Rodrigo Silva
Generally speaking, the dispensationalist eschatologies that dominate the current Evangelical world preach that although there is a terrible time of tribulation before the coming of Christ, the church will be spared from this event because they will be snatched away to heaven. Seventh-day Adventists, however, understand that the church will be severely tested before the “Parousia” (Second Coming of Christ).
This article summarizes the meaning and biblical foundation of this prophecy and Ellen G. White’s position concerning the topic. It also considers those who will go through this experience and God’s purpose for this event.
The “time of trouble,” also known as the “time of Jacob’s trouble,” refers to “a brief period of extreme tribulation” that will take place shortly before the Second Coming of Christ and immediately after the close of probation.1 It is an event concurrent to the seven last plagues of Revelation 16. The last remnant will have to go through the final judgments without having a mediator in the heavenly sanctuary.
Its name is inspired by the incident of Jacob’s struggle with God narrated in Genesis 32:22-20, and in the vision of Jeremiah 30:7, which describes the anguish of the Jews in their captivity before the Lord’s deliverance was fulfilled.
This time will overtake the world after the closing of probation, at the final moments of earth’s history. Daniel 12:1 describes “a time of trouble, such as never was,” and in Jeremiah 30:7 as “the time of Jacob’s trouble.”
It is written in Jeremiah 30:5-7,
“For thus says the Lord: ‘We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask now, and see, whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor, and all faces turned pale? Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.’”
Daniel 12:1 reveals that this period will take place after Michael stands up to come to His people. Being Christ Himself, He stands up for the first time, leaving the throne that He has occupied since His ascension (Heb. 1:3). Hence, it is an eschatological event, a time of trouble “such as never was.”2 It encompasses the most terrible judgments of God (Rev. 16:18-21; Rev. 19:17-21).
“And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book” (Dan. 12:1), that is, all of those whose names are written in the book of life (Dan. 7:10; cf. also Exod. 32:32; Ps. 69:28; Isa. 4:3; Mal. 3:16; Luke 10:20; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5; 20:11-15; 21:27).
A hasty reading of some of Ellen G. White’s writings and those made not considering its context has raised an eschatological perspective that is not necessarily the author’s intention. One of them has to do with the supposed state of perfection of the saints in this period and the accurate understanding of what it would mean to live without a mediator during the time of trouble.3
In descriptive terms, what we can summarize from Ellen G. White’s thinking that the time of trouble would be the following:
1. This time begins immediately after the end of the “probation [that is, the opportunity for salvation] of those who choose to live a life of sin, and neglect the great salvation offered.”4 In this exact moment, Christ’s heavenly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary ends. He leaves the Most Holy Place and no longer pleads before God in favor of human beings.5
2. The time of trouble also marks the end of the “pre-advent/investigative judgment.”6 Done in advance and permanently, “the destiny of all [dead or alive] will have been decided for life or death”;7 “there is no discussion” on the sentence, it is “irrevocable,”8 and “the door of mercy [is] forever shut.”9
3. Both the beginning of the time of trouble and the closing of probation are marked by a decree from God that marks both the beginning of the time of trouble and the closing of probation. It separates humanity into two groups: saved and lost. Revelation 22:11 says, “He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”10
4. During the time of trouble, seven plagues coming directly from the sanctuary are poured out over the earth. These are catastrophic events, similar to the plagues of Egypt, but of much greater intensity since they have no mixture of mercy.11 For this same reason, they will not be universal; otherwise, the entire humanity would become extinct.12 The saints will be spared from such scourges.13
5. The time of trouble is, therefore, a single, eschatological, universal, and irrevocable event.14 Ellen G. White explains this concept primarily exploring the passages of Revelation 8:5; 15:5-8; 16:17, and 22:11, which she relates with the final tribulation of God’s people.15
6. During this time, the saints who are alive will need to have achieved “perfection of character” or will be forever lost,16 since, after the closing of probation, all “are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator” with a character “purified from sin.”17
7. There is no exaggeration about the trying nature of this period. Ellen G. White says that “the most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal.”18
8. This period of extreme anguish in the experience of God’s people culminates in the Second Coming of Christ. 19
Through these summarized points, it is possible to have an idea of Ellen G. White’s thinking about the time of trouble and its eschatological implications. There is, however, a point that deserves a more elaborate approach: the level of sanctification of God’s people during this time. Will they experience complete victory over sin?
Historically, the first person to raise this question was M. L. Andreasen,20 followed more recently by authors like Herbert Douglass21 and Clifford Goldstein.22 The issue on hand would be that, if the holy people would remain on earth during the plagues, it implies that they would be sinless and could not sin since they would have no one mediating for them before God. Do not forget that, at this point, Christ will have already left the sanctuary and would be on His way to the Earth.
In fact, there are Ellen G. White texts that point to a situation, after the close of probation, in which both the wicked and the remnant will be without a mediator before God.23 It is also true that, during this time, there will be no change of attitude. The wicked will not repent, and the just will not fall. “Every case had been decided for life or death.”24 The saints will be “purified from sin.”25 Does this mean a complete eradication of their sinful nature?
Although it might be a logical inference at first, a combined analysis of other Ellen G. White texts seems to point in another direction. According to Ellen G. White, this kind of complete victory will only occur in the glorification, that is, at Jesus’ coming, and not during the time of trouble. “We cannot say, ‘I am sinless,’ till this vile body is changed and fashioned like unto His glorious body.”26
The victory over sin that Ellen G. White describes is a virtue that comes from grace. It can be obtained even before the close of probation and is essential for receiving the latter rain. She says, “Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul temple of every defilement. Then the latter rain will fall upon us as the early rain fell upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost.”27
Ellen G. White makes spiritual comparisons between the last generation of believers and other servants of God from the past, like Job and Enoch, demonstrating that their character does not have traits never before achieved before the closing of probation.28 Moreover, she compares the experience of those who shall pass by the final test with the one from someone who needs refinement, purification, and has weaknesses.29
Some, including the ones from this last generation of saints, will be more apt to endure the test, demonstrating different levels of spiritual maturity among them. Others will need to grow in faith during the time of trouble, making their affliction greater than that of their colleagues.
“Those who exercise but little faith now, are in the greatest danger of falling under the power of satanic delusions and the decree to compel the conscience. And even if they endure the test they will be plunged into deeper distress and anguish in the time of trouble, because they have never made it a habit to trust in God.”30
It is interesting to note that Satan still will try to see, in this group, reasons to reclaim them for himself to destroy them. He argues that God could not punish him with his angels and yet forgive the sins of these people:
As Satan influenced Esau to march against Jacob, so he will stir up the wicked to destroy God’s people in the time of trouble. And as he accused Jacob, he will urge his accusations against the people of God. He numbers the world as his subjects; but the little company who keep the commandments of God are resisting his supremacy. If he could blot them from the earth, his triumph would be complete. He sees that holy angels are guarding them, and he infers that their sins have been pardoned; but he does not know that their cases have been decided in the sanctuary above. He has an accurate knowledge of the sins which he has tempted them to commit, and he presents these before God in the most exaggerated light, representing this people to be just as deserving as himself of exclusion from the favor of God. He declares that the Lord cannot in justice forgive their sins and yet destroy him and his angels. He claims them as his prey and demands that they be given into his hands to destroy.31
In the end, God will undoubtedly approve all of those who are sealed. However, statements like this show that Ellen G. White did not see them as a group of monolithic spirituality, having absolute perfection. Their condition does not echo a sinless state.
However, the great dilemma is that they are without a mediator in the heavenly sanctuary. Ellen G. White says that “every soul must stand for himself before God” in the time of trouble.32 Nevertheless, such a condition does not imply that they will be abandoned to their own luck before a judge eager to destroy sinners. In several passages, she repeats the promise that heaven will be watching and protecting those who are sealed, bringing them light, comfort, and peace.33 In other words, they will be without a mediator for the forgiveness of sins, but not without continuous communion with heaven.
At last, in an article that Ellen G. White wrote for Signs of the Times, we find the most beautiful note of comfort related to the terror of those days: “Live the life of faith day by day. Do not become anxious and distressed about the time of trouble, and thus have a time of trouble beforehand. Do not keep thinking, ‘I am afraid I shall not stand in the great testing day.” You are to live for the present, for this day only. Tomorrow is not yours. Today you are to maintain the victory over self.’”34
Ellen G. White seems to be consistent in her early writings when she affirms that those who will go through the time of trouble, which makes up the last generation of believers, are the 144,000 people sealed in Revelation 7 and 14. In her first vision, published in January 1846, she mentions the group six times. She already presents them as the saints who are alive in the occasion of the coming of Jesus—a special group of saints whose names are engraved in letters of gold on the stone tables in God’s temple, to which they only have access.35
It is true, however, that Ellen G. White herself declared not possessing full light about the matter. She discouraged any speculation about who would make up the group of the 144,000 sealed.36 We also know that the reading of some texts she authored about the sealing, and her apparent participation in the group, made some believe that the 144,000 would be made up of two classes of people: those who died in the faith of the third angel’s message (and therefore would participate in the special resurrection), and those who would be alive in the occasion of Jesus’ coming. Effectively, only this last group would face the time of trouble, while the first would be resurrected at the end of it.
Nonetheless, although groups like the movement of Reformation embrace this understanding, as well as the one that the 144,000 would be a literal number of believers, the dominant thought in the eschatology of the Adventist Church is that it is a symbolic number of believers who will be alive and shall go through the time of trouble without succumbing to death or losing their salvation.37
They will face Jacob’s trouble mentioned in Jeremiah 30:7, the time of trouble referred to in Daniel 21:1, and will remain without a mediator during the pouring of the seven last plagues of the bowls of the wrath of God, described in Revelation 16. But they will finally be victorious and join the Lamb in Mount Zion (Rev. 14:1-5).
Let us remember that being troubled does not mean being exposed to God’s wrath. Paul comforts the Philippians by saying they were graciously granted (charizomai) the privilege of believing and suffering for the name of Christ (Phil. 1:29). Paul’s suffering because of the church was for him a reason for joy—a fulfillment of what was left of Christ’s affliction in His flesh (Col. 1:24).
However, none of this must be confused with the traditional theology of martyrdom that credits atoning value to the death of the saints, similar to Christ’s death, granting them the power to forgive sins. It was the veneration of martyrs that originated the worship of saints in the heart of Catholicism around the fourth and fifth centuries AD.38
The recognition that persecution and tribulations are part of Christian living does not imply that God is sadistic. If He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 33:11), why would He be pleased with the suffering of the just? On the other hand, it is notorious that the Christian walk begins with baptism in the death of Jesus (Rom. 6:3), which means not only death to a life of sin but also a Christian disposition to die for Christ if needed. Maybe this is Paul’s understanding when he expressed his desire to have his life totally identified with Christ, even going to the extreme of “becoming like him in his death” (Phil. 3:10, NIV).
Considering that the word martyr comes from the Greek μάρτυς and that it means “witness,” we must understand that God had no reason to allow martyrdom unless the bloodshed could be an evangelizing element for those who do not believe. Stephen, the first Christian martyr (Acts 7), is remembered as someone who died because of his testimony of Christ (Acts 22:20). James was also killed, along with others in the church, because of his testimonial faith (Acts 12:1-2). The author of Hebrews also refers to a great cloud of witnesses (12:1) immediately after describing those who were willing to die for their faith in chapter 11.
Nevertheless, after the closing of probation, when the time of trouble begins, no one else will be saved unless they have previously received God’s seal. Consequently, it would not make sense for God to allow the sacrifice of the saints that were alive. If He did, Satan would instigate the death of all, and there would be no saint alive to welcome the Lord coming in the air.
Therefore, what is the practical meaning of allowing God’s children to be severely afflicted? Maybe Revelation 6:9-11 can give us a clue. This passage refers to the opening of the fifth seal:
When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
Over the years, many scholars have tried to understand the final meaning of this statement, “until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.” Some think that it is a numeric complement of saved people or martyrs, previously listed by God. Many came to this conclusion by considering that the Greek word that appears here is πληρόω, which means “to fill,” “to reach a level,” “to make full,” or simply “to complete.” However, even though most Bibles translate “until both the number of their fellow servants,” the word “number” is not written on the original version; it was added by translators. Therefore, the meaning of the text allows a different reading: “they were told to rest a little while longer until their fellow servants and brethren were complete.”
Thus, the interpretation can have another meaning beyond the numerical one. It can also give an idea of a non-numeric complement, that is, of a qualitative nature—the maturity of character of the saints who finally reach a level of spirituality desired by God. This idea finds an echo in Revelation 7:13-14 and 19:7-8.
The need for God’s people to be made perfect is coherent with the purpose of the gospel preached by the apostles: “present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:28). James teaches that the tribulations exist so that all may become “perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4). Though, as we have seen, none of this has to do with absolute perfection, we understand that the believers of the last generation have the privilege of being God’s final argument. While the conclusive argument has been given on the cross, it is not impossible to suppose that the wicked of the last generation might argue that it is not fair to punish them and others who lived in a time that was easier to follow God’s law. After all, they went through the plagues, and it was impossible to live close to God in that period. But just like in Job’s experience, God can say: “have you seen my servants, the 144,000?”
It would be comforting to think that God would free His church from the hardships of the end of times, but this vision can be very deceitful. Whatever are the still obscure points of this important subject, or even the surprises that the future has in store, the last counsel from Ellen G. White could seal our decision about the time of trouble: “Let us strive with all the power that God has given us to be among the hundred and forty-four thousand. And let us do all that we can to help others to gain heaven.”39
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1 “Time of Jacob’s Trouble,” in Neufeld, Don F. [ed] Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia. Commentary Reference Series, vol. 10 (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1966), 623-624.
2 Jesus uses similar language in Matthew 24:21. In this case, Jesus’ hyperbole must be read in light of Daniel 7:25, which talks about the trouble of God’s people during the Middle Ages.
3 Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, 425.
4 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, 2:691.
5 Ellen G. White, Early Writings, 280. Cf. Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, 2:691.
6 White, Early Writings, 280.
7 White, The Great Controversy, 490.
8 Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, 82.
9 Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, 636.
10 Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing, 454.
11 Ellen G. White, Last Day Events, 206-208. Cf. White, Early Writings, 280.
12 White, The Great Controversy, 628.
13 Ibid., 619.
14 White, The Great Controversy, 490; Cf. White, Selected Messages, 1:82.
15 White, Early Writings, 36-37, 71, 279-280; Cf. Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White, 117; White, The Great Controversy, 614.
16 White. Testimonies for the Church, 2:355.
17 Ellen G. White. Christ in His Sanctuary, 153.
18 White, The Great Controversy, 622.
19 White, Last Day Events, 262.
20 M. L. Andreasen, The Sanctuary Service (Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1969); The Book of Hebrews. (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1948).
21 Herbert Douglass, The unique contribution of Adventist eschatology. Paper presented at the North American Bible Conference. (Washington D.C: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1974); “Why Jesus waits.” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald. (Washington: Review and Herald), October 4, 1973, 6.
22 Clifford Goldstein, 1844: uma explicação simples das principais profecias de Daniel. (Tatuí: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2005), 102-112; The full and final display. Ministry, October 1994, 41-43, 62.
23 White, The Great Controversy, 416, 425, 613, 627, 648-649.
24 White, Early Writings, 280.
25 White, Christ in His Sanctuary, 153.
26 White, Selected Messages, 3:355.
27 White, Testimonies for the Church, 5:214.
28 Ellen G. White, Education, 154-155; White, Spiritual Gifts: My Christian Experience, Views and Labors in Connection with the Rise and Progress of the Third Angel’s Message (Battle Creek, MI: James White, 1860, reprinted in Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1945), 3:59.
29 White, The Great Controversy, 621, 627; White, Testimonies for the Church, 3:475.
30 White, The Great Controversy, 622.
31 Ibid., 618.
32 Ibid., 622.
33 Ibid., 619, 621, 627.
34 Ellen G. White. Signs of the Times, October 20, 1887, par. 2.
35 White, Early Writings, 15, 19.
36 White, Selected Messages, vol. 1, 174; 3:51.
37 About the supposed understanding of Ellen G. White contrary to this, see the clarification made by her grandson Arthur White with reference to other letters attributed to his father W.C. White; Cf. Arthur White, Letter dated November 27, 1973, Ellen G. White Estate,, http://drc.whiteestate.org/files/1863.pdf (accessed September 15, 2020; W.C. White, Letter dated January 29,1929, http://drc.whiteestate.org/read.php?id=63112 (accessed on September 15, 2020.
38 Josef Ton. Suffering, Martyrdom, and Rewards in Heaven (Wheaton, IL: Romanian Missionary Society, 2000), xiii–xiv, 14.
39 Ellen G. White, “God’s Purpose for Us,” Review and Herald, March 9, 1905, par. 4.