, the heater wasn't right, or the lights were too dim. They just started praising God in the darkness and waited for God's will.

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."

When the praises go up, the Holy Spirit comes down.

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. Still, now, they would experience the freedom God gives in a very tangible way.

Another time we see God working in the midnight hour is found in the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew chapter 25.

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 is when we least expect anything to happen when most of the world is asleep or trying to rest to forget the things of the day that have passed and not to worry over the things of tomorrow. It's the midnight hour, not just midnight by the clock, but midnight because of the powers of darkness that seem to engulf the whole world. As our world grows darker and deeper into the darkness of sin, I can't help but believe that we are approaching the midnight hour for humanity.

Christians understand that Jesus, the Messiah and Deliverer, has already come. He was born in that manger over 2000 years ago; he died, rose again, and is alive forever. 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 when they sing, "Glory to God in the Highest and peace, goodwill to all men."

We hear the Lord saying, "Come unto me and I will give you rest." We see the "Star of Bethlehem" 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 found myself weeping this morning, my heart breaking this Christmas for those who are still trapped in the darkness of sin and bound by chains that Jesus could so easily break. We are approaching the midnight hour. Soon, we will hear the trumpet sound and the midnight cry will go forth. 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 but who didn't know Jesus at all.

I weep for 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 if they do not repent, they will be trapped 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!

Children across the land are being lied to about a fat, red-suited elf riding a sleigh pulled by eight miniature flying reindeer. They are being ordered 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 children are told that Jesus is coming soon, at midnight. I wonder if they are taught that Jesus is riding on the clouds of Glory, seated upon the Throne of God, or that The Seraphim of Glory carries him about?

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; don't let the fire die, don't let the anointing die, don't be caught unaware or unprepared. Friends, I hope you all will be found watching and waiting, when Jesus comes in the midnight hour!