This present period of time, from the Cross to the coming of the Lord, is looked at in two ways. It is a day to be followed by a night; it is a night to be succeeded by a day (Isa. 21:11-12).
Speaking of His service as the perfect Servant of God, our Lord said: “I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4). Judging the times we are living in, we may indeed say, “The day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out” (Jer. 6:4). It is quite evident there remains very little daylight now, before the darkness closes in, and we are compelled to rest from our labors for the Lord. Those who have “borne the burden and heat of the day” will be exceedingly blessed to reach home from the field, to rest with the Master.
The great Apostle Paul, viewing things from a different standpoint, says: “The night is far spent, the day is at hand” (Rom. 13:12). In the Gospel of Mark we find the night divided into the four watches — evening, midnight, cock-crowing, and morning (Mark 13:35). The “Sun of Righteousness” set at Calvary in a stormy scene, and the night set in — long, dark, and dreary; no light anywhere visible, but as seen by faith in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:3-6).
The question is given in the margin of the Revised Version as, “Watchman, what hour of the night?” It is not a question of the state of the night, but what is the time? Weary watchers are longingly looking for the “break of day” and the rising again of the Sun of Righteousness, with healing in His rays (Mal. 4:2). Oh, what joy thrills the heart as the watchman’s cry is at last heard: “The morning cometh!” which means the long night vigil is ending.
To all who compose the Church, the coming One will first appear in the morning watch as the “Bright and Morning Star,” the forerunner of the day (Rev. 22:16). They say, “the darkest hour is just before the dawning”; and as this world-state seems to have reached its darkest, then let us comfort our hearts by the words of the beloved Apostle John: “We know that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18, R.V.).
The hour is made up of moments — quickly passing. It may be any moment now, and we shall hear the thrilling “shout” of our descending Lord, and be “caught up” (the raised and living saints together) to meet Him in the air, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Cor. 15:51-58).
Seeing that the redeemed are “children of the day . . . let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thess. 5:5-6). Great will be the reward which He shall give to those who have been true to Him during His absence.
But what of the night? Its very name is darkness. Men say, however, we live in a most enlightened age. Is it so? Certainly many run to and fro, and knowledge is increasing (Dan. 12:4).
But Christ, who is the only true source of divine light, is “despised and rejected of men,” therefore spiritual darkness as truly covers the face of humanity as darkness covered the deep in the beginning (Gen. 1); and when God said, “Let there be light,” it revealed a condition of chaos, not order. Oh, the child of God must not be mistaken about this age. It is not one of light and real advancement, but one of grossest darkness and fearful retrogression.
Everything shows plainly that the night is indeed “far spent,” and our blessed hope is about to be realized. There seems as never before, the probability that the Christian reader may be included in “we shall not all sleep.” Whether we die or not, He is surely coming quickly, and the Church, which is His Bride, will be with Him in all His glory!