The days of God go from evening to morning. Man has had his day to show what he can do. Now the Day of the Lord has come upon us. It will begin with an "evening." There is coming a darkness never before known on the earth.

The oppression, pain, and insanity of sin will be intensely horrible. Except those days were shortened by the Lord no flesh would be saved. All life on the earth would perish. The Book of Zephaniah describes the great tribulation.

And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. (Zephaniah 1:17)

For His elect's sake the Lord will execute His work on the earth quickly (Matthew 24:22; Romans 9:28).

All during the period of coming darkness, even when the oppression reaches its blackest and heaviest, there will be spiritual protection for the true believers, God's remnant, and for those who go to the remnant for safety. It may be recalled that when God poured His wrath on the gods of Egypt, the land of Goshen was spared (Exodus 9:26). No matter how dark Egypt became, Israel had light in the midst of the darkness (Exodus 10:23).

We find in Revelation, Chapter 12 that the Woman, representing the Christian Church, will be "nourished" from the face of the serpent. "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee" (Psalms 91:7).

There shall be seasons when the saints will be persecuted, thrown into prison, and otherwise suffer for the Gospel. Persecution for the Gospel's sake is taking place now in some parts of the world. It always has been so with the Church of Christ because we must "with much tribulation" enter the Kingdom of God.

Jesus says to us, "Fear none of the things that thou shalt suffer: behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (Revelation 2:10).

Yet, as far as the Church of Christ is concerned, there always will be light—especially at the height of the darkness (Isaiah 60:1-3). God will not leave Himself without a witness in the earth.

The wrath that will be poured out is the anger of God against the gods of the world, against the spirit of the present evil age that is attempting to carry on the business of the earth apart from the Spirit of God. God will crush and destroy this spirit and all who embrace Babylon. "Babylon" refers to man-directed, institutional religion, including (and especially) the Christian religion.

"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God" (Psalms 9:17). It will be a period of horror until men cry out for death; but death will flee from them.

"The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein" (Psalms 24:1). God will never turn over His earth, Christ's inheritance, to the wicked one. God will exercise His wrath on the evil spirits in the earth—and they tremble at the prospect! (James 2:19).

To be continued.