The point is this: the time of trouble will simply give God’s people a first-hand acquaintance with the way Jesus lived on earth. It will establish for them a close sympathy with Him, a tie of intimacy that will hold for all eternity.
"The offense of the cross is that the cross is a confession of human frailty and sin and of inability to do any good thing. To take the cross of Christ means to depend solely on Him for everything, and this is the abasement of all human pride. Men love to fancy themselves independent. But let the cross be preached, let it be made known that in man dwells no good thing and that all must be received as a gift, and straightway someone is offended."