The Night is Far Spent

"AND that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light." Rom. 13:11, 12.

The day which is represented as at hand, is evidently the day of deliverance to the people of God. The night, which is far spent, represents the period of man's probation; the time during which the people of God sojourn in the earth in its state of subjection to the curse. It is the whole period from the expulsion of our first parents from Paradise, till the overcomers' return to Paradise, never to lose it again. It is a long night, but the morning shall at last chase away its gloom. It is the night of weeping. The morning shall bring everlasting joy. Ps. 30:5. This morning, when "the Just One" shall begin his rule, shall be a morning without clouds. 2 Sam. 23:3, 4. This night of sin and death is one perpetual watch for the church of Christ. The world uses this night for sleep and for drunkenness. 1 Thess. 5:4-8. It is the business of the church to watch and be sober. The church must watch through the whole night. But it is only as the night is actually giving place to the morning, that the tokens of coming day indicate to the watchers that their hopes are about to be realized. Till then, they have to watch without being able to tell very clearly the time of night. And so the people of God, weary with long watching, call out with anxious cry, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night; if ye will inquire, inquire ye; return, come." Isa. 21:11, 12.

The watchman assures the inquirers that the day shall finally dawn, and encourages them to ask again. And this is a virtual pledge that he will, in answer to his questions, report every token of coming day that he is able to discover. He makes one statement worthy of particular observation. The night comes as well as the morning. The present is the day of probation. If men will hear the voice of Christ, "while it is called to-day," they may be saved. But when this is past, then comes the night, to the wicked, in which none can work the works of God. John 9:4. But the present is our night, and when it is ended the "morning without clouds," the morning of joy breaks upon our delighted vision. So the one class finds a night of unutterable anguish, just where the other hails with infinite joy the long-hoped-for morning. The rest of the church and the distress of the foe come at the same time. 2 Thess. 1:6-10.

Paul tells us that "the night is far spent, the day is at hand." Thank God for that good word. Our salvation is nearer than when we believed. But stop, says the objector: Paul said this eighteen hundred years ago. If it was far spent eighteen hundred years ago, no one can tell that another like period may not elapse before the day shall actually come. Perhaps it would be a proper answer were I to reply that Paul often speaks to the church in a prophetic capacity, as, for instance, 1 Thess. 4:15, 17; 5:1-4; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3; and that he is addressing the people of God from a prophetic stand-point, where the day of God is about to open. It is evident that he speaks in this capacity when he numbers himself with those who shall be alive at the coming of Jesus. The "we" thus brought to view, being that part of the church that, standing as the representatives of all the people of God, shall finish out this long night of watching, and welcome the coming of "the perfect day." Prov. 4:18. But I shall say no such thing to an objector. Yet even he ought to see that his objection is sophistical, i. e., it consists wholly of false reasoning. For if this kind of reasoning proves anything, it proves that the nearer we get to an event the further it is from us. Any reasoning by which we may prove an absurdity is manifestly false reasoning. Thus to continue this style of reasoning: The apostle said that the day was at hand and the night far spent eighteen hundred years since; therefore, for aught we can tell, another like period may elapse. Let us suppose five hundred years more to elapse without the advent of Jesus. This same question being raised, the objector would say, Twenty-three hundred years have passed since Paul said the night was far spent; who can tell why another twenty-three hundred years may not intervene between us and the day of God? Who cannot see that this kind of reasoning is deceptive and false? We must be getting nearer the grand event, year by year; yet the lapse of time only makes the event more remote from us, according to that view.

What, then, did Paul really teach, and what is the true method of reasoning from his words? Common sense, an article so rare that the name seems inappropriate, would seem plainly to suggest the following as the reasonable and just view of this text: As the night evidently covers the whole period of our earth's continuance in its present state, in other words, as the night represents the time of probation and affliction to the people of God, for Paul to be justified in saying that the night is far spent, the greater part of the entire period must be in the past. This is certainly a reasonable, just, and necessary conclusion. Thus if two-thirds of the entire period had elapsed, then the night itself was far spent though Paul could not live to see the dawning of the day. How much time had elapsed when Paul wrote these startling words? Nearly forty-two hundred years! How much has elapsed since? About eighteen hundred! Then it follows that the dawning of the day is immediately upon us. More than two-thirds of the six thousand years of human probation were then past. The remainder is nearly full! Whether human probation covers just six thousand years or not, the most careful study of the Bible shows that it cannot vary much therefrom. Probably it is the very limit assigned. But waiving this, Paul's words do show that the day of God is certainly at hand. What was near, compared with the whole period of the night in the time of Paul, is, by that very fact, proved to be now emphatically at hand. Then, surely, it is time for us to awake out of sleep. The dreadful day draws near. Probation is about to close. Our fellow-men all around us are unprepared. Our own preparation is not complete. Some have hardly made a fair commencement. Probably a very large proportion of our number fail to make daily progress in the great work. Oh, terrible mistake is this! Shall our Lord come and find us thus? Shall the close of our brief, remaining probation bring us to the morning of eternal joy, or to the night of utter darkness and despair?