761. As for the Christian church's final hour being the same kind of night in which the former churches came to an end, this is made clear by what the Lord foretold about the Christian church in the Gospels and in Daniel.

In the Gospels it is clear from this statement:

They will see the abomination of desolation. Then there will be a great affliction such as has never existed since the world began until now and will never exist again. In fact, unless those days were cut short no flesh would be saved. At the end, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven. (Matthew 24:15, 21-22, 29)

This time is also called night elsewhere in the Gospels; for example, in Luke: "During that night, two will be upon one bed. One will be taken; the other will be left" (Luke 17:34). Also in John, "I have to do the work of the one who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work" (John 9:4).

[2] Since all light departs in the middle of the night, and the Lord is the true light (John 1:4; ; , ), he said to his disciples as he rose up into heaven, "I am with you even until the close of the age" (Matthew 28:20). After that he leaves them and goes to the new church.

Daniel, too, shows that the Christian church's final hour is the same kind of night in which the former churches came to an end:

In the end desolation [will fly in] on a bird of abominations; even to the close and the cutting down, it will drip steadily upon the devastation. (Daniel 9:27)

The fact that this was a prediction of the end of the Christian church is made clear by the Lord's words in Matthew 24:15. It is also clear from Daniel's words about the fourth kingdom or the fourth church as depicted in Nebuchadnezzar's statue:

As you saw iron mixed with muddy clay, they will mingle with the seed of humankind, but the two will not stick together, just as iron and clay do not stick together. (Daniel 2:43)

The seed of humankind means truth from the Word.

[3] The same thing is also clear from the fourth church that was represented as the fourth beast to rise up from the sea:

I saw visions in the night; behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, will devour the entire earth, trample it, and break it to pieces. (Daniel 7:7, 23)

These expressions mean that all the truth in the church is going to come to an end. Then there will be night, because truth is what provides daylight to the church.

Many similar prophecies regarding the Christian church occur in the Book of Revelation, especially in chapter 16, where we read about the bowls of God's anger that are poured out on the earth; these symbolize false teachings that will then flood the church and destroy it.

There are many similar passages in the prophets. For example, "Isn't the day of Jehovah a day of darkness and not light, a day of thick darkness and no brightness?" (Amos 5:18, 20; Zephaniah 1:15). "In that day, Jehovah will look down on the land, and behold, darkness; and the light will grow dark over its ruins" (Isaiah 5:30; 8:22). The day of Jehovah means the day of the Coming of the Lord.