Posted by Elana Janson on September 17, 2012 at 14:35:22:
In Reply to: middernag posted by Suzanne Baker on September 11, 2012 at 10:37:30:
As you mentioned the word “midnight “does not appear in Revelation, even though the time “midnight” appears denoting the time of the Return in the parable of the ten virgins: Matthew 25:6 “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him”.
The word “night” in Revelation
I think we should look at the verses in which the word “night” appears in Revelation.
Rev 8:12 “And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for the third part of it, and the night likewise.”
This is the only verse in Revelation where the word “night” is used in relation to the earth and the universe. This “darkening” is figurative and indicates the turning away of the nations from the testimony of Jesus Christ and man misled by the “beasts” as described in Revelation. Remember Malachi 4:2 in which the coming of the Christ is prophesied as the “Sun of righteousness”.
The other two verses in which the word “night” appears are: Rev 21:25 “And the gates of it (The New Jerusalem) shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there” and 22:5 “And there shall be no night there”. Both these verses reveal that in life after death, in the New Jerusalem, there will be no “night” or darkness.
The use of the word “night” in Revelation, only in relation to “day” and “light” is significant as they reveal that where God, the Father and Christ are there is and cannot be darkness and night, both literally and figuratively.
The time of “night”
The time of “night” in my understanding of Revelation is the same time as the time of the three “days” in the second millennium after the coming of Jesus Christ. That is the time approx. AD 1140-1896. In that time Christianity would spread to the ends of the earth (“three days”), but at the same time the “beast” would mislead the nations (“three nights”). After 1896 (the time of the rider on the black horse) the earth figurative darkens further under the rule of the “beast” till the time of “midnight”, a time only known to God, when the Return will happen and circumstances on earth will be as prophesied in Scripture and Revelation.
Midnight
With the understanding of the figurative “darkening” of the earth in Revelation, the turning away of the nations from the message of “light” the meaning of “midnight” in Matthew 25:6 can be better understood. At the time (which I believe is the present time and the near future) that Christians believe that the nations are trampling the message of the Cross - to the point that even the faithful will lull (as the ten virgins) - the “cry” will be made, the Return will happen.