At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 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 someone was not dead.
Exodus 12:29-30
It is well for us to pause at these solemn verses and see the grim climax of the long-drawn-out conflict with Pharaoh. They afford us an irrefragable proof that God means what He says, and that His warnings of judgment are to be taken seriously. And inasmuch as the whole story of the Passover is an eloquent illustration of the gospel, they also reflect the reality of the final judgment that will come on those who resist and reject the mercy and grace of God offered in Christ. There is another 'midnight', infinitely more dark and terrible and despairing than that which witnessed the cries of the Egyptians, and it will surely come upon all who have spurned or neglected the claims of Christ. We have only to read Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10 to realise how central this reality was in the mind of the early Church. In a very true sense, they regarded themselves as working 'against time' in their preaching of the gospel. Time is, indeed, nothing but an enemy to the unconverted, nor must we ever assume that it is on our side in our concern to evangelise. If these words have anything to say to us, it is in terms of the solemn admonition of our Lord: 'I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work'.