of it for many, many centuries.
This is the second great historic event. The Lord was no longer
expected.

3. And now we come to the third. "And at midnight there was a cry
made, Behold the Bridegroom! go out to meet Him." The question is has
this period been reached, or are we still to wait for such a startling
cry, reaching the ears of both the wise and the foolish, the professing
and the possessing? Some teach in our day that that cry is the same as
the shout which is mentioned in 1 Thess. iv, the shout which the
descending Lord will give to call His own into His presence. But that
is incorrect. The midnight cry and the shout of the Lord have no
connection. The shout of the Lord is the first word which He will
utter. His last word was, "Behold I come quickly." The next word will
be His shout. The midnight cry is not uttered by Himself, but it is
given by the Holy Spirit. And has the midnight cry been given by the
Holy Spirit? Has there been a revival of the blessed Hope of the
Coming of the Lord? Did anything like this of which the Lord here
speaks take place? We unhesitatingly answer it with, Yes. We all know
of the Coming of the Lord. Most of us are cherishing the blessed Hope
and are waiting for Himself. We sing precious hymns full of hope and
expectation. Over the entire Christian profession the preaching has
gone forth of the Coming of the Bridegroom. This is sufficient
evidence that this stage in the parable has been reached. The midnight
cry has been given. When was it given? We do not hear anything about
the Bridegroom and His nearness during the great reformation period.
The great instruments which were used in the reformation had no light
on the Coming of the Lord. Luther, for instance, spoke occasionally of
the great universal judgment day, which he believed was near, because
he believed the Pope to be the Antichrist. In this conception he was
followed by all his contemporaries. It was not given to the great
reformers to be used in the revival of the prophetic Word and to give
the midnight cry. Nor do we hear anything like the midnight cry
immediately after the reformation; we go back to the first half of the
last century and there we meet with a revival of the blessed Hope, the
coming of the Lord. The Holy Spirit flashed forth this blessed truth
once more and ever since then the midnight cry has been heard, and it
is still being heard. We live in the fulfillment of this period