This story takes place over the course of three days. As the Global Community hunts for the assassin of its leader Nicolae Carpathia, the Tribulation Force is on the run. Rayford Steele feels that he is guilty of committing the murder of Carpathia, while Buck Williams finds out that his old friend Chaim Rosenzweig is the one responsible for killing Carpathia through the super-sharp blade he had created in the previous story. Tsion Ben-Judah has an experience of visiting heaven and seeing Satan try to overthrow God with his angels, only to be fought back by Michael the archangel with his angels and cast out of heaven. The Tribulation Force safehouse has been compromised, and David Hassid, a mole working for the Tribulation Force within New Babylon, searches out a new place for the Force to relocate to that the Global Community won't suspect. At the latter end of the story, Leonardo Fortunato holds a public funeral for Nicolae Carpathia, in which he displays his power by calling down fire on three subpotentates that are suspected of disloyalty against the Global Community, and also in which Nicolae publicly rises from the dead and proclaims himself to be God, declaring to his enemies that if they thought the first 3 1/2 years they had to deal with him were their idea of "tribulation", then they should get ready for "the Great Tribulation".
This story provides examples of:
- Ambiguously Gay: Guy Blod's voice sounds stereotypically gay in the Dramatic Audio version.
- An Ass-Kicking Christmas: Tsion Ben-Judah witnesses the birth of Christ as it happens in heaven, according to its depiction in Revelation chapter 12, with the war in heaven taking place shortly afterward.
- Archangel Michael: Appears in this story.
- Astral Projection: Tsion Ben-Judah experiences something like this (twice) when he finds himself taken up to heaven to witness Revelation chapter 12 taking place — the woman clothed with the sun giving birth to the Manchild that would rule the earth from God's throne, and Satan and his angels being cast down from heaven.
- Attending Your Own Funeral: Nicolae Carpathia wakes up in the middle of his funeral service, resurrected from the dead.
- Back from the Dead: Nicolae Carpathia, who rises from his coffin on the third day to resume his role as the Antichrist.
- Book Burning: Or rather, Bible burning, as the furnace inside the giant Carpathia statue constructed in New Babylon is fueled by onionskin paper found in Bibles. Otherwise, the Antichrist doesn't seem to be doing much to keep people from reading God's Word.
- Chekhov's Gun: The super-sharp blade Chaim was working on in the previous story was used as the murder weapon to kill Nicolae Carpathia.
- Dead Guy on Display: Nicolae Carpathia's body was displayed in a transparent casket during his funeral, from which he broke free when he was resurrected in public view.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The entire story takes place within the course of three days.
- Heel–Faith Turn: Chaim, just before T crashes the plane and gets killed while Chaim and Buck survive.
- It's Not Porn, It's Art: Guy Blod, a sculptor working for the Global Community, decides an appropriate memorial for the late Antichrist would be an enormous, highly-detailed metal nude. He reacts this way to "Tribulation Saints" who find the statue unsettling. (No one else cares — by this point in the series, all television is either porn or Gorn. Even the news.)
- Living Statue: Carpathia's massive image, which is heated by onionskin paper.
- Playing Sick: Chaim revealed that this is what he did throughout the previous story so that he could get close to Nicolae and kill him.
- Playing with Fire: Leonardo Fortunato calls down fire on three disloyal subpotentates to burn them alive.
- The Scapegoat: Thanks to Leon Fortunato, Rayford Steele is pinned for Carpathia's murder, despite evidence from Walter Moon showing that Chaim Rosenzweig was the real assassin.
- Villain Override: Satan starts to get into the act when he indwells Nicolae.
- You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: After Satan indwells Carpathia at the end of The Indwelling, he makes the following promise:Carpathia: There are those among you, however, who have referred overtly to me personally as the Antichrist and this period of history as the Tribulation. You may take the following as my personal pledge...the word tribulation will not begin to describe what is in store for you. If the last three and a half years are your idea of tribulation, wait until you endure the Great Tribulation.
