Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

Jacob went forward, pale and disabled from his recent conflict. He
walked slowly and painfully, but his face was lighted up with joy
and peace.
At the sight of that crippled sufferer, "Esau ran to meet him,
and embraced him, ... and they wept." Even the hearts of Esau's
rough soldiers were touched. They could not account for the change
that had come over their captain.
In his night of anguish Jacob had been taught how useless
human help is, how groundless trust in human power is. Helpless
and unworthy, he pleaded God's promise of mercy to the repentant
sinner. That promise was his assurance that God would pardon and
accept him.
The Future "Time of Jacob's Trouble"
Jacob's experience during that night of wrestling and anguish
represents the trial through which the people of God must pass just
before Christ's second coming. "We have heard a voice of
trembling, of fear, and not of peace. ... 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" (Jeremiah 30:5-7).
When Christ ends His work as mediator in our behalf, this time
of trouble will begin. Then the case of every person will have been
decided, and there will be no atoning blood to cleanse from sin. The
solemn announcement is made, "He who is unjust, let him be unjust
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