by Tim LaHaye
Ethan held her face in his big hands. “I thank God for you, Rivka, more than you will ever know.” Yet as he said that, Ethan knew they would soon be plunged into a life-and-death struggle with demonic forces—waging a spiritual battle against a cruel and soulless enemy. He wanted to protect Rivka, keep her safe, and he knew that he would lay down his life if necessary to do that. But he also knew that ultimately he would have to entrust her to the safekeeping of God. After all, she had belonged to God long before she had ever belonged to him.
Rivka shivered a little in the evening air, and Ethan covered her shoulders with his jacket and pulled her close. He felt the weight of the future bearing down on him. How long, O Lord? Ethan wondered to himself silently. But before he could take his next breath, the answer to his question seemed to envelop him from some unseen place; the message was as real and as certain as the breeze that now swept to shore from across the moonlit bay, brushing over Ethan’s face and rustling Rivka’s wedding dress.
Yes, I am coming quickly.
EPILOGUE
The apostle John, known as “the disciple who Jesus loved,” served as bishop of Ephesus for over twenty-five years. He was the last living eyewitness to Jesus’ life, miracles, death, and resurrection. John wrote in AD 90 this challenge to all Christians everywhere:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. (Revelation 1:1–3)
